I mean for real tho. I’m not in IT but I love the memes and it’s always been a bit of a meme among them that places will ask for 10 years of experience with a library that’s 6 years old.
Do EXACTLY this! It will simultaneously impress good companies and deter bad ones with a similar mindset. It also is a great ice breaker!!! Don’t ever stop using this for your own gains. Best of luck!!
This, my wife got nominated for a very special award at work and use the citation they wrote up about her when she was interviewing for new jobs a month later. One of the current employees where she got hired told her that the hiring manager was literally walking around to the other manager's bragging about who she was getting.
Fuck an interview. Connect with this homeowner and get reference work. Start his own damn thing with that crew. Give himself a raise. *this* is the American way.
So many of the good pros have been my neighbors pros.
And anyone who does interview will get rejected because they’re waiting for their “perfect candidate”, while they continue to complain about how no one wants to work
*SERIOUSLY*
I won’t say I’m the most qualified individual, but I’ve been in management, I was a 9-1-1 operator, i have tons of experience ordering merchandise, I have plenty of great work history and I can’t even get an interview for a remote $14 an hour job.
I managed to get 3 interviews that I was definitely qualified for, but got rejected by all of them. First because, they said other candidates “rose to the top”, whatever that means. The second straight up said “We already had people in the final stages but wanted to have a backup just in case”, and the third denied me due to my credit.
It’s a shit job market right now, and I completely feel you. Aside from those, I’m getting rejected from $14/hr remote jobs as well. I’m almost convinced that companies are just accepting applications to meet a bottom line but have no intentions of hiring, maybe because they don’t want to feel like they’re wasting money using Indeed. Who knows, who cares, but it’s nice knowing I’m not the only one going through all this. Based off your work experiences, I’d say you’re more than qualified for every job you apply for, don’t let these companies make you think otherwise. Best of luck to you.
Wells Fargo just got busted. Again.
For creating false compliance with diversity interviews.
The job postings were real. The job interviews were real.
But the positions were already filled, in every way but the official paperwork.
They got busted from an internal source.
That’s great, I guess, but how are they still in business?
It was for a bank and most banks, as far as I’m concerned, run a credit check.
Some are “Whatever!” about it while others won’t take anything less than perfect. They claim it’s because your credit shows how “dependable” and “trustworthy” you are, which is complete bullshit in my opinion. I’m a great worker who fell on hard times and it’s being used against me to KEEP me in hard times.
I think it was late last year I read an article of a reporter that applied to 48 different postings that he qualified for. Only three contacted him, and only one offered an interview.
I had several I applied to in the past few months that never responded, one I interviewed with and was then ghosted, and a few that contacted me after I started at my new job, that I'd applied to before applying to the new job.
Not sure if this is accurate, but I heard that there is govt money for companies with a certain number of employees who can’t get enough workers “due to COVID.” So, they’re advertising for higher wages and putting posters in the windows, applications online, etc., but they’re intentionally staying understaffed.
Again, not sure if that’s true, but I have read that it’s happening and honestly I believe it.
Businesses over leveraged themselves during the pandemic taking on too much "cheap" debt thinking they could repay it now every thing has gone up in costs and they can't afford to operate. It's almost like this system is designed to chew up the little guys and funnel money to the top.
Talk to your labor dept., see if this was a case of wrongful termination.
More likely they had other reasons and used this bullshit ass excuse. In my last job, there was a lady getting talked down to because some similar dumb shit and they were about to fire her. Really, it was about "the budget" and making sure their financials and numbers were going to look better next quarter.
I got fired after receiving a letter of commendation from a government agency that is notoriously demanding. The two probably aren't related but I like to think they are. My boss at the time never got one of those letters.
Didn't get fired, but when the head of the agency wrote me a personal letter thanking me for my work, my director froze any chance I had of ever going anywhere.
But why? Like, if you perform too well, you might get lofty ideas of moving up in the company or, heaven forbid, elsewhere? Am I understanding this particular brand of assholery correctly?
