I was one of five corporate level fitness faculty members for a company with a significant presence in nine different states. Our responsibilities included, but were not limited to, teaching the basic fundamentals of personal training, facilitating personal training certification workshops, leading a workshop on the company’s fitness policies and procedures, all of which were two or three day events, in addition to overseeing certain aspects of the fitness departments of all of the clubs within the region.

I was the epitome of a successful teacher, especially since the company would hire anybody with a pulse that the club managers thought had what it took to be successful, I had people in my classes that knew absolutely nothing about the human body. That was one of the perks of the job because, while I refer to myself as a teacher, I must relay my favorite quote from Socrates: “I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make them think,” I got to form the foundation of a new train of thought; and I had no trouble making the learning process fun. In fact, here I am 13-months later and still in contact with several of the people I had in my classes. So, on second day back from two weeks of vacation and I’m doing a site visit with my immediate supervisor when he gets a page and informs me that he has a conference call at 12 and I should come in 15 minutes later.

I enter the office, close the door and make myself comfortable. Next thing I know, the two HR reps on the line inform me that due to the [workings of the Obama agenda], they were eliminating the position of fitness faculty to reduce company expenditures. My last day on salary was two weeks to the so I guess that was them giving me two-weeks notice.

As for my responsibilities, they were added to those of the person that taught the “business” aspect of the business to sales people and GMs. The first question from my mouth was, “What does he know about fitness?” Their response… “He has seven personal training certifications.” I responded with “What does that tell me about his knowledge of the human body?” They were positive that those certifications made him an expert, but, as most are aware, all a PT certification tells you is they know how to study the way (insert your choice of any PT cert here) wants you to know how the body works to fulfill THEIR objectives in the way that THEY dictate when it should be your client telling you their objectives so that you can fulfill them based upon your knowledge of how this magnificent machine works. I was pissed, especially I’ve forgotten more since grad school than he’ll ever know, and I let them know it, but what’s done is done. By the way, to supplement my point, he resigned from his new responsibilities just a few weeks into the mission. So because I’m still unemployed, I’ve returned to school for a PhD and they are still losing market share!

This post was submitted by Sheik Yerbouti.

After I graduated college I took this great job at a large bank where I would be doing a 2 year rotational program. I would rotate within all the different departments of the bank i.e Finance Credit Risk etc etc. Well 6 months into the job the economy started tanking and the rotations were canceled due to saving costs.

So in the meantime I was stuck at my home base in this terrible department where the managers were the biggest low lifes. The department i was stuck in is the one department no consumers ever see or could even imagine a bank has. Its called payment processing. They take people who have GED’s (if that) and put them into this factory like setting but call it a bank job. None of the managers had a college education, which is not a big deal if you don’t have a degree, but at least bring some professionalism into your work. These managers all came from these rough upbringings and would swear at employees. You had to tell them if you were going to the bathroom that’s how badly they micro managed. I remember an incident where my manager came up to me and said we need to you start coming in at 6am I said no because I drive my mom to the train every morning. She has the nerve to tell me because my family is wealthy that my mom should just buy a car. I told her that’s great my family is rich but my mom doesn’t know how to drive a car. It was all these different incidents week after week that would just irritate me. So I decided to stick it out till the economy got better.

In the meantime, I went above and beyond everything they asked me to do. I got along with everyone so well that people would come up to me and say thank goodness you’re here because without you I would be so miserable. I became the go to guy everyone would ask for help. So one day the department manager made an announcement that our department was being sold off to another company and starting Sep 1st we would all work for this new company.

Well 4 months later I took a day off of work for personal reasons and got a telephone call from a manager saying please call the department manager a quarter after 12. So I did that and he laid me off. How terrible is that to lay someone off over the phone? The thing that gets me the most is he said to me I hope you don’t think that I couldn’t face you and do this it was just the only time HR had? What a tool you just lay me off and you’re worried about my impression of you?

This post was submitted by Paul M.

I was hired after a long job search as a manager for a not-for-profit agency. My boss was one difficult person with vicious personality. Everyone in the organization told me that the previous supervisor left because of him. At first I didn’t want to believe all the bad I heard about this person. This person was locking himself into an office and was operating with top secrecy at all times. He was only available at his discretion. Working late nights, long hours, criticism were the norm. Needless to say, he decided to eliminate my position. Reason stated: budget cuts. The real reason – I was an adult who didn’t want to take his abuse.

This company is very tough on their employees and they sell EAP and mental health services. The job was a huge waste of time! Not for profits are organizations where a few individuals make huge profits at expense of some well-minded hard-working individuals. I will never give money to not-for-profits again.

This post was submitted by Not to bosses liking.

Many of you have noted, that you’ve worked for a company for 5 – 7 years. I worked for Bank One (now JPMorgan Chase) from being a temp hire 10/2005 to permanent hire 1/2006. Of course, all of the rules were followed: don’t call in sick unless you are dying; don’t use phone for personal purpose; don’t use your breaks for smoking; etc.

I only started with Bank One to feed my then 1 year old daughter. I was hired through the “Mormon Network” so to speak. The Bank One call center was close, the pay above average, and management was phenomenal.

