I worked for Ikea in the U.S. for 7 1/2 years, starting out at the New Haven, CT location back in 2014 as a seasonal co-worker for the summer with no intentions of making it a career. After a month I quickly realized what an amazing company I was working for and that I could literally paddle my own canoe. I started in the Logistics department as a customer order picker and quickly worked my way up to a Team Leader and then was promoted to a Logistics Manager and Ikea moved my family and I to Philadelphia, PA back in early 2019. During my time I developed myself into a very strong leader and manager of people, the operation and delivering results. As a Manager in Ikea I had 4 performance reviews and received back to back Exceeds Expectations, 1 Meets Expectations and my last PE in 2021 received an Exceeds Expectations. I was a Manager of the Tertial (Ikea does the year in thirds), as well as Manager of the year and fully embraced and loved the Ikea way, our values and the ability to be different.
As an adoptee from South Korea, who was raised Jewish to white parents I was the definition of different and knew I could be myself when I came to work and put the blue and yellow on. As a Logistics professional I was the best, I can say out of 51 stores there was probably not a Logistics person who was at the level I was at in the U.S. Organization and this wasn't because I was the smartest person in the room, it was because I was the hungriest, I was a worker and I loved pressure and the ability to have a workload that at times was so unmanageable most people would lose it or quit, for me it was like breathing. It sounds extremely corny but I loved what I did, I loved my leaders and my coworkers that reported to me and I was truly grateful.
For me Ikea was a second and third chance at life. I was someone who at a very young age battled addiction and at one point in my life was homeless and ended up in jail for making some really stupid decisions. Due to my past I ended up with a felony on my record and it was for a time almost impossible for me to pass a background check. Ikea is a company that hired felons depending on the severity and type, and fortunately for me mine was non-violent and drug related. When Ikea gave me a chance I did not know how far I could actually go and I embraced and appreciated every opportunity anyone gave me, I learned from some of the best people I have ever met how to be a leader, how to be a manager and how to deliver results. I went from renting a room for $200 bucks a month to living in a high end apartment that went for $2150 once I got to Philadelphia.
Then last year the Store Manager who brought me to South Philly was fired out of the blue and we ended up getting a new Store Manager. As with a new Store Manager there's always a changing of leadership teams and turnover. People left, some got fired and I ended up staying, for me I never really cared much about what my Store Manager thought of me, I wasn't someone who was there to kiss ass or look good, I was there to do a job and push the business. It was very apparent early on that this Store Manager and myself were not on the same page, as she never really understood me. Most people who meet me in a work setting can pick up on very quickly that I have complete control of my operation, I build a culture where my people laugh, smile and want to be at work and I'm not at work to be best buddies with people, smile or talk behind peoples backs in closed rooms.
Maybe my way was off putting to her but I wasn't there for her, I was there for my people, the operation, to push the business and to teach Logistics competence, that was my job. Last August I decided that it was time to move on from the store, there was an opportunity that came my way to go work in Ikea India in a brand new store running there Logistics program. It was unprecedented to think that another country would take a U.S. Logistics person because Logistics in the U.S. Ikea Organization has been lacking forever, compared to the rest of the world our stores logistics teams do not run properly for the most part. I decided to apply and kept my fingers crossed. I ended up getting a phone screen and from that phone screen it turned into a 3 month recruitment process, having multiple interviews and finally getting an offer of employment in November.
I remember getting told that I got the job and how happy I was, how ecstatic and had to pinch myself that I was at the level that another Country, and there organization was going to bring me on to run there Logistics program at an international level. Unfortunately I would get the contract and verbally accept but never make it to India.
At the same time I was in the recruitment process with India, I was dealing with a co-worker issue where I had a coworker who was not being truthful to my team about missing work and trying to take a leave of absence and following the proper procedure. This coworker was also telling my team they were battling addiction issues and I had a soft spot for them because of my own history. One morning I went to confront this individual about what was occurring and they lost there cool and started screaming, cursing and shouting at me. This coworker was dismissed from work, went home and filed a report on me that I created a hostile work environment.
This incident occurred in September, I had no active corrective action on my file at the time nor had I received any corrective action for a coworker related incident in 7 1/2 years. Fast forward to November, I received my offer from Ikea India right before Thanksgiving, 2 days later I sent an email informing my Store Manager and HR Manager that I accepted a job with Ikea India verbally and would sign the contract that Monday. Not even 24 hours later after I sent this email to them, I was fired for creating an unsafe, un-trusting work environment. I lost my job, I lost India, I lost my team and most of all I lost the thing I loved the doing the most because of a woman who never understood me and wanted me out because I didn't kiss her ass. I have struggled with this for the last 10 months, it has hurt my heart and my self-esteem and I really don't know how to be okay again. I know its just a job, I know this stuff happens but it honestly makes no sense at times and at times I'm completely lost and at a loss of words because I didn't deserve this happening to me.