... laid off, down-sized, let go, out-sourced, axed, terminated, cancelled, dismissed...FIRED!

This was the original website for the 2006 documentary, Fired!.
Content is from the site's 2007 archived pages and other outside sources.

Rating: NR
Genre: Documentary, Special Interest
Directed By: Chris Bradley , Kyle LaBrache
Written By: Annabelle Gurwitch
In Theaters: Feb 22, 2006 Wide
On DVD: Jun 5, 2007
Runtime: 71 minutes
Studio: Shout Factory

Synopsis

If you spend any time at all in the workplace you’re going to get laid off, down-sized, let go, out-sourced, axed, terminated, canned, cancelled, dismissed…FIRED!

When actress Annabelle Gurwitch was fired from a play by Woody Allen she wondered how she would cope with being fired by a cultural icon. Turning to friends in show business she was assured she was not alone. Once the subject had been broached, everyone she knew from her rabbi and gynecologists to her colleagues had advice and their own accounts of getting the boot to offer. This set her off on a journey to answer the question: was being fired going to be the best thing or worst thing that had happened in her working life.

Annabelle turned the wit and trauma of the “fired” experience into a book, which was recently published by Simon and Schuster. The book has received rave reviews and been featured on The Today Show, People Magazine, InStyle, CNN, NPR’s Talk of the Nation and widely praised. The Washington Post called it, “ a caustic but merry compendium of failure.” The New York Times said, “Fired proves that sometimes losing well is the best revenge.” The book has been number #1 on the New York Post Hot List and featured in Oprah’s Anticipation list.

As she was writing the book she became interested in the downsizings occurring all over the country. She began researching and traveling the country, interviewing people as diverse as Tim Allen, Sarah Silverman, Jeff Garlin, Anne Meara, David Cross and GM workers in Lansing, Michigan whose perspectives ranged from the tragically comedic to proving that old adage when one door closes another door opens, to the just plain tragic. Annabelle attended job fairs, received “outplacement services”, interviewed human resource directors, downsizers, and the downsized who were seeking new jobs.

Her journey took her to the office of Robert Reich, former Labor Secretary under President Clinton, and to economist Ben Stein who spoke to her of the growing insecurity the American worker faces today and the incredible inequities being created through corporate and government policies affecting every working or as the case may be, not working American. Fired! reminds us that all great success come out of failure and being fired can be a part of the growth process, that humor helps, and that if you’re employed in America today your firing may be both the best and the worst thing that can happen in your working life.

FIRED! PRESS

“Funny, poignant and smart.”--Newsday

“A frank and funny look at downsizing and job loss.”--Associated Press

“Entertaining and slyly subversive.”--Oprah Magazine

“In the end, Gurwitch has the last laugh. That's the kind of story every pink-slipped employee needs to hear.” --TV Guide.com

“Andy Borowitz is joined by a cavalcade of other stars who share their pink slip stories. They're funny and entertaining, and they make Fired delightful. Watch Fired - it's genuinely funny.” -- Marketplace on NPR

“It made me chuckle. Annabelle Gurwitch knows your pain and her empathy resonates through every fiber of her work” --Ain't It Cool News

“It's the best kind of comedy -- rooted in empathy and with a serious point. Gurwitch is funny and energetic, you root for her.” --Cox News Service

“A gem of a movie with lots of humor that's both therapeutic and empowering- a truly positive experience.” --Indie Slate Magazine

“Fired is nothing to dismiss. Annabelle Gurwitch has turned lemons into a sweet shot of lemonade and there's a lesson in there everyone.” --New York Daily News

“Hilarious while remaining understated and intelligent.” --L Magazine

“Gurwitch has transformed her misery into a wonderfully hot and sour chicken soup for the laid off soul.”--Barbara Ehrenreich, author Nickled and Dimed

“In the end, Gurwitch has the last laugh. That's the kind of story every pink-slipped employee needs to hear.”---TV Guide.com

