Wrongfully Let Go?

Penguin_Otaku

I worked part time for a former supervisor at my first internship here at OU. He runs his own business in a nearby town that is moving to Norman presently.

He hired me back around the beginning of the year to do odd jobs and digital signage design. I did both pretty well while dealing with school and doing freelance work with COX And FSN for sports events. Often I'd put his (Steve's) work ahead of mine to make sure it got done.

The thing was he would give me deadlines, I'd meet them and then forget the project for a while. Then when he actually wanted to give it to a client, he'd have a list of things that I needed to adjust or change for the client (who all of a sudden was getting it TOMORROW [or another really quick upcoming date.]) I'd do it, then he'd like the way I had it before, ask why I changed it and was generally pretty scatterbrained.

Granted he runs the business, has only about 10 employees though, and has a family life too. Generally though, I was out of the loop when he'd tell me to come in a few hours before I needed to. Not a whole lot of set hours. Said they'd come when we moved to the new place.

So over spring break I worked for him all week. I tried to stretch to make 8 hour days but there wasn't much for me to do so I'd leave early so I wouldn't just be sitting around doing anything.

So he asked me to come and fix some stuff up at the new place. They told me to do a few things but guess what? Steve didn't tell me to bring tools or to what to do really. So I swept the new shop and tried to put together some shelves he wanted fixed, but I didn't have anything to build them with. Going to get said tools and back would not have been worth the time since I had to be somewhere around the time I'd gotten back.

He calls me, tells me to come in the next day. Then he texts me asking me what I did that day. I tell him, then he tells me not to bother to come in the next day.

Now I can see in his eyes that I didn't do what he wanted me to do. In his text he said that, "There was plenty to do other than that." What, though? I asked and that his directions were, as usual, vague and I couldn't read his mind and he needed to communicate with me what he wanted to exactly and I would do that.

So am I in the wrong or what? I don't really want to go back to work for him just because of the uncertainty and empty promises of stable hours and confusing instructions but did I handle this correctly or am I in the wrong?

PirateJon

"If words of command are not clear and distinct, if orders are not thoroughly understood, the general is to blame." Sun Tzu

Sipex

If your story hasn't been altered to make you seem in the right (sorry, it's common on the internet) I would say you're in the right. Not much you can do about it though, he owns the business, it's really up to him.

VisionOfClarity

You knew he could be incredibly vague but you didn't think to ask him to clarify what "fix some stuff up" meant and what you needed for it? Or to press him for specifics so you wouldn't end up getting something wrong?

How far away were these tools that you couldn't possibly go get them? What were your work hours supposed to be that day? Where else did you have to be that was more important than finishing your work? Why didn't you ask him to clarify what needed to be done? Why didn't you call when you were done to see if that was all that needed to be done?

L Ron Howard

It's just a college gig, it sounds like. Move on. Learn to make sure you get specifics next time, and find another job.

Orogogus

Eh, it's hard to say without knowing what the day-to-day at the workplace is like. Sometimes at small companies, people are wearing a lot of hats and are constantly too busy to delegate. Someone who can see work that needs doing and take care of it is immensely valuable. Even someone who's in the habit of asking if there's anything they can help with rather than waiting to be told what to do can be a strong asset. The idea is to see things from the point of view of what the company needs and how things can be improved.

But as the previous poster said, this is just a college job, it's not worth sweating over. It's good for you to know what work environments you function well in and what leads to frustration.

Darkewolfe

Sounds like he wanted an employee who was self-starting, motivated and wouldn't just accept days where there wasn't enough work to actually fill the day. You're right that he didn't give you clear directions and direct instructions as to exactly what he wanted you to do. Some employers want people who will work very hard to find more work to do when they've finished what they have before day's end; they also usually want employees who will clarify unclear instructions rather than doing nothing or doing the wrong thing.

So, no, you weren't wrongfully terminated. It probably doesn't seem very fair, and it might not be. Such is the world of employment, though. I would also fire someone who was willing to do half a day's work and then sit around, rather than finding more stuff to do or telling me he'd finished everything he had found.

RocketSauce

I didn't see it mentioned if you were getting paid for this.

Deebaser

I don't know what help or advice you're looking for. It sounds like you were fired by a silly goose. Shit happens and it sucks. Take it as a learning experience.

MrDelish

Darkewolfe wrote: »

Sounds like he wanted an employee who was self-starting, motivated and wouldn't just accept days where there wasn't enough work to actually fill the day. You're right that he didn't give you clear directions and direct instructions as to exactly what he wanted you to do. Some employers want people who will work very hard to find more work to do when they've finished what they have before day's end; they also usually want employees who will clarify unclear instructions rather than doing nothing or doing the wrong thing.

So, no, you weren't wrongfully terminated. It probably doesn't seem very fair, and it might not be. Such is the world of employment, though. I would also fire someone who was willing to do half a day's work and then sit around, rather than finding more stuff to do or telling me he'd finished everything he had found.

or his employer is a moron who expects his employees to read his mind

GungHo

Penguin_Otaku wrote: »

The thing was he would give me deadlines, I'd meet them and then forget the project for a while. Then when he actually wanted to give it to a client, he'd have a list of things that I needed to adjust or change for the client (who all of a sudden was getting it TOMORROW [or another really quick upcoming date.]) I'd do it, then he'd like the way I had it before, ask why I changed it and was generally pretty scatterbrained.

