This morning I received a call from the unemployment insurance people about some discrepancies between my application and what my employer said about me. I put that I was laid off, because I was told that all staffing service people lost their jobs at the same time as I have. Plus, I hadn't been given any unsatisfactory job evaluations before that jerk manager decided to let me go for not understanding that I was doing work that he was too stupid to recognize.
Apparently, they've told the unemployment people that I was fired for cause and that I shouldn't be able to collect unemployment. The agent who called me said that supposedly, I spent hours and hours on my cell phone at work, and that I spent way too long in the break room reading the newspaper. I'm still pretty mad now, but I was furious this morning. I rarely went to the breakroom except to eat lunch, and whenever I went I never spent my full allotted time there. I worked through my first scheduled break time almost every evening that I worked there, and usually didn't get around to resting until after lunch when things slowed down. The last few weeks I was there and there weren't a lot of maintenance calls coming in, I still didn't see much of the breakroom, I chose to sit in the maintenance shop so that I would be closer to the action should something break down. And as far as talking on my cellphone, I hardly ever used it. I didn't like to touch it with my dirty greasy hands.
They really don't have much of a case against me, since I was never disciplined while I was there they can't really have records of having ever warned me about job performance. It makes me mad that these people are all so dishonest. I guess I should be used to it by now. One of the guys in my EMT class today says that his employer is trying to do the same to him, and that he has a phone conference with his employer so that the unemployment people can decide. I don't really think my case will go that far, but I look forward to talking to some of those people.
I'm looking right now into going through the Utah Fire and Rescue Academy. My EMT will be done in May, I think I might be able to take a prerequisite class online this summer, which would leave me with 12 credits in the Fall Semester. Utah just passed a law that you don't have to have a year of EMT experience before going for a paramedic certification. So after I get done with the fire academy, I'll try getting my paramedic. I've been looking at some of the larger fire departments around here. The pay isn't great, but it's a livable wage.
They also offer an EMT Intermediate cert here, which I might take this summer along with the online class. With it I can probably get a job at one of the hospitals doing IVs and stuff in the ER. The job doesn't pay quite as much as I was making as a technician, but it's a decent wage, and it would probably look good on a fire application someday.
So staying in Utah is now at least one of the options we are seriously considering. I still think I'd rather move to Oregon and get lucky rather than stay in Utah and get lucky, but it might be in our best interests to stay. I just wish I knew.
6 comments:
It's tough to deal with dishonest people, I've had my share of dealings with more than I'd care to remember. I would offer the unemployment people records of your cell phone usage if they would like to see them. If you can prove that those people are lying, it would be much easier to get them to lean your way on the other stuff too.
Good luck with the EMT and Fire stuff. If you can think of anything I can do to help, let me know.
Well, that just stinks. Dad and I have talked it over and you should follow his suggestion (unless he's typing right now that you should hire a hit man.) What a jerk your boss was. We are still praying for you from here. It's about all I can do.
I'm not really worried about it. The burden of proof is on them not me. It would be easy for me to prove that they didn't have cause just based on my work record. It's well documented that I did my work, and I completed it on time. There is no documentation at all that I was ever disciplined, unless they fabricate it. And even then it's my word against theirs, and I get the benefit of the doubt.
I was completely honest in taking that job, that I didn't have much of a clue of how to do anything they wanted me to do. I only said that I was a fast learner, and that I would pick it up quickly, which I was starting to. I followed my co-worker to his calls whenever I didn't have something going myself so I could learn. The only time that they could really say that I wasn't valuable to them was when there was absolutely nothing going on, and I never received training on what I was allowed to do at that point. I knew that when preventative maintenance showed up in my box, I'd do it, and when a call came in for a broken machine, I'd go fix it. It's not like you want someone who knows very little about the equipment to just start making modifications to it just because he's bored.
I'm not even mad about losing my job, I could tell there wasn't much going on, but at least let me keep some dignity rather than slandering me to the staffing agency and the unemployment people. I hope I never see the guy again, I have no idea what I'd do.
By the way, the Proctor and Gamble test went well I think, and I wouldn't mind living up closer to Logan. But the job won't be hiring for at least 6 months from what I understand.
I'm waiting on test results from UTA too.
You could still offer to give your phone records to the unemployment insurance people--they would probably decline, but at least it might help them believe you. And you could sue the diamond tool company for slander.
(It would serve them right, but would probably be a huge hassle.)
I just can't believe it, Chase. My dad had a similar thing happen to him. It sucks that there are people like that to screw over the good, honest ones just trying to make a living for their families. They have no conscience. Hopefully, the EMT thing will come together. We're praying for you, too.
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