I was working for a small company (maybe 50 employees) for about 3 years and everything was going well. I was their only electrician and they paid me ok but not great, but I was ok with this since it was my first job after graduating.
It all started with COVID. During the first week or two of COVID going rampant nobody really knew how bad it was or wasn't, but there were a lot of ppl fearful of what was happening. I had already anticipated my state being “shut down” and decided to use my remaining vacation days to stay at home until that happened.
My state shut down all non-essential businesses while I was on vacation, and since my business wasn't essential- I didn't go back. I stayed home and collected unemployment until the state reopened. I returned to work and the environment had become pretty hostile.
Unbeknownst to me, when the state shut down, my employer asked for “volunteers” to stay and help operations. I didn't know this, because I was at home when this all happened.
The company was angry with all of the employees who didn't continue to work, and let ALL of them go. I guess they let me come back because I wasn't there when they offered volunteers to stay, and probably because I was the only person there that could do what I did.
Everyone had an attitude when I went back. They were all angry that they had been working all summer, extra hard to make up for the lack of employees- while the ones who didn't volunteer got to stay at home making MORE money than they would have made working. I was making $400 more a week staying home on unemployment than I would going to work.
I was tired of working with everyone because of their attitude. I get it… they are mad because they volunteered trying to help the company and got shafted for doing so. Even management has a poor attitude because all of there stuff was going into disrepair while I was gone. But since all of that was beyond my control I decided to take some time off until hopefully everyone's attitude changed.
I had just had a new baby about 8 months prior and never took my paternity leave because the company was going through an expansion in which I was doing all of the electrical. I put my time off on hold to help the company in their time of need. That being the case, I still had 12 weeks of time off to take.
I told the owner of my intentions and was immediately met with dissatisfaction. It was slightly understandable given that I had just been off 5 months and they needed my help pretty badly. However, due to their poor attitudes and the hostility in the workplace- I decided to continue with my plan.
I reminded them that when my child was born that I put off my time with the family and was back at work THE NEXT DAY so that the building expansion could continue. The owner took me aside and told me that paternity leave was some obama era bullshit and that if he could do anything that I'd be in trouble. It was clear at this point he was beyond pissed off.
They asked me how much time I was taking off, and I tried to work around THEIR needs. Since I had been gone for so long they had a lot of work they needed done that only I could do, so I offered to take my time off in increments. I offered to take off a week or two and come back for a week or two before taking another week or two off.
They must have thought I couldn't afford to take 12 weeks off all at once, because they told me I could only take 1 continuous leave- and asked me how long it would be. When I said 12 weeks he just about lost it, but he couldn't deny me the time off since it's the law.
I spent the next 12 weeks taking a 3-month vacation with the family going camping and sightseeing. Then I the day I was supposed to come back, I didn't show up. I went to work the next day instead, to get my belongings and formally quit… but before I could tell them I quit- they fired me for missing the previous day.
I acted shocked but it wasn't a suprise to me, and I went along with it for one reason only…
I filed for unemployment and explained I was fired after just one absence. I had never had any attendance issues or any other problems so being fired for missing one day just seemed kind of retaliatory. I explained to the unemployment agency the entire situation in detail, including the obama era bullshit remark, and even though I was fired, the agency granted me 6 more months of unemployment. Needless to say my employer was not happy, but I sent them an email thanking them for “letting me collect unemployment” while looking for a new job- even though I knew this wasn't their choice.
I ended up getting a job that is better in every way, making $10.00 more an hour, and haven't looked back until now- to share this story.