I have worked for a cruise company on and off since 2016. I got rehired after the pandemic in a fantastic position that I worked hard to be qualified for and earn. In the role, I think I was really solid. I got incredible reviews and my coworkers regularly commented on the positive affect I had on the environment. Cruise ships can be a tough place to work and live and I had a semi leadership role that I took seriously. I worked hard to encourage others to care about the work while maintaining a sense of playfulness and joy. I am really proud of the work I did.
I was extended twice from a two month contract to a six month contract. I was then set to be rehired for another six months after a few months off. (Contracts end and you're “terminated”).
I didn't hear anything a month after debarking and reached out to hiring/casting. They said one of the leaders onboard didn't like a speech I gave on the last night of the contract and said I was negative.
This is a lie. The leader in question was drunk at the time and is an incredibly destructive person. An insecure bully who is often touching young men inappropriately and making racist and sexist remarks. I intentionally wanted the job so that I didn't have to work near this person, they're generally on the ship for two weeks out of the six months.
Because I never let this person touch me, because I didn't go to dinner with them, because I did not give them the attention they desperately desire…I believe they made up a lie about my speech to validate “going another way” and withdrawing my six month contract offer and potentially all future contracts.
I am extremely frustrated and disappointed. I did my best, every day, to be a good person and good employee. To be shrugged off in this way, for this absurd reason, despite my excellent record with the company…it feels like enough to want to turn away from it all and never look back.
Mostly, the structures that allow this man and others like him to abuse their power, harass young people, and eliminate good employees based on personal issues…it's too much. I'm not the first, I won't be the last.
So. Do I reach out to senior leadership and state my case? If not to be rehired, to at least lay out all the observations and evidence of this man's terror? Am I terrible person for wanting my job back? I worked hard for it and I was good at it and I had a future with the company? Can I do more good than the bad that others do?
It is haunting me and I want to find the best course forward and need advice. Any is appreciated.
TLDR: jerkface lied and I lost my future with the company. Do I tell company that jerkface is jerkface?