Set a new personal record!

[will e]

With the job you have landed. They offered you, in writing, the position at a specific pay and start date pending an acceptable drug test result? Did you accept that job under those conditions? If so, you should take that job. If the other company offers you a job you should tell them that you accepted an offer from another company and do not feel right backing out on it. Explain to them that if the job is not as they represented it you would contact them and hope they might reconsider their offer.

If the job offer you have to take the drug test for was not given to you in writing or with a handshake and assurance that the drug test was all you need to pass to be employed then you are not committed to the first offer.

[Southern Gorilla]

If the job offer you have to take the drug test for was not given to you in writing or with a handshake and assurance that the drug test was all you need to pass to be employed then you are not committed to the first offer.

Thanks for that. There was a handshake and verbal assurance. That means I'm committed. Probably for the best. The other job may have a higher hourly rate, but there are things more important than money.

[Southern Gorilla]

I really wish there were some way to convey how angry I am right now without tripping the board filters.

I took the job mentioned above. I did the week's orientation. I showed up this morning to start the actual training only to be told they didn't need me any more.

A bit of background;

Their orientation process involves having drivers spend a day with each of several departments. So I worked with the receiving department one day, quality control the next, then customer service, then second-shift shipping, then third-shift shipping Sunday night. It's actually a pretty clever process because it familiarizes you with everybody and lets you see how all the jobs interrelate.

So I show up Sunday night at 10 PM and I'm expecting more of the same. Because all I'd done all week was sit around and watch people do their jobs. And really, that's all that's needed. But the guys told me I was going to spend the night shrink-wrapping pallets. I told them there was no way that was possible. For those that don't know, shrink-wrapping pallets involves stooping over as low as possible and walking in a circle. Even athletic people get dizzy doing it. For an old, fat guy like me... well, it can be done. But it takes me a lot longer because I have to rest often between laps. And being over six-foot it isn't easy to stoop low enough to get to the bottom of the pallet. I can wrap the occasional pallet. But doing that exclusively for hours on end is just not possible for me.

I wrapped a couple pallets. And one of the crew had to go behind me and redo it because I did such a poor job. No surprise. I told them that would happen. I went on to help with other things I could do. We were all laughing and cutting up. They talked about all the drivers they'd had nodding off asleep trying to get through the shift. I went home at "lunchtime" because there was really no reason to stay any longer. And most drivers go home early because they can't stay awake anyhow. Third shift isn't easy for the first few days. So trying to do it only one day is rough.

Anyhow, I had no idea that anything was amiss til I showed up this morning and was told they didn't need me. Apparently their position is that I thought I was "too good" to wrap pallets like the peons. Which is not even remotely the case. I never even said anything to that effect. In fact, I told them more than once that it was just a difficult thing for an old, fat man to do well. I was told this morning that "we wrap a lot of pallets here". Which I know is true. But drivers only wrap a few in a day at most. So spending hours doing it is not a very good test of my qualifications for the job. I will admit, if I ever showed up and they said, "no runs today, we need you to wrap pallets" I would turn around and go home. But that hardly makes me difficult. Everybody has their limits as to what they will do at work.

I forgot to mention, they have carousels that wrap pallets. The first and second shift guys use them all the time. So they're mad at me for not being able to manually do something they have at least three machines to do. Which seems kind of like being mad at me for not walking past a forklift to get a pallet jack.

What makes me really angry about the whole thing is their ignorance. The "problem" happened Sunday night. Nobody called me at all Monday to ask my side of the story. They didn't even call to tell me to not worry about coming in. Instead, I get up at 04:30 this morning expecting to start the real training only to find out I'm unemployed again. I could have made a phone call yesterday and been right back to work with the temp agency I was just with. Now I've lost a day's worth of hunting because I had no idea I needed to be hunting. I did the "right" thing by honoring my word to them and taking the job even after receiving a better offer. That better offer is no longer available to me because I took this job. I really thought this job could turn into something. I was actually looking forward to it. I should have known better.

I was told the guy in charge of transportation wants to talk to me later. I don't know why he didn't talk to me yesterday. I suppose there's a chance he wants to straighten it out and keep me on. But that is not going to happen. They've proven themselves to be flaky. I can't work for people who can turn on me in an instant with no warning.