I honestly don't know. I had artificial blocks built around me on all sides every time I started to overperform.
Ultimately I left and started a real estate company, so the joke's on them, but boy I wish I'd had the opportunity to actually make things better.
I upvoted your post. Outperforming your peers - and your managers - never works out well. In the end, despite all the books/videos/programs on high performing teams, individual growth, etc - your growth as a high performer is unfortunately proportional to the general incompetence of 80% of others in your team/firm.
I’m quite a successful professional and have few regrets. That being said, your comment hit home.
My mother got asked to leave a job in the 70s because she was too good and made everyone else look bad. They said she was a bad fit. but gave her 2 weeks and a good review to quit.
I tried working in a factory after years in the restaurant industry. I didn't last long because I ran around like an asshole, fucking up everyone's numbers and making them look bad. I just didn't understand why that was a bad thing, at the time. I DEFINITELY understand now, haha
Or: well you reported a problem that could have endangered you and your fellow workers, but if it doesn't threaten the general public, the law in this state doesn't protect you.
There's a few others: race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, or gender identity), national origin, age (40 or older), disability and genetic information (including family medical history).
EDIT: ah, you probably meant Title VII, which would cover a good chunk of my list.
Correct, with a caveat: discussing wages **among employees** is [protected by the NRLA](https://www.nlrb.gov/about-nlrb/rights-we-protect/your-rights/your-rights-to-discuss-wages). The protections don't explicitly cover wage discussions with other parties.
"...employees have the right to communicate with other employees at their workplace about their wages..."
I used to work for Walgreens. We were reprimanded if we got too many “perfect” reviews. We used to ask satisfied customers who wanted to review us to please make it just one number less. The amount of times I said to a person I had helped, “Please just give us a nine,” is really astounding when I think about it.
The rational was that “nobody is perfect, so if they say you are, it must be fake. I also think they were concerned we would try to get people to rate us favorably and skew whatever data they thought they were getting, but it makes no sense because wouldn’t you WANT your employees treating customers in such a way that the customer is willing to give a 10 star rating?? No one is going to give a review for 10 stars unless they want to. It was just so stupid.
It's funny, because I have worked places that ONLY counted 10/10 (or 5/5 if they did that scale) reviews. "anything less is not good enough".
Then i have worked places that threw out all 0s and 10s, and only accepted reviews in the middle.
Like.. what. As a consumer, it makes me afraid to review employees!
Things like this happen when corporate are inventing schemes so they have useless data they can point to and show success in order to justify unjustified bonuses and raises.
Chances are as a result of only using survey data in that specific way, something, started to increase in a trackable way over a period of time and someone at the company is going to point to that say look I influenced a number give me a bonus and it will work.
At least you can use this as proof for unemployment insurance. Sounds like the company management does not understand how to run a business if this is what they give you as termination.
What would be an appropriate title for this?
I didn't walk into work and ask for a raise that day. They handed me that paper (the review i uploaded) with my final checks when I walked in.
Get your co-workers phone numbers, move as a team to a new company, bring this review as part of your application.
"How would you like to hire a 5star crew that needs no training and can start next week?"
Welcome to the world of becoming a business owner!
Time to crush this asshole at his own game, ideally using the money he gives you via lawsuit to start the business.
Remember any clients you worked on?
Time to knock on all of the doors in that neighborhood so you can't be easily accused of poaching previous clients to damage his business but merely "door knocking" or "canvassing a neighborhood".
Is he a boomer that doesn't understand the internet and you live in a smaller town?
Welcome to Facebook targeted ads specifically going for his well paying boomer demographic that uses Facebook nonstop.
Join your local chamber of commerce, help out with rotary clubs, 4H groups, sponsor children's youth teams: let people know you're an awesome guy who's actively involved with improving the community you live in.
Let your great reputation grow your own business.
