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Urgently need advice for my meeting with unemployment today

This is embarrassing now, because my boss is making it personal. I’ve tried to write this so many times, and it gets so long. This is my briefest version. I worked at this company for 5 years. Very small (less than 10 people and half of them are siblings) We did not have an HR Dept. I found out (on accident) that the new hire, who I am still training, is being paid more than I am I confronted the boss about it and he fired me for “breaking the golden rule of snooping” …and for “being an alcoholic” and being hungover on company time. I have these things in writing I have never been written up or even verbally warned of any issues arising from my “alcoholism” I thought of him as a father figure and so I’d opened up to him about my struggles with alcohol, mostly because…


This is embarrassing now, because my boss is making it personal.

I’ve tried to write this so many times, and it gets so long. This is my briefest version.

  • I worked at this company for 5 years. Very small (less than 10 people and half of them are siblings)
  • We did not have an HR Dept.
  • I found out (on accident) that the new hire, who I am still training, is being paid more than I am
  • I confronted the boss about it and he fired me for “breaking the golden rule of snooping” …and for “being an alcoholic” and being hungover on company time. I have these things in writing
  • I have never been written up or even verbally warned of any issues arising from my “alcoholism”
  • I thought of him as a father figure and so I’d opened up to him about my struggles with alcohol, mostly because he is a former opiate addict and I thought he was offering me advice. He is now using that against me.
  • I was an incredible employee and I say that with all confidence. I was the only one in the office all day. I came in all through covid because I thought my loyalty would pay off. I wrote a 20-page employee training manual from scratch, including worksheets and activity books. I often created projects outside of my job description to help the company in big ways. I was creative, positive, and a team player.

Now to today. I have a phone call with unemployment. I filed as being “fired” for “reasons not listed” so obviously they want to follow up.

What do I say and not say? I’m so nervous and honestly still heartbroken over this situation.

I think I’m going to lean into the angle that he fired me for “snooping,” which I did on accident, and for “poor performance,” which I was never written up for, reprimanded, talked to, or warned about.

I just want this phone call to be over and I’m praying I’m making it out to be scarier than it is.

Any help is hugely appreciated. Thank you ️

Edit: This is in California.

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