I want to start off by saying I am an extremely hard worker and very competitive with myself. No one at StubHub I worked with would say otherwise. I got accolade after accolade. I was a top performer month after month at StubHub and received some of the highest bonuses in my department. I included some of my awards in the link below. I have never been terminated from a job before. https://imgur.com/a/7wb2rqM
I was fired from StubHub at 4:30pm Oct 30th the day before I was supposed to start a new role in a different department which included a significant pay raise. The department head of my department I was in called a 1 on 1 meeting at 4:30pm. My supervisor and I headed into the conference room. The department head was on the big screen with a HR member (zoom meeting). I honestly thought he was about to give me a gift or some kind of monetary incentive before I started training in the new department the following morning at 9am. He has given me gifts before like Crumbl cookies for being a top performer. I sat down all excited and he said I had two “behavioral incidents” in October. My heart sank when I heard his tone. This was news to me as I was never written up or told my behavior was not within company policy.
The first “behavioral incident” he referenced was “when I shouted at a supervisor across the floor”. He couldn’t have had the details more incorrect. What actually happened was a supervisor was helping me in an internal chat with a customer. The supervisor couldn’t help me so I simply closed the chat and proceeded to call the customer to resolve the issue. The supervisor shouted to me across the floor in a very nasty tone, “Did you mean to close the chat? Do you still need help?” The tone was so nasty and loud that multiple people on the floor looked up from their computers at her. I didn’t know how to respond or to just ignore her. I figured ignoring a supervisor would have been worse. So in a calm voice I simply said, “No I don’t need help, you were unhelpful so I am going to call the customer”. She immediately reported it to her manager. The manager accused me of shouting at the supervisor when the supervisor was the one that initiated the conversation by shouting at me. I asked to have a 1 on 1 with the manager right away to clear the air. The manager and I talked for 20 minutes, she was frustrated because I refused to admit that the supervisor was unhelpful was the proper response. The supervisor was unhelpful so it was the proper response. When I asked the manager why she was upset with me instead of the supervisor who was the one that initiated the conversation she said she was going to talk to the supervisor as she was out of line. I asked the manager via Slack and in the 1 on 1 if in the future if I should ignore a supervisor if they shout across the floor at me. Manager would not answer my honest question. I later found out the supervisor apologized to my supervisor for how she acted and treated me. She never apologized to me. I didn’t think it was a big deal because the situation wasn’t. Supervisor seemed to be the only one that took it personally. The whole “incident” was 10 seconds. I never heard anything again after I called for the 1 on 1 with the Manager.
The second “behavioral incident” in October involved me putting a thumbs down emoji “” on a internal Slack message a supervisor sent me asking me to take phone calls for the last 55 minutes of my shift when I was scheduled to work chats my whole shift as indicated on my schedule. If you read the Slack conversation I was completely respectful and did take phone calls for the rest of my shift. The department head in my termination meeting said it was the thumbs down emoji that was an issue not the Slack messages.
I honestly am in shock that the department head fired me over these two “incidents” when I had five hours left in my shift before I started my new position in a different department. No write-ups, no warnings, nothing. I can’t think of a more petty reason to terminate someone especially after so much I did for StubHub and the customers. Insult to injury, the HR member in the termination meeting said since I was such a good employee she was going to have payroll pay me for the full shift on Monday Oct 30th (day I got fired) and the following day Oct 31st. I feel like this whole situation is completely unfair, unprofessional, and unethical. If there truly was an issue with my behavior, why did I receive a promotion six days before I was terminated with five hours left in my shift before I changed departments? The interview process to get the promotion started at the end of August, I was sent the offer letter Oct 24th, I was terminated Oct 30th, and was supposed to start the new role Oct 31st.
I wish there was more to this story but that is every detail. Am I in the wrong here? Is this normal behavior now in corporate America? I got my final paycheck last night but of course no bonuses I have earned the previous months were included (bonuses are paid out quarterly). I also didn't get my last pay stub since it was done online and they closed access to my account. The department head a while back told me he was going through a nasty divorce with his ex-wife. He said his ex-wife and his daughter hate him. Now I understand why, he’s a horrible person. Now I’m off to try and figure out how to sign up for unemployment. Never filed for unemployment before.