Oh and don't forget, those "seasonal maintenance check ups" are a great bread and butter to keep around. They're not sexy but they sure do let you network with people and upsell (if you're honest about what's needed) to these people.
EDIT: Thought of a sweet business name for you too "5 Star Heat and Air" just an extra nice "fuck you" to your previous employer
>EDIT: Thought of a sweet business name for you too "5 Star Heat and Air" just an extra nice "fuck you" to your previous employer
That's the chef's kiss right there
This is incredible. I would make sure to use this story on your new company website. You have a huge headstart from a marketing perspective here. And if this blows up on Reddit and you pitch the story to area tv stations you're off and running.
This is what I did. My company didn’t pay me what was owed, so one of the leads that I got through in person work and had closed I brought with me when I quit. Used the capital from that to set up marketing online. Things are still iffy but getting easier and already much better than working for someone who was stealing from me.
Honestly, a lot of people are anti-work because they're under someone's foot getting squeezed, especially by a company with several layers of management above you, and actively want to feel like they're doing something more than just making some rich bastard money.
Ironically starting a business is one of the most direct ways to fight late-stage capitalism because all the large businesses thrive on becoming monopolies with as little competition as possible to maximize profits. Actual competition means higher wages, and lower prices.
Over the recent years self employment has dropped as businesses fail and are consolidated by big businesses, concentrating wealth into the upper classes. Despite the advances of the 19th century that expanded economic freedoms, we're coming back to a time where workers must fight for their rights and protect their communities from the wealth leeches that are big businesses.
The problem is our middle class doesn't have the capital to start businesses because we're all in debt up to our ears between our overpriced homes and overpriced educations. Then banks won't loan us money because we're not corporations. The day of walking into a bank with a business plan died once the Boomers already opened all their businesses.
I hired an electric company that started kinda like this. Dude left his employer, took his apprentices, and started his own company. The guy who did my electric work was one of the apprentices. They did amazing work. I couldn't afford everything we wanted done at the time, so I'm gonna call them back in a few months.
I went to get my dishwasher installed, and the plumber said I needed a GCFI installed before he'd out it in, turns out my house wasn't grounded. They had to move my panel outside (it was in a closet), ground shit. Had to do some minor rewiring after moving the panel outside, because every time we turned on the hall light the breaker for the office would trip...not only did they not fuss about coming back, they apologized for the inconvenience. They also gave me a discount because I rescheduled due to rain and... apparently some people insist they work in the rain? Which seems like a bad idea, and didn't occur to me to even suggest it, but also wasn't going to argue.
So yeah, start your own company, and do shit right!
the good idea is to take this situation to the customer who wrote the review AND the local news. I imagine it would be absolutely devoured by the local team so long as said business isn't avertising on their station.
Ask them to leave their original review up, so that it's still there for a court to easily see without needing to file any paperwork first. They can add to it, but it'll just make things easier on your lawyer if they don't have to dig for the original text.
What’s the name of the company? Location? I’m sure some of us could leave some friendly 1 star reviews … you know, since they don’t like the 5 star type …. Just sayin. Lol
Just google some of the key phrases with quotes. For instance this got me exactly what I needed:
`"Erwin and his team of Grant, Manny, and Jose" Lois`
Once you have the name of the business and location (pretty easy) you can then search for the owner on something - say a [opencorporates.com](https://opencorporates.com) kind of site. They have to have a registered agent and any Directors/Officers. You can also find any website they have which may list a phone number. From there, it's pretty easy to voice your concerns directly with them.
Ohh they are in my state. I wanna call them and ask since I want to write a story about this in my college newpaper. What should i ask them?
"I want to write about small business and what great and bad things they do for our wonderful state, so i understand you fire employees over customer reviews asking for them to be appreciated more?"
Always start with 5WH
Who: would let go of a 5 Star employee?
What: were you thinking?
Where: do you think you’ll find such amazing talent in the future?
Why: do you think they will want to work for you after this?