[will e]

If 'the guy in charge of transportation' wants to talk to you and offers you the job back you should take it.

All large organizations are flaky. They are made up of people. If the next level person got wind of what happened and decides to hear your side of the story it makes no sense for you to go in with the approach that you won't take your job back. If that is the case, why even talk to him?

[Southern Gorilla]

It was the guy in charge who made the call to send me home, #2 was just the one to deliver the news. So I'm not sure why he'd change his mind. Or why he didn't call me yesterday to talk to me. And I doubt HR has even gotten wind of the situation yet. So even if somebody higher up the foodchain wanted to keep me I'd always be under the shadow of this incident. That's added stress I don't need. Plus the job really doesn't pay well enough to fight for it. I only took it because I need a permanent job to qualify for a mortgage and I thought I was in a hurry to get it. I can go back to making the same money as a temp and look for something better.

I'm easy to get along with. But I rarely give people a second chance to screw me. If they had called me yesterday and let me know there was an issue, we could have discussed it rationally and moved forward. But for that guy to tell me this morning that I thought I was better than everybody else... that is a nerve that doesn't need to be touched. I will bust my tail to work with a crew doing menial labor. I just spent a month shuffling heavy furniture around a warehouse at a place where previous drivers had sat in the break room using their laptops until they were needed to move a trailer. I actually enjoy a bit of hard work. There are just some things that are outside the range of what I can physically do. I'm not quick, I'm not agile, I can't stoop down very much. Nobody seemed to care that I did do other stuff while I was there Sunday. It's not like I just sat down and refused to do anything. Anyhow, like I said, if I did take the job back I would never look at them with the same respect again. All I ask of anybody is for them to show me the respect I show them. And the way that guy talked to me this morning was in no way respectful. I would never be able to look at him as my equal again. I would always be secretly hoping he wrapped his scooter around a pole on the way home. I cannot stand having my work ethic questioned.

Sorry for the rant. It is going to take a while for me to cool back down from this.

[TUDrewser]

Some hills are worth dying on, some are not. Choose carefully. For you, the beard "hill" is worth it. Fine by me. Just saying time tends to bring reason to people's minds, and it's always good to go into a situation with an open mind and not have your mind made up already. Will E's given all good advice (even if the situation didn't work out). I say give the meeting a shot, then make up your mind. Pride usually screws people.

[DarkMonohue]

Pride usually screws people.

You said in four words what would've taken me fifty.

Anyway, it's clear that you (SG) aren't having much luck finding an employer that you like, and/or who likes you. Seeing as this is not small-town 1953 and you are not filming a pickup truck commercial, there's not much point trusting in firm handshakes and steely gazes. From here forward, my philosophy would be this:

All lines in the water until the fish is on the plate.

[Southern Gorilla]

Some hills are worth dying on, some are not. Choose carefully. For you, the beard "hill" is worth it. Fine by me. Just saying time tends to bring reason to people's minds, and it's always good to go into a situation with an open mind and not have your mind made up already. Will E's given all good advice (even if the situation didn't work out). I say give the meeting a shot, then make up your mind. Pride usually screws people.

Why the beard thing again? That had nothing to do with this situation.

... there's not much point trusting in firm handshakes and steely gazes. From here forward, my philosophy would be this:

All lines in the water until the fish is on the plate.

Yup, I agree. Although, I thought I had a fish on the plate this time. But, yeah.

The good news is that the agency I was just with is waiting for confirmation about an assignment that pays $3/hr more than the job I just lost. And it looks to go permanent since I saw the same job online. Getting a $3/hr raise would definitely ease the sting of getting canned over nothing.

[TUDrewser]

Why the beard thing again? That had nothing to do with this situation.

Ha, I just read the whole thing for the first time, so for me it wasn't a month ago For the record, there is something awesome about a good beard. I envy those who can grow them. I have to settle for my middle-age dad goatee. Was just pointing out it is important to you.

But it sort of does have something to do with this situation. Not shaving the beard is a display of pride. You have pride in your beard, your "look", and you weren't willing to compromise that. It was a priority to you, a line you weren't willing to cross. And that's fine. It's your choice. I don't care one way or the other...just pointing it out.

