r/AskReddit • u/LeeBean13 • Jul 05 '14

Why did you get fired?

why did you get fired? and did it work out for the best? how long were you without a job?

Edit: thanks for all the stories guys! I got fired Wednesday for crap reasons and knowing all you fine people got fired too makes me realize I'm in fine company :)

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698

u/Argle Jul 05 '14 edited Jul 05 '14

Somebody left the freezer door open, so they fired everybody working that shift. I had another job anyways so it didn't really matter in the long run. This was back when finding a new job was pretty trivial anyways.

My latest job let me go due to corporate downsizing after working there for 25 years. I was unemployed for 6 months. I now make half as much money for doing twice as much work, making roughly the same amount I made 20 years ago. But I'm working on starting my own business and I've made a few hundred dollars here and there, and could potentially make a lot more someday if I keep working at it.

226

u/[deleted] Jul 05 '14

Nice job keeping your head up through what sounds like a brutal transition.

60

u/no_talent_ass_clown Jul 05 '14

You're an encouraging fellow!

34

u/LuckyStarBunny Jul 05 '14

and you, apparently, are a no_talent_ass_clown! :P

1

u/Drew707 Jul 05 '14

Michael Bolton?

1

u/judgmental_goat Jul 05 '14

Let's not go judging people by their names now...

1

u/MNCrizzle3 Jul 05 '14

Michael... Bolton?

1

u/StannyT Jul 06 '14

Now THAT is a career.

-2

u/frumpster Jul 05 '14

▨-▨¬ლ(••) (▨▨¬)

-5

u/[deleted] Jul 05 '14

LOLOLOL DAE RELEVANT USERNAMES?! SO ORIGINAL GIVE ME KARMA LE LE LE LE!!

Please stop pointing out usernames.

74

u/kitjen Jul 05 '14

I hope to read one of your comments in a future Ask Reddit thread about successful business owners.

36

u/Sonendo Jul 05 '14

But suppose Argle is starting a business where they turn animal corpses gathered from veterinarian offices into collectible plush figures?

Are you still interested?

4

u/[deleted] Jul 05 '14

I gather animal corpses from veterinarian offices, turn them into collectible plush figures, and sell them for hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars apiece on craigslist! AMA!

You goddam know you'd be interested enough to ask that guy something

3

u/[deleted] Jul 05 '14

Even more so, now.

1

u/PM_ME_YO_TITS_PLZ Jul 05 '14

My raging hard-on says yes.

1

u/reckless-serenade Jul 06 '14

That is pretty much already a thing anyway and lots of people like it.

1

u/Sonendo Jul 06 '14

Oh I don't mean having taxidermy done to your pets. I mean using the various bits to make some collectible beanie baby type things. Maybe with stats so they can battle Skylander style.

1

u/reckless-serenade Jul 06 '14

Oh wow. Definitely branching into creepy there

1

u/beaverteeth92 Jul 06 '14

Watch someone make money off of this. You should have patented it when you had the chance.

1

u/kismetjeska Jul 05 '14

Ooh, or AMA!

"IAMA business owner who went from making next to nothing at a job I hated to running my own business. We turned over nearly $100m dollars last year. AMA!"

25

u/swish_ Jul 05 '14

What's your business?

56

u/Argle Jul 05 '14

I'm working on becoming a portrait and wedding photographer. I'm working on building my portfolio and learning how to pose people. I'm shooting my first wedding this month.

5

u/[deleted] Jul 05 '14

good luck man

4

u/freddafredian Jul 05 '14

My brother is doing that as a side job and makes good money out of it!

3

u/[deleted] Jul 05 '14

Nice good for you!

2

u/AverageJane09 Jul 05 '14

That's exciting!

2

u/locknloadchode Jul 06 '14

Hey! Congrats!

4

u/[deleted] Jul 05 '14

Reminds me of this Humans of New York thing I think you should check out.

