Another Job Lost

[JadedGhost13]

I suppose I've lost another job. At least this one lasted nearly 3 years.

This is revealing myself somewhat but I drive a truck with my husband, we team. I drive the night shift so I am not bothered as much by traffic, people, etc. I get in my little bubble and I am fine. Its not easy, I am nocturnal by instinct for some reason, have been all of my life that I can remember so the situation works well for me. I've managed to stay on tract with the help of my husband.

Back in October or November our miles were cut in half. We get paid by the mile so this means our income was split in half. Not an easy thing for anyone to accept. We said something to the dispatcher, nothing happened, our miles stayed low while others were getting consistant miles and home time. We gave it a couple of weeks to correct itself, it didnt happen, so we went to the next person, the VP. Again.... Nothing happened to change the situation. So once again we went to the dispatcher about the issue and were met with a very nasty unprofessional response, to which I replied to personally and documented all the accounts that were happening. My response was professional and well written. It took me an hour and a half to write that letter so I could keep my words in check. I surely wanted to curse this person like a sailor.

We were brought into the office and we just knew we were fired, instead we were asked if we were quitting and they hoped we were not because we were a very good asset to the company with perfect records and the highest requested team in the company. I had been so angry about what had happened I went past seeing red, and my body responded. This had never happened before. So I took a few days off to go see my doctor and get things back going with getting help. It was January by the time I was able to get in. But I'm glad I did.

In December I was off most of the month and all of January returning the first part of Feb. I was out because I had been discovered to have stage one breast cancer. I had my breast removed, and a little cosmetic help to make me still feel like a woman.

This week has been my first week back to work. Night before last my husband was talking to some other teams who knew their entire week, we NEVER know what were doing from one minute to another.

Well my husband had to call into night dispatch and he and the guy are supposedly friends. Then they were texting eachother, and my husband made a blanket statement that it wasnt right that we are the 2nd team seniority wise and we never know where were going and what were doing, as well as the fact that when I came back from medical leave I am on FMLA and was released to light duty. Ie worked 50 hours this week already. And he said we may need to start looking for somewhere else to go.

Then the next morning we get a text from human resources texted my husband and said "I will consider this your two week notice, we will understand if you do not want to complete it, thanks for your service" my husband text back and says "we did not turn in a notice" we tried to call the guy several times. He finally answers via text and says he has a driver in his office and he will call us back. He never did.

I spent the entire day yesterday in a panic attack, barfing everywhere, and very on edge which caused me not to rest. It was 10 PM before I woke up and nearly 11 before I could roll. We were told to be in a town to pick up a load the next morning, where we were we could never have made it on time to get it and deliver it where it needed to be on time. We've been given loads like this all week.

I did call my lawyer, who already knew about the situation from last fall and holds all the documents and he informs me that the text was not a resignation and it is illegal on the company's side.

I called in to night operations and told them to take us off the next load, from time it was given to us it was impossible to do considering where we were.

I was so sick over it tonight I did drive because I certainly wasnt sleeping once I did wake up. But I didnt make it far, Only a few hindered miles and I'm parked because I'm so nauseated, I know when we get there to the company today there will be some riff which will most likely end in us having to clean out the truck. I'm not quitting and not about to let the company pressure me into it, they will just have to fire us so we can draw unemployment until we can find a job. But I'm not sure I want to go on.

I'm so broken in so many ways I am considering going ahead and applying for my social security. I can't keep loosing jobs, Lord knows over had about 30 jobs! I can't keep going backwards and feeling like a piece of crap every time something goes wrong.

Thanks for letting me rant.

 

[safenow]

My gosh, JadeGhost, you have a good reason to rant. Your company is doing you both an injustice and I hope your attorney can work on that for you and get you compensated. I do hope you can find another company. I take it you own your own rig. I have friends that work as a team on driving. I love their truck. It is a home on wheels. lol.

I am sorry about your bout with cancer. I am a cancer survivor myself. Four bouts of it, still working on the last one. sigh. But I'm still here and getting better every day, so that's a good sign.

It is obvious the company wants you guys out. They are just trying to get you to be the ones who give up. So not fair. You can rant any time you want.

Good luck.

 

[JadedGhost13]

Thanks for the warm comfort. {{ hug }}

No, we do not own our own rig. Been there twice and bought that thirty twice.
We're company drivers, thats what gives us a leg to stand on. We've been placed in a hostile enviroment.

I figure being I called in last night to cancel our trip they wanted out of us we will be home tonight. My husband is going to see if we can see my therapist this weekend ( he works Saturdays) and figure out my plan of action. I am torn between giving up and fighting longer. They both know I'm tired. Its been a long road.

 

[Nighteyes]

Sounds like a very unhealthy situation. You are now faced with fighting to stay with a company that clearly does not want you, or quitting and being stuck. I feel for you and your husband.

I’m glad you’ve kept your cool when dealing with the company that does show you are a much better person. I would definitely be talking to that lawyer and asking for some kind of document putting the company in their place, not only proving you are not in the wrong, and that the company has be neglectful of the human rights act. This would of course result in them firing you, but in a roundabout way from what I read, that’s better than what they are trying to pull.

Not sure where you are located, I am in Canada so our labour laws are very different, as getting Employment Insurance can only be done with a lay off or mat leave here. If being fired gets you that where you are then I’d make the company go that route. If they wrongfully dismiss you and you can prove it, not sure about the States, here in Canada you can take them to the labour board and win easily where the company would have to pay you out A LOT in this case.

I with you the best of luck in whatever you do, you can only be yourself and do what’s best for you not other’s 

 

[JadedGhost13]

Well, we had a meeting with the human resources man who was very apologetic from the time we walked into the building. He claims he was not aware of what the entire story was and he DID NOT WANT US TO LEAVE.

We still feel like we are in a hostile working enviroment. We however would like to try and make it work until the middle of August because by then we should know where our son will be stationed. He is a Marine and is in training for a new job, so until he completes this school we will not know what his next orders are.

Also, I will have a weeks paid vacation at that time and I need to have some revisions done on some cosmetic work I had done last fall. So we will try and make things work out. I just have a hard time with the disrespect, it makes it hard to respect them, even though they did offer a lot to us to get us to stay.

Giving us these few months will help me to make my decision as to what I want to do or need to do for me.

I need to decide if I am going to have my husband go solo and me apply for SSDI, or if I can get myself stable enough to work longer. It is a really hard decision for me to make. I want to give up because I know that I will have no stress, and I will benefit from that, but I also want to be productive as a working class citizen. It has nothing to do with money, even if I had no income my husband could make enough to provide very well for us. And I can always make a few dollars cash by selling some of my plants and seeds.

I grow heirloom plants, and the seeds are high sought after. So thats a small opportunity for me to make a few dollars on my own. Spending cash you might say. I also edit photo's and help people scrapbook and make a few dollars on the side already.

 

[safenow]

I'm happy it is working out for you. Take good care of you.