Not sure if this fits within the parameters but I want to share my experience getting fired for the first time.
The CEO (he's the son of the founder) stripped the accounting department down to just me and a remote worker in India. He didn't speak English very well so we communicated in math. I became the default head of accounting and negotiated an 16% raise. I was proud of myself since I took zero accounting classes in college and exactly one math class. This is to say that I got to my position through pure immigrant work ethic.
However, we experienced a labor shortage which meant I had to take on more customer service duties to help out. It was my first mistake. Two of the reps we hired quit and I kept helping out. Eventually my work started to drop in quality as I was cutting corners to meet deadlines which included having enough funds in our bank account to cover salaries every pay week.
One of the corners I cut was the verification of bank account information. It was an internal request from the customer service manager to change the direct deposit account for a sales rep. The email requesting the change included his phone number in the signature. It was my second mistake. The phone number for verification has to be one we established before the change request. This was maybe explained to me once in passing by the CEO.
You can probably guess what the scam is by now. Someone hacked his email account and emailed the manager who then forwarded me the email. Because it was an internal request from a coworker that sat across the office from me, I made the decision to cut this corner so I could get back to the hundred other things I had to do.
When our sales rep called to ask why we hadn't paid him, my boss checked the call logs for the day and saw I had never called the number on file. He called me to the conference and fired me in front of two managers. Operations and the aforementioned customer service manager. Not sure why they were there.
I was pretty depressed and spend the next two weeks smoking weed, training Jiu-jitsu and running errands for my partner. My unemployment got denied because it was considered negligence on my part. The jobs that were calling me back never came close to what I was making. After two weeks, I bit the bullet and started a job at a Chinese pharmaceutical company. It was strictly receivables and whereas my coworkers had a full 8 hours of work, I could finish all my work in 3 hours or so. My paychecks were pathetic though and I was thinking about canceling my trip to Spain to see my dad. As a bonus, I had to deal with pharmaceutical reps who would sell a truckload of creatine to a high school wrestler. I could smell commission on their breaths when they talked.
Then I got a job offer that matched my previous salary, as a temp, at a environmental waste management company. I gave notice, trained my replacement and started my new job. So far, I love the new gig. Making sure factory workers breath clean air and removing asbestos from old buildings is much different than selling overpriced door knobs and vitamins. The office is full of people that love what they do. The COO gave me tickets to see the Impractical Jokers at the Prudential. My supervisor is already about a permanent position.
To those wondering how I explained getting fired, well, I lied to the pharmaceutical company and my new job only asked why I was leaving the pharmaceutical company. If you've been fired, I strongly recommend lying.
All in all, I'm already making the same amount I was making at my old job. Except now I enjoy going to work and I do not have to deal with a single sales rep or even customer. I come in, prepare my spreadsheets for the billing cycle, reconcile our accounts, hand the project managers the invoices and I leave by 5. And I leave with enough energy to cook dinner for my partner and maybe hit the mats.
So I guess if you made it through this whole story, my point is this: getting fired wasn't the end of the world for me. And it doesn't have to be for you. The owners of the means of production have lost so much leverage that even a first generation American with an useless degree has a chance. All because my nepo baby boss decided to teach me accounting basics and practice on live accounts for years because he didn't want to train a new person on our operating system. Then he fired me. He fired me right into the dream job I didn't even know I wanted.
Also, I improved my leg locks and escapes in jiu-jitsu. My coach gave me a second stripe on my white belt because of these improvements. This last bit is not relevant to the story. But, goddamn is jiu-jitsu hard. I guess if it were easy, it'd be yoga.
TL; DR: I got fired from my job and I ended up in a better job with work/life balance, a pay raise in the horizon and a clearly defined role in a company that actually does some good in this world.