How I Got Fired from my Job

(Names of company and managers have been removed or changed for privacy reasons).

It is the moment no one wants to experience. Your boss asks you to come into the office, but they don’t tell you why. And then, they hit you with the news described in two words. YOU’RE FIRED! It is a devastating, punch-to-the-gut feeling that can feel unexpected sometimes. After all the hard work/effort you put into working for that company, it can feel like your career is over. My intentions were to never get fired from any job, but it happened during my first job out of college.

If you read my last blog post, you already know what this is going to be about. But just to get things cleared, I did not get fired for doing anything bad! Usually when you hear about someone getting fired, you think they did something terrible. However, the situation(s) I had to deal with in this job were mostly out of my control, and I couldn’t do anything about it no matter how much I used my voice. To be honest, I wasn’t satisfied with this job a few months before I got fired. I felt like I was in a toxic work environment, and I will explain how that led me to getting fired.

I worked at a bank for my first postgrad job, and my position was all about educating customers about the bank’s digital resources such as online, and the mobile app. The only reason why I got this job was because the manager at the time thought it fit my skillset based on my experiences, and I thought it sounded interesting too. The first couple of weeks weren’t so bad as it was all training, but it was just watching a bunch of videos that I wished I could’ve done at home. After that, it got pretty stressful when I started working on the teller line, which was also part of the position. During the first week, I screwed up so bad that my manager (let’s call them Mark), took me off the teller line and put me on the concierge side just so I can work on my “customer interaction skills.” While I was on concierge, I gradually moved back into doing bank transactions starting with non-cash transactions (ex. check deposits). I still struggled a little bit, but there was one moment that I saw was a red flag in my job. One day Mark told me that on Saturday, we were going to be short staffed, and we needed everyone to be all hands-on deck. They asked me if I could do a few transactions that I barely had any practice on, and I said no. I was asked to meet them in their office, and the next few minutes were not pretty. Mark berated me that I have been working here for a month (didn’t even feel like a month), and I did not know how to do those certain transactions. They also questioned my major saying it was much harder to obtain that major than doing some transactions. The one moment that shook me was when they threatened to take over my job if I didn’t pass their test on the transactions.

After that, I headed back to the concierge desk, filled with anxiety and my legs shaking. I was traumatized over the way my manager just treated me. Luckily, I was able to pass the “test” and still work the next day without a problem, but it just felt so brutal when they were testing me. I went ahead and reported this to human resources, however, it was completely brushed under the rug. They told me that I needed to have more communication with my manager(s), but that wasn’t going to resolve them threatening me. In fact, Mark told me the reason why I was on concierge doing non-cash transactions was because they didn’t think I was ready to do cash transactions. That really pissed me off, because they didn’t think I was capable of doing anything. They also criticized me for continuing to make mistakes which stressed me out because I was expected to be a perfect person. But the truth is no one is really perfect, which is why we make mistakes, to learn! Fortunately, a couple months later, Mark left the branch and got promoted to a higher position in corporate. For a while I was relieved that they were not my manager, and I was put back on the teller line doing normal transactions.

Soon after, a new manager came to our branch (let’s call them Sarah). Initially, I thought that they were really nice and supportive but, things took a huge turn for the worst. This one kept blaming me for the things I didn’t even do, mostly for bad customer service. I have worked in customer service before, so I had the experience of dealing with rude customers. But every time I have a rude customer yell at my face, it just makes me feel insecure about my work. There was this lady who was a regular customer that came in every day, and I helped her a few times. She can be quite terrifying when you don’t follow what she wanted you to do. One time, I didn’t quite understand how she wanted the money to be deposited, so I ended up making a mistake. She then insulted me saying that I needed more training which wasn’t the case. I was nervous about doing her transactions which is why I made that mistake. Since then, I feared for her presence everyday hoping I never had to help her.

Another time, there was a man who needed to get a wire done. However, that wire was not able to get processed. I called him explaining the situation, but he sounded angry and told me that the experience he had was bad. The truth was that things happened that were out of my control, like my keyboard battery died while I was doing the wire so I had to replace that battery. In his perspective, that made him wait a long time to get his wire done. A separate department of the bank also tried to reach out to him, but he was at work and he couldn’t tell if the number they were calling from was a scam number. My assistant manager also told me that I yelled at him through the phone which was not the case. One of the questions was worded in a way that was hard for me to explain to him. Also, my window was next to the radio that was playing loud music (which I think is a stupid idea for a bank) so he couldn’t hear me that well. Unfortunately, my side of the story did not persuade my manager because the bank is focused on providing an exceptional “customer experience.” In other words, they believed that “the customer is always right” so they have to support the customer.

