Hello everyone, I'm new to this site and just wanted to reach out and share a recent experience that resulted in my termination of employment. As a cable technician, i'm use to dealing with the mixed bag of nuts we call "our customers". I pride myself on treating them all with equal respect and professionalism. Being honest and using humor to defuse an awkward situation, has always served me well...until now.
After installing cable service at this residence, the customer became elated that she would be able to watch her shows and not be stuck watching her old DVD's any longer. She had just been released from a rehab center and was eager to catch up on Duck Dynasty and Honey Boo Boo, I was informed by her. I smiled and said "Great, glad to be of service...enjoy your shows". As I was collecting my equipment she says, "Thank you Jesus". I again smile at her and said jokingly, "No, my name is Jason". "Well he helped you" she exclaimed. "I wish I did have some help, it's getting hot outside. It was a challenge to get the antenna just right on your roof" I said politely. "Well he guided you cause I was praying that it would work" she spouted off in spite. "No I had to figure it all out on my own, you have a lot of trees and obtaining signal in this location can be difficult.", I replied. "He gave you the intellect in order to do it" she said with great disdain. Still smiling and using a polite tone I said, "I got where I am today because of hard work. I studied and learned from trial and error over the past 8yrs." I respectfully excused myself and exited her home. As I was gathering the outside equipment, she again attempted to engage me, "So you don't believe in God?" she asked in disgust. I smiled looked her in the eyes and said, "there are many things I do not believe in Ma'am, one of which is discussing things of that nature while on the job". "WELL WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE IN?" Like we all didn't see that one coming...right? "Me, Myself and I" I said with a smile. Once again I thanked her for her business and said goodbye. She said "I'll pray for you" I said "please don't" out the window and left.
Two days later I am pulled into the office and informed that this woman had not only called in to complain and say that I was the rudest person she had ever met, but that I had also informed her that I hated my job. She stated that I told her the cable service was crappy, and the equipment was crappy, and that she never again wanted me back at her home. Without hesitation from upper management the decision was made. I was to be terminated without any opportunity to share my side of the story.
This is the world I live in, where a lying, spiteful, delusional christian can ruin the livelihood of someone who is only doing their job, by simply making false allegations over the phone. In hind site...had I just okie-doked her and walked away, I would still have a job. Yet I feel I had the right to say what I did...and i must say, it was very amusing to watch the hatred build up inside her with every word I chose.
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Mighty christian of her, eh?
yeah...bless her heart.
Been there, done that !
If I had a cable company I would hire you right now!
What a Christian hypocrite. People like her make me wish Christianity was real so she could burn with us for eternity. She obviously does not get what her religion preaches. Bet she used you loosing her job to get a free month of cable too. What a jerk. what cable company were you working for if you don't mind me asking?
Well thank you, but at this point I would have to decline the offer. I liked what I did, but often considered a change. It may have been a blessing in disguise? I wish her no ill will. The poor woman already lives in a run down trailer court beside the city landfill. She obviously suffers from mental illness, so her life is already punishment enough. What I don't feel is right in this day and age, is to fire an employee with a perfect track record based solely on what this crack-pot woman had claimed I had said and done, without any investigation. I'm hesitant to name the Company in question, due to possible legal action I may seek.
I am no lawyer but sounds to me like you may have a case. I do advise you talk to a lawyer though. Sound to me like your better off putting in you time and skills with someone who will appreciate them better though.
I am not sure i would pursue legal action. I would have said i would but too many times i have been in cases where I should have sued for this or that and ultimately decided not to In reality suing is often times not worth it and can be prove to be detrimental to your public standing. I remember the second time I sued an insurance company they tried to paint me as a bad guy because I sued one once before. I think it's best to sue only when you absolutely have to, when the issue is important enough to you, or the offending parties have left with no other choice. And then only if the reward is great enough.
I was going to say the same thing.
If you were a theist, and refused to remove your item of religious identification (cross, yamaka, beard, whatever) to please a customer, the law would be on your side. Here, you simply refused to profess a belief that you didn't have (which would have been sacrilegious by their standards. If you were terminated for not rejecting your own beliefs on customer demand, then you've *definitely* got a case.