“A free-wheeling, first-person documentary that recalls early efforts of Michael Moore. Many of the anecdotes delivered on stage and off by the likes of Tim Allen, Illeana Douglas and Fred Willard are very funny indeed. Better still, Fired! is genuinely affecting when Gurwitch seriously examines the hardships that ensue during the downsizing of GM plants in Lansing, Mich. And there's an almost startling emotional impact to an impassioned rant by economist and sometime character actor Ben Stein, an acknowledged conservative (and former Nixon adviser) who rails against corporate greedheads who manipulate bankruptcy laws to weasel out of pension payments.”-- Daily Variety

“A hilarious new book. Fired! has deservedly received great press since its release last month. It's very cathartic and funny and the film takes the project a step further by trying to understand the increasing insecurity of the American worker in the global economy. Gurwitch attended job fairs, career retraining classes, met with human resource directors, took outplacement workshops and spent time with recently laid-off UAW workers. It's grim stuff but our guide never loses her sense of humor, her empathy or her grace.” --The Nation

“Gurwitch eloquently homes in on the universal shock of finding yourself suddenly jobless, as well as the dangers of identifying too closely with what you do for a living.” -- LA City Beat

“(Fired) succeeds in assembling the best kind of pity party - one where all the revelers are sharp, funny and finally successful enough not to give a shit about their past job woes.”--LA Weekly

“She has turned her misfortune into an entertainment most of us can identify with.” --Hollywood Reporter

“Gurwitch is an intelligent woman with an inquisitive mind, she brings a positive and unique voice and I hope this is only the first of many documentary she makes.” --Hollywood Bitchslap

Share Your Fired Story

Ever been fired?

Now’s your chance to tell the world about your worst (or funniest….) experience getting fired.
Annabelle will be reviewing and posting the submissions, so check back soon!

Dale Thompson Says:
January 10th, 2007
Back in 2001, I was employed by a Fortune 500 here in Canada (I won't say which one is was but they are one of the leaders in hand held PDAs) and doing pretty good for myself. I got a promotion and with it, a nice raise as well and was slated as the next up-and-comer in the company. Then, one day, I met this beautiful girl at work and it all changed for the worst (in my professional career that is). We had a an "unofficial" policy at work that dating was frowned upon and wouldn't be tolerated but I didn't care. We secretly dated and it was amazing. I developed a solid relationship with a wonderful person whom I wanted to become my wife. I could image ourselves happily married with kids, living comfortably - nice cars, best North Face jackets for kids and ourselves (after all we live in Canada) and who wouldn't want a North Face jacket?), especially for our imagined ski vacations which always included kids. So deep into my fantasy, I even searched online and found this site where we could buy the best matching ski jackets for us and our kids. We were happy and everything was going along just great, until we got caught at the movies one night by a nosey and immature co-worker. We both got questioned by the Human Resources department and claimed that we were just friends and that we had done nothing wrong. Still, we ended up getting brought back separately more than a few times by my boss and the evil HR manager, who demanded to know what was going on. Funny thing is: I wasn't this girl's boss at all and had no direct influence over her career either. Life was pretty difficult after that and I was assigned the worst tasks imaginable, including laying off 20 people. When I was promised help by my boss with this task (who subsequently took off sailing for the afternoon), I refused to do it and was suspended without pay for two weeks. After that, I didn't hide the fact that I was in a new, happy relationship with my girlfriend/co-worker and suffered for it in the end. I got fired for "incompetence" and "insubordination" and was left with nothing but my pride, my NorthFace jacket that I had bought after the raise, and my girlfriend, who then quit with me as a sign of solidarity and love.

Fast forward 5+ years and, guess what, we’ve both entered new careers (she’s in the health field and I’m in law) and we’re getting married this Summer (August 25/07). I watched you on Breakfast Television here in Toronto (January 10/07) and I agree that sometimes getting fired is the best thing that could happen to you. When I was fired, I was shocked and devastated (as I did my job really well and was liked by all my employees too) and hurt enough to take it to court and the local labour board. But, in the end, I got the best thing of all: A wonderful friend, companion and soulmate. And although we don't have kids yet, we both have NorthFace jackets! The fact that we’ve both moved on and had our careers soar even higher than what we had before is a testiment to believing in yourself and not letting one (or more) person tell you you’re not good enough. Had I listened to my old boss, I’d be stuck in a deadend job and probably alone . Getting fired isn’t the end of the world, it’s simply the start of another life adventure!

