Worker Fired "2 Hours" Into First Day of Remote Job After Leaving Training, People Think It's Their Fault
Updated May 24 2023, 9:12 a.m. ET
A Redditor headed over to the site's AntiWork sub, a place where users on the platform go to share their employment gripes with bosses, workplace policies, low pay, and unrealistic expectations.
Usually, it's a place where folks gather and discuss how badly they're getting screwed over by labor. Often many posts turn into support groups, with people chiming in to give helpful tips on how to navigate tricky workplace scenarios and rights that may've been violated.
But one Redditor looking for some sympathy from fellow AntiWorkers received some mixed responses. Ones that countered whatever narrative they had constructed in their head that put them as a victim of an irrational workplace.
User @After_Ad_2047 said that they were fired just 2 hours into their first day at their new job.
The position was a work-from-home setup that had OP working for a call center. They were expected to be on camera for the entirety of the training session but had to step away from their computer because they had purchased some pork for their father that they had put in the fridge.
Their dad came over during their training session to pick up the pork, so the Redditor stepped away from their computer for around 10 minutes, they say, only to return to their setup to see that they had received an email from the company that they were no longer needed for the role.
The Redditor said that they had to get up to go to the bathroom and were informed that in this position, employees are only allowed to get up from their seat, even to use the restroom, during designated break times.
The Redditor titled the post "Fired 2 hours into new job for going off camera for 10 minutes"
They wrote in the post: "I just started this new wfh job for a call centre doing training. My dad came over quickly to grab some pork I bought him from the store. I messaged on the zoom meeting brb while I quickly got him his food."
"Not even ten minutes I come back and the trainer tells me to check my email. It reads 'you must be on camera 100% of the time during training, because you were not, you are no longer needed to attend this meeting'."
"I told him it wasn't even 10 minutes and I just went to the bathroom. He told me I can only use the bathroom during my allocated break times. Then he told me I can reapply once I'm more "prepared" for this job. Some people..."
While there were some Redditors who agreed that the company's rules seemed way too stringent, especially with policing people's bathroom breaks, there were others who said that it was pretty dumb of OP to get off camera during a training period.
Others echoed the sentiment stating that they understood why management would be upset, and that it leaves a horrible first impression that OP didn't at least pretend to pay attention and adhere to the rules of an initial training exercise.
What do you think? Do you sympathize with the Redditor? Or do you believe that management was justified in letting them go so early, as they couldn't even make it through training?