Wrongful Termination?
I was hired at a restaurant to cook after a 1 week period of try outs. After being hired I had to go to an orientation to meet the owner and receive knowledge about the company. I was told by my general manager to read a poem, "My Friend William", because the owner was going to talk about it. I didn't read the poem because I thought it was asinine. I'm there to cook not read poems. There were 5 analytical questions about it. The owner at the orientation asked if I even glimpsed at it and I was honest in replying, "no". I was on a 2 week trial period to see if they wanted to keep me. Also, my co-workers keep saying how fast I am picking things up regarding the menu and are impressed. The firing had nothing to do with my work. I only got fired for not reading a poem.
I was let go for breaking company policies that which I understand. But when 3-4 other employees are doing the same thing and they warned them. Is this discrimination? Now I get no unemployment either. Not right
As well you should have. There were 16 of us looking for work there was only 4 positions available. They broke us up into groups of 4 and asked us a question. "If the company wouldn't renew your contract would you go on strike?" The 4 of us at my table discussed it and gave our answer as yes. The other tables couldn't come to an agreement. We got the job. Why you say? The answer wasn't really what the company wanted, but because we functioned as a team an came up with an agreed on answer we got the job. In your case it doesn't matter that it had nothing to do with the job, but more on your loyalty, and whether you'd go that extra mile to help the company. If you couldn't do something as simple as read a poem, then how would you handle a serious problem. I guess your getting fired answered that.
Should have read the poem!
This wasn't about the poem, this was about following instructions. Basically, your exec only wants to hear, "yes, chef", "no, chef" and "I don't know, chef". It doesn't mean anyone hates you or thinks you're not human, it's just the hierarchy of the kitchen.
Elizabeth,
It's about following instructions. Your employer asked you to do that one thing, and you didn't do it.
If they couldn't count on you to follow that one instruction, it means you don't take your job seriously and that they can't trust you to follow other instructions.
What if they asked you to help unload the truck? That's not cooking but as a line cook could be part of your job. Would you refuse to do that because you find it asinine?
Find another line cook job that doesn't require you to read a poem. In my opinion, the only person in the wrong here was you.
Uh, what??? That seems completely irrelevant to anything. I have no clue if that can be considered wrongful termination, but it definitely shouldn't have happened.
If reading a poem was part of what you needed to do to advance toward keeping the job, as asinine as it may have seemed to you, and you didn't read it, what did you expect was going to happen? You WERE hired..........woohoo!!...........all you had to do was read a poem and effortlessly sit back and listen to a discussion about a poem. Things happen at jobs that we don't like....that's why they're called "jobs" and not "cheerleader orgies" LOLOL You needed a job, you applied for a job, you got invited to the next step in the hiring/screening process, and you deliberately didn't do something very simple that what you were asked to do. No real mystery.