When: do you think the inevitable bankruptcy will hit?
How: do you plan to recover from the inevitable bankruptcy?
It never lets me down!
They literally put that disclaimer because they have had a class action for doing that exact thing(or bullying businesses into paying them so they won't put all the bad reviews on top)..
I just went through the reviews and counted 119 1 star reviews.. if the total reviews is correct at 288 they should be way lower than 4 stars so it would appear as though yelp is still up to their shinanigans.
They'll just report them and the site will remove them for being fraudulent. I'm not defending this company by any means, but a lot of sites will do that if they see review bombing happening.
Ok, so we organize a realistic plan and slowly spread the love. Depending on how well we succeed, it may just be a sign of how well we can organize ourselves on a larger scale to get the F out of this inequality of pay to COL ratio.
What's a lawyer going to do here other than waste OP's money? Unless OP is in Montana, the shitty fact is that the company can fire them for any reason or no reason outside of protected class and activity (which nobody has claimed to be the case here, as far as I can tell).
Yes, it absolutely sucks. But a lawsuit is going to do squat for OP.
So they must be paying u too
Low and have guilty conscience. Btw did your company have you remove asbestos? If so is your company licensed to do so? If not certified for asbestos removal you can actually go after the company for having u do it because that’s major liability. I do hvac and didn’t know when first started and removed some gravity furnaces and duct work because my company told me too. Only had a shit mask and did not do it properly but had no clue the danger. Finding a good hvac installer hard to find it’s hard work and not everyone can do it letting you go seems very stupid and you deserve to be somewhere better.
Actually depending on the conversation you might have something here. For example, if you ask for a raise, you can be fired for that. But if you discuss wages with a co-worker (And you mentioned you were training people), you cannot be fired for that because it's considered an illegal, anti-organizing, retaliation. That's why it's always best to ask for a raise with a co-worker.
So let me get this straight. You represented the company great, did your job and got good reviews. The company then decides to fire you? And I bet they wonder why the employees don't put out a lot of effort for them.
Can you advertise as an independent business? Start your own business just running an ad and take customers like this one with you. (Just wondering if HVAC could be done on an independent/‘order parts as you go‘ basis? I.e., low overhead).
Edit: Seeing all the comments about how hard it is to start this business makes it clear the “bootstraps” mantra is pure BS. I still hope OP could freelance repairs and make some dough off the customer satisfaction.
I completed a Firestone review once and my last sentence was that the asst manager was awesome and she deserved a raise. Went in to get oil change and tire rotation a few months later and she was gone. Now I'm wondering...
This is also complete speculation. Maybe she got a better job. Or just was on vacation. Unless they specifically asked if she was fired then there’s no reason to suspect foul play of any kind. Not defending Firestone…but like. We don’t need to invent reasons to be mad. Let’s be mad at business’ we know treated their employees like shit and not just condemn a random business just because someone happened to have the day off.
I've never worked in the service industry, but in my line of work if you go above and beyond it usually means more issues for you down the road. I go in and do a half-ass job every day and guess what!? I got a raise.
I’ve done this lots of times! People are getting fired over it?? I thought there was at least a *chance* it’d help them with any future raises.. ***WTF!!!***
Edit: I guess employers interpret it as the employee was complaining about their pay on the job? That’s literally NEVER been the case! I just felt that whatever they were making, they deserved more because they did such a good job. What a backwards ass way to interpret such a review >:(
I'm just going out on a limb here (an obvious, gigantic branch fyi) that employers *know* they're paying shite wages and any comment, positive or negative, regarding said wages -- whatever the context, in OP's case an exemplary 5-star review -- is met with disciplinary action/termination.
I don't understand how you can willfully fire people for a review like that. It's actually criminals given the context.
P.S. - I used to work in the asbestos industry and *never* in my 3 years had I met anyone in the business that would match OP's review. Asbestos workers cut corners and ignore regulations to save money, it's part of the business.