Take care and have a great adventure with your book and movie too.

Sincerely,
Dale
Christine Akrey Says:
January 12th, 2007
I have lots of fired stories, but I wanted to comment on your event at the Royal Cinema. That was the first kind of event of its kind that I’ve ever attended and it was wonderful….
Annabelle’s film was outstanding and she herself, very appealing, and very not-retarded. I had actually watched a Woody Allen film recently and found myself actually loathing him, and for the first time in my life, regarding him as the cretin that he actually is. When I heard about what happened to you, it was just a further confirmation of my revelation.

BUT BUT BUT - The performance and story by Scott Thompson as he rushed in late for his appearance will be indellibly etched in my memory until the end of time!!!

There was one line in the movie which I am trying to remember - something like ‘when God fires you, he’s telling you to change your life’ or something like that. Can someone send me that direct quote?

With thanks so much for a memorable evening.
Anonymous Says:
January 12th, 2007
Hi,

I’ve been fired countless times during my long life - working since aged 15 - just got fired again at age 67. People generally liked me “personally” but there were a myriad of reasons that I was fired, laid off, let go, downsized, etc. I’m still trying to figure it out. When I was diagnosed about 10 years ago with ADD, a lot of it made sense, but have not been able to keep a job for any length of time despite the understanding. Can anyone else relate?

Anonymous

(Woudl be interested in hearing responses
LARRY C. Says:
January 16th, 2007
YES, I HAVE BEEN FIRED A FEW TIMES. BUT THE ONE I CHOSE TO SHARE WITH YOU IS BACK IN 1975 WHEN I WORKED AT A ‘SWEAT SHOP’-LITHOGRAPHY-FOR SEVERAL YEARS AND WAS TRAINED IN ALL OPERATIONS OF THE SHOP AND WAS ASSISTING ON THE 4 COLOUR PRESS. I WAS TOLD IF I WANTED MORE MONEY, I SHOULD WORK MORE HOURS! I WAS WORKING AN AVERAGE OF 16 HOURS A DAY! I WAS FINALLY FIRED AND TOLD I WAS NOT TRAINABLE!!!!! I WAS THE ONLY ONE ABLE TO WORK ANYWHERE IN THE SHOP!!
SO, TO MAKE A LONG STORY SHORTER, I WENT INTO THE ARMY,EARNED MY BEREY AND CAME BACK TO THAT SWEAT SHOP ON LEAVE BEFOR GOING TO MY FIRST DUTY STATION, WALKED INTO THE OFFICE-IN FULL UNIFORM-WHILE THEY WERE IN AN MEETING AND THANKED THEM FOR FIREING ME AND WALKED OUT. YOU COULD HEAR A PIN DROP AND THEY ALL HAD THEIR MOUTHS WIDE OPEN. I WENT ON TO PERFORM MANY JOBS AND TRAINED IN MORE SUBJECTS THAN MOST, EARNED THE GRADE OF STAFF SERGEANT AND MANY MEDALS AND CITATIONS. UNFORTUNATELY, I’M WATCHING MY COUNTRY DISAPEAR BEFOR MY EYES AND IT WiLL ONLY GET WORSE BEFOR IT GET’S BETTER! THANKS SO MUCH, LARRY
Jay Davis Says:
January 23rd, 2007
I once got fired while looking at a news paper on my lunch break. I was looking in the section for employment opportunities. I fought them for unemployment insurance and won but they tried to lie and said that I had worked unapproved overtime. Like I said, I won the case. The funny thing about it was about two weeks after firing me, the owner told another employee that I was going to quit on him, so he just wanted to fire me first.
Ashley M. Says:
January 23rd, 2007
i’m now 23, and since i first started working at the age of 16, i’ve had many jobs. of all the reason’s why i should have been fired and wasn’t, i never thought i’d be fired for showing up on time. i was living in philly one year after i dropped out of school and was living with some friends who were still attending. by “living” i of course mean crashing on their couch, drinking their alcohol and eating their food. i was eventually approached by all of them and told to get a job, pick a room, buy some food and pay rent. after a week of walking around and giving out maybe a total of five resumes, i found a part time job at a deli that didn’t ask for a resume. the deli was located across the street from 3 of the bars considered most popular by students of my ex-university. the owner, Berj, decided to cash in on this and would reopen the deli 3 days a week from 11pm - 3am so that drunken boys and girls would buy his fairly priced tasty sandwiches. my job was to make said sandwiches, and i can make a mean sandwich. not very humble but true. Berj, at about 5′7″ and 275-ish lbs and long greasy balding hair, was a very unlikable and decidedly disgusting human being. why you ask? he was married with children, all of whom i’d met, but insisted on telling me stories of how he would get drunken girls on the couch he had in the store and when they started to pass out would feel up their skirts and shirts and other unsavory(only unsavory because they were passed out and he was married) acts. i would come in every day and listen to his stories of perversion and lost nfl glories. oh yeah, he set all kinds of kicking records at florida university back in the 70’s, some of which apparently still stand, and was promised by a couple of teams a spot in the nfl, but was blacklisted at the draft for reasons unknown. from his stories of college i had a few ideas. now i knew these stories to be true because he had all the plaques and clippings hanging on the walls. from this I drew the conclusion that his “feel up” stories were also true, even though he didn’t gloat about them on his wall.

