I started a new job in a new industry in July 2009 after months of unemployment. I went through 3 months and 3 interviews to get this job. In retrospect, that was probably a huge warning sign.

I was trained haphazardly by co-workers. They’d squeeze in 15 minutes before lunch to show me how to do X and then hand me documentation. Or I’d have a half a day of a co-worker complaining about how useless dept processes were under the guise of “training” After a couple weeks working, a co-worker just wasn’t there. I was told that he wasn’t happy with the job and had moved on. In a recession sure… I wouldn’t quit shoveling horse manure in this crummy economy! Then the manager who hired me left the company so I had a new boss.

This new boss was never around, didn’t understand her own department’s processes/reports, and had really horrible social skills. I had maybe 3 meetings with her in 6 months.

End of December a couple co-workers and I were made aware of a huge mistake I had made. In my defense, I wasn’t aware or clear on how to perform the task and had been trained once in July. So, we scrambled to correct my mistake and it looked like most was correctable. So, I thought the mistake would go by unnoticed and didn’t say anything to my boss.

End of January 2010, my mistake turned out to be huge and cost the company a lot of money. I came in Monday morning, none of my computer passwords worked, I had a meeting with my boss and the VP. I was back home with a bag of my stuff within an hour.

I was officially let go three days later. It didn’t matter that I didn’t understand the whole process of how this mistake became so huge. It also didn’t matter that a new hire was given such an important task with no check-up at all for six months. The bottom line was that I didn’t notify my boss. When I was let go, I suggested better training in the future to avoid such problems.

This post was submitted by AnnaB.

I arrived at work one morning and my key didn’t work in the lock. I banged on the door, as I could see colleagues inside. No one came to the door. I called from my cellphone and got the owner–”yea, he said, I have made some changes and we don’t need you any more.” That was it, no letter, no severence, nothing.

This post was submitted by John.

Well, where do i begin…when you think and are made to think that your are safe, YOU ARE NOT! that is what happened to me at a well known law firm that does personnal injury. I gave them my all, sometimes staying late and coming in on holidays. The girls there were very contradicting and gossipers. I was the total opposite. They talked about everyone in the building, but themselves, as if they were a gift to that lawfirm. They were engulfed in their work and expected that from everyone else. The job was full of stress and deadlines, but i liked the suspense, the manager and I got along well, so i thought i was safe. Little did I know that one of the girls had enough power to get me fired. One month before I got fired, they were purposely finding things to accuse me with, that had no merit, but careless me went ahead and signed a lease to a new house TWO weeks before those heartless people threw me out, mind you they knew I just signed a lease so that my son and I can get out of my mothers tight home.

Don’t ever get comfortable in a place and always keep your resume up to date because people never warn you, and they don’t care.

This post was submitted by Ana.

I once a had a job, and from the beginning, the boss didn’t care for me. Sometimes that happens. Eventually, he found an excuse to get rid of me, and did so. Two months later, i got a call from the owner of the business, and he asked me to come back and take the job of manager, as he had just fired the old manager, who apparenly had fired a few people he didn’t like for flimsy reasons.

I took the job, and few months later, guess who came back looking for a job? I walked out of my office, and when he saw me, he just got up and left. Moral of the story? Someday you might need help from that person you just fired. Treat everyone with respect and kindness, as you never know who might need a favor from later.

This post was submitted by Joe Wallace.

In high school, I worked many hard jobs that offered little pay or job satisfaction. One job I took was with a local carwash. This carwash was awful, and routinely broke the atennae off cars. We were order to try to “cover it up” so the people behind the wheel would not see it and blame us. One day I went into work, looked for my timecard in full view of the manager and the other employees, and couldn’t find it. After looking for at least two minutes, I turned to the boss and said, “I can’t find my timecard.” he replied, “That’s because you don’t work here anymore!” And laughed aloud.

I wasn’t exactly devastated, but the way he did it was a real shock. A year later, the carwash closed down, and I saw the manager leaving the place with a box of belongings. I drove up and said, “Tough luck!” And laughed aloud.

This post was submitted by Joe Wallace.