I lost my job today.

[undeterred]

I've been working at a contract job for 4 months. It was supposed to be a 3 month contract to hire situation, but management had "obstacles" to hiring.

They gave us very concrete and specific performance metrics. I exceeded all of them. I only missed work when I had migraines and nothing to take for them.

This morning we found out that the person in the group with the poorest metrics was let go. Sad, but not too surprising. But I felt totally safe since I worked very hard to do exactly what they asked.

So it came as a total shock when they tell my "agency" that I don't need to come back and that I had poor performance. They waited till I finished a good days work and then the agency left me a phone message. No severance, no notice, and there were no benefits. It was the lowest paying job I have had in years, but it was a job. They had no reason to tell my agency anything negative about me. I think they are the ones having poor performance but of course they can't say that.

I don't know what I'm going to do, I was barely getting by anyway.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

1. I am so sorry .........

That is a raw, raw deal, and those people are scum.

I am sorry. All I can do is hold you in my heart and wish good things for you ...............

[myrna minx]

2. I am so sorry.

:hug:

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

3. I'm so sorry.

Do you qualify for any kind of unemployment?

[Patsy Stone]

4. That's very sad

and I'm sorry to hear it. I hope something comes your way soon.

[stevedeshazer]

5. That's rough.

I make about 1/3 what I made six years ago.

I know what you mean. Hope you can at least get a subsistence job in the short run.

Good luck.

[Taverner]

6. This sucks - my condolences

:hug:

[spanone]

7. damn

[Jakes Progress]

8. To those with jobs and health coverage

the subject of a failing economy can seem like intellectual exercises. The neocon revolution that started flowering under reagan is achieving its goal of returning America to the 1890's.

I hope that you find work soon. Few things are as bad as being out of work. Few things are as bad for the country as having its people out of work.

Jobs Now! Jobs for the worker, not free tax dollars to the bankers and corporatists who are the only ones who profit from this.

[truedelphi]

39. Only point where I disagee with you

Is that in one very important way we are NOT like the 1890's - in the 1890's even the friggin' Republican party cared about the workers.

During the Pullman strikes, the Republican party paid for ads supporting the workers.

Now, we have no party that cares about us.

[Jakes Progress]

43. Today's gop is not your great grandfather's GOP.

The goal of the neocons is to have every worker cowering from the business owners for fear of losing a job. Once they have (almost there) bankrupted the government so that there is no safety net, workers will again be virtual slaves. Beginning with Reagan, who completely turned the old republicanism on its head, the neocons have steadily been working toward what today's economic situation may achieve. The misery of the people is like music to their ears.

You are right. We have nearly no one working for us in Washington. Any who do are marginalized into ineffectiveness.

[mykpart]

9. The reason they told the agency that you had poor performance

is so that next week they can get a new temp for your job. In three months that guy will be let go too. That way the company never has to permanently hire anyone; no benefits, no workers comp, no unemployment charged to them. What chickenshits!

[undeterred]

11. It doesn't make sense.

They don't need any reason at all to end the contract. They already invested 3 weeks of training in me and I took 2-3 times as many calls per day as some of the other people who work there. I will get unemployment- "poor performance" isn't a reason to deny it even if it were true. (You have to do something really awful to be denied unemployment.)

[mykpart]

22. You will get unemployment, but it will be charged to

the temp agency, not the employer. And employers have spent a lot of time figuring out that retraining a new employee (in certain jobs) is cheaper than having to pay their portion of his social security, health insurance, holiday and sick leave, workers comp and disability, etc. The job was a contract with the temp agency that they would take over your salary after 4 months, so they invented a reason to fire you so that it wouldn't look as if they had violated the contract with the temp agency. If they had, they might not be able to get another temp from them. I have crunched the numbers for employers like these, and trust me, it's true. I wish 60 minutes would do an expose on them, but CBS probably does it too!

[undeterred]

28. This was the first time they used that agency.

Its hard for me to believe that they didn't intend to hire us- this isn't the sort of thing they do all the time. The employees I sat near said that they were hired after 6 months instead of 3. There is usually some attrition. I actually think they need us but they can't afford us. So they trash us.

[Riley18]

10. I am sorry. They must do this to people every 3 or 4 months. I hope you get

a job soon.

[bdamomma]

12. that agency is rather cold, just left you a phone message.

:hug:

[applegrove]

13. I am sorry. What a blow. You'll pick yourself up and move on in no time. You are more important

than any job.

[Political Heretic]

14. I lost my job two weeks ago, but I have two promising new leads - I hope that you will too

I hope that you find promising new prospects real soon and I wish you the very best! Hang in there!!! :hug:

[babylonsister]

23. Promise! That's good, thanks. nt

[OhioChick]

15. I'm sorry to hear this...

I hope you find something else soon. :hug:

[roody]

16. I hope you get a better job.

[liberalmuse]

17. I'd go back to the temp agency...

and let them know that you do not agree with the assessment that you were a "poor performer". I had a similar situation happen, and it was a bold-faced lie (long story--evil, gossipy hags in the work place can make your life hell) and told my temp boss I disagreed. She transferred me to another department within the company with much higher pay where they loved me, and I won employee of the month about a month later, more awards since, and was eventually hired on permanently. Don't let this get you down. There's something better for you.

