Pagan Journeys
General Topics => General Chat => Topic started by: anubisa on January 29, 2010, 01:03:13 PM
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Ya'll know that I 'used' to work at Burger King. I was fired because of an altercation I had between a younger black male and myself. I grabbed his shirt and pushed him back. I was wrong and I apologized, but I was fired. This was at another BK...that I transferred to. I had been working there for the past 3 weeks and the crew for the most part (3 woman had been nice to me) had been really rude and jerks to me. I felt I had been respectful of all of them and yet they had disrespected me. I had asked for this man to fill my ice bin because I was too busy taking orders, but he wouldn't. I was wrong for laying my hands on the gentleman, but wasn't the business wrong for not taking action to correct their employees behavior? I'm not racist, because I was 1 of 4 white people there. I mostly get along with everyone. This was the first time I was fired and the first time I was in an altercation.
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I'm really sorry you got fired but it's pretty standard procedure to terminate the employment of people who behave violently in any way. Some companies who invest a lot of money in employee development have counseling programs for anger management but that would probably not be the case in the fast food business. I hope you find a new job soon! :grouphug:
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Dragon's right. Unless you have witnesses saying you were acting in self defence... nope. Most companies will not even think twice, you will be fired.
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Sorry, Anubisa. I hope you find another job soon. :grouphug:
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I thank you all for your comments. I've had a lot to think about. I'm definitely not going to put myself in that situation.
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I'm sorry to hear that you're having to deal with this... you might want to see if you can use it to learn? Instead of focusing on the fact of "I apologized but they fired me anyway", maybe try to take an objective look at what happened and why you reacted like you did. What made you physically reach out and push him? The "he wouldn't fill my ice bin when I was busy" is a reason to be mad, IMHO... but not serious enough to bring it to physical contact. (I worked at Burger King for some time - one of the reasons I can't stand the smell of coffee - so I understand about the pace and the frustration, by the way)
It may be that there's an underlying dislike of the guy (regardless of race), but it might also be that the stress of the workplace in general got to you (been there, done that), and if that's the case, maybe it will help you figure out a better way to identify and deal with it instead of doing something that will cost you your job in the future. I can't think of any employers that would tolerate an employee who physically assaulted a co-worker, so if it is something that you can learn from to keep it from happening again, maybe it's not entirely a negative thing.
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May you find another and better job soon. Laying hands on a fellow worker is a no no everywhere except for wrestling circuits.
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Very true ... there is no excuse for ever shoving, or even touching, a coworker out of anger. Honestly? Regardless of how nice you think you've been, have you really? Do you go out of your way to help others, especially without them asking? Obviously I can't make any judgment on that personally as I don't know you in person, but I've worked fast food too and know how stressful it can be. I also know how easy it is for a lot of people to get nasty with others without even realizing it. Identifying why you reacted the way you did will help you in other areas later in life. And doing something productive to prevent that in the future will help you to grow as a person.
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I appreciate your thoughts. I don't blame anyone but myself for my actions, but I do feel that...theres a lot of feelings, angry, hurt, upset. I've never done something like that before and I feel upset with myself. But i'm not going to let it get me down, maybe fast food wasn't for me. I now have to look for another job. Wish me luck please.
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This is one of life's lessons. Part of the process of maturation. The important thing is to integrate it and move forward.
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Violence against a co-worker, or customer, is pretty much universally excepted as a condition for immediate termination from a work place. I am sorry you lost your job and I hope you will find a new one soon, but we all must accept the consequences of our actions. Perhaps this is an opportunity for you to explore other job options outside of fast food? Things that seem bad are sometimes just a matter of one door closing so that another could open.
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Anubisa, Hon, you have gotten lots of good feedback on this situation. I also hope that you can grow from this experience. In the end, we all need to take responsibility for our own lives. That is a kind and powerful place to move from -- responsibility, not blame. ()
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Thank you all for your insights and thoughts. I am feeling better now and have to look forward to applying to a new job. While I am out of a job I am going to work on my novel and help my parents around the house.