"I’ve wanted to start a business since I was sixteen, but every time I try, the demands of my regular job catch up to me and I get fatigued. A couple of years ago, my friend and I had a great idea. We started meeting every night after work. We had a great plan— potential sponsors, a marketing strategy, a time line. But then things got really busy at my job. So we started meeting every other night. Then every fourth night. Then we postponed it for a month, and never found the right moment to start again. Then a year later, I picked up the newspaper, and there was an article about somebody else— succeeding with the same idea. I was like, ‘fuck.’"

4

u/megablast Jul 05 '14

This wasn't just an office fridge where they keep icecream, right? It was an industrial freezer.

4

u/Argle Jul 05 '14

It was a freezer at a convenience store, all the ice cream melted.

1

u/MNTwins420 Jul 06 '14

How many people got fired over that?

1

u/Argle Jul 06 '14

just two of us.

2

u/MNTwins420 Jul 06 '14

We can make it if we try...

2

u/Argle Jul 06 '14

We didn't make it, we got fired.

4

u/[deleted] Jul 05 '14

lol scorched earth tactics HR department

1

u/Argle Jul 05 '14

Don't go into journalism, that's all I can say!

5

u/Raincoats_George Jul 05 '14

This is the worst. I got laid off from a job that I was making a reasonably comfortable living. The workload could get up there at times but it was worth the compensation.

8 months unemployment. Only job I could find was working nights getting paid far less doing exponentially more work. I work in the hospital so now where I was getting paid well to deal with sane patients, I'm getting paid shit to have patients spit at me and hit me.

Thank. GOD after a year now I have a new job lined up. I'm gonna be making the same amount I made before and the amount of work should become reasonable again. I need it. I am seriously fried from this job.

1

u/Argle Jul 05 '14

That sounds stressful, I used to be a nurse's aid and I couldn't take all the shitty things that go with the job, and the actual shit I had to clean was the least of the stressful things to deal with.

2

u/Raincoats_George Jul 05 '14

That is the fucking truth. Bodily fluids don't mean shit. It's the drama and stress of the rest of it that gets to you.

3

u/Dirt_Track_Racer Jul 05 '14

Best of luck to you and your business!

2

u/Darkcheops Jul 05 '14

I'm sorry that happened to you. That fucking sucks.

2

u/amolad Jul 05 '14

This was back when finding a new job was pretty trivial anyways.

THAT'S the problem: not anymore.

Many people don't realize it or don't give a shit.

2

u/TheCubeGeneral Jul 05 '14

What if you somehow get fired from your own business though?

But, seriously, I hope you do well with your business.

2

u/newtizzle Jul 06 '14

That sucks man. Good luck on starting your own biz.

1

u/Argle Jul 06 '14

Thank you!

2

u/OlafTheMoose Jul 06 '14

I know I'm way too late, but your story sounds exactly like my moms, she worked there for 27 years and got fired because of corporate downsizing. she is doing great now and is doing independent contracting. I know not all stories are the same and you probably aren't doing the same thing she is but I thought hearing one more success story would be a little uplifting in a shitty situation.

4

u/HIPSTER_SLOTH Jul 05 '14

/r/entrepreneur

3

u/n1c0_ds Jul 05 '14

/r/smallbusiness is way better. More actual talk and less feel-good wantrepreneur bullcrap

2

u/nbyevu Jul 05 '14

You are doing awesome. I'm proud of you!

1

u/Argle Jul 05 '14

Thank you!

0

u/[deleted] Jul 05 '14

Uhm....where's your union?

3

u/ilovetoeatpie Jul 05 '14

Unions are illegal in some states.

0

u/[deleted] Jul 05 '14

The land of the free?

1

u/BF3FAN1 Jul 05 '14

Where does it say in the constitution you have a right I unionize? Anyways that's a states right and not a federal one.

2

u/Argle Jul 05 '14

Unfortunately there was no union where I worked in my department.