but i digress from my story. one day i decided to show up to work 15 minutes early to see if i could help set up or something, mainly because there was nothing on tv and i had no new books. when i got to the shop it was still closed and outside waiting to get sandwiches were five of my friends. they all waited until 15 minutes after we were supposed to open and then left. i say supposed because i was never given a key to the store and Berj wasn’t there yet. having also never been given a contact number to reach him at, even though i’d asked, i waited until 12:45 and went home. the next shift i was scheduled i came back and saw a girl being trained by Berj at my job. i asked him what was going on and he said i was fired for not showing up for my last shift and not calling. i explained my story and he responded by yelling that i was a liar. so i laughed and walked home and had a great night with my friends. and that was that. i have a few other funny stories but i’ll leave you with that one.

i can’t wait to see your movie, i’m guessing it’s funnier than my story.
GK Says:
January 23rd, 2007
Virgin “firee” here! I’ve been employed for fifteen years straight, but am losing my job in banking on 4/1/07 due to a merger. Not much to say yet, as my story remains to be written. It sure is like dying - denial, bargaining, depression, anger (the stage I’m trying to come out of now) and acceptance. Here’s to hoping that I’ll have a new job on 4/2 and can keep all my severance $!
Francis X Says:
January 24th, 2007
Getting fired was the best thing that has happened to me in years because I went after my dream as a result. If you work for greedy pig-dog capitalists, they will always burn you and fire you when the bottom line is at stake. Turn your backs on corporate America people! Tell them all to take a leap, and unionize and fight for good jobs that help society, not greedy jerks with golden parachutes! Workers of the World unite!!!!!
David Grant Says:
January 30th, 2007
I was fired in October 8, 2001, by the library software company Sagebrush Corporation while living in Edmonton, AB, Canada. I was fired because I didn’t work out with their organization which was true even though they didn’t really give me the kind of clear warning that they were required by the Labour Laws in Alberta. What was troubling about the firing was the way they fired me. They marched me into the office told me they were going to terminate my employment and I had about 15 minutes to clear out my desk. That was one of the most humiliating experiences which, along with a long difficult experience finding decent employment, lead to a very long period of depression which also required a considerable amount of counselling. I am much better now after finding a good employer, but I find the whole experience to be one of the worst experiences in my life and one that I wouldn’t wish on my enemies. Why do employers insist on firing people in this manner? Why treat people as if they were nothing better than pedophiles, murderers, or people who have something to be ashamed of? This is part of the awful trend of globalization and the attempts to justify every awful action to make profits. I look forward to seeing this movie and hope to explain to people the problems of firing people in this manner. Take care.
Peter Edler Says:
January 30th, 2007
I was fired several times as a temp in Manhattan in the late 70s. One firing especially sticks in my mind. I reported at 8:30am to some midtown office, was shown a typewriter, and some sheets to copy. I began by inserting an identical but blank sheet, then started copying. After an hour or so, having copied all the pages I’d been given, I took my work to my supervisor, then returned to my desk. After a minute, max, she called me into her office. She showed me one of the pages I had typed.
