So, just as a warning before someone screams SUE, this occurred in NH which is an at will employment state. This post is more of just continuing to explore how far we have gone in the wrong direction, and how employers just DO NOT care about anyone anymore. They were still as far as I know within the complete boundaries of state law to fire, but just because it is legal, does not make it moral.
So my car gets a flat last night, the company I worked for hardly has enough employees to stay staffed as it is due to miserable wages (and probably incredibly low morale as well). I text in the morning after heading out to the car that it's got a flat. Surprise surprise, there is no one to cover, and now the company is going to lose a lot of money on one of the busiest days of the year. So I give changing the tire a try since I have a full size spare. Relatively important: I have no clue how to fix a single thing on my vehicle. I can drive it that's about it. My driveway is also gravel and on a slight slope at the very end (Very steep in almost all other places). The only place to move it where it would have been flat concrete would have been into the street, blocking a lane of traffic. Anyway, I fail. The crappy car jacks that you get with cars just was not making the cut, the car eventually came off the jack, leaving the rotor touching the ground, which is were it currently remains. Might've been doing it wrong, the jack is kinda bent now where it makes contact with the underside of the car. Now I also live in the middle of nowhere, alone, with no public transport. If your car is done in, you aren't leaving, unless you have close friends who will come pick you up which I do not out in this area. Today was also Sunday, most tow companies were closed and the ones I did talk to were far away and had no time to come to a tire swap. Long story short is, I was not getting to work today. And now I no longer have to worry about going to work, because I no longer have a job.
Now, here comes the important parts. I was dual trained. One job I loved, and one job I hated(It's what made working there even remotely worth it was that probably 75% of the time I loved my job. Didn't get to choose which job it was what it was on any given day though.
So today, I was scheduled for the job I hated. There apparently was absolutely no coverage available, at least at first, so the company was set to lose quite a lot of money. Now the lower management is great. Good people. But the one who calls the shots at the end of the day and makes all final decisions? Well, you see where this is probably going. The type of person that employees talk about and make fun of behind their back just about every second of every day. Now at this point the day is started, and I still can't make out whether or not the company was or was not starting to hemorrhage money or if they found someone to take over. So, the shot caller orders that I be fired. Logic being, I was scheduled for a job that I hated and made up that I have a flat so I don't need to come in. Which is initially a decent first thought, even I will agree, but an absolutely idiotic final conclusion because uh, hello? This is all 100% verifiable through photos and a service bill.
So, at this point I feel this has almost become a scapegoat situation. GM doesn't want to look like an absolute idiot for running at full capacity without the appropriate number of employees to account for call outs, so blame the low guy at the bottom. It's my fault the company may have lost 1,000s, not his fault for trying to stretch an already very low number of staff to the absolute max with no safety net. Should have operated at a reduced capacity, would have lowered the possible revenue of the day sure, but would have not made him look like an idiot, and would have made the day run much better in the event of a callout. I mean seriously, any moron could realize that running at 100% when you hardly meet the staffing minimums is a recipe for potential disaster.
I didn't even have a spotty attendance record. I was out once for maybe a week and a half because I was incredibly sick with what was suspected to be RSV. Other than that, I was there for every shift. And here comes the absolute shocker, this WAS NOT a big corporation. We all know those guys have lost any care years ago. Compared to the mega corps, this place is a small time tourist attraction.
Seriously why do we even try anymore? But it did teach me that while it was one of the probably most unique jobs in the world, I'll sleep better knowing that I am no longer assisting in making who knows how much for the top brass to enjoy while we got 13 bucks an hour.
TLDR: GM fires employee based off of a hunch when indisputable evidence to the contrary could have easily been provided.