On July 2nd, my boss and owner of the HVAC company told me to turn in my gas card, the company car, and the keys. I struggled all day with a rusted on fan motor, and didn't get anything else done that day. I even paid $60 for a puller tool to get the fan blade off, and then another $35 for wrenches that were big enough to operate the puller. A severe thunderstorm hit while I was in the middle of it, soaking me to the bone. I told the boss I didn't feel safe working in the lightning. I told him some mild rain is fine, but rain coming down so hard I can't see what I'm doing, combined with 240v of electricity, combined with lightning, I didn't feel safe and was going to continue to work on it the next day. He told me that if I can't get any work done, he can't use me. I returned all the company property to the shop. No one was there. I left broken hearted and suicidal. I said that I will always remember this day as the day that I got my ass kicked, and got fired because of it. He replied “I didn't fire you.”
This was on July 2nd. I have asked several times now about if I'm not fired, then what work do you have for me? No reply. A couple of days ago I applied for unemployment. Got denied before I could even talk to anyone and explain what happened. They won't even answer the phone. When I call, I'm required to put in my SSN. I get a prerecorded message saying essentially, “we are too busy to take your call. We aren't going to talk to you.” And then the line disconnects. I can't get a single solitary god damn answer anywhere. I called an employment lawyer, and they said that they would do a free consultation and forward my info to one of the attorneys and they would get back to me. I've called their office and they can't figure out what's going on, so I emailed the guy I talked to but I can't get a response. My electricity gets shut off on the 23rd, and I'm going to be homeless on the 5th. All because my boss is too chicken shit to actually fire me, because he knows he is in the wrong.
On top of this, he commanded me to do things that could cause me to lose my HVAC epa license. I told him what he is asking me to do is illegal, and that we should do it properly. I've had this conversation several times over text. Almost all of our conversations were over text.
On top of things, he is a former inmate, and I'm a former corrections officer. I can't prove it, but there definitely could be some bias there as well.
I live in Kansas, in the United States.
The unemployment website kept erroring out every time I tried to add work history. I truly think Kansas unemployment has been completely gutted, and there actually isn't an unemployment office or anything. Joys of living in a Red state ️.
I feel so unbelievably hurt, angry, betrayed, and blindsided.
I feel like I have no one in my corner.
And people wonder why men have a higher suicide rate than women
In my interview I was promised:
30+ hours a week
And a $3/hour raise after 2 weeks
I have only had about 3 weeks that were 30 or more hours. Most of my first few paychecks were 20 hours for 2 weeks.
I never got the raise.
I'm a grown man with a disabled wife (however she hasn't been able to get disability yet).
I dont have kids, but that doesn't mean that my wife and I don't deserve to be able to support ourselves.
I fucking hate this country so bad. It is so ready to turn a blind eye to bullshit and say, “it's not my problem.”
It's only getting worse too, as each family is struggling harder and harder. People can't help others as much as they used to.
I feel so unfairly treated.
And between me and my boss, only one of us is going to end up homeless at the end of the month. And of course it's the person that wanted to do things right, and didn't want to die by electrocution in the line of duty.
Just ranting, but if anyone has any advice, I'd love to hear it.
Edited for typos.