“Do you call this typing in a straight line?” I looked at it, saw absolutely no space between the preprinted lines and the digits and letters I’d typed along those lines. “It looks straight to me, yes.” She ran a sharp nail along one of the lines. “This …” her fingernail started wiggling down the sheet, “… this you call straight?” “You’re not following the line,” I said, “the line is straight, your fingernail is meandering …” She stared at me. “We can’t use you. I’ll call your office.” So I was fired after just over an hour. It hurt. Here I was - a great writer out of Mill Valley, California, fired for not being able to type a straight line.
It started me thinking about typing straight lines. Lucky for me the computer revolution changed all that. I still can’t type straight but you’d never know looking at my email.
Mr. Majestic Says:
January 30th, 2007
Well, after a couple of years of reading about the plight of the worker in places like Walmart, nurse’s aide jobs and in cleaning occupations, I grew indignant over the way State Workers in North Carolina are treated, especially the workers, in the Department of Health and Human Services. Quite honestly, anyone would become indignant in seeing incompetence promoted, individuals hurt and the blame placed on the shoulders of easily fireable underlings, and authority run amuck by a large group of uneducated folks who lack job skills, and the means to attain them.
So, the attitude may have been observable in the way I began to approach my low level job, and on the first occasion, I was fired for policy infringement. The chsire smiles on the faces of management are testiment to their disdain for the rank and file. One less issue, problem on my plate. God Bless the Worke’s Movement and the way they will impact the mistreatment of workers by those in charge.
Doopy Says:
January 31st, 2007
What has always confounded me is that after a company tells me that they can’t give me 5% more, or an assistant, and are going to have to let me go because I’m “not getting the job done,” they hire an average of 3 people who are all paid 50% more than they gave me, in order to fill the gap. Happens every time.

I’m not saying I’m better than any 3 people out there. It’s just that after several years at a job, we all learn shortcuts and efficiencies and relationships that enable us to be much more effective than anyone new to the company. They can’t find someone who exactly fits the shape of hole we leave, and they can’t leave functions undone for a year, so they have to hire several people. And those people probably do more, a couple of years later, all together, than the one person they fired. But wouldn’t it have been cheaper and less disruptive if they had given the first person a raise and an assistant instead?

Once I was let go after 4 years with less than an hour to clear out, with no warning or explanation. Another time I was told my position was being eliminated because they were “moving in a different direction”, but they advertised for my replacement using the exact job description my boss had asked me to write to describe what I did. They never found that person.
Barry Kushner Says:
January 31st, 2007
While I’ve enjoyed an extraordinary 35-year career as a journalist, advertising/PR guy, marketing consultant and REALTOR, I confess to having been fired from ill fitting jobs a handful of times. One firing was particularly memorable, because I had been on the job just 6 days and was barely settling in when the firing came out of left field the morning of my 7th day. It was the spring of 1987, and I had recently split with my business partner. We owned and operated a small, boutique advertising agency together in the Philadelphia suburbs. Sales were down due to the loss of some key client companies, and rather than struggle through tough times, I decided to call it quits, selling my share of the business to my partner. My next move would be to get a job somewhere in the advertising field. I narrowed my search to two outfits that both wanted to hire me: an exciting midsize, downtown ad agency, and a growing healthcare company that operated a couple dozen nursing homes throughout the region. Finally, I made the decision to join the healthcare firm, X Medical Centers as its in-house marketing communications director.

