Disclaimer that is a little bit of a vent, but I think it's important to share to this can be prevented from happening to others.
As short and simple as I can put it, I started a new job in January at local high school. I had worked there for four months when the last week of April a maybe 10 minute event happened. I had gone into a room to say hi to a coworker I was friends with, and he happened to be holding some students for In School Suspension. Now as context, at this high school it was very common for staff in non-licensed positions such as myself to be verbally harassed/assaulted and even threatened. Now shortly after I had entered the room to chat with my coworker, three of these students got very extreme with my coworker, so much so that I became genuinely uncomfortable. They were verbally assaulting him and trying to get into a power struggle. After about seven minutes of this he just had to step put of the room and take a breather.
In these last three minutes the students in question turned their ire to me and were attempting to start a physical altercation with me. In an attempt to deescalate the situation, I told the students that I wasn't going to fight with them and that they should get into fights with anyone because in this area people who instigate fights often seriously hurt or even sometimes shot. Now I admit in hindsight that this was a poor choice of words, but it what borne out of some exceptional circumstances.
Anyways the school district after an investigation said that I threatened a student and fired me for misconduct over a “verbal altercation” and alleged threat. To be clear I was not threatening anyone, I was just making a general statement that I should've thought about more before I said. Anyways they didn't even give me a 24 hour notice that they would be terminating me when my contract stipulated that I be provided with two reprimands, a verbal and written, before a move to termination would be made.
After one week I then find out that they used the same situation to tell my coworker, who was in a position $10/an hour above my pay grade that he could either quit or be fired. After two weeks of trying to get unemployment, I finally got a letter back from the state government saying that they found no evidence of employment misconduct, that I was just trying to deescalate a difficult situation, and that I'd be eligible for unemployment.
Now that's all great, but the real kicker here is that I had started a new job last Monday at an independent living center. It was this last Friday I got that letter from the state unemployment office. Now this last Wednesday I found out that my close friends/roommates are intending on selling our house this August and moving about an hour and a half away. Being that I don't really have anywhere else to, don't really have anywhere else I want to go, and want to move out of my current city anyways it was decided I would just move with them.
So this is a pretty big life event for me, and I talked to a coworker of mine about it just in a friendly conversation we were having. Then today while at work I get an email simply titled “Moving Forward” and had to meet with HR and the assistant director because apparently my coworker went and told HR about it. After about a 15 minute conversation where I explained that yes I may end up moving, but when and even potentially if that happens is still pretty up in the air, they told me that they though this was a “unique situation” and that they weren't sure what do to. Not even 10 minutes later, they called me back to tell me they were letting me go. When I asked for the official reason why, they literally told me “we don't think you'd be a good fit because of a potential relocation.”
So yeah, moral of the story that I'm sure people are already aware of, be careful of what you say to people and goddamn is hindsight a bitch.
I get that employment is at-will, but I'm sure everybody here knows just how bullshit it is how workers in the United States have no frickin job protections these days (not that we've ever really had much of them). You say something in good faith and you get fucked for it. You try to do the responsible thing and you get fucked for it. It's like Jean-Luc Picard said when you can do everything right and still fail. I've had a my bachelor's degree for a couple years now and still even with the infamous labor shortage I still can't find work in my field. Not only do unions need to make a serious come back, but the United States is really at the point of needing a revolution to fix the massive systemic issues we have.
TLDR: Started a job at a local high school, and after four months I was terminated for “misconduct/verbal altercation” and the state government determined that there was no actual employment misconduct. Started a new job two weeks later, and a week after I started there I was fired for “potential relocation” because I found out I'd probably have to move out of the local area and told the wrong coworker. Don't repeat my mistakes, be careful what you say to who.