Let me preface this by first saying that I've only been at the job since late May, early June, and that I was still under probation with my ex employer. Our work requires that we drive company vehicles to reach our clientele's homes. Company vehicles range from Ford Transits too Chevrolet Savannah's. I was given a Transit, and for the most part, felt comfortable enough to drive in it on my own, or so I thought.
Before I continue, I should mention that I'm a bit of a late bloomer in getting my driver's license, and that I only just acquired my G2 driver's back in January (for those who aren't familiar with the Canadian drivers license system, it's basically the last step before getting your full license). That didn't seem to bother my ex employer when they hired me, and they were still able to put me on the company's insurance without issue.
Anyways, some of you might be able to guess already where this is headed, so I'll cut to the chase. A few weeks back while arriving to one of the customers homes, I reversed parked into their driveway, making note of the narrow entrance, and a few different vehicles that we're parked parallel to each other. One was a Mini Cooper, the other, a truck. I start my process and keep a close eye on my left mirror, using the truck that was parked as my guide. Well I should have been looking in my right mirror to, because eventually I got to close, and dinged the Mini Cooper.
Not that the damage was anything serious, to the point where I wasn't even going to say anything, but since I have integrity I told my boss after he showed up to the customer's home (I was still being trained for work) and admitted my blunder to him. He took photos with his work phone and didn't say much after that. Later the following work day, after a service call I attended at a different customer's home, the operations manager (who I will now refer to as the OP manager for simplicity's sake) gives me a call and says he wants to have a meeting and discuss the previous days incident.
I get to the meeting where he pulls up the photos and asks how this could have happened, and points out the tire tracks in the customer's driveway, noticing that I initially struggled to park and that he could tell several adjustments we're made. I explained to him that yes, I was not used to driving a vehicle with just side mirrors, and that when I got my license, the car that I had practiced in had a rear view mirror and that my personal car now has a rear view camera, so I was a little out of my depth.
The OP manager then tells me that he's proud of me for coming forward and that here at (company name) we admire integrity. So he let me off with a verbal warning, and said that so long as I didn't hit any more parked cars, they're wouldn't be any problems. He said they would also then train me how to reverse park in the Transit since it was obviously something I very much needed, which I of course, agreed to.
Welp, fast forward to about a couple weeks later and I get to the first call of day. It's raining, but not to the point where it had an effect on road conditions and I get to the house unhindered. As I pull over to right side of road, I check both mirrors and begin reverse the vehicle into the customer's driveway, it was only then after the rear left hand side of the vehicle dipped into the customer's ditch that I then realized I overshot it. Thankfully for myself, the customer was pretty easy going about the whole thing, as was my supervisor after I had immediately called him to report my blunder. He told me over the phone not to worry about it, that they would call me a tow truck, and to proceed with the job, so I did.
After he shows up, the tow truck followed shortly after and the Transit was removed from the ditch without issue. Luckily for me, the Transit and the customer's culvert we're without damage. My boss made a few jokes at my expense, saying how him and my OP manager we're going to sign me up for Canada's Worst Driver. I asked him if I'd finally get the training I was promised originally after my first reversing incident to which he told me yes.
After that, I took my lunch, and went to my next call, which my supervisor accompanied me on and we finished up around 3 P.M., about an hour before quitting time. My supervisor then tells to me head back to base as he told me that the OP manager wanted to have a meeting with me before the day was over. Presuming this meeting was going to be about my reverse parking training, I head to base and walk into the OP's managers office, only to have tell me that they would be laying me off, indefinitely.
I was shocked, and a little disappointed but didn't argue with him as I could feel his mind had already been made up. I had to remove my tools from the transit and a ride home was arranged for me. On my way out, I told my boss that the OP manager was letting me go, to which he was surprised and a little frustrated, because the OP manager never bothered to run it by him.
My OP manager did say in my meeting with him before I left that the story would be that I was laid off for lack of work, and that they would give me a reference if needed which given my scenario, I graciously accepted as things could have turned out a lot worse.
I did also ask my boss if he was also comfortable giving me a reference, which he said he had no issue with, or so I thought. This past weekend I had an interview, where the employer knew my my old boss (our line of work is a small world), and told me he would definitely be giving him a call, but not before asking why my time at the company was cut short. I told this potential new employer the story I was given, that I was indeed laid off for shortage of work and after a brief exchange of asking about my experience, we left it at that.
Well obviously my old boss didn't get the memo, cause the potential new employer texted me saying that he told about how I “struggled with the work van, and that he'd be going with a more experienced candidate”. So that really fucken sucks.
Not sure if that counts as slander or not and I'm not quite sure what my options are here but all that to say is fuck employers who promise to train you and then never follow through. I realize that much of this could have been avoided if I just pulled in rather than reverse park, but we had a company safety policy that deemed where we had to reverse park should we have to park in a client's driveway. Otherwise next step's for me include not using my old boss as a reference anymore, but maybe instead just use my old OP manager since the “me being laid off for lack of work” was his story, and to write another certification exam for my line of work coming up in October in hopes of increasing my qualifications in a field where everyone is looking for people with 3 to 5 years experience anyways, but I'm going to try my best and take what I've learned here with me.