My first week on the job was highly stimulating. I learned their business very quickly and started lining up outside vendors to help me provide comprehensive advertising, public relations and marketing services to the entire company. On Tuesday of Week 2, I was asked by the CEO, Mr. V , to meet with him and the staff of one of the nursing homes at that facility. I was going to spend the day learning what happens at such a facility, and how they handle day to day challenges. I took a ride out to the facility in the western suburbs with Maria, one of X’s regional marketing execs. As Maria drove, we talked about what was likely to happen that day. Maria cautioned me that if Mr. V. (no one dared call the CEO by his first name) became agitated at any point, I would be well advised to stay calm. he was a volatile, demanding CEO, she said. I’d know when he was becoming agitated, she warned, because a vein in the center of his forehead would start to throb and seem to protrude through his skin, much like The Incredible Hulk.

I had already spent several hours with Mr. V., having been interviewed by him in the office prior to accepting the position, having been his guest at his private club for dinner, having discussed long range marketing plans in some detail with him. I knew his reputation for volatility, but I had no idea about the vein in the center of his forehead. The meeting at the nursing home started amicably enough. Mr. V. went around the room and asked each of the nursing facility’s staff to summarize the events of the past week, highlighting problems they were encountering in running the facility. Suddenly, without warning, he became agitated while questioning the facility’s director, a registered nurse who quickly became unraveled. Within minutes, he had reduced her to tears. I looked around the room and saw the other dozen or so participants squirming in their seats. I vowed silently to myself that I wouldn’t let him reduce me to an emotional basket case, should my turn on the hot seat come that morning.

Well, my turn came very soon. At some point, he turned to me and declared, “Let’s talk marketing!” And he started barraging me with questions about how I would market this particular facility to referral sources like doctors and hospitals, and to the general public. I started formulating my answers, even with the handicap of having been on the job little more than a week. As I answered, he started to argue with me, raising his voice and stirring up that vein in the center of his forehead. I couldn’t take my eyes off it, even as I squirmed in my seat to tell him what I thought he wanted to hear. Finally, he pounded his fist on the table to emphasize a point he was making. So I pounded my fist on the table to emphasize my next point. Seemingly stunned by the fact that I dared to imitate this physical action, he stood straight up, pointed his entire arm at me and yelled, “You’re fired! Get out!”

Shocked and bewildered, I rose slowly. I stared at him and, in the most menacing voice I could muster, said, “I’ll leave, Dan. But before I do, I just want you to know that you’re the biggest f** a*hole I’ve ever met in business in my life.” he walked toward me and we stood chest to chest for several moments, until one of the women in the room stepped between us to prevent the possibility of physical violence. I was careful not to raise a hand in his direction, even though I really wanted to. I seemed like he tried to literally push me, goad me into taking a swing. But then I moved away, packed my belongings and headed for the door. Only I had to turn around and ask Maria for a ride back to the office, where my car was parked. Dan motioned to a tearful Maria that it was okay to drive me back to the office.

Maria was shaking from terror the entire ride back, about 20 miles. She kept repeating that she had warned me about staying calm, about backing off if I saw that vein pop up. My only response was that I refused to let him do to me what he had done to the facility’s director. When I got back to the office, I walked in on the HR director and told him the tale. He was astonished. He knew the CEO was capable of this kind of behavior, but he didn’t think it would happen with me, in this manner. he told me an attorney they hired the year before lasted less than a day. I went to my office, got on the phone, and asked the president of that nice, center city ad agency if that job she had offered me 2 weeks ago was still available. “I thought you went to X?” she said. And I told her the story. She said I should go home, forget about it, and come to work for her the next day. I did. That job lasted only a little more than a year, because the agency was on shaky financial footing, but that’s another story for another day.

