I first applied to a job at a car store working in parts, thinking it was something that more aligned with what I wanted to do, and it unfortunately did not turn out to be exactly what I wanted as I was working it nor was I happy with the pay for the amount of stress that was involved. (Also knowing my coworkers were paid better than me didn't help, even with my work output being the same as them).
I decided I want to work at another car store for better pay and maybe get into a position that better suited my interest. I applied there. Unfortunately, that car store is a sister store of the company, and they found out almost immediately that I applied there. At first, the hiring manager wouldn't take my calls at all and from what I found out is that he wasn't allowed to speak to me until my managers approved it. Apparently there is a rule between sister stores to “not steal employees from other stores”. My managers appeared nice and said that “well, it's only business, we would love to keep you here, but we won't stop you from interviewing there since you know what's best for you.” So I went ahead and tried to get in contact with the hiring manager again, and by that time he said that he understood differently and that my managers had told him that I was happy to stay with my store, and furthermore he had already started the hiring process with someone else.
Couple weeks later, another ad pops up and it turns out it is exactly the position I wanted at the store and had been waiting on. I quickly got a hold of the manager there and he told me to submit my application. I went ahead and did just that and even out of respect, told my manager upfront what I did. All my manager could say to that was “well that's frustrating and annoying”.
Two days later, I am brought down to my manager's office and was told “You are being let go, so you're free to take that interview at the other store”. I was shocked, couldn't believe I was being fired for that reason alone, especially as I had been performing well in my job. Apparently the general manager of my store was displeased with my non-commitment to the store and instructed my managers to fire me. (the general manager did not even talk to me in person once). And this was done without consideration of how much my absence will affect my coworkers. (there were three of us working the job and even that wasn't enough to keep up with the demand).
Though with my experience and seeing that the manager at the other store had shown a lot of interest in my experience to be apart of the team, I tried to keep my head up. I called him and he said for me to come over and we would get talking to two other managers, including the general manager of that store. First interview seemingly went very well, and both managers seemed happy with me there. Then the next interview with the general manager happened, and that's where I was humiliated.
The general manager asked me about myself and my life path leading up to here. He then took apart my resume, mocked me for my life choices, and even went so far as to ask me about my complaints of working at the prior store only to invalidate them completely to make me seem like a bad person and not fit for his store. He even went as far as to argue that my pay was good with 3% commission of gross profit was good (of which . He literally gave me an example that if I grossed $20,000, 1.5% of that is $3000… And that if I grossed $40,000 I would have made $6000. I quickly tried to correct that in a respectful manner in saying that I had made $3100 from grossing $106,000, so that didn't seem right at all. He dismissed it of course and literally gaslit me that the $106k number was only total sales number and not out of gross profit and that he knew better of how well my store was doing. He then decided to tell me that they don't believe I would be loyal enough to his store, that my experience in the job meant nothing to him, and that he will “pass” on me. Ouch.
This was a job I truly wanted from the beginning, and I can't help but feel this was a set-up to make an example of me in the corporate world, all because I wanted something that suited me better. The general managers of both stores got together to make sure I wouldn't get what I want, is the suspicion I gather from this. Further exemplifying how corporations demand the utmost loyalty from you, while ensuring they never give you an ounce of it back.
Feeling incredibly disheartened and not sure what direction to head towards at this point..