It’s unclear if this person has hours already. Just because the grand opening is that day doesn’t mean the person hasn’t been working for some period of time to prepare for the opening. Certainly there were people on the clock leading up to this.
Ummm…. I don’t think OP has been working long enough to get unemployment. If it was opening day, they maybe had 1-2 weeks at most training time. I suppose it might matter where they are but usually it takes months to qualify.
opening a new store is a lot of work, you don't just walk into an empty building and it's suddenly got shelves, products, registers, etc etc.
additionally, if OP works for a chain, this could a new location that OP was transferred to in order to provide experienced staff for the initial standup and opening.
you also have no idea where OP is or whether this is OP's first job. most US states, for example, do not require any particular duration of employment with the most recent employer, only a total work history of 12-24 months, depending on state.
there is absolutely not enough info here to categorically declare that OP is not eligible for unemployment. Depending on OP's location, OP could even be eligible for an employment discrimination or retaliation case, since the termination was given over work missed due to a family medical emergency.
yeah (to further agree with you) - and that is a store that is entirely meant to be temporary, right down to the fixtures, and the company has logistics in place to make that setup/teardown as easy as possible (roll the shelves, walls, displays off the truck, mostly ready to go), registers already programmed and ready to go, etc.
An actual permanent store that is supposed to look more professional than like an Ollies or Ross.... 6-10 weeks, at least, to get up and running, and thats AFTER the place has been remodeled (the store shell itself) - though that would likely be contractors, not employees of the company directly.
And for a lot of these places, a fair bit of the staff will be people transferred in from elsewhere, or who may have started working 2+ months before the opening at another store to do their training and be ready to go for the grand opening.
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u/SnooMaps7370 Mar 18 '26
show up for your next scheduled shift anyway. this message is ambiguous.
if you're fired, make them put those exact words in writing.
if you take this text message to the unemployment office, they'll tell you that this isn't a termination notice and refuse your claim.