Through a temp agency I was approved for an interview with ALSCO (American Linen Company), I was hired on through the temp agency to be a trainer, to help teach employees how to use the new computer program they were switching to. After extensive training my team (which consisted of 2 guys and one other girl) was flown to California to train the company there. The training was to take about 3 weeks. My job at this point was just to sit and observe how another member of the team taught ("shadow") to get an idea of how things worked. Each weekend we were flown home and then would fly back the begining of the following week.
Coming back from out second week out. I was pulled aside by my team lead in the airport where he told me they were going to have to let me go. He told me that they felt that I was not a hard worker and didn't "shadow" like I was suppose to, and they wanted someone that would be dedicated to the job. This was a shock to me, considering I was never given a warning. I tried to explain that what he said wasn't accurate and that there must have been a miscommunication some where. Needless to say I was still fired. So that being a Friday night on the following Monday I called the head lady of the HR department (Lynn) who hired me in the first place and explained my side of the story.
I explained that I didn't understand where my team lead got his accusations. Even the person I "shadowed" could stand as a witness that I did everything that was asked. If ever there was a problem about what I was doing, if told, I would have corrected my actions immediately. Lynn explained to me that she had no dount that I was an excellent worker, and that my team lead never gave her any of those excuses as to why he wanted to let me go. She explained that it was only because I didn't "mesh" with the team. I asked if I could be moved to another team since they were creating a new one, and she said that they just hired someone to take that position and would start the following Monday. I mentioned that it would be better to have someone you have already trained go on the next trip so they can actually teach then to hire another person and pay for their trip just to have them "shadow". She agreed but again said there were no spots open. She also told me that the girl I was shadowing was being moved to another team and would be replaced by a guy just like my position was. This was a surprise to me considering Lynn told me that they wanted equal genders on their teams. This made my old team an all guy team.
I was told by the person I was shadowing that there had been 6 others who were fired in the last 3 months! Also that I wasn't the only one let go that weekend. Apparently there were 3 others.
While I was in California with my team the other girl and I had encountered many issues that we tried to let slide by. One of which was on the first day in California the guys mentioned that they were going to a hockey game. I replied that I would love to go, and the other girl asked why they never even asked us if we wanted to go. One of the guy's reply was that we "should go and crochet something". Then one night for dinner they "forgot us" and left us. Needless to say we had no car, since they took it. Their excuse was that they thought we didn't want to go. Neither the other girl nor I were even asked if there was a chance that we didn't want to go.
Since I was hired through a temp agency there is nothing I can do about the reasons they let me go. Otherwise I would have taken them to court!
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