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Yup. Made a joke on facebook. The parts manager was pissed because I told HR he drinks on the job. He took a picture of a joke I made on facebook with his phone (standing behind a co-worker, mutual friend on facebook) and showed it to HR.
Next thing I know i accepted a job offer from a dodge dealership, but I might hold out for a Honda/Acura dealership that is putting me in with an interview with the owner of the Honda/Acura dealership.
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sorry to hear you were fired.
Well whatever you do don’t let anyone at your old job know you are looking for a job. Because if word gets back to him he will more then likely tell your prospective employers. Also don’t bad mouth anyone in any way that can be seen by the general public joke or not. Also if you do make a joke online always end it with jk or just kidding. That will also c.y.a. but, still do not do it about work.
I would also wonder how they can fire you for something like that and not fire him for drinking. That seems more then a little off unless you went off the deep end when confronted or it was a really bad joke or lied about it.
I simply went to HR one day and said I smelled booz on his breath. They launched an investigation on him. He had it out for me after that. He would talk down to people, yell at the top of this lungs if his parts guys handed the wrong filter to someone.
On my facebook page no one knows what I do, where work or anything. There is no mention in any way shape or form of my job, or where I work. He walked up behind a technician checking his facebook on lunch and took a shot of the joke with his camera phone.
Printed it out and demanded I be fired because I signed an agreement that I would not post about my job in anyway on social media. All new employees sign an agreement that they can be monitored on social media. When my boss fired me I asked to see what it was that referenced where I work. He showed me the post, and I asked again, “show me where it references where I work”. He couldn’t show me. I said ok, my lawyer will be in touch again. Shook his hand and walked out.
Basically what I heard this morning is they fired me because I told them to take me off team pay, because I never agreed to be on it. I had my lawyer call my boss and tell them the legality of having me on the team pay without incentive.
Keep in mind these guys have fired 15 people in 11 months.
If you follow through with the wrongful termination suit make sure you talk to coworkers who won’t rat you out and see if you can get the phone numbers of the other people that got fired because they might want to hop on the bandwagon so to speak.
I will miss your posts about how much of a disaster your shop was, but please don’t be discouraged at all about this. You are going to make it just fine somewhere else, and this is a classic blessing in disguise. Please keep us updated with where you end up and how that works out. I think you should hold out for a Honda/Acura and try not to have to take the Dodge job. Working on Dodges is like going thru the trouble to become a doctor, only to work in a prison making sure death row convicts are healthy enough to be killed. My other advice is to quit Facebook. I believe it’s an utterly destructive force to our society, but that is a whole other (very long) discussion.
I also have a short story for you. Long before there was Facebook, I also got fired for internet banter. This was before the term ‘social media’ had been coined and became part of every employee handbook. I was working as a parts guy at a VW dealer. Back in 2002 there were forums like this, and one of them was a local VW enthusiast forum I had been on for years. I was identified as a parts employee of that dealership right in my forum signature, because I offered specialized parts consulting/advice to the community (similar to what I do here now).
Our service department was going through personnel changes with rookies coming in and trying new ways of doing things, and it was causing major customer satisfaction problems. It was known to all involved that it was a disaster at the time. So on this forum popped up a thread where a customer complained about us. Some of our customers found and joined the forum specifically to badmouth our service department, and a lot of the anger was real and the language used to describe us not pretty. After about 10 other people had joined the discussion to complain about us as well, I chimed in. I made a post explaining the situation and asking customers to bear with us while we get re-organized and apologizing for their bad experiences. But what sealed my fate is that, being totally honest, admitted openly that “our service department is a clusterfuck” as part of that post. Someone from work found out about the thread while I was away participating in a car show and when I got back, the thread had been printed out and distributed to everyone in the dealership and I was on my way out. My good intentions were irrelevant. I had admitted fault, in writing, on behalf of the dealership. Making an effort to be honest and decent with people is rarely rewarded in business.
If it’s any consolation, I’d venture to say that many mechanics have been fired and fired for no reason at all actually. I’ve gotten canned from a couple of jobs simply because I drew a line in the sand and said you ain’t screwing me any more.
One of them fired me simply because I asked to be taken off of a certain line of cars they carried. (Multi-line dealer)
The parts manager let it slip to me one day that he had been given orders to NOT order any parts for those cars at all. That put me in the flat rate situation of working on them with no parts support. I found this out after throwing an oil filter in the bin while the oil was draining and that we had no oil filters. They had me pull the old filter out of the trash and reinstall it. Enough of this sxxx………..I’m no lawyer and don’t know the legalities behind some of these things but you might monitor anything that is said about you to a potential employer by HR, any management, or online. I think that’s a violation of Federal law if they do.