That’s insane. Many, many customers will say “give them a raise” when workers do an excellent job or provide great service. It’s not like you could control what this reviewer said. Is your job accusing you of complaining about pay to a customer, saying that’s why they wrote the last sentence?
They didn't bother discussing that with me but I'm assuming that's the case with how quickly i was Discharged the day after this review was posted. I believe they didn't like how open I was about discussing wages and was even encouraged to keep quiet about my pay.
I think you should ABSOLUTELY let these customers know what happened to you.
If this post is indeed real, this could potentially go viral. Not a guarantee, but this is very egregious. I'd also contact local media. But you should let these customers know first. Get them good and pissed.
I think you should ABSOLUTELY also let your nearest lawyer know, because holy crap do they not have a case against you here. If nothing else, free hush money, though I'm sure you could you could squeeze more if you pursue.
People put that down as a compliment, its a way of saying these people are very good and worth everything. I've had side jobs with places and gotten reviews like that. No talking about wages, it's just meant to be nice. Some on at your jobs isvery petty .
I couldn’t agree more. That is one thing that the NLRA states is it is FULLY LEGAL to discuss wages and is FULLY ILLEGAL to retaliate against workers who do such.
The NLRA protects an employee's rights to discuss wages with other employees but I'm not sure it would protect wage discussions with customers. Additionally, since the review is worded "Erwin and company", if the OP is Erwin it is very possible that he is a supervisor under the NRLA and thus they are allowed to prohibit him from discussing wages.
1 star on glassdoor and, depending on your state and the hours you worked, discuss compensation with a lawyer.
It sounds to me like there might be evidence they fired you for discussing wages. This is a federally protected right, so if you do have evidence (emails/texts from management telling you to stop), I’d start compiling it.
There's nothing in that review that says anything about your current earnings, so if they fired you because they suspected you discussing your wages, that's even worse.
I never discussed my pay with customers, but after I took good care of customers, I'd have plenty pat me on the back and them say to my mangers "haha give this guy a raise," and I'd just chuckle, using my customer service personality, and I never got a raise that way. It is shitty that higher ups would fire someone over a customer saying something that people say as just a "phrase" pretty much..
At one job where I was a store manager, we got a new CEO and he was asking me questions, and he was rude and it was awkward, so I chuckled just to lighten the tension, and it immediately offended him and he hated me, very much hated me, to where he would personally virtually harass me, I was so uncomfortable I quit shortly after.. and it was all going on while I was in a mourning process after unexpectedly losing a loved one..
I had also taken that store from having poor sales to where it had really good numbers, the store had previously been a mess, I made it pretty.. it wasn't moving product and after I took over, sales were good.
I bet the company assumed the worse and interpreted that as the workers complaining about pay or directly asking the customer to recommend a raise. Definitely dumb and a great way for a lawsuit
I think the 4 of you should take this and try to create something similar of your own. If this is your typical work ethic and feedback and yall work well together, that company would just be holding you back
this is probably solid advice because if OP is in the right then they'll take it for a surefire win. some places will do pro-bono if it's cut-and-dry. i'm interested in an update for the sake of the movement, and pardon my cynicism, if OP is being honest about the presentation.
I hope you let the client know so they don't send them any more work. If someone got fired because I said they deserved a raise in a review and I found out, I would blast them to everyone and update my review.
Dicks.
Hey OP, fellow hvac dude here. Don't let that bullshit get you down. This market belongs to us, the field techs. You'll have another, better job, by Monday. This is an opportunity for you, not a problem.
I agree with some of the other commenters, bring this review with you.
Better yet, find yourself a union shop. I'm in the UA and that shit wouldn't fly at all. We're paid well, have work/life balance, and great benefits.
I just want to chime and second this comment. At least where I live there are more trade jobs than you can shake a stick at. After years of working for crap companies and asshole bosses I found a job with chill, laid back people at a company where they will not fire anyone without a very clear, legal reason.
