So I'm getting fired

johnjohn320

Diamond Member
Jan 9, 2001
7,572
2
76
I started work at a store late last week (just a summer job, I'm a college student). Everything's been going fine, no problems that I'm aware of. Last night I got really sick (think a friend of mine gave me a bug), and it's carried over into today, when I was supposed to work. I call in sick. I'm told that because this is my first week that "that's not good" and that I need to call back later and talk to some other person. I call back and he informs me that chances are they're going to let me go if I don't come in today.

I don't even care that much. If these assholes wanna fire a hard-working employee for calling in sick once, then that's fine. Summer's not long from over, I have another (small but adequate) source of income, and summer school's keeping me plenty busy. I guess I can see it from their perspective, but I still think they're being a bit ridiculous. The only thing I'm concerned about is future job applications-I'll have to put it down that I was terminated from my last job. :( Hope that doesn't affect things too terribly much. I've never been fired from a job before. Oh well.

UPDATE:
Wow. 100 replies sure came fast. So here's my update:

I did officially get fired when I showed up for my shift today (still feeling like crap). It's cool, I understand their position. A little over the top, maybe, but still, I recognize how bad it looks to call in sick at such an early time in the employment.

Now, to the rest of you people throwing a tantrum and pointing a finger at me, calling me "entitled" or "lazy," that I have no work ethic or that I'm the downfall of modern society, etc: I went to the doctor this morning and was indeed diagnosed with the stomach flu. The day I called in, I had thrown up 3 times before I even thought about picking up the phone. I felt/feel like sh!t, and I don't particularly care whether you believe that or not.

I have worked at least a summer job consistently since I was 14. Yesterday was the first time, in all those 6 years, that I ever called in sick to one of my jobs. Ever. I wasn't even sure how it would all play out, because I've never called off before in my life.

I have another job interview lined up already, one that's with a campus employer so they'll hopefully be flexible with my schedule. That was one problem with the store-I am currently a student, and I am taking classes. Often times professors schedule exams on Saturdays, etc, to be able to fit everything in, and they were not understanding of this at all.

So, I guess my main points:
I am sick. Believe it or don't, I don't care.

I recognize now how bad it looks to call off your first week. I admit my mistake in not coming in to "demonstrate my illness" and, well, I guess I've learned something. (gasp!)

I'm not lazy-I work hard at everything I do. I just had poor timing and a lack of foresight here. I paid the price and lost my job. Life goes on. No need to throw around such catty insults.
 

ScottyB

Diamond Member
Jan 28, 2002
6,677
1
0
Originally posted by: johnjohn320
I started work at a store late last week (just a summer job, I'm a college student). Everything's been going fine, no problems that I'm aware of. Last night I got really sick (think a friend of mine gave me a bug), and it's carried over into today, when I was supposed to work. I call in sick. I'm told that because this is my first week that "that's not good" and that I need to call back later and talk to some other person. I call back and he informs me that chances are they're going to let me go if I don't come in today.

I don't even care that much. If these assholes wanna fire a hard-working employee for calling in sick once, then that's fine. Summer's not long from over, I have another (small but adequate) source of income, and summer school's keeping me plenty busy. I guess I can see it from their perspective, but I still think they're being a bit ridiculous. The only thing I'm concerned about is future job applications-I'll have to put it down that I was terminated from my last job. :( Hope that doesn't affect things too terribly much. I've never been fired from a job before. Oh well.



Why do you have to put down you got fired? Just don't put the job down on your list of previous employers.
 

BigJ

Lifer
Nov 18, 2001
21,330
1
81
Welcome to the real world.

What you should've done is gone into work, and once they realized how sick you are, they would've sent you home and all would've been well. You messed up during the probationary period, so you're gone.
 

vital

Platinum Member
Sep 28, 2000
2,534
1
81
why would you even put a job history in your application for 1 week of work?
 

johnjohn320

Diamond Member
Jan 9, 2001
7,572
2
76
Originally posted by: ScottyB
Originally posted by: johnjohn320
I started work at a store late last week (just a summer job, I'm a college student). Everything's been going fine, no problems that I'm aware of. Last night I got really sick (think a friend of mine gave me a bug), and it's carried over into today, when I was supposed to work. I call in sick. I'm told that because this is my first week that "that's not good" and that I need to call back later and talk to some other person. I call back and he informs me that chances are they're going to let me go if I don't come in today.

I don't even care that much. If these assholes wanna fire a hard-working employee for calling in sick once, then that's fine. Summer's not long from over, I have another (small but adequate) source of income, and summer school's keeping me plenty busy. I guess I can see it from their perspective, but I still think they're being a bit ridiculous. The only thing I'm concerned about is future job applications-I'll have to put it down that I was terminated from my last job. :( Hope that doesn't affect things too terribly much. I've never been fired from a job before. Oh well.