Because of this (and several other customer issues that I was also blamed for), I was given a warning. I have never gotten some type of punishment like that before, so it made me defeated that I wasn’t making any progress in this job. Another thing that Sarah blamed me for was when the line got too long because either me, or one of my coworkers, was taking too long. Sometimes customers can be picky and they are the ones who actually hold up the line. There were a couple times where my manager came up to me all because I was taking too long with the customer, but I was doing my best to help them quickly. After they acted “nice” in front of the customer they would turn to me, and “bully” me for holding up the line. Another reason why the line is long is because sometimes there would only be two people on the line against the hundreds of customers that come in every day. If you think about it, pretend the two employees are two machines that have to produce items for a very high demand. However, those two machines can’t keep up with it otherwise they would use up all the energy. Therefore, there needs to be more machines to balance out the supply and demand. My manager didn’t think we were ever short staffed when it came to that situation, and they also couldn’t assist us unless things got super busy.

Due to how my new manager had been treating me, I was feeling unsatisfied with my job (even before Sarah I wasn’t happy but at this point, I starting to feel depressed). Every day I would come in unhappy while trying to survive each day without getting any kind of punishment or talk from them. It was almost like I was walking on eggshells trying not to lose this job. I thought that if I could stay in this job for at least a year without getting fired, I would find another job. However, that did not happen. One day, my manager told me that a customer I assisted complained that I turned him away after helping him. All I remembered was that this customer presented one check in front of me to deposit. I didn’t recall him telling me he had more things that needed to be deposited. The particular check he gave me was taking a while to get approved because the amount was over myself and my manager’s limit. I told him he was good to go, and that the check would be processed right away after getting approved. I wasn’t able to save myself out of this because my manager was on the customer’s side.

The week after that happened, I seemed to be having a good day at work until after the bank closed. When everyone left, I had to stay behind and talk to Sarah and the marketing manager for the bank. It was where that incident caused me to get terminated from my job after I surpassed my warnings. It was pretty shocking to hear the news because that never happened to me or anyone in my family before. I had worked so hard to apply for this first job, and I blew it! I didn’t know how my parents were going to react when I told them the news. After that, my manager escorted me to get my belongings and out of the building. When I arrived home, I was in the car with my mom, and I broke down when I told her what happened. Luckily, she wasn’t upset and said not to worry about it. I also told my high school friend the same night, and she was actually the one who kept telling me that banking was not the right job for me every time I ranted to her about my crappy days at work.

And that is why I got fired from my first postgrad job, which is why I am once again searching for a new one. To me, it sounds very disappointing that I didn’t stay in the job for that long. I didn’t want to quit the job early on because the salary seemed pretty good, and the bank had a student loans assistance program. There was also a third-party counseling service that the bank provided, which I used numerous times to get through the pressures of my job. However, getting terminated turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I know longer have to work in an environment where I am not supported or heard by upper management. I don’t have to deal with the stress and burnout from work because every day when I came home, I would hardly have any energy. To any recruiter that is reading this, please do not think that I was a very bad employee. The circumstances were not the best for me, and that I can only do my best when I in a supportive work environment. There have been other times in my other jobs that I did really well all because I enjoyed what I was doing, and everyone was supporting me.

If any of my former coworkers and managers come across this blog, I am just letting you know that I really put a lot of effort into perfecting my skills while working. I was also a bit of help sometimes, especially when we were short-staffed. If you saw me struggle and make mistakes at times, please don’t think that I was an idiot, which I am not. I am not trying to bash any of you or the company, but because I didn’t get the support I needed, you no longer see me at work. However, I did learn some lessons along the way that I could apply to my next job, so I thank you for that. What I don’t thank you for is the way I was treated since day one of my employment. If the managers continue to inflict that type of behavior on their employees, you will lose a lot of them. Then you have to go through the difficult task of replacing those hardworking employees. To whoever replaced me in my former position, I hope you are doing a lot better than I was, and I assume my former co-workers favor you more. But if you encounter the same issues I went through at work, then you are better off working somewhere else, and if that is the case, RUN from the job! Since I didn't part ways with my last job on a good note, I have no interest of ever seeing your faces ever again, whether you were my colleague or my manager.