[undeterred]

20. Thanks

I view most of these agencies as pimps. They are there to make money off us. I don't think they really said anything too bad about me- I think they just don't want word to get out that their business is performing poorly. So, trash the people who worked for you.

[Bluebear]

18. I am very sorry for you.

Truly. To better days.

[undeterred]

30. Thanks.

:hi:

[Triana]

19. I'm so sorry. They didn't need to report negatively about YOU at least..

...bastards. There was NO need for that. I hope that somehow, things work out for you. I HATE this economy right now. We have GOT to have jobs!! GOOD jobs - or it is not going to improve.

:hug:

[xchrom]

21. recommend

[babylonsister]

24. They never indicated 'poor performance' to you?

:grr: This is ACLU territory, but everything costs money. This sucks, and my sympathy for what you're going through.

[wisteria]

25. I am so sorry to hear that you lost this position. I don't think your performance had anything to do

with losing this job, it seems to me the company might have been looking for an out to not pay any fees they needed to pay for your service. Things happen for a reason-I know it is tough- I have lost my job to, but please make sure to check out all your options you may be entitled to some services. It sounds like this job sucked anyway, so consider this a fresh start in a better direction.

[renate]

26. I'm really sorry--it's so unfair

It must be incredibly frustrating to have done such a good job and have had this happen. Knowing that it's not you, it's them, might help a little with the self-image but it doesn't pay the bills... this just isn't right and I'm very sorry.

[undeterred]

29. I know its them-

but I also know that this is how all corporations act. They lie and manipulate. They have no ethics whatsoever. The supervisors at this place were the most cold and unemotional people I've ever seen- they do what they are told like good little boys and girls and never have a real opinion. They never actually say anything. They just do the dirty work of management and they do it for the money. Nothing else matters.

[mnhtnbb]

27. I'm so sorry that you were treated so badly. My son was going out the door

at the end of the day where he worked several years ago and he was told "Don't come back to work. You're laid off." No notice, no severance. At least his boss wrote him a nice reference letter.

Fast forward four years. He had to quit one job before he got fired (car sales when the showroom traffic dried up)and then was laid off at another job, at least with one month's severance.

He's now making more than double what his salary was at the first job when he was told to not come back to work. He does tech support for a local town government. We have our fingers crossed that he'll still
have a job after the town's annual budget process--as local and state government are really feeling the pinch in NC.

Things will get better for you. I hope it doesn't take too long.

:hug:

[Dappleganger]

31. Sorry it happened to you...that happened to me once.

I got pregnant while working a great job through a temp agency, but later the place reeked of nepotism. Was there nearly 6 months and discovered I was pregnant with our first child. Didn't tell anyone there but unfortunately had horrible morning sickness one week and the following week was called and told not to go back because they didn't need me anymore. Funny, because not much earlier the agency and I had been in negotiations to hire w/them for going to a permanent position. Basically they made up shit but I know it was because the owner's wife and daughter figured out I was pregnant.

[undeterred]

33. That sucks.

I know someone who lost her job in a dental office the day after they found out she had been diagnosed with MS.

This company had hired a few of the people in the group of 30 I came in with and one of them had terrible performance, based on our statistics. All were young white males, at the station in life where they have few health problems.

[proteus_lives]

32. Sorry man.

I hope for good things to come your way.

[Kat45]

34. I hope their negative performance report won't preclude the agency from placing you elsewhere

I've had bs negative reports from employers to agencies in the past and I wondered if they caused the agency to not want to place me any more. :shrug:

[Flying Dream Blues]

35. I'm so sorry! I hope you find another, much better job really soon

and I'm sure you will because after all, you're undeterred. Couldn't resist; hoping to make you smile.
:hug:

[MrMickeysMom]

36. You know, I don't know what advice I can give...

You might at this point be looking for anything. If you are able bodied to mow lawns (WI lawns?) I understand that is one way not to loose money while you gather up your next move.

It's getting to the point where nothing and no one is indispensable.

I'm so sorry, but you HAVE to hang in there. Please don't give up!

[politicasista]

37. ...

:grouphug: :hi:

[tomreedtoon]

38. I was laid off last month after 33 years for the same crap

But I'm remembering all that I did, and all that I can do, and I'm going to get a better and happier job. You need to tell yourself the same thing.

The first thing you have to do is to remind yourself that you are a worthy person. You don't have to accept the judgment of a greedy corporate bastard on your life. You need to purge yourself of your bitterness before you can impress another employer.

Go to the library and get all the job hunting books you can, in a pile. Read through them. Get the advice you think will help you the most. Start making those calls to employers. Start looking for the job that's waiting out there for you, even if you have to plow through a forest of "no's".

And never give up on yourself.

[babylonsister]

40. OK. Now I 'might' get it. nt

[Beacool]

41. I'm sorry to hear this.

It happens so often right now that I don't even know what to say anymore. A good friend just lost her job 3 weeks ago after being there for 22 years. Good performance and loyalty don't count for anything!!

Hang in there, something will come up. Have faith in yourself!!!!

:pals:

[Berry Cool]

42. I am very sorry. And you're probably right, the poor performance is theirs.

Take a deep breath before you do anything else. That's the first thing.

And believe that you will find better.