Welcome to the real world. Have a nice stay.

Seriously, you'll always have shit like this for your entire life. Until you get to be a manager and you'll do it to your reports. This is when you learn how to do shit like version control with your projects so you can just give him the first version you did.

Kyougu

I don't know how lax your employeer was, but I would NEVER leave work early just because I didn't have anything to do. Either I would find something to do or help with, or as I done often, simply ask my boss for something to do.

fightinfilipino

Penguin, you're in the US, right? i'm assuming so.

if so, this sounds like at-will employment. your boss can pretty much fire you for any reason, so long as it wasn't because of race, sex, religion, age, or disability. them's the breaks.

Sipex

GungHo wrote: »

Penguin_Otaku wrote: »

The thing was he would give me deadlines, I'd meet them and then forget the project for a while. Then when he actually wanted to give it to a client, he'd have a list of things that I needed to adjust or change for the client (who all of a sudden was getting it TOMORROW [or another really quick upcoming date.]) I'd do it, then he'd like the way I had it before, ask why I changed it and was generally pretty scatterbrained.

Welcome to the real world. Have a nice stay.

Seriously, you'll always have shit like this for your entire life. Until you get to be a manager and you'll do it to your reports. This is when you learn how to do shit like version control with your projects so you can just give him the first version you did.

Also, this is a good lesson which I was never taught before getting out into the business.

Get a signoff for everything. You agree to a setup/change? Get the employer/customer/whoever to SIGN OFF on the change and delivery date. When they want more changes explain that it'll take more time. If those changes contradict the previous changes then it means serious discussion is needed so you don't keep going back and forth.

GungHo

I do scoping documents with my clients. Never done them with my direct boss, but that's usually a different sort of relationship in a big corporation.

Also, I missed the "leaving early" part. That'd bug me if you were a new employee, too. Seriously, who do you think you are?

VisionOfClarity

I burn through work all the time at my job. They're used to having lazier, less computer savvy people do my job. What do I do when I run out? I ask for more work, from everyone, until someone gives me something or I find something I can organize or clean or anything. I don't just leave early. Sometimes, there is nothing to do and they tell me I can go home, but I never leave work early unless my boss has specifically told me to do so.

Usagi

Darkewolfe wrote: »

Sounds like he wanted an employee who was self-starting, motivated and wouldn't just accept days where there wasn't enough work to actually fill the day. You're right that he didn't give you clear directions and direct instructions as to exactly what he wanted you to do. Some employers want people who will work very hard to find more work to do when they've finished what they have before day's end; they also usually want employees who will clarify unclear instructions rather than doing nothing or doing the wrong thing.

So, no, you weren't wrongfully terminated. It probably doesn't seem very fair, and it might not be. Such is the world of employment, though. I would also fire someone who was willing to do half a day's work and then sit around, rather than finding more stuff to do or telling me he'd finished everything he had found.

This

CelestialBadger

Of course you weren't wrongfully let go. Look at the "fired mother-to-be" thread for an example of someone who was wrongfully let go.

You didn't fix the shelves that it was your job to fix. You left early when you finished your work, presumably without permission. Essentially, you screwed up.

Dr. Frenchenstein

shitty boss? yes. Wrongfully let go? No. at least not in an actionable way. I wonder if you were even on his books to begin with to be honest.

Penguin_Otaku

Usagi wrote: »

Darkewolfe wrote: »

Sounds like he wanted an employee who was self-starting, motivated and wouldn't just accept days where there wasn't enough work to actually fill the day. You're right that he didn't give you clear directions and direct instructions as to exactly what he wanted you to do. Some employers want people who will work very hard to find more work to do when they've finished what they have before day's end; they also usually want employees who will clarify unclear instructions rather than doing nothing or doing the wrong thing.

So, no, you weren't wrongfully terminated. It probably doesn't seem very fair, and it might not be. Such is the world of employment, though. I would also fire someone who was willing to do half a day's work and then sit around, rather than finding more stuff to do or telling me he'd finished everything he had found.

This

And in that light I left early some days. It wasn't like I had SET hours. If there wasn't work to be done I was generally gone or finding ways to make things more efficient. In a lot of cases I do take initiative to go ahead and do something. I don't necessarily need someone holding my hand through things, but often with him I would wait until he saw it (not for long amounts of time, generally minutes) to make sure I didn't do a lot of work in the other direction he wanted.

Yea it was a paying job with relatively easy work which was way it was really nice to have around.

The other jobs in the place weren't something I knew anything about. Being a salesman and getting quotes for people for different jobs. Not stuff I knew how to do so it wasn't like I was just idly sitting on my ass.

But I do see both sides of it. I understand why he probably did, but it is frustrating it went down like it did.

Penguin_Otaku

CelestialBadger wrote: »

Of course you weren't wrongfully let go. Look at the "fired mother-to-be" thread for an example of someone who was wrongfully let go.

You didn't fix the shelves that it was your job to fix. You left early when you finished your work, presumably without permission. Essentially, you screwed up.

And in comparison I understand my case is nothing to hers. My thoughts and prayers go out to her because that really sucks. I was inspired, so to speak, to ask about my situation. I'm not comparing them.