Why I Got Fired.

Nothing gets one looking inward quite like rejection.

I was fired last Friday from a job that I thought was going to be pretty great.

I had a job that was ok.  I didn't love it but it paid well and the hours were ideal.  I dreaded it, though, so I looked for the proverbial greener grass.

{I'm writing this out as a way to solidify my closure... and because I know some might be curious.}

I was hired to work the front desk at a physical therapy office.  I've worked the front desk in various medical and dental office settings so this was going to be easy.

The training was going as well as could be expected, or so I thought.  It was one person training me - the office manager.  She and I seemed to hit it off right from the start.  They even hired me at a higher rate than they normally would because they must've really wanted me and what I had to offer.

I worked 8am-12pm for only five days, M-F.  By the end of my day, there, Thursday, I was under the impression because of some of the things the office manager had said that I was doing well and things were good.

Then comes Friday.  She's impatient, tight-mouthed, and almost rude to me for a good part of my four hours at work.  The rest of the time she didn't even talk to me.  I just did stuff I knew needed to be done until she told me there was nothing left and I could just go ahead and go.

Thirty minutes after I left, she called and told me after talking it over with the PT, they decided I wasn't going to work out.  I asked why.  I was seriously shocked.  She said I wasn't "coachable" and "didn't take direction well" and that I had made several sarcastic comments during or about her teaching.  I had no idea what she was talking about.  But, that was that.  I was not to come back.

Since then, I've been on a roller coaster of emotions.  I felt the depression of feeling like a failure.  Today was anger.  Now, I actually feel I'm at the "ok" part of the healing process.

Looking back over the week, I could see a pattern.  She kept mentioning her "OCD" which I just brushed off as something a lot of people joke about having.  Then I realized how many times during the day she used hand sanitizer.  I know it's a weird thing, but she also had her very own bathroom separate from everyone else's.  She also seemed to have control issues.  As she would be teaching me to do things, she would have me do it a very specific way.  She would pop her knuckles, which I noticed she would do if she seemed frustrated.  There were things I did differently because it just worked better for me.  For example, she had me put together some new patient packets.  They had to be in a certain order, so I was going to do just that.  But the way I was going to do it wasn't how she did it so she had me do it her way.  "You'll be faster this way."  Well, I wasn't.  So, I switched to my way which was more efficient and got the job done right just as well as her way.  I asked her during the "firing phone call" if this is one of the reasons.  She actually said yes.

Thursday towards the end of my shift I mentioned I'm Mormon.  Then Friday she's cold towards me.  I don't know if this is part of the "why" but why the sudden change?

These are things I've run over in my head all weekend as I've tried to make sense of why in the world I would be fired.  I was getting the routine.  I was learning the computer system.  I was even great with the patients.

Then why? I didn't want it to be like I was trying to place or find blame with her or them if it was really something in me that was lacking.

I also recall thinking early that Friday that she was going to be a very hard person to work with.  Our personalities clashed.  Not at first, though.  I don't know if she was hoping for someone without a mind of their own who would just do everything her way but that person most certainly isn't me.  The person before me only lasted a year.  I'm not surprised.

I'm not exaggerating things.  I think I'm telling myself that more than any potential readers.  I really don't want to be the person who protests they're not at fault when they really are.  I truly do not believe I was at fault in this situation.

As I'm striving to regain my confidence and remind myself that I am actually good at what I do and that I truly do learn well, it occurs to me this was never a me problem.  This was and is a her problem.  So really, she did me a favor.  I wouldn't be able to work with someone like that.  And she obviously wasn't able to work with someone like me.

Anyway.  That's my take on the situation.  Time to move on - I'm ready, now.