Why do you have to put down you got fired? Just don't put the job down on your list of previous employers.

Can you do that? I thought you had to put down all your previous employers, and if they checked you out and found out you lied (like leaving one brief employment out), you could be in sh!t.
 

vital

Platinum Member
Sep 28, 2000
2,534
1
81
Originally posted by: johnjohn320
Originally posted by: ScottyB
Originally posted by: johnjohn320
I started work at a store late last week (just a summer job, I'm a college student). Everything's been going fine, no problems that I'm aware of. Last night I got really sick (think a friend of mine gave me a bug), and it's carried over into today, when I was supposed to work. I call in sick. I'm told that because this is my first week that "that's not good" and that I need to call back later and talk to some other person. I call back and he informs me that chances are they're going to let me go if I don't come in today.

I don't even care that much. If these assholes wanna fire a hard-working employee for calling in sick once, then that's fine. Summer's not long from over, I have another (small but adequate) source of income, and summer school's keeping me plenty busy. I guess I can see it from their perspective, but I still think they're being a bit ridiculous. The only thing I'm concerned about is future job applications-I'll have to put it down that I was terminated from my last job. :( Hope that doesn't affect things too terribly much. I've never been fired from a job before. Oh well.



Why do you have to put down you got fired? Just don't put the job down on your list of previous employers.

Can you do that? I thought you had to put down all your previous employers, and if they checked you out and found out you lied (like leaving one brief employment out), you could be in sh!t.


how are they able to check? maybe by pulling your tax records... but I never heard of a company going that far.
 

ScottyB

Diamond Member
Jan 28, 2002
6,677
1
0
Originally posted by: johnjohn320
Originally posted by: ScottyB
Originally posted by: johnjohn320
I started work at a store late last week (just a summer job, I'm a college student). Everything's been going fine, no problems that I'm aware of. Last night I got really sick (think a friend of mine gave me a bug), and it's carried over into today, when I was supposed to work. I call in sick. I'm told that because this is my first week that "that's not good" and that I need to call back later and talk to some other person. I call back and he informs me that chances are they're going to let me go if I don't come in today.

I don't even care that much. If these assholes wanna fire a hard-working employee for calling in sick once, then that's fine. Summer's not long from over, I have another (small but adequate) source of income, and summer school's keeping me plenty busy. I guess I can see it from their perspective, but I still think they're being a bit ridiculous. The only thing I'm concerned about is future job applications-I'll have to put it down that I was terminated from my last job. :( Hope that doesn't affect things too terribly much. I've never been fired from a job before. Oh well.



Why do you have to put down you got fired? Just don't put the job down on your list of previous employers.

Can you do that? I thought you had to put down all your previous employers, and if they checked you out and found out you lied (like leaving one brief employment out), you could be in sh!t.


What, are they going to call all your friends and find out if you are lying? They don't know what you've done. They look at your resume, call your listed employers and references (at most), and sometimes do a criminal background check.
 

rsd

Platinum Member
Dec 30, 2003
2,293
0
76
Originally posted by: johnjohn320
Originally posted by: ScottyB
Originally posted by: johnjohn320
I started work at a store late last week (just a summer job, I'm a college student). Everything's been going fine, no problems that I'm aware of. Last night I got really sick (think a friend of mine gave me a bug), and it's carried over into today, when I was supposed to work. I call in sick. I'm told that because this is my first week that "that's not good" and that I need to call back later and talk to some other person. I call back and he informs me that chances are they're going to let me go if I don't come in today.

I don't even care that much. If these assholes wanna fire a hard-working employee for calling in sick once, then that's fine. Summer's not long from over, I have another (small but adequate) source of income, and summer school's keeping me plenty busy. I guess I can see it from their perspective, but I still think they're being a bit ridiculous. The only thing I'm concerned about is future job applications-I'll have to put it down that I was terminated from my last job. :( Hope that doesn't affect things too terribly much. I've never been fired from a job before. Oh well.



Why do you have to put down you got fired? Just don't put the job down on your list of previous employers.

Can you do that? I thought you had to put down all your previous employers, and if they checked you out and found out you lied (like leaving one brief employment out), you could be in sh!t.

LOL

succinctly: no
 

johnjohn320

Diamond Member
Jan 9, 2001
7,572
2
76
Originally posted by: BigJ
Welcome to the real world.

What you should've done is gone into work, and once they realized how sick you are, they would've sent you home and all would've been well. You messed up during the probationary period, so you're gone.

Personally, I wouldn't count getting sick once as "messing up." But I suppose that is the real world for you, you're right.
 

silverpig

Lifer
Jul 29, 2001
27,703
12
81
Originally posted by: johnjohn320
Originally posted by: ScottyB
Originally posted by: johnjohn320
I started work at a store late last week (just a summer job, I'm a college student). Everything's been going fine, no problems that I'm aware of. Last night I got really sick (think a friend of mine gave me a bug), and it's carried over into today, when I was supposed to work. I call in sick. I'm told that because this is my first week that "that's not good" and that I need to call back later and talk to some other person. I call back and he informs me that chances are they're going to let me go if I don't come in today.

