I Lost My Job

I am so, so sad. And confused. And angry. I had the job for a single week, and I was so excited to come into work yesterday to present the new information I was supposed to memorise. I walk up to the office, and everyone's in the hallway waiting for the leader's meeting to be over and they all say hello to me so cheerfully. I walk through the door and my leader says hey, how's it going, but does not high-five me like normal, and I thought that was odd... The woman at the front said she needed to talk with me after our meeting, and I thought it might be about the forms I filled out. Maybe I made a mistake with all the information I filled in. I go into the conference room, where everyone has to stand and we present what we've memorised the day before. My leader comes up to me and I'm all smiling, and he asks if I'm ready. I say, "Yeah!" all excitedly. Then he says, "Come with me."

I follow him into another room, where one of the girls who works as an admin is at the desk. They tell me to take a seat, and he comments on how comfy the chairs are... This company has us go into big stores and sell items. It works with the stores and the companies we get the products from. We have a system where we are supposed to approach everyone, even if they look mean, even if they're in a hurry. No matter what, you approach everyone and say, "Hey, Ma'am, how's it going? Really quick, check it out!" And you show them the product if they look interested. If they say no, that's fine. I tell them thanks or sorry with a big smile, and tell them to have a wonderful day. The company makes us memorise these steps and systems. "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take. Talk to everyone."

Here's exactly what the job is like and what I have to do: We have Mondays off, and meetings at the office every morning Tuesday-Friday 8:30-10:00. Afterwards, we go to the field, where we try to build impulse and find buyers through the techniques we've learnt. I work at the booth with a mentor. Another booth is next to ours with two girls working there. I'm all shy, standing near the booth, feeling a bit insecure and embarrassed to go up to people, but she, we'll call her 'K', kept telling me to get out of my comfort zone. So I was singing, doing fun things with the other girl working there, and started going up to people. But I didn't get any sales yesterday, so I felt a bit down by that.

I told my leader on the phone after work, as we're supposed to call then to let them know how our day went, that I was feeling disappointed with my day because I didn't get any drops (sales). I talked to him about everything that happened throughout my day and said I thought it had to do with the introduction and me sounding peppy when I'm naturally more relaxed when I talk talk to friends and peers. So we talked about what I could say differently. He told me it sounded like I was on the right track and seemed pleased with my progress, despite what I felt was a setback. He said we had two days off and I'd only been out in the field a few days, so it was natural for it to take me some time to get confident.

Well, back in the office room, the admin tells me that she heard I had a tough day yesterday and asked if I wanted to talk about it. So I say yes, thinking we were going to work on the confidence and shyness issues I talked about yesterday with my leader. Then she asks me, "What about the yelling incident." And I'm like, "What?" Because I never had anyone yell at me... I scramble through my brain to try to think of anything that could make sense, and I was like, "Oh yeah, there was a lady who yelled at 'K', calling her a vulture." But they said no, this was a manager.

I'm just sitting there so confused. I do remember hearing yelling yesterday, too, just like the other lady did. But they said that one of the managers was yelling at ME, and reported me for having attitude with them??? I'm pretty sure I'd know if someone were yelling at me... and I'm pretty sure I would know if I had an attitude, seeing as I was so cheerful and nice to everyone who walked by. The company said it was "My word against theirs [that manager's]" and that there was nothing they could do for me other than to let me go. They even had the other woman who worked with me come in and asked her if I was being yelled at, and all she said was she heard yelling. So that was a no, she didn't see me being yelled at, and I obviously wasn't. They said there was a SCENE. A SCENE!

And I felt very depersonalised, like I wasn't even in my body because I didn't know who they were talking about, all I knew was that it wasn't me. They even said, "We know that you probably didn't do it, but it's your word against theirs, and unfortunately, there's nothing we can do about it." They offered to write me letters of recommendation, saying that they all really liked me and were sorry this happened. They didn't investigate the situation. I was too upset to even go into the room to get my bag. 'K' offered to get it for me. My leader said, "It was nice getting to know you." I go down the lift and it's pouring outside, so I'm sat at a bench sobbing in confusion, and one of the girls who works with me came in and asked what had happened. She said it wasn't right that I didn't even know what had happened, or who said those things about me. She said she didn't know me that well, but from what she did know, it really didn't sound like me at all. She said she'd try to find out what happened, but I doubt I'll ever hear from her. It stopped raining enough for me to run to my car, where I sat crying for an hour.

After talking with my family, it became clear to me that someone set me up. How did this manager know my name? Did they even have my name? All I was told was that "K" told them that she heard yelling, and it must have been me? Well, I heard yelling in the distance, or I believe I did, and "K" was in the distance no where to be seen. She also had an attitude with me that day. Something just felt off. I mean, a woman called her a vulture very loudly, she snapped at me for being too close the booth when I was texting my leader to let him know what times I worked, even though I was 3 minutes early and hadn't started my shift yet. I moved further away from the booth and she made an angry face and ushered me further away, even though she often went on her headphone set to call people right next to the booth...

She kept telling me to talk to EVERYONE because it's our job to bounce from person to person- there's even a theory called the Ping-pong theory where we don't stop if someone says no. We keep up a positive attitude, smile, and go to the next person. I did that. They said, "The worst thing someone can say is no." Well, apparently not. The worst thing someone can say is false accusations against me that get me fired. She also kept snapping at me to walk around, even when I was walking around nonstop. She told me to push my comfort zone, so I walked around more. More than any of them. More than she did. I was feeling really timid, but I pushed myself to be peppy and cheerful.

I certainly did not have an attitude! I was shy, but shyness is really hard to mistake for an attitude, especially since I know what I said all throughout the day to people. I'm not an idiot. I'd KNOW if someone yelled at me! I'd know if I had an incident! It was so shocking. So absurd. I couldn't believe it happened. I even woke up today in shock. I barely slept last night. I kept replaying the events, drilling my brain for some indicator as to what had happened, and all I or anyone I've talked to can come up with is that 'K' falsely used my name in the incident. The manager at this store doesn't work with us. S/he would have to have asked for my name! There were four of us working there, and I didn't have a name tag. I'm not sure if they did either. How would they know it was me if I didn't encounter this person for them to ask for my name? It makes absolutely no sense.

Now I have to spend who knows how long searching for another job. It took me 6 months to get this one. I was so excited about being able to sponsor the love of my life, and now I can't. I feel like such a failure even though I didn't even do anything to be treated this way. I can't believe this happened to me.