Showing up to the meeting with your mind made up that you aren't going to take the job back because of how they treated you is another display of pride. You have to choose if it's another line you aren't willing to cross. And again, I don't care one way or the other...you brought it up, so I'm just offering a bit of advice. If it were me, I wouldn't burn the bridge.

We all have to take pride in something so I will revise my statement. Too much pride will screw you. Up to you to decide where that line of "too much" is.

[Southern Gorilla]

Showing up to the meeting with your mind made up that you aren't going to take the job back because of how they treated you is another display of pride. You have to choose if it's another line you aren't willing to cross. And again, I don't care one way or the other...you brought it up, so I'm just offering a bit of advice. If it were me, I wouldn't burn the bridge.

We all have to take pride in something so I will revise my statement. Too much pride will screw you. Up to you to decide where that line of "too much" is.

See, I don't consider it a matter of pride. I'd never say I'm proud of my beard because it's just hair. I'm only proud of things I've accomplished. Which, admittedly, isn't much. I consider it a matter of respect. To me, it's massively disrespectful to tell another human being they need to change the way they look because you don't like it. It's basically a declaration of ownership. Like saying, "I'm so much better than you that I get to override your decisions about how you dress".

They originally called this process "orientation" because the goal was to get drivers to know people and people to know drivers. Great plan. Seriously. But then this morning he said I didn't co-operate and do what was expected of me in my "training". There's a big difference between "orientation" and "training". For them to think that a sixteen-year trucking veteran needs training on how to wrap pallets is basically the same thing as a hospital training a veteran surgeon on how to apply Band-aids. Or training a veteran welder on how to operate a grinder. Basically saying, "we know you have all this experience at this job, but you're obviously an idiot who needs to be shown the most basic things again."

If I were to go forward with them from here I would never be able to trust them to come to me if there was a problem. They've shown me that they will use any minor misunderstanding to justify coming down on me without first giving me a chance to address the issue.

[TUDrewser]

Showing up to the meeting with your mind made up that you aren't going to take the job back because of how they treated you is another display of pride. You have to choose if it's another line you aren't willing to cross. And again, I don't care one way or the other...you brought it up, so I'm just offering a bit of advice. If it were me, I wouldn't burn the bridge.

We all have to take pride in something so I will revise my statement. Too much pride will screw you. Up to you to decide where that line of "too much" is.

See, I don't consider it a matter of pride. I'd never say I'm proud of my beard because it's just hair. I'm only proud of things I've accomplished. Which, admittedly, isn't much. I consider it a matter of respect. To me, it's massively disrespectful to tell another human being they need to change the way they look because you don't like it. It's basically a declaration of ownership. Like saying, "I'm so much better than you that I get to override your decisions about how you dress".

They originally called this process "orientation" because the goal was to get drivers to know people and people to know drivers. Great plan. Seriously. But then this morning he said I didn't co-operate and do what was expected of me in my "training". There's a big difference between "orientation" and "training". For them to think that a sixteen-year trucking veteran needs training on how to wrap pallets is basically the same thing as a hospital training a veteran surgeon on how to apply Band-aids. Or training a veteran welder on how to operate a grinder. Basically saying, "we know you have all this experience at this job, but you're obviously an idiot who needs to be shown the most basic things again."

If I were to go forward with them from here I would never be able to trust them to come to me if there was a problem. They've shown me that they will use any minor misunderstanding to justify coming down on me without first giving me a chance to address the issue.

Fair enough. But I think you should be proud of your beard.

[Southern Gorilla]

Fair enough. But I think you should be proud of your beard.

I was, before I trimmed it down to its current form.

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[Stuka]

if the #1 does offer the job, I would seriously take it. You need the work, and you want a house. Once you have the job, you can always look for others. But I would not let what happened stop me from accepting the job.

PS: At one of my previous jobs we had this thing that the spool of wrap was on so that we didn't have to bend down to wrap the pallets. It was a back saver.

[Southern Gorilla]

if the #1 does offer the job, I would seriously take it. You need the work, and you want a house. Once you have the job, you can always look for others. But I would not let what happened stop me from accepting the job.

PS: At one of my previous jobs we had this thing that the spool of wrap was on so that we didn't have to bend down to wrap the pallets. It was a back saver.

