What Now

PLEASE ALLOW ME TO RANT

Well, it looks like my former employer has managed to kick me while I was down. Last week I got a call from the state department that handles the unemployment payments.

Wait, let me backtrack a bit.

The day after I was let go, I had to take my parking pass back to HR and get the information I would need to take the next steps I'd need to do. The nice HR lady told me what to do to get everything squared away, so when I got home from seeing her, I registered online for the unemployment benefits exactly the way she told me to. I don't like getting unemployment payments, even though I really appreciate that they're available. It makes me feel bad, having to take them, but I know I need it until I can find another job, so I was hyper-careful about filling out the form. I did exactly what the HR lady told me to do, gave the exact reason she told me I was let go, and made sure I checked and double checked everything before I gave the final go-ahead for the information to be processed.

OK, so I get a call last week from a lady with the agency, which I thought was a routine call verifying the information. Instead of that, I was told that the reason I gave for being let go was completely different from the reason they were told by my former employers. Say what?! She said the reason they were given was that I had disclosed confidential information online. I told her that, yes, that had happened, but that it was all because of a misunderstanding and I also told her that the 'official reason' I was given was because my job responsibilities had changed and I didn't have the skills to do them (grrr). When she asked me to explain, I told her the whole story. I explained it all honestly. She then asked if I had been given verbal or written warnings before my termination and I told her no, not at all (which is the truth.) She told me that her files indicated that I HAD been given these warnings. Say what #2?!

How could I have been given prior warnings for something that had never been an issue before that day? I promise to you that I not only had never been warned before the day I was let go, I had every reason to believe that my employment at that place was going to continue at least another year! I have an email from my boss telling me that my yearly temporary lay-off was being scheduled so that I would be back in time to help with the upcoming exhibit! There was no indication that anything was wrong, much less that I was such a sub-standard employee that I was on the verge of being fired! It is all completely preposterous.

The thing that absolutely kills me is that now I look like a liar. I look like I purposefully didn't disclose all of the information to the state agency, when all I did was tell them what I was told to. I suppose I could have listed all of the reasons that were printed on that page they handed me the day they let me go, but most of them were so silly (and some even blatantly untrue) that I didn't mention them. Mainly because I was told to tell them the 'official' reason, which I did.

The worst part about it all is that there is nothing I can do about it. I have no recourse. As a temporary employee, I had no rights to appeal this decision because our state laws show that I could be fired for any reason and without explanation. Even without the weird accusations, they could have just as well have said - 'Get out, we don't like your shoes.' I still wouldn't have any rights. I called HR and the nice HR lady (who is probably tired of me at this point) said the state agency woman had called them back and that everything had been straightened out, but who's to say for sure?

I can't get past the feeling that no matter what I say, I'm just going to come across as someone who's lying to everyone so that I don't look bad. There are so many people who lie about why they got fired, why would I be any different? Who are they going to believe, me or my former employers? That makes me sick to my stomach, because I may be silly, I may be a lot of things, but I am NOT a liar. But if I am denied benefits because I didn't disclose all of the information, there isn't anything I can do about that either. My story didn't match their story. Who are they going to believe?

Somehow, I don't think my slip up about the special guest at the premier event is deserving of the treatment I've gotten.

Oh, and to make things more fun, Steve bought us tickets to this opening event back in February, so I'll be attending the infernal event. Awkward...

Anyways, sorry for the rant. Hopefully, everything will be better from here on, one way or another and I'll never have to mention this situation ever again.