Oh, one more thing. Several hours after my firing, Mr. V. phoned me from one of the nursing homes and told me that I was rehired if I wanted to stay. He said I had passed his “guts” test. I thanked him for the offer and told him I’d think about it. Naturally, I decided that I couldn’t change my mind, that I’d be completely crazy to even consider being rehired. His board of directors met later that day and suggested that he not rehire me after all, because my reaction to being fired was so severe that I had the audacity to confront him and tell him what I thought of him. Apparently, no one else he fired had ever said these things to him. Now, 20 years later, I’m proud that I did.
Task F. Johnson Says:
January 31st, 2007
Near the end of the 90’s I worked for a big ceramic manufacturing company that did contracts for the government and huge corporations. We made the parts for machines that made computer chips (and weapons according to some). I worked midnight shift at the the beginning point of manufacturing, where I would press powder into chunks of ceramics to later be carved and so on. Anyway their was a filter for the powder so you can vacate all impurities, however I was smoking herbs and decided to remove the filters and make 50-60 bodies a night instead of 25-30. So for 6 months all of the bosses loved my hard work until they found out that all the bodies were faulty (after shipping them off!), causing the company to lose multi mullion dollar contracts and huge clientele. They found out on pay day and even tried to stop payment of my last check in some ditch effort to make me pay up, i figure we’re even, them being a huge corporation, and me being an innovative stoner.
Natalie Says:
February 1st, 2007
I’ve been fired. The first time was my first real job and the boss had me train his daughter to do the work. Then he called me into his office and said “My daughter’s husband is leaving her and I’m giving her your job. What will you do now?” I just stood there. Then he said “You should pray to the Lord for guidance. This is your last day here” The second time was from a horrible, horrible job in a nursing home kitchen (carrying hot wet trays of porridge) I had told my boss that I needed Saturdays off to go to soccer practice. The next day I came in and my co-workers were listening to his office wall with drinking glasses. When they saw me, they dropped the glass and ran so I put it to the wall and heard “Natalie wants a social life? That ungrateful #$%, She’s fired” through the wall. I was also fired from a really stressfull dental office right after I became a dental assistant. I worked with one of the associate dentists. I worked with the associate for months.One day the head of the practice demanded I work with him. After 2 hours of assisting him he announced that I wasn’t fast enough and I was canned. My wimpy associate supervisor said “gee, I’d speak up for you but I really can’t.” And one nice assistant took me out for a drink. I had no confidence for a week, just hung around the apartment moping. But I became tough. I learned to be extremely suspicious of companies and employers that said things like “we’re family here”.
Later, when I ran a program for a company and they told me to fire someone, I tried to do it in a confidence building manner. But, it was so hard. It really made me ill to do it. Now I try to screen people very carefully when I hire them. I think, in 7 years of having my own business, I’ve had to replace one person.
Ultramarine Says:
February 1st, 2007
I’ve been fired twice! Both times for being somewhat absent minded. Calculus? No problem! Hostessing at a restaurant…errr…much more difficult.