Yup, I've seen those wrappers. Very handy. Still not as handy as the three automated wrappers they have at this place though.

Now I have a new issue to deal with. Seems my previous employer is putting misleading information down in the "reason for leaving" part of the work history confirmations they send out. No wonder I'm not getting calls about applications I know I'm qualified for. I shoulda known the supervisor was lying when he said he'd "watch out" for me in my job hunt. Just sleazy.

[carnuck]

Sounds like you need to either file a complaint with Labor Relations over what sleazy put on there or find his watering hole and "have a chat". I "accidentally" found where my ex-boss (now fired in disgrace over theft from the company, lost his house and family over his douchebaggery) was drinking and noted his companion was another employee's wife he was blackmailing so her hubby could keep his job. He had been stealing from the company since Day 1 and thought he was immune. I reported him to the boss of bosses and all I got was grief for it (they estimated he took over $100K over the years). When Big Boss told him what I found out, he tried to pin some blatant thefts on me. In hindsight, noting how many others were fired for theft, being late, etc I can't help wondering if that was his MO all along.
When I figured out what he was doing, he and I had a yelling match in front of the other employees and then I went back to work. I called the Loss Prevention guy and changed my password, set up a dummy account with my old password, then I quit. Over the weekend he ordered all sorts of stuff through the dummy account, thinking it was mine, then he told LP I had ordered all that stuff and taken it without paying. They checked the security video and the clock in/out which showed I wasn't there at the time of ordering and it took 3 months to pin it down to him and fire his ass.

[Southern Gorilla]

That's a heckuva story, carnuck. I have to admit, that's a level of sleaze I have yet to encounter.

My ex boss lives one street over and three houses down from me. The fact that he hasn't been by to check on me or ask for anything tells me that he is avoiding me. Which means he knows he screwed me and he's hoping I don't find out. Which gives me a perverted sense of satisfaction, knowing he's waiting for me to knock on the door and say hello.

[will e]

if the #1 does offer the job, I would seriously take it. You need the work, and you want a house. Once you have the job, you can always look for others. But I would not let what happened stop me from accepting the job.

PS: At one of my previous jobs we had this thing that the spool of wrap was on so that we didn't have to bend down to wrap the pallets. It was a back saver.

Yup, I've seen those wrappers. Very handy. Still not as handy as the three automated wrappers they have at this place though.

Now I have a new issue to deal with. Seems my previous employer is putting misleading information down in the "reason for leaving" part of the work history confirmations they send out. No wonder I'm not getting calls about applications I know I'm qualified for. I shoulda known the supervisor was lying when he said he'd "watch out" for me in my job hunt. Just sleazy.

Where I work we are instructed to only confirm employment. We do not give out any information about why a separation occurred. Even if a potential employer requests it. Who is requesting this information from them? They should be going directly to the HR of your previous employer. If you have proof you may have a lawsuit.

[Southern Gorilla]

Where I work we are instructed to only confirm employment. We do not give out any information about why a separation occurred. Even if a potential employer requests it. Who is requesting this information from them? They should be going directly to the HR of your previous employer. If you have proof you may have a lawsuit.

I guess the few places I apply at are checking. I've been passed over for jobs I am eminently qualified for. But yesterday the temp agency I've been working for called to ask me about the information in question. I don't know if it just appeared or if it's been there the whole time and they just didn't care about it before. But I know it cost me a $17/hr assignment yesterday because after they called about it I haven't heard from them again about anything. So now I may not even be working for the temp agency I had been working with for the past three months. I'm not sure I have any chance of getting work because of this new development.

I just noticed on the latest application I'm filling that there is a section which specifically states I have the right to see any information passed on from previous employers. I also have the right to ask for it to be changed if it is wrong or to attach a rebuttal if the previous employer won't change it. So my plan from here on is to mention the situation up front in the hopes of defusing it. That way there are no surprises.

A lawsuit would be fruitless. The information is misleading, but not outright wrong. It's as if they took great pains to ensure they made it look as bad as possible without saying anything they couldn't defend. Word choice and phrasing can make a huge difference in the apparent meaning of a single sentence.

[will e]

Do you wish to elaborate?

[Southern Gorilla]

Do you wish to elaborate?

Turns out I was misinformed. The info is not misleading. So I have to figure out a damage-control plan.