jos51700
Green Bearing thread connoisseur
So, at the beginning of June, I got let go from my position as an engineer at local manufacturing firm that made packaging equipment. They allege threats of violence, racial discrimination, and verbal abuse of a co-worker. Factor in an operations Manager that was a raging passive-aggressive pussy that didn't understand that I did NOT answer to him and took it personally when I told him that. He should've reviewed my contract.
All a load of BS, although a friend that's also a coworker did say I was too tough on one coworker (the one that supposedly lodged the complaint) sometimes. This is also the kid (age 23) that I advocated hiring, so I doubt the racial charge sticks (he was South American). The threats of violence is bullshit, and the verbal abuse charge is pretty damn thin in my book. I did get frustrated with the kid and talked to him AND my boss about having him not come to me, but this fella did NOT listen. Some are saying the Op Manager pushed him to file the complaint, but I digress.
The kid always came to my or someone elses' desk, but usually mine, because he was afraid of our boss who would literally stand in the middle of the office berating him, talking about how stupid he was, telling him he was about to get deported if he didn't straighten up, talked about f$%king the kids' new wife, etc. all at high volume so all in the office could hear. Clearly a great place to work but I stuck it out because they generally left me alone. That's paid off well (sarcasm).
I designed 70-80% of their new machine line without being prompted, gave them a stainless line for nearly the cost of aluminum, worked between 50-70 hours a week, had ONE sick day (the first of my life) due to carbon monoxide poisoning from an exhaust leak in the car (which I still made it to work on time and had to go home), gave up countless weeks for travel without additional time off, etc. I had ONE write-up in five years, and that was for the day that I got fired
Now they're telling all prospective employers that they wouldn't recommend hiring me.
Yeah, I'm a little pissed.
Will I go shoot up the place? Absolutely not.
Did I mention how they sleazed a customer when the customer called me at home after I left? Absolutely not.
Did I steal any data or otherwise sabotage anything that they did? Absolutely not. I'm taking the high road on this.
I had a solid job lead with a vendor who won't hire me because former employer said not to, and they have said this to others, too. I could easily go work for their competitors and this industry constantly steals employees from one another, but again, no under-bus tossing from me. I honestly didn't realize how much of my supervisor's job I was doing until I went to one interview with a non-competitor in the same industry. I think the guy thought I was lying to him about everything that I did in my 5 years at this company.
TLDR: So, what do you tell a prospective employer about why you left, how you left, and what the previous employer said?
All a load of BS, although a friend that's also a coworker did say I was too tough on one coworker (the one that supposedly lodged the complaint) sometimes. This is also the kid (age 23) that I advocated hiring, so I doubt the racial charge sticks (he was South American). The threats of violence is bullshit, and the verbal abuse charge is pretty damn thin in my book. I did get frustrated with the kid and talked to him AND my boss about having him not come to me, but this fella did NOT listen. Some are saying the Op Manager pushed him to file the complaint, but I digress.
The kid always came to my or someone elses' desk, but usually mine, because he was afraid of our boss who would literally stand in the middle of the office berating him, talking about how stupid he was, telling him he was about to get deported if he didn't straighten up, talked about f$%king the kids' new wife, etc. all at high volume so all in the office could hear. Clearly a great place to work but I stuck it out because they generally left me alone. That's paid off well (sarcasm).
I designed 70-80% of their new machine line without being prompted, gave them a stainless line for nearly the cost of aluminum, worked between 50-70 hours a week, had ONE sick day (the first of my life) due to carbon monoxide poisoning from an exhaust leak in the car (which I still made it to work on time and had to go home), gave up countless weeks for travel without additional time off, etc. I had ONE write-up in five years, and that was for the day that I got fired
Now they're telling all prospective employers that they wouldn't recommend hiring me.
Yeah, I'm a little pissed.
Will I go shoot up the place? Absolutely not.
Did I mention how they sleazed a customer when the customer called me at home after I left? Absolutely not.
Did I steal any data or otherwise sabotage anything that they did? Absolutely not. I'm taking the high road on this.
I had a solid job lead with a vendor who won't hire me because former employer said not to, and they have said this to others, too. I could easily go work for their competitors and this industry constantly steals employees from one another, but again, no under-bus tossing from me. I honestly didn't realize how much of my supervisor's job I was doing until I went to one interview with a non-competitor in the same industry. I think the guy thought I was lying to him about everything that I did in my 5 years at this company.
TLDR: So, what do you tell a prospective employer about why you left, how you left, and what the previous employer said?