I don't even care that much. If these assholes wanna fire a hard-working employee for calling in sick once, then that's fine. Summer's not long from over, I have another (small but adequate) source of income, and summer school's keeping me plenty busy. I guess I can see it from their perspective, but I still think they're being a bit ridiculous. The only thing I'm concerned about is future job applications-I'll have to put it down that I was terminated from my last job. :( Hope that doesn't affect things too terribly much. I've never been fired from a job before. Oh well.



Why do you have to put down you got fired? Just don't put the job down on your list of previous employers.

Can you do that? I thought you had to put down all your previous employers, and if they checked you out and found out you lied (like leaving one brief employment out), you could be in sh!t.

It's only bad if you say you worked for NASA, can speak 5 languages, and ran a company for 3 years when all you've done is worked at McDonald's.
 

BigJ

Lifer
Nov 18, 2001
21,330
1
81
Originally posted by: johnjohn320
Originally posted by: BigJ
Welcome to the real world.

What you should've done is gone into work, and once they realized how sick you are, they would've sent you home and all would've been well. You messed up during the probationary period, so you're gone.

Personally, I wouldn't count getting sick once as "messing up." But I suppose that is the real world for you, you're right.

And they know you're actually sick... how?

Look at it this way:
You're a new hire.
You're calling in sick within the first 2 weeks.
You're calling in sick on the WEEKEND.
You're more than likely not going to be able to provide a Dr's note.

Getting sick is not messing up. Not handling it properly is messing up.
 

ubercaffeinated

Platinum Member
Dec 1, 2002
2,130
0
71
Go in to work sick. You will be miserable, but you can get back at them by getting them sick too. Plus you get to keep your job ey?
 

her209

No Lifer
Oct 11, 2000
56,336
11
0
Quick! Go to the doctor and get a diagnosis. If they fire you, you can take them to court for unlawful termination. $$$ :) $$$
 

XZeroII

Lifer
Jun 30, 2001
12,572
0
0
Originally posted by: johnjohn320
Originally posted by: ScottyB
Originally posted by: johnjohn320
I started work at a store late last week (just a summer job, I'm a college student). Everything's been going fine, no problems that I'm aware of. Last night I got really sick (think a friend of mine gave me a bug), and it's carried over into today, when I was supposed to work. I call in sick. I'm told that because this is my first week that "that's not good" and that I need to call back later and talk to some other person. I call back and he informs me that chances are they're going to let me go if I don't come in today.

I don't even care that much. If these assholes wanna fire a hard-working employee for calling in sick once, then that's fine. Summer's not long from over, I have another (small but adequate) source of income, and summer school's keeping me plenty busy. I guess I can see it from their perspective, but I still think they're being a bit ridiculous. The only thing I'm concerned about is future job applications-I'll have to put it down that I was terminated from my last job. :( Hope that doesn't affect things too terribly much. I've never been fired from a job before. Oh well.



Why do you have to put down you got fired? Just don't put the job down on your list of previous employers.

Can you do that? I thought you had to put down all your previous employers, and if they checked you out and found out you lied (like leaving one brief employment out), you could be in sh!t.

Nope. Job applications are not contracts. Unless you lie about critical items like your address, age or something like that, then there's nothing that they can really do.

If you really feel like you have to put it down, then just put something else in there for the reason why you left. Just say that you started and things were going well, but the company was not reasable with respect to how much you had to work and you had to prepare for school and school had to come first. See? No lie, but it doesn't look so bad.
 

Tsaico

Platinum Member
Oct 21, 2000
2,669
0
0
Originally posted by: johnjohn320
Originally posted by: ScottyB
Originally posted by: johnjohn320
I started work at a store late last week (just a summer job, I'm a college student). Everything's been going fine, no problems that I'm aware of. Last night I got really sick (think a friend of mine gave me a bug), and it's carried over into today, when I was supposed to work. I call in sick. I'm told that because this is my first week that "that's not good" and that I need to call back later and talk to some other person. I call back and he informs me that chances are they're going to let me go if I don't come in today.

I don't even care that much. If these assholes wanna fire a hard-working employee for calling in sick once, then that's fine. Summer's not long from over, I have another (small but adequate) source of income, and summer school's keeping me plenty busy. I guess I can see it from their perspective, but I still think they're being a bit ridiculous. The only thing I'm concerned about is future job applications-I'll have to put it down that I was terminated from my last job. :( Hope that doesn't affect things too terribly much. I've never been fired from a job before. Oh well.



Why do you have to put down you got fired? Just don't put the job down on your list of previous employers.