My wife said at her job they were allowed to say nothing except that so and so worked here from one date to another.
My youngest son manages a financial office for a state entity and no matter the reason they are not allowed to say anything about an employee other than dates of employment.That team pay plan is going to be the death of that company. The dealer I mentioned where they tried it was out of business a few years later but I had long since bailed out. Best of luck and look at it this way; your life has already improved! :cheer:
Just my 2 cents… so here goes…
Getting fired is sometimes the biggest blessing you ever get (I think you already know that) sometimes it takes longer to figure out, but you are getting it really quick 🙂
I am conflicted about the school dilemma you pose…. A B.S. in Mech engineering is a ticket to anywhere (whether or not you want to use it and how you use it is another thing)…..
I am not surprised they don’t want you to finish up school…. After you have that, why should you stay around… You could get a job doing other things for MUCH more $$ (even as a person right out of School)…
I would advise to do what is best for YOU…. Not them… Personally the B.S. is something that is worth a ton of money over a lifetime… without it, you are just another guy who didn’t finish college… The world has no shortage of those guys…
Not that college makes you a better person, but it does convince people at least you are TRAINABLE! and can complete something you set out to do 🙂
Either way… you are moving along and learning and having some fun, so enjoy the ride of life…. comes fast and before you know it, you wonder where 25 years have gone…..
Cheers and best to you
-Karl
ToyotaKarl,
Thank you for the input. I quit my senior year of engineering school because it’s literally like going to school to be a mechanic, then working as a service writer. Wanting everyday to wrench on a car. We had engineering techs that did R & D at companies and I was basically project management.The only reason I went to engineering school frankly was to become a bad ass gear head mechanic. Learn mechanics engineering and then learn the auto side. I worked in the engineering field and it’s now flooded, with less stability than the auto tech field.
[quote=”ToyotaKarl” post=128944]Getting fired is sometimes the biggest blessing you ever get (I think you already know that) sometimes it takes longer to figure out, but you are getting it really quick :)[/quote]
I concur 100%. I got fired from a job where I was not a participant in the Apprenticeship system, got yelled at for… …well anything. It also turns out that I was being screwed out of a few hours of overtime every month, they never filed an ROE as dictated by law which nobody seems to care about. I was (technically) assaulted, threatened to be physically removed and my former boss also threatened to keep my toolbox. It really pissed him off that I didn’t freak out.
Anyway almost 2 months later I started at a dealer as a full on apprentice. I don’t have to track every bit of shop product I use anymore, I haven’t been yelled at since I got fired. I’ve also barely spent anything on tools and am projecting spending even less this year. I was working all makes and only having to cover 1 brand of cars is Awesome.
I don’t know dude, you seem to be pretty young and if you’re almost done a degree in Engifreakineering as someone who has made some huge mistakes you should really go back and finish that and see where it takes you. In a couple of years if you are unhappy, comeback and drop me a line and I’ll apologize. You’re still young you can easily change your career a few times.
Being that close to a mechanical engineering degree I’d say try if at all possible to finish that up. As it stands right now, you’re already light years ahead of the guy who would hire you and we all know (*cough….*) that a service manager is always a knowledgeable straight shooter who would never lie or fluff things up… :whistle:
I’ve been through that “we’re going to keep your toolbox” routine with the ex-employer of mine who had the team pay plan. I lived 25 miles out in the sticks and found another job PDQ in another town. Went in one morning to load up my tools and halfway in remembered that I had left 2 uniforms at home. No big deal, me or my wife is in town all the time so I just figured one of us would drop them off the next time in as my wife’s mother lives just a mile away from the shop.
As I’m rolling my box out the service manager comes up to me smiling and asking how I’m doing. Fine, got another job starting Monday.
He then goes into the I can’t let you have your tools until you return those uniforms bit. This led to a heated argument because I told him I was not making a 50 mile round trip to do this and they would be returned in the next few days.
This guy (6’3″ and about 250 pounds) tried to step between me and my box. I just grabbed the handle and said that box is leaving right now because the box and everything in it is legally mine; bought and paid for by me and me only.He finally backed down and begged me to bring the unis back. I told him Jesus Christ, that pair of unis doesn’t mean squat to me; you’re gonna get them back for God’s sake.
I left for the house with my boxes. That night about 10 o’clock there was a knock on the door. Wondering who it could be that time of night I opened the door and found the dealer’s lot porter standing there. That idiot service manager had sent the porter to my house on a 50 miles round trip for 2 pair of pants and 2 shirts. The porter felt bad about doing this but was under orders. The porter and I got along well so I wasn’t upset with him at all. I did tell him that he could tell the SM to kiss my unwashed axx….
