Not only were hundreds of people suddenly out of work just before Christmas…
It was the derogatory comments from the CEO after the hasty announcement that marveled everyone’s minds. There is no amount of DNR’s or private meetings available to save the man. The whole thing was caught on a recording.
Rumors have been circulating around Kevin for several weeks now. The message spread like a pandemic in the office. It spread so fast until everyone in the office knew about it.
Turns out, the big juicy rumor was all about copious amounts of money.
He was feeling hopeless but the meeting came at just the right time. Christmas was around the corner and the idea of job security gave him hope. Regardless of anyone getting a raise, he felt safe.
A Zoom meeting was called, and he brushed it off as a usual updates meeting. He later found out that he was wrong to believe that.
Everyone’s microphones and video feeds were off. Tensions were high and the only person who was left visible was the CEO of the company, Vishal Garg.
The CEO started the meeting off in the worst way possible, “I come to you with not great news.” Kevin felt his heart pounding in his throat and his hands started sweating. He prepared himself for the worst, “If you’re on this call, you are part of the unlucky group being laid off. Your employment here is terminated, effective immediately.”
Kevin’s world came crashing down right in front of him.
Money was tight. Kevin had a family that he needed to provide for. Christmas was right around the corner and he could barely provide them with the essentials they needed. The CEO continued the meeting..
Everyone was stunned while listening to Garg. Garg continued with a straight face, “This is the second time in my career I’m doing this, and I do not want to do this. The last time I did it I cried. Um, this time, I hope to be stronger.”
Was this really happening? He somehow managed to make the conversation all about himself even though he still had his paycheck? He informed them that they would only receive one month’s paycheck alongside three months benefits as severance, talk about kicking a dog when it was already down. However, the worst was still to come.
The Zoom call was flooded with verbal confusion and anger.
A lot of people worked for the company for a long time. They always went the extra mile despite working for extra hours with no extra pay. What happened to the cash influx the mortgage business experienced? The following part of the conversation closely resembled a nuclear explosion.
What the CEO said next shook everyone to their core, “You guys know that at least 250 of the people terminated were working an average of 2 hours a day while clocking 8 hours+ a day in the payroll system? They were stealing from you and stealing from our customers who pay the bills that pay our bills. Get educated.”
The CEO continued, “Most of you are too slow. You’re embarrassing me”. Thoughts of strangling the CEO through the call crossed Kevin’s mind but the call had already ended.
A call that endured 3 minutes aimed at insulting the workers and firing them, suddenly got cut off.
They were treated like they were a piece of trash. It was already hard to find a job that would enable them to support their family prior to the pandemic but now it’s nearly impossible. He started experiencing symptoms that resembled a heart attack. His chest tightened and he started hyperventilating.
He wasn’t alone, others that were online were also on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
The sole saving grace in the whole ordeal was that while Kevin was having his breakdown, someone else was recording everything in the meeting. It was all digitized now. They all knew just what to do.
Not only was it sent out to every staff member of the entire company, they made a point of sending it to any news outlet who would listen. Kevin sat vibrating with anger at his keyboard, typing his own angry thoughts and experiences. He had to do it quick before their emails were blocked.
Worst of all, there wasn’t a single peep from HR about how to move forward … until a week later! By then, however, the world knew what was going on.
While a massive chunk of workers was being fired for who knows what reasons, many in the higher echelons had handed in their resignations as a sign of solidarity!
This was a 7-billion-dollar company who was just given an extra $750 million to stay afloat. Clearly, they only cared about money and not the workers, despite the nonsense company PR driving about “caring for their employees like family.” When the next peep out of the CEO finally came, Kevin couldn’t believe it.
The public apology, if that’s what you could call it, was just as bad! Garg coldly apologized for the way he had handled it, saying he would “talk more next time.”
Really? His thought his flaw was not just the length of time? He had said plenty in the insulting 3 minutes! Then, there was the backtrack that it would be “the metrics that matter most” for next year’s goal.
“Having to conduct layoffs is gut-wrenching, especially this time of year. However, a fortress balance sheet and a reduced and focused workforce together set us up to play offense going into a radically evolving homeownership market. I think things could have been phrased differently, but honestly, the sentiment is there.”
Then was the internal memo forwarded from people who still worked there.
Apparently, Garg was going to take “time off effective immediately.”
It seemed the CEO and founder was tucking his tail back and running away. There wasn’t much solace to the situation – except the wonderful, rage fueled, unending comments that plagued the man’s social media accounts. But this isn’t the first time someone like Kevin has been fired for an absurd reason. Karina shared that similarity.
Karina Montanez had big dreams. And being a waitress at her local sports bar for the rest of her life wasn’t one of them. She had been a waitress for two years, and with every dollar she earned she put towards her life-long goal of moving to New York.
But now, somebody was trying to undo all of Karina’s hard work and was about to turn her world upside down. But little did they know that Karina was going to have the last laugh.
Although eager to leave and move to the Big Apple, Karina didn’t hate her job – her colleagues were nice and the pay was pretty good. It’s just that Karina knew she was destined for more than just dishing out people’s food and drinks.
But when Karina started her shift on a cold morning in autumn, she had no idea it would be her last.
Karina had had an extremely stressful few months. As if raising a four-year-old by herself wasn’t tough enough, there was another nagging worry that was never far from her mind.
Katrina had been diagnosed with fibromyalgia in her late teens and, as she was classified as an essential worker, she was especially at risk. That’s why she just couldn’t let the injustice she witnessed that day go unpunished.
It was a cold and dark morning in autumn when Karina dragged herself out of her bed and got ready for work. She tied her hair up, slipped on her uniform, and headed out the door.
With every step she took on her walk to work, Karina thought it was just going to be an ordinary day. But she was so wrong.
Karina arrived at work and clocked in. She greeted her colleagues and made herself a fresh cup of coffee. She glanced over at the clock on the wall, and she rolled her eyes.
Today was going to be a long day, Karina could just feel it. But she never could have expected her day to end in tears, rage, and humiliation.
Karina had been working as a waitress for the past two years and she thought she had seen it all.
Every kind of person came and went through DJ’s Dugout, a sports bar in Sarpy County, Omaha. And when an elderly gentleman walked through the doors accompanied by a throng of people, she didn’t think anything of it… at first.
With Covid-19 restrictions in place at Karina’s workplace, all customers dining inside had to wear a face mask. So far, everybody seemed to abide by the rules, which made Karina’s job a lot easier.
But this friendly waitress had no idea that one customer was about to make her job incredibly hard.
Karina had a full 9-hour shift ahead of her, which meant she’d be around for the hustle and bustle of the night shift later on tonight. Already, Karina wished she was back in her bed.
She took a sip of her coffee, fastened her apron, put her face mask on, and headed out to greet her first customer of the day. Little did she know what was coming.
Karina had been working for a solid 6 hours now, and although the sun started to set outside, that didn’t stop the bar from getting busier.
Just as she finished taking an order from an elderly couple, she noticed the man walk through the door. Karina didn’t know it at the time, but this man was about to tear her world in two.
Once the man was settled in the corner of the room, Katrina could get a closer look at him. He was with a few other people, and they seemed pretty dressed up for the bar.
Were they not from around here? They looked out of place compared to the jeans and sneakers everybody else in the bar was wearing. Then suddenly, it dawned on Katrina just who this man was.
It was the Governor of her hometown. Karina felt nervous, after all, he was pretty much a celebrity, right? She slowly made her way over to his table to take his order.
Suddenly, Karina remembered something truly terrible about this governor that stopped her cold.
You see, Karina remembered watching her local news station the night before, and it was announced that this governor at the bar was supposed to quarantine, after being in contact with many people.
But as Karina got closer to his table, she saw something that got her blood boiling.