But if you have a work ethic, and you discover what you ARE good at, you can make your way in the U.S. I’m self-employed now, get a lot of respect, and if people don’t like me, they just don’t “hire” me again. There’s no hard feelings.
Abby Says:
February 9th, 2007
Yes, I have been fired as well. But it’s not the story of my firing that’s the interesting note, but the aftermath that ensued and all the turmoil I sent everyone into, including myself. It is a bit like dying, the days after being fired. I was let go on a Monday at 11am and as I made my way through the parking lot to my car, I called up my boyfriend to tell him my fears over the past week have been confirmed; I was fired. Actually, my supervisor’s supervisor’s supervisor’s (who did the firing) words were “we’re letting you go” and the human resources director called it “a separation.” I was escorted out of the building by the security director and right past the open windowed area of where I was working until about ten minutes earlier. As I spoke to my boyfriend, I didn’t feel sad or mad; I guess I went straight through to the acceptance stage. Even as I got in my car to drive away and a co-worker came out to see me, I was still relatively okay with the situation. I say relatively because as I drove home and thought about what I was going to do the res of the day, the flood gates opened up. I was hysterical, calling everyone I knew while driving and crying. It’s funny the times people choose to forget their cell phones or not answer, because this was the biggest deal in my entire life, and should have been in theirs. I was scared and hurt and extremely sad. My boyfriend came home early from work to be with me and spent my first full day “separation” from my previous job with me. He was there while I made the call to unemployment and for the first couple of steps towards figuring out how we would pay our rent and get “through this,” as everyone assured us we would. It was then that I realized I was relieved I didn’t have to go back. If they called me tomorrow and offered me a job, I’d say no. I was too comfortable there, commuting, making money, spending less and less time with this my boyfriend who loved me enough to, when I was in hysterics and questioning how he could still be hanging around an out-of-work loser, stand by me and assure me we were going to be okay. We applied to Grad school, I got babysitting jobs to pay for things until our lease was up in 4 months and now we’re headed to a summer camp to teach and run programs for kids. We’ll be living in a cabin, eating cafeteria food with our dog and loving the fact we don’t need to punch a clock, answer to seven different bosses or commute. Oh, and we’re also getting married. So after about two weeks of feeling sorry for myself, crying on the phone to my mom, questioning my self-worth and writing several overly melodramatic online blogs, I got over it and moved on. Now I’m going to be a high-school science teacher and will never take the comfortable road again. I can’t wait to see the movie. It’s a great way to spend some of that unemployment money!
steven Says:
February 27th, 2007
Hey
I m an Israeli male of 31 yrs old and just read the review in the Haaretz Newspaper. Well I was fired from… Haaretz!
After 9 months of doing some producing job in the news desk, 3 nights a week, the collegues and my boss had enough of me. I was in Jerusalem, waking up at my girlfriend’s house one lovely morning, and got this phone call from my boss. i encourged him to say what he had to so i wont need to confront him at the office. i hated the job so i had a great breakfest on the balcony. it was a really nice jerusalemic morning and the birds were singing.
4 yrs after, i still do an office job and hate it, but am looking forward for some intresting job. any suggestions?
Robert Says:
March 15th, 2007
When will we be able to see this wonderful (sounding) film in Chapel Hill NC???
Edwin A. Halderman, SSgt.USMC(retired) Says:
March 18th, 2007
IF nothing else, I hate him for being a VEITNAM WAR PROTESTER while I was THERE TO PROTECT HIS RIGHT TO BE A PROTESTER!!
S!ick Says:
April 2nd, 2007
I was hosting the morning show at a radio station in Denver. One night, I was out late with a representative from a record company: he was buying, I was drinking.

Knowing I had too much to drink, I did not go home because I would oversleep and miss my shift. At about 2 a.m., I went to the radio station to take a nap on the couch in the lobby.

While I was sleeping, I was aware of what I was doing…but to drunk to care. The overnight jock woke me, but I was too far gone to bother to get up…

When his father arrived…the owner of the radio station…he saw how soiled the couch and carpet was, and I was told to go home. (I don’t remember how I did.)

I called the office to see what my status was, and was told by the receptionist…the wife of the owner…my fate had not been decided. I was not able to collect unemployment because I had not been officially fired…

Weeks later, luckily, I got a job in Tucson. They sent a ticket; I left Denver.
Mac Says:
May 6th, 2007
In 2004, I had just received a promotion, and, despite a schedule with some long, late hours, life was good. While happily working at my desk one night, my boss came over and told me how much of a good job I was doing, how much I had improved from when I started, and that I was set to have a long, bright future with the company. I said thanks for the compliment, naively unaware that this was a portent of doom.

My boss wasn’t in the office the next day (nice leadership there), and the morning after that, I had gone out to run a few errands, coming home to a message on my answering machine. It was my boss telling me I was being let go. Fired via answering machine. No reason was given. It wasn’t until later, after some phone calls and some sneaky snooping, that I learned my coworkers, who I considered friends, had been secretly having little gatherings behind my back, in which they all told my boss how much they hated me and how much they wanted me gone. So I ended up unemployed not because of my job performance, and not for company-wide financial reasons, but because I’m an unlikable person.

That was more than two years ago, and now I have a new, better-paying job with more manageable hours. That’s a good thing, and yet every time I look in a mirror, all I can think is, “No one likes me… no one likes me… no one likes me…” I’m starting to think I’ll never heal.

Geez, my story’s not a very funny one.

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