My wife has been incredibly ill for nearly two years now, and unable to work because of it. I have been the sole earner through this. It has been hard, but we were mostly limping along. We uprooted everything in June to move to a new city with a significantly higher cost of living for a job that provided better health benefits, with the hope that it would open further opportunities for us and get her closer to the medical care that she requires.
The job itself was great, maintenance work at a university, part of a very large union national union in the US. No on the job training to speak of, but it is the sort of work that I have been doing for years off and on. Four month probationary period, but that's not exactly unusual. Communication at work was pretty poor, but I did my best and made sure to check in periodically for updates on my performance, as my continued employment was contingent on it. Got a bunch of vague thumbs up, was told everything was good. A few mishaps in the first couple of weeks, but that is to be expected at a new job and I resolved any issues to the best of my abilities, learned from mistakes, etc. Settled in to a work routine, everything was going smoothly. Didn't get along that well with a couple of the veteran crew members, but you can't please them all and it's not a popularity contest.
Management knew about my home situation, and seemed understanding. My wife ended up getting hospitalized for a week and half, and had a few other emergencies that I had to tuck out of work for, but like I said; they seemed understanding. We don't really know anyone out here, and her condition has worsened enough that she can't drive anymore, so if anything came up I had to drop everything and leave. This was established during the interview process, and again when I was offered the job. I was told that “life happens, and you have to do what you have to do,” and we only lived about five minutes away.
I mention all of this simply to point out that they were entirely aware of what they were doing when they fired me this morning, the day before my probation period ended. No warning, no talks about needing improvement. Nothing. A simple, very vague “not meeting expectations,” and a notice of termination of employment letter. When I asked if they could be more specific, I got more vague non-answers, and a couple of projects were brought up that had taken too long to complete. When I pointed out that they took too long to complete because I was waiting on materials that had yet to be ordered, as that is management's job and I did not have the capability to do so on my own, the manager got angry and brought up another example, similarly outside of my control. I was then escorted to my locker, and then out of the building.
So here I am. The health insurance that we rely on officially ends as of today, not to mention my pay. We have a little bit left in savings, but what is left is about to get burned on COBRA coverage for the remainder of the month so that my wife doesn't die for lack of medical care in the next month. The incredible union that the job fell under won't help me, because union membership is conditional on making it through the probationary period. The manager made a big deal about the fact that I was not being fired for cause, simply that I wasn't a good fit for the job and that it wouldn't impact my ability to pursue other jobs at the university, but that isn't going to help me in the short term. If I was such a bad fit, why wait this long? Why let me feel like I had a modicum of safety? Why tell me that everything was going smoothly for months and then pull this now? It all feels like a bad joke and they misinterpreted what the phrase “punch line,” meant. I'm bloody enough; I don't need this.
Sincerely,
Tired, scared, and increasingly disillusioned.