How to react after being dismissed?

LiamoSail

@OP

I wouldn't consider this as a dismissal. It seems apparent you were taken on to cover what was a busy period for the company. Whether they were upfront with you or not, they obviously considered your position to be just a temporary Christmas one, and you should consider it as that too, particularly when asked about it in your next interview etc.

It seems as if you're reading a bit too much into events. Is it possible that the staff you feel ignored you had been working there a long time, and so become somewhat indifferent to temporary staff they see coming and going regularly? Or perhaps they see temp's such as yourself as a threat, as you may have picked things up quickly and been more productive than themselves?

Even the Xmas drinks, while I'd consider it bad form you weren't invited, there could well be justifiable reasons. Perhaps it only involved a group who'd been together a significant length of time, or even they wanted to spend an evening bitching about their boss, and not knowing you or your relationship with the boss, wouldn't have felt comfortable doing so with you present. My point is, there are numerous reasons, it's not something you should read too much into.

You've clearly been dealt a bad hand with that shower, but put it down to experience and move on with the dignified attitude you have been demonstrating. While I'd never advocate a poor or unprofessional work attitude, always remember any company will happily screw you if it suits them. It's a pertinent point to bare in mind when weighing up your loyalty to any company in the face of alternative options you may face in the future.

Best of luck with job search and credit to you for how you've handled the situation

Tigger

cleopatra11 wrote: »

Also, you should have been paid for the Public Holidays over Christmas.

I only mention this as they seem a bit underhand in the manner they let you go.

not if you are part time then its based on the average over the last 13 weeks or something iirc

edit no its

Part-time employees
If you have worked for your employer at least 40 hours in the 5 weeks before the public holiday and the public holiday falls on a day you normally work you are entitled to a day's pay for the public holiday. If you are required to work that day you are entitled to an additional day's pay.

If you do not normally work on that particular day you should receive one-fifth of your weekly pay. Even if you may never be rostered to work on a public holiday you are entitled to one-fifth of your weekly pay as compensation for the public holiday.

If you do not have normal daily or weekly working hours, under SI 475/1997, an average of your day’s pay or the fifth of your weekly pay is calculated over the 13 weeks you worked before the public holiday.

In all of the above situations your employer may choose to give you paid time off instead of pay for the public holiday.

Rubberchikken

O you handled a crapy experience very well and it will stand to you.
Regardless of whether it was just temp christmas work, the manager and his/her staff let themselves down in treating you as they did.

What does it cost to hire someone on a temp basis, then tell them properly at the end that the job is done, thank them and ensure they have a ref, p45 and any monies due? It's not complicated.

Op don't assume they'll furnish p45/pay due. Follow it u. They don't sound very professional to me.

Good luck with the job hunt.

ziedth

Hi OP,

I'm going to contradict myself here but I'm going to tell you a story of what happened to me, my take on the situation and what I would do in your position.

First of all I got in a somewhat similar to you just in a management position. I'll be honest I was a few years younger and certainly not as mature but I didn't take it well and went out of my way to burn as many bridges as I could on the way out. Did a bit of damage to them (not physical of course but from a corporate point of view). Anyway fast forward a few years I am interviewing for a job in a different company doing really well and the interviewer notices said company and was like the HR lady is my sister, I notice you don't have them as a reference would you mind if I rang her, no amount of talk could get me out of it and while agreed he wouldn't ring I never heard from them again so what you did was 100% correct because you don't know how small this island is particularly if you stay in retail. So we'll done for that.

Anyway, I have been in retail for well over a decade and bring on seasonal temps every year. What I think I'm afraid is that for whatever reason they didn't like you or you did something to someone that rubbed them up the wrong way. However saying you'll be kept on full time after Christmas sounds VERY strange to me and if you would like you can PM who they were and i'll tell you if it's the case as I'd know how most of the retailers do these kind of things.Furthermore their behaviour was absolutely awful, unprofessional to say the absolute least even if they had no intention of keeping you it isn't at all the done thing to handle it that way.

Now if I were you I'd send a very professional email to HR detailing the events of what happened (not unlike what you have said above) and that you are disappointed that the position wasn't held for you as mentioned when you started, that you were a little bothered by the atmosphere when collecting the letter (that you had to chase) and that if they weren't pleased with your performance at a store level that you would have been happy to have review and work on any issues they may have had.

The important thing OP is not to sound angry just you were again disappointed that you weren't given the opportunity to do your best for the company. on the email and thank them for the opportunity and wish them all the best in the future.

I guarantee the management team will have a very very nasty phonecall the next day and more importantly it will stop them treating the next poor kid the sane as you.

Let me know where you are on the PM if there is going a shop in the company that I work for near you I'll ask them to keep an eye out for your CV and drop it in k?

Madra98

Thanks for all the further messages, guys. I have read them all several times. Honestly. The kindness of strangers is heart-warming and has been very uplifting at this time.

I probably should have added that I was the only older male influence in an all female-workplace.

Some more great advice here re: the email, adding up hours, etc. etc. And the general messages of encouragement are great.

At the end of the day I realize that they are the way they are, really. I mean if I or you start letting how someone else treats us alter how we act then we have lost already. I had numerous friends tell me to tell them off, and as fun as dropping a few F's, then dropping down and crab-walking away with my tongue flapping giving them the middle fingers would have been it just isn't me, hah.

I'm happy with how I handled the situation. I'm upset and down to some degree, as I feel they got away with murder. But I am happy that the worst thing that they can accuse me of being is quiet, dignified and polite. No one can honestly say that anything was lacking on my part in regard to decency and dignity.

the_pen_turner

very professional. the last thing you wanted to do was blow your cool and give them something to say about you

no make sure you get everything you are entitled to