‘I was their scapegoat’: Overworked employee confronts boss after they fire him for no reason, boss claims it was to teach the other employees a lesson

Author image for Bar Mor Hazut
Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor
Jun 5, 2024 9:00 AM EDT

Wouldn't you love to work in a place where you cannot get fired no matter what you do? For some people, that dream is a reality, If people are self-employed, or have tenure, they simply cannot be fired. But for most employees, we have to live our lives day by day hoping we would never have to hear the dreadful 'you are fired'. 

The employee in this Reddit story did hear these words spoken to him unfortunately, which came as a great surprise to him, as he could not think of a single reason for his boss of 7 years to fire him. When the employee confronted his boss and asked what the reasoning for his termination was, the boss simply replied – 'We did not see any improvement, let this be a lesson to others'. 

Scroll down to read the full story and the employee's response to his boss. After you are done with this story, click here for an employee who publicly confronted his coworker for stealing his belongings.

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  • 01
    "Let this be a lesson for all the employees"
    via Canva
  • 02
    Got fired for nothing
    via u/Flat-Pen4873
  • 03
    So this Friday, one of my co- workers comes to me sprinting with tears in his eyes (yes, I'm not making it up) and tells me that he just saw an email where they're going to fire me on the spot that day!
    via u/Flat-Pen4873
  • 04
    He thought it was a mistake but, in case it was true, that I shouldn't sign any paper they give me.
    via u/Flat-Pen4873
  • 05
    After about 10 minutes, my supervisor comes to get me and brings me to a meeting room with the manager and someone from HR.
    via u/Flat-Pen4873
  • 06
    The manager was really straightforward with it and just said that they're going to terminate my contract today. So I just straightforwardly asked what the reason was.
    via u/Flat-Pen4873
  • 07
    The reason was, and I not, "We didn't see any improvement." you I have been working there for the last 7 years! I first asked if there was a way we could talk
    via u/Flat-Pen4873
  • 08
    about it or if the decision was final. The decision was made and I couldn't change it. So yeah, I didn't sign the paper they presented and asked if they could send it over. And that
    via u/Flat-Pen4873
  • 09
    was that. Unfortunately, I couldn't say goodbye to my co- workers who have become good friends over the years. Nobody saw it coming and everybody was just disgusted
    via u/Flat-Pen4873
  • 10
    with management. The manager called everyone together and he just said, "Let this be a lesson." Everyone was like, "What!? He worked here for 7 years! And he
    via u/Flat-Pen4873
  • 11
    has done nothing majorly wrong! He was one of the kindest and hardest-working employees!" The manager just left after that.
    via u/Flat-Pen4873
  • 12
    After all, I was planning to leave eventually because the workplace was really toxic- well, management was toxic. Monday I will go to my union and ask what the next steps are.
    via u/Flat-Pen4873
  • 13
    I also want to say thanks to everyone in this sub who shared their story. It kind of prepared me for this moment.
    via u/Flat-Pen4873
  • 14
    Edit; first off all thanks to the amazing People in Reddit who are understanding of my situation you guys really are the best. For the People who want more Context or info here you go.
    via u/Flat-Pen4873
  • 15
    So in the last two years I have gotten two write-ups, one was a year ago because of a genuine mistake on my part, but I have improved since and never made the same mistake again.
    via u/Flat-Pen4873
  • 16
    The second write-up was a few months back, this one was for using my phone and talking. with a coworker. Two things to note here, it's not unusual at my previous workplace that people used their phones when it was
    via u/Flat-Pen4873
  • 17
    not Busy. Especially at my position where I had to wait sometimes up to An hour so a machine could finish a Task (im not gonna go into detail what every machine does but trust me, there were times we just had to wait and could do nothing Else)
    via u/Flat-Pen4873
  • 18
    Now the colleague('s) I talked with are the People who tested the products that I made for the Company, I work with these People every day and sometimes they would just start to talk to me, now im not the
    via u/Flat-Pen4873
  • 19
    person to just say "I Cant talk right now, I've got to go" when it was Busy and they knew it sure I would just say "sorry, very Busy, we'll talk later" if this makes me a bad employee or coworker then just shoot me in the spot.
    via u/Flat-Pen4873
  • 20
    Now they thing about the write- ups is that these we're not even legal themselves. For instance, my colleague got the exact same ones! No joke, they just changed the name! My name on both write-ups is just flat out
    via u/Flat-Pen4873
  • 21
    wrong. They did'nt notified me at least a week before they would give me the write-ups. (Which is the law here) And there was no one from my union present to back me up (yes, my supervisor was there but as many had stated he isn't a real union rep.)
    via u/Flat-Pen4873
  • 22
    I also got my yearly review last week, and it was honestly pretty good! The only real problem on there was about the two write- ups, but I had improved and I said as much to my supervisor.
    via u/Flat-Pen4873
  • 23
    But I heard from another colleage that the decision to terminate my contract was made two weeks prior to my yearly review.
    via u/Flat-Pen4873
  • 24
    I live in Belgium and I was a full- time worker in a chemical factory that made all kinds of stuff for the dental industry. I had a contract with them and they terminated it. I will go to my union today to see what I can do.
    via u/Flat-Pen4873
  • 25
    I have worked there for 7 years and never gotten a raise even tho I was the go to guy if there was a problem. I also tried to get in a higher position (in the laboratorium actually) since I new Ieverything was made
    via u/Flat-Pen4873
  • 26
    and I could work with the SAP system I thought I was a great fit! But no, they hired multiple People only to fire them aswel because they we're not up to the Task. But I was, I was motivated back then but after
    via u/Flat-Pen4873
  • 27
    all those things and no recognition of your work you begin tot be sout and less motivated. It's not the employee who stops caring, it's the employer.
    via u/Flat-Pen4873
  • 28
    All of this is true, I don't have any reason to lie and I know it sounds crazy. But that is because the while situation IS crazy.
    via u/Flat-Pen4873
  • 29
    I don't expect everyone to understand, and i've tried to explain in the comments as best as I could but please, People, just be kind. I did nothing wrong as far as I know.
    via u/Flat-Pen4873
  • 30
    And yes my colleagues are in shock that I had to leave, I still keep contact with them. One of the People from the lab Came to my place for gods sake, to talk about the whole thing and drink a couple of Beers...
    via u/Flat-Pen4873
  • 31
    I hope that this info helps to understand my situation better. And thanks again to everyone with their tips and kind words.
    via u/Flat-Pen4873
  • 32
    Moximus1978 · 2 days ago • You have a union and they can fired you like that? What kind of union do you have?
    via u/MoximuS1978
  • 33
    Flat-Pen4873 OP · 2 days ago Yeah I know, but tomorrow I Will see what i van do about this. It's laughingly bad
    via u/Flat-Pen4873
  • 34
    Moximus1978 · 2 days ago You are supposed to have a union rep with you when you meet your boss and a hr rep.
    via u/MoximuS1978
  • 35
    ma Flat-Pen4873 OP 2 days ago Well that union rep was my supervisor, and he said NOTHING! He was just sitting there like a bag of
    via u/Flat-Pen4873

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getting fired boss workplace-stories employee fired manager job tales-from-the-workplace coworkers reddit story overworked-employees workplace Reddit company
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