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This journey has always been a temporary stepping stone for me. A few days ago one of the store leads fired me. She had not even bothered to look at the external HR system that still had my “case” in review. I still had two days left to submit my information. This is why my corporate employer uses this third party. This manager, with zero emotion, simply fired me first thing in the morning as I signed in for work.
My friendly manager, the one who hired me, was emotionally upset and apologizing. “I asked her not to do this. It’s premature.”
“Your UTP,” she said, “Is negative 1.45 hours.”
“My case is under review, I have until tomorrow to submit my paper work, but I turned it in yesterday. I spoke with them.”
“Your case was denied,” she said, not hearing me.
“That was two weeks ago. It was denied because it had been filed under FMLA. An hour later they called me and said it was approved and they would send me the confirmation paperwork I needed to fill out.”
“I did not know that.”
“It’s pending approval now. And I still have another day to fill out their forms. I did it early.”
“I’ll go look. Give me a minute.” And she left the room. My manager friend was visibly upset. Not as upset as I was, but he knows he had some culpability for this entire situation.
A few minutes later the Assistant Store Lead came back. “You are right. I’ll give you 24 hours. We’ll check in tomorrow morning before your shift.”
“Thank you,” I said. She got up to leave. “May I use this room to call the third-party and give them an update on my status?”
I sat there and called the verification company. Eventually the sympathetic intake person connected me with my caseworker.
“I will try and get to your case today, but our turn times are usually 3 – 5 days. The company knows that. Your manager should’ve gotten a notice that your case was pending review. They are not supposed to take any action until this review is complete. I’ll do what I can on your approval today, but I can’t promise anything.”
Yesterday I showed up for work. It took a lot of manufactured optimism to show up. The firing ASL was off. I had a fairly pleasant shift. And I’ll show up again in 45 minutes and do another shift. I looked at the third-party website last night. My 24 hours of leave has been approved.
This puts me back in good standing policy wise. Leaves me with a big gaping hole of trust at leadership’s integrity and due diligence. I think it propels me up and out with a bit more urgency. Oh, I can kiss ass and do my job. I can settle my enthusiasm and joy to seem “serious.” I can give up on my team lead as anything but a gorilla in a leadership role.
I can get the hell out.
(Breathe In) “I am safe, I am healthy, I am happy, I live with ease.”
(Breathe Out) “I am evolving out of this role. I have learned what I needed to learn from the Happy Cashier.”
The checkout line today will be hoppin, I assure you.
[Listen to the Deep Dive explore the concepts of The Happy Cashier.]
The hope I see in others
becomes the hope I have for myself,
my life, and my own journey.
– The Happy Cashier
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