Can you do that? I thought you had to put down all your previous employers, and if they checked you out and found out you lied (like leaving one brief employment out), you could be in sh!t.


You will if you apply for any law enforcement careers...
 

kranky

Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
21,019
156
106
Originally posted by: her209
Quick! Go to the doctor and get a diagnosis. If they fire you, you can take them to court for unlawful termination. $$$ :) $$$

Do you have any idea what you are talking about? Answer: no.
 

DaveSimmons

Elite Member
Aug 12, 2001
40,730
670
126
Originally posted by: johnjohn320
Can you do that? I thought you had to put down all your previous employers, and if they checked you out and found out you lied (like leaving one brief employment out), you could be in sh!t.
No, you don't, there is no requirement to list every job.

You'll only be questioned if your resume has noticeable gaps in employment, for example:

May 2001 - Feb 2002, short order cook, Denny's
July 2005 - present, long order cook, Red Robin
 

Pikachu

Golden Member
Oct 10, 1999
1,178
0
0
I trained a kid who "worked" with us over the summer. He had been turned down by other places, because it wasn't worth their time to train him, only to have him leave in a few months.

Wish we would have said the same thing. It's bad enough that it was a waste of time to train him, but I never saw anybody take so much time off before. Always a "legitimate" reason, though. :roll:

Kids today just have no concept of what employment is all about. It's not some hobby to bide your time, or keep you busy & off the street. If employers aren't too quick to hire you, it's because your peers made such a bad impression!
 

Kyanzes

Golden Member
Aug 26, 2005
1,082
0
76
Interesting, I haven't had a single day off sick since I started to work (almost exactly 10 years now). Not a single day. That doesn't mean I'm ultra resilient or something, it simply means that I would never risk to take days out when I'm sick. It doesn't worth it. Let them send you home if they want (never accepted that though). You are the most vulnerable when you are not near. You would be very surprised how risky it is to be far from your workplace (sickness, holiday etc). People immediately start to talk about you, the quality of the work you do, your relationship to others etc. Ofc if you brake your bones, get cancer etc. that's different stuff. But I doubt anyone would fire you for breaking your leg. Taking days out on probation is a bad omen also. Either don't be sick or be the boss. However it is still unadvised to leave for a long time even when you are the boss, for obvious reasons :p
 

Number1

Diamond Member
Feb 24, 2006
7,881
549
126
You're too sick to go to work but you are healty ennough to complain on ATOT. If you can't put in extra efforts in your first week of employment, how is it going to be in 6 months. You have clearly demonstrated to your boss that you can't be counted on. This is not school, its the real world
Grow up.
 

dartworth

Lifer
Jul 29, 2001
15,200
10
81
Originally posted by: Kyanzes
Interesting, I haven't had a single day off sick since I started to work (almost exactly 10 years now). Not a single day. That doesn't mean I'm ultra resilient or something, it simply means that I would never risk to take days out when I'm sick. It doesn't worth it. Let them send you home if they want (never accepted that though). You are the most vulnerable when you are not near. You would be very surprised how risky it is to be far from your workplace (sickness, holiday etc). People immediately start to talk about you, the quality of the work you do, your relationship to others etc. Ofc if you brake your bones, get cancer etc. that's different stuff. But I doubt anyone would fire you for breaking your leg. Taking days out on probation is a bad omen also. Either don't be sick or be the boss. However it is still unadvised to leave for a long time even when you are the boss, for obvious reasons :p



lol...you sound like a job-scared little bitch...

:confused:
 

CFster

Golden Member
Oct 16, 1999
1,903
0
76
Originally posted by: Pikachu
I trained a kid who "worked" with us over the summer. He had been turned down by other places, because it wasn't worth their time to train him, only to have him leave in a few months.

Wish we would have said the same thing. It's bad enough that it was a waste of time to train him, but I never saw anybody take so much time off before. Always a "legitimate" reason, though. :roll:

Kids today just have no concept of what employment is all about. It's not some hobby to bide your time, or keep you busy & off the street. If employers aren't too quick to hire you, it's because your peers made such a bad impression!

Bingo.

I've had so many young people work for me that just had no idea.

If somebody is in their 30 or 60 day probationary period he better show the hell up to work. If he's out sick the first week he better be an outstanding worker. He's still under probation so I can do what ever the hell I want with him, including firing.

I have no mercy for kids these days. I've had too many of them try and pull crap. And none of them want to work either. I have guys in their 60s that work rings around them. They just had a different work ethic back in the day.




 

Koing

Elite Member <br> Super Moderator<br> Health and F
Oct 11, 2000
16,843
2
0
If you can get out of bed your well enough to go to work unless you work construction/ manual labour type of job imo.

If I'm 'ill' and I can get out of bed then I go to work. The very few times I was ill and couldn't get out of bed I don't go to work.

Koing