Hard to figure some of those management clowns except to say that most are sub-morons.
Sub-morons, that’s pretty generous. 😛
It would have been so hard for them to call and say that they were sending someone to get them, because in my world 10pm is too late to randomly knock on someone’s door but maybe that’s just me. Another case of could have dealt with it like an adult but didn’t come close.
Where I am because of the way the laws are and whatnot, they usually just hold your last check.
The lot porter felt bad about coming out so late but I wasn’t upset with him at all. He was a good guy and not many months later he got out of the car business entirely and became a firefighter.
I would say if you are that close to finish your degree. I made that mistake I so wish I had finished college just so I have that pieceof paper to fall back on or 2 get a side job with. I love my main job but, atm it is really kicking my butt.
The problem with engineering right now, in my state, they want a Bachelors and a 4.0 with 2-3 years experience. And accepted to graduate school. Frankly I went to school for mechanical engineering as a grand plan to work on hot rods and high end tuners. Finish my degree in mechanical, and work at a custom shop on the week ends after I finish my auto classes.
I have literally 2 job offers. One from a Dodge dealership where they routinely over haul engines, tranny’s, tons of LOF work, the guy wants to make me a line tech in 3 months starting on used cars. I’ll shadow master techs when oil changes are slow. I’ll be spiff pay lube tech for the first 3 months. He’s a vet just like me, and has said already I will be a rock star in his shop. Will work with me on my school schedule.
There’s a job offer from Acura, I’ll be a lube tech. Any line tech I do will be R&R. I’ll be hourly for who knows who long because they need people so bad, from being so busy, they just want to me get started. They have no real plan or idea how and when I will move up. Will not work with me on my schedule and I’ll be hourly for about 3-6 months.
So I have a 3.8 gpa, 2 years experience and frankly I rather eat a ton of horse shit with a spork than work as an engineer. So grad school is 100% out of the question. Plus the market in my state is so over saturated there are people literally everywhere with engineering degree’s moving out of state to find work. And that’s not an option for me.
Ultimately I want to become a field service tech. I can work at Dodge doing over haul type work, get good wrench time. See the “death row inmates” as my brotha from anotha motha Fopeano says, which to me is better than working at the high-school as an athletic trainer getting started out.
Then move on to Acura or Honda after school and work my way up.
OP: Be glad you don’t work for them anymore because it sounds like they have the wrong structure for deciding who is a good and bad employee.
[quote=”Bluesnut” post=128992]I’ve been through that “we’re going to keep your toolbox” routine with the ex-employer of mine who had the team pay plan. I lived 25 miles out in the sticks and found another job PDQ in another town. Went in one morning to load up my tools and halfway in remembered that I had left 2 uniforms at home. No big deal, me or my wife is in town all the time so I just figured one of us would drop them off the next time in as my wife’s mother lives just a mile away from the shop.
As I’m rolling my box out the service manager comes up to me smiling and asking how I’m doing. Fine, got another job starting Monday.
He then goes into the I can’t let you have your tools until you return those uniforms bit. This led to a heated argument because I told him I was not making a 50 mile round trip to do this and they would be returned in the next few days.
This guy (6’3″ and about 250 pounds) tried to step between me and my box. I just grabbed the handle and said that box is leaving right now because the box and everything in it is legally mine; bought and paid for by me and me only…Hard to figure some of those management clowns except to say that most are sub-morons.[/quote]
It really is hard to believe he did that because that is illegal. Especially considering the value of the uniforms vs. the tools. Stepping between you and the tool box added force. He could have been arrested if you had called the police. This field is so full of idiots. Some of the managers I’ve had in the past, their stupidity is beyond comprehension. I had a service manager who would try to arrange assults of employees he didn’t like. I had one who fired a young guy with asthma because he kept complaining about the guys smoking in the shop, then that guy filed with OSHA and that manager argued “smoker’s rights” to an OSHA official and got the shop fined $10,000 for allowing employees to smoke in the shop even though it is against the law. Then the OSHA rep did an audit of the whole shop, noting many violations. That shop did not recover and has closed.
Jasonw1178, the stupidity in those examples is mind-boggling. I would think that a manager would not want smoking in the shop even if it were legal. There’s the fire hazard issue due to chemicals and I’m sure a lot of non-smoking car owners would not appreciate their vehicles smelling like cigarette smoke when they picked it up.
Assaults on an employee? Wow. Rock bottom stupid.
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