A lot of companies operate that way. It's unfair and they are most likely cutting their own throats by firing a loyal employee, But if you live in a "Right to work" state, there's nothing you can do about it.
Just move on with your life, learn your lesson and don't make that mistake again.
When you are being interviewed for your next job, take the position of interviewing the company and your prospective boss.to see if they are reasonable and are up to YOUR standards.
If you are going to sell them your time and talent, be sure that the company is worthy of you.
Good advise, people should definitely approach finding the right job like this.
Agreed, the interview process should work both ways.
Agreed, the interview process should work both ways.
If it's not the customer they are trying to impress, it's the religious zealots. Whether you liked the job or not, you were terminated unfairly and you need to take action. Even if you just make a stand, it might make people like her think twice next time about affecting someone's life with their lies.
Shared on facebook. Seems to me you were fired for being atheist. One claim from a christian got you fired when you had a clean record that tells me its not why the company fired you.
Companies centered on customer service and customer premise visits understand that there are nuts out there who are never satisfied and will complain regardless of services rendered. In most cases these people call and complain about in installer or maintenance technician in an attempt to get a period of free service. I actually work for one of the big three carriers in the United States and when I was installing I saw it all the time. What it sounds like to me is that the customer called and complained about one thing, likely your lack of theist beliefs, but couldn't fire you for that so they picked something else and let you go. It would be near impossible to prove and probably near enough to fruitless if you did. The best thing you could do is just move on to something else and take this as a learned lesson: don't ever correct religious nuts when they are thanking an invisible sky fairy for the work you did. Just smile and move on to the next ticket.
Sounds like you got very unfairly treated by you former employer. I know you say you did not start the conversation, but there is that old saying dont talk about religion or politics. You will inevitably upset someone.
Yea
never talk too much with clients is always the best.
It is about making them happy, not about honesty or anything.
Although they all claim they want honesty, but in reality they want a good service and feel good about it.
You failed in the second part and made her feel disgusted at you.
Not your fault that she is such a horrible crap of a human being but that comes with the job when dealing with people.
You have to assume they all are like that from start.
What an awful thing to do, I'm sorry that happened to you Jason. I just cannot believe that in 2014 someone can lose their job because their beliefs are different.
But if this had happened to a Christian instead… it would be on every news channel, non-stop.
Just because we are Atheist and there are more Christians in US, that somehow makes us less important.
I hope you find a better job brother, somewhere they'll actually hear your side of the story
I feel sorry for you but cheer up, you're talented enough to find a new job with higher compensation. Let us know once you have a new one and that's a call for a celebration. That woman is pathetic, just understand her.
Hey Jason, hang in there pal. I know how you feel. I had something similar happen to me years ago. I worked for a company that had a Church of Christ owner. Most of his employees were Church of Christ. Had I known how many there were before I was hired I would not have been interested in the job. Anyway, after I started becoming acquainted with more of my coworkers, I realized there was some personal connections that went back to the church I was forced to I attend as a child. They were people I grew up with that knew I turned atheist. I was worried about them discovering I was an atheist through their Church of Christ grapevine. Sure enough, they suddenly went from friendly like I was toxic. You should have seen the hate in their eyes. I did what I was hired to do, good worker never missed work. Anyway, they let me go, but I never forgot how unfair that was. I needed to go anyway, they had forced prayers every morning, and everybody had to participate. To be honest, after the hateful looks and attitudes emerged I was ready to leave. I didn’t want to live like that.
That did you a favor. Even if you still fell it was unfair.
Got the same experience the first time I got fired.
It makes you feel bad but after some time you have to accept that they did you a favour, this way you have no excuse to ever go there anymore.
perfect excuse for those pesky Christians that say god loves and forgives at your door.. :)
I would tell them to go and convince those Christians who fired you to come and apologize to you and then come to your door :P
Why did she phone you if she could of use Jesus just to fix her cable?