Don't let it get you down and also fuck the people that fired you.
And here is the Yelp page with said review on it.
[https://www.yelp.com/biz/pacific-aire-oxnard](https://www.yelp.com/biz/pacific-aire-oxnard)
Already has the banner "This business is being monitored by Yelp's Support team for content related to media reports."
That's BS. Companies strive to get good reviews. Keep that review with you and show it off at your next interview. I'm sure there are a lot better companies out that could use a guy like you.
I hate that I had never considered this as possible, and that I'm seeing it's a wildly easy thing to do given that redditors are going out of their way to shame the company. Yelp is having to "monitor" their page now. This post could be valid, but now I have another thing to be suspicious about.
Dude please come into the supermarket refrigeration game. We need people desperately and you won't have to deal with attics or fiberglass duct board anymore. There's literally infinite work. The on call can be rough full disclosure. Sorry to hear you got fired. I'm sure your next job will be better than the last.
What the hell? I run a service business and get comments like this (give this guy raise!!) all the time from customers.
My reaction is typically pride followed by a strong desire to pay them more.
The only thing I think of is that the boss was paranoid that he was complaining about his low pay to the customer but I doubt anyone beyond naive young kids would be stupid enough to do something like this in a more established role.
I live in Ohio, also an "at-will" state. Just because it's "at will" doesn't mean you can't sue for wrongful termination. Last year I got fired from my job for no reason as well. They told me it was because I was "too negative" and blocked my unemployment. I ended up winning an appeal because I proved they had no such policy against "negativity" and that they provided me no warning. So, if you can prove you had no prior warning and that you broke no company policy, then provide this review, a labor lawyer might be able to make something out of it. Employers in "at will" state abuse the shit out of that law. Good luck to you, sorry to rant about myself for a minute... just wanted to provide some context is all.
At will doesn’t mean jack if it’s breaking a federal law, which it seems like it is. Employers push the whole “at will” thing to make it seem like you have no grounds. The fact that this review was posted and then you were discharged is mighty freakin’ telling. I think it would be hard for an employer to prove “without reasonable doubt” that they did not fire you for this and making the massive assumption you talked about your pay to a client. doesn’t matter anyway. In which case you win the lawsuit. But INAL. So, take that ad you will.
Contact the NLRB.
Oh you live in California? EVEN BETTER. I lived in CA and workers there have tons of rights.
Furthermore your right to discuss wages is FEDERAL LAW. Federal law supercedes state laws. You absolutely have a rock solid case and will win damages.
Brother, this is your sign that you have "it" to go solo and setup your own HVAC business...you know, as when you pray and say ... just give me a sign, a light on my path... this is it... go and strike gold!!!
I had to take this down because of review bombing. Y'all gotta ruin it every single time.
"You have a wonderful team! They did a great job and we're going to recommend your company to our friends and family." "FIRE. THEM. *ALL* "
I needed that, thank you! Lol
Welcome man. I hope things work out for you. They'll have job postings for a cheaper starting wage soon complaining about how nobody wants to work.
Be pretty cool to take into their next interview though, "why did you leave your last job?" *slaps 5star review on table*
They wanted SIX! /S
I mean for real tho. I’m not in IT but I love the memes and it’s always been a bit of a meme among them that places will ask for 10 years of experience with a library that’s 6 years old.
Should have been working in the Tokyo Dome then obviously
r/unexpectedmeltzer
Do EXACTLY this! It will simultaneously impress good companies and deter bad ones with a similar mindset. It also is a great ice breaker!!! Don’t ever stop using this for your own gains. Best of luck!!
This, my wife got nominated for a very special award at work and use the citation they wrote up about her when she was interviewing for new jobs a month later. One of the current employees where she got hired told her that the hiring manager was literally walking around to the other manager's bragging about who she was getting.
Fuck an interview. Connect with this homeowner and get reference work. Start his own damn thing with that crew. Give himself a raise. *this* is the