Karina noticed the man – and the few other people that were with him – weren’t wearing a mask. “Excuse me,” she said, “can you put your mask on please?” Indicating to the sign on the wall.
Karina expected him to merely apologize and strap on his mask. But instead, what he replied left Karina lost for words.
“No I won’t,” he bluntly replied, his tone condescending and authoritative. Karina stood frozen in her tracks, while a roar of laughter from the governor’s group echoed throughout the busy bar.
They all looked at Karina, giggling at her. Karina could feel her face go as red as a tomato. She knew that wearing a mask was mandatory. And the governor shouldn’t even be here. But what was she going to do about it?
Karina could feel her embarrassment turn into rage. Why did he think he was exempt from the rules? Not only was he breaking the law, but he was also putting everybody else in danger.
With her blood boiling, Karina shouted to the governor, “sir you need one, it’s the law!” But the governor looked at Karina and muttered five words that shook Karina’s world. “You’ve made a big mistake,” he said.
Within a few minutes, the governor jumped up from the table and raced over to the bar, shouting out “where’s the manager? I need to see the manager.”
Karina watched her manager talk to the governor and then he pointed straight at Karina. Karina knew what was coming, but she wouldn’t dare to admit it.
Karina watched her manager and the governor make their way over, and Karina’s heart skipped a beat. Not only did she feel sick to her stomach, but she couldn’t believe how rude the governor had been to her.
In a state of panic, Karina knew exactly what to do. As her manager and the grumpy governor approached, she secretly got out her phone and pressed record.
Straight away the manager apologized to the governor, while side-eyeing Karina like she was gum on his shoe. “She can be a handful,” the manager said, to which Karina felt fire in her stomach.
Karina wished the ground would just swallow her whole. She didn’t deserve this, she was only doing her job. But she had no idea what was coming next.
The governor showed no signs of slowing down when it came to shouting at Karina – he called her an idiot waitress and completely useless. She never expected to hear this, especially from her very own governor!
Karina could feel her emotions take over, but little did this governor know that this “useless waitress” had been secretly recording their entire conversation.
The manager had no other option but to fire Karina right there on the spot. As soon as Karina heard her manager say “you’re fired,” she felt her blood boil even more now.
She looked at the governor and she could see the delight in his face, with a smile, slapped across his cheeks. But Karina knew she wasn’t going to let them get away with this. No way.
After clearing out her locker, Karina headed home with revenge on her mind. She left the bar, leaving behind two years of hard work and commitment.
She got to the end of the street, turned around for one last look, and saw the governor through the window. He waved goodbye, which only fuelled Karina’s desire for revenge even more. He had no idea what was coming to him.
Once Karina got back home, still reeling from the events of the day, she opened her laptop and started typing. “Hey guys, look at our governor who doesn’t want to put on a mask. Look how he’s acting during this pandemic while nurses are literally begging him for help.” Once she finished typing, she attached the secretly recorded footage of the governor and posted it online.
She took a deep breath, before shutting her laptop and running herself a much-needed bath. But Karina was never expecting the response she got.
Karina woke up the following day to see that her post had gone viral! Thousands of people, all across the globe, had expressed their sympathy for Karina, and their disgust at the governor.
But, Jade knew that merely online naming and shaming the governor wasn’t going to be enough to satisfy her. She had to go bigger.
Karina decided to write a formal complaint to the governor, in hopes his job and career would be jeopardized. After all, Karina had done nothing wrong. It was the governor that essentially broke the law, and put everybody at risk. He should have been self-isolating, but instead, he was out partying in a room of crowded people.
But what about Karina, fresh from being fired, what was she now going to do with her life?
Karina saw her getting fired as a hidden blessing; thankfully, she had managed to save enough up cash that would last her for at least a few months in New York.
She waited for the bus to New York, ready for the new chapter in her life. In a way she had to thank the irresponsible governor, if he hadn’t had got her fired, she wouldn’t be moments away from achieving her long-life dream.
