I am in middle management. You would be surprised at how many people actually think that they can set all the terms at a job. These are the type of people who tend to think they’re setting boundaries with their workplace, which would be a good thing if that’s what they were doing. Unfortunately, these people also think this extends to what their boss can do in an official capacity.
Employee #1: “You can’t tell me I’m fired.”
Employee #2: “You can’t tell me I need to come in on time.”
Employee #3: “You can’t tell me what my schedule is.”
Employee #4: “You can’t tell me what to do; I’m an adult.”
That may sound ridiculous, but people really do think like this, especially if they get their workplace advice online.
My favorite story of my career is one where a woman was horrible at her job and barely performed. She was probational, and it was clearly not working out. We were planning on simply not taking her on beyond her probationary period. Then, near the end of said period, she and her direct supervisor left for lunch — together — and were gone for two or three hours. Lunch breaks were only thirty minutes long.
I had to be the one to tell her that she was being fired for dereliction of duty soon as she showed back up for the rest of her shift. (Her supervisor was ousted, as well.) She left for the day, only to come back onto the company’s property the next day and work as if nothing had happened.
Me: *Shocked* “Why are you here? You were fired yesterday. You no longer work for this company.”
Woman: “I’m working. You can’t just fire me. This is my job.”
Me: “No, [Woman]. I am your boss, and I fired you, which I can do. You were fired. You need to leave the property.”
Woman: “I reject that. I don’t accept your termination.”
She then proceeded to turn around, ignore me, and keep working.
Now keep in mind, the day before, she had been pulled into an office with another member of management as a witness and filled out all the termination papers necessary. It was a done deal: signed, sealed, and delivered for processing. She was locked out of signing into our system, but apparently, she had taken a time adjustment card and intended to use it to get more work hours that day — which, of course, would not have been accepted. Our company was pretty swift about these things. She would have received her final paycheck within forty-eight hours.
Apparently, she got some “workplace advice,” online. Don’t get me wrong; there’s some good advice out there about how to maintain healthy boundaries at work. However, she had found advice somewhere along the lines of, “You’re a girl boss, not a child. YOU’RE in charge, not them,” which doesn’t work out anywhere.
I had to call security, and they almost had to physically drag her out. She threatened to call the police and was told that with proof of her job being terminated, we could certainly trespass her, and the cops would be on our side. Her claims that she did not accept the termination wouldn’t work since we had the literal paperwork WITH her signatures on it.
She did a lot of huffing and puffing before storming off into the sunset.
