This tidal wave called life — When you’ve become a threat to your boss.
It took the grace of God and a push to finally get me to put this together. At first, it was too hurting to write then, there was another phase of emotion. I almost became depressed. But I’m much better now. This preamble is to tell the story of how I was unjustly laid off work.
As it is, I have no problem with being laid off work but you need to be able to tell me what I did wrong, right? Let me give you a background story.
I was a preschool teacher in this school, before that, I came into the system for my IT as I had just concluded my OND in Accounting and coincidentally they needed an administrative officer at that time so I got the job by referral besides, I had worked with the owners before getting the proper job so there was no hassle.
My bosses and I had a cordial relationship that seemed like we’ve known each other for a long time. I moved into the classroom when a teacher suddenly quit and we were short-staffed. It was a huge step for me cos I had no experience in teaching whatsoever but I did it anyway cos the kids are just adorable. So I became a preschool teacher without planning, then I decided to make it official by taking up a program in school to make me a professional in the field cos I had grown to love it.
I was working and my program was one that availed me the chance to combine both work and study. Working with them expanded my knowledge bank really, I surpassed my own expectations for myself as I had no idea what education entailed. I was on top of my game almost at all times. I had some slip-ups with deadlines sometimes and once upon a time, I procrastinate a lot.
Being a happy-go-lucky kind of person, I have no problem with Interacting with people, I have an amazing interpersonal and communication skill so I interact well with both parents and colleagues.
Moving on, work was great and I enjoyed working. I was even getting comfortable cos I was offered accommodation due to the fact that I live far away from work and would not make it to work on time so I lived on the premises which I was grateful for cos it saved me transportation money.
Living in school wasn’t all rosy, it came with its cons because I was always available around in case something went wrong or someone needed something urgently or anything that has to do with duties off the official clock.
Now back to the “firing” story. I was called up one day to say I was being laid off and I was shocked cos I never saw it coming. Since the pandemic struck, the school had issues with teachers taking extra jobs because the school felt entitled to their time. Parents kept calling me to teach their kids cos they felt the online thing wasn’t working for them but I couldn’t take the jobs for the sake of loyalty to my school.
Guess where all that led me huh? I was fired on the grounds of disloyalty and insubordination which are for the lack of a better word, false. I have always had the best interest of the school at heart and when I was called to be “fired”, I wasn’t given any reason as to why I was being laid off. My boss just said, “ I am not in the mood to tell you your offense but one of it is that I feel you are too close with parents and I am not comfortable with that, so we are laying you off”. What is that? I was dumbfounded for a while cos it didn’t make sense at all.
I offered to write a resignation letter instead, my boss gave me a paper and a pen to do that and he immediately got up to get my termination of appointment letter which translates to the fact that I had just wasted ink and paper because he said, he will think about whether or not he was going to accept or reject the letter (I’m sure he threw it out anyway). I was also told to leave the premises immediately even when I literarily begged to leave the next day, still, I was refused that.
I was opportune to listen in the meeting they had to announce my departure and to say I was shocked is an understatement cos I was painted as a villain. It was more about me “influencing” other people due to my charisma and my ability to lead without knowing I’m leading. It was making sense until I discovered that all my boss was saying pointed to the fact that I seemed like a threat to them for whatever reason I know nothing of.
I was made out to seem like a rebel who doesn’t follow the rules laid down by the organization, did I mention that I never got a written warning not to talk of a query during my entire stay at that workspace which was almost 5 years? Yet, they claimed I was a rebel that was instigating others to do what they were not supposed to do merely by following my utterances? Sometimes I wonder how people think, just because I said something (which by the way I wasn’t the only person that said that same thing), I was held responsible for how others acted on it. If you were threatened by my presence, just let me know and I’ll go in peace without you tarnishing my brand.
To me, it seemed like I was a threat to them and that was the major reason I was laid off, other reasons were just hearsay. And the fact that they keep saying bad things about me to whoever would listen is really painful and it has made me see them in a different light, considering how far we’ve come.
I decided to write this cos I want people to know that there are two sides to a coin and there is a side to the story that is unheard. Besides, I felt I was laid off intentionally just to deter my employability because I’m sure the next organization I might want to work with will ask about my previous job and what would I say? “I was laid off?” “On what grounds?” “I was a threat to my boss?” “How is that?” I can’t even explain it. Even if I happened to embezzle funds, the peak is to be advised to resign and I never did any of that even when I was the errand girl to get school supplies every term.
In conclusion, here is me saying to anyone that cares to listen to take care of your emotional intelligence because I saw that I was just out there bursting how I felt and my opinion about the school whenever I was asked by my boss. Little did I know that it was going to be used against me. How can you work in a place you won’t be able to express yourself freely?
Thanks for reading.