I was promoted via my manager’s transfer, or through an internal customer manager until the end of my tenure there. Unfortunately, my ex-husband had caused me problems and thus I had to leave work often. However, I was still within the top 2 performing personnel despite having to leave work early, etc. This is out of an average of 15 other representatives. I would say that’s pretty darn good!

In addition to my ex-husband going to prison and ruining our community property, my youngest daughter was diagnosed with Autism. Now please keep in mind folks, that Bank One/JPMorgan Chase is supposed to be one of the greatest places to work for single women with children….right?

WRONG! Once Chase took over, my annual rating of 3.5 – 4.0 on a scale of 0 – 5 (and we all know a 5 is impossible) went to a 1! All of my years of hard work and making up for the time I had to unavoidably miss due to these issues did not matter at all. At the end of my career there, I had to have surgery that was unavoidable. This contributed significantly to my demise.

I had a co-worker who was also on FMLA leave having her child when she too heard the news that she was being laid off in addition to me. CAN YOU IMAGINE????? Having your baby in your arms and getting that call???

It seems that most of these high and mighty companies did the same thing: they laid off the most expensive employees. The ones that actually used their health insurance, used their short term disability, used their allotted time off….

I still don’t understand how they repeatedly get named “Women’s Corporation of the Year” or “Best Place for Single Parents to Work” in awards placed by supposedly won via awards presented by Forbes, etc.

You get my meaning….

If I am able to maintain an above average skill set as established by my employer and unfortunately am required to use my …. FMLA …. then why am I the one who gets laid off?

SIMPLE ANSWER FOLKS!
1. I used time off which is inefficient per internal company standards.

2. I used FMLA time which, let’s face it, goes back to #1.

3. Was there for over 10 years…therefore my pension was @ 5% of my salary. Hmmmm…..

I believe all of you are aware of what I’m saying. I believe all of you know of a person in the SAME situation as I have been.

So, when it comes to being laid off, make sure you count in the benefits that are not really made for your benefit, but are made “for your benefit”.

Jessica in Arizona

This post was submitted by Jessica.

When I tell someone I’m a Graphic Designer, they’re almost always impressed. It’s such a cool job title. When I tell them what kind of work I’ve done, the excitement fades and an awkward expression comes over their face. It’s a familiar expression and it just says “please stop talking about your job.”

I got my first break in 2006 with a business-to-business catalog company. It wasn’t very exciting products, but it was a start. At the time, everyone else wanted designers with 2-3 years experience. I had just graduated college and, aside from student work, I had no experience. Not to mention I was given a lot more responsibility than I’d get anywhere else. The pay was bad compared to my peers, but after less than a year I was managing the catalog. I figured I’d get my 2-3 years and come out with a very strong resume.

Then the recession hit. I was laid off in 2009 and now everyone wanted 4 years experience for the same work. What feedback I got mostly fit into two categories: you’re over-qualified or you’re under-experienced. I couldn’t get an entry-level job because I’d been a project manager and I couldn’t get a job as a project manager because I’d only been working in the field for 3 years.

Things started to look a little better that fall. There were a few solid leads and I actually had a couple offers on the table. Nothing spectacular, but the work was certainly more exciting and the pay would be a slight improvement over my last job.

Then I got the call. My former department head was quitting. They wanted me to take over her job and head up the department.

You may think me foolish for accepting a job from a company that had already laid me off once. The thing is that nobody, and I mean nobody, in my field manages an art department in their first 5 years as a designer. It’s unheard of. And while I fully expected to be paid less than I was worth, the base pay for this position was twice what I’d been making before.

I turned down my other offers and accepted the job. I’d start in a couple weeks. I’d start back at my old pay with my old job title and transition to department head when the old department head left. In the mean time, she would teach me everything about her job that I hadn’t already done.

When it came time for me to take on my new responsibilities, things changed. The plan had never been for me to take over as department head, only to take on the added responsibilities of the department head. There would be no change in my title and I would not be getting that raise. I’d lost all my other offers to come back and they knew it. Even though I’d been misled and everything I’d agreed to had been misrepresented, times were still tight and there wasn’t anywhere else for me to go.

A couple months later, I thought I had turned things around. I had done the impossible for the company and redesigned a 64-page catalog from scratch in two weeks. It was in the bag and it looked great. I’d worked long hours on this. I’d even been flown out to Maine in order to approve the final prints. I kept thinking how, after just a couple more catalogs, I’d have a much stronger portfolio and resume. I’d taken on something huge and been treated like dirt, but I owed the company nothing and I could use this job to move on to something better.

That’s when the final blow came. After the first samples of the catalog got shipped in, my boss called me into his office and once again I found out I’d been misled. The company had been looking for an outside design firm since before I started. My old department head’s quitting had thrown everything off and they needed someone to fill in until they found the right firm. Now they had. I had six weeks to transfer my files and wrap up my unfinished projects. With the way they’d handled everything, all I could put on my resume was that I’d been let go after completing only one project.

It’s difficult for me to confront the prospect of unemployment again, but I do know what to expect. Plus, my wife has a well-paying job now, so our finances should weather the storm. What really hurts is how cruel and calculating this whole setup was. They could have just as easily hired a freelancer or even asked that the department head stay on for one more project. I get that a company has to focus on the bottom line, but this just feels like they went out of their way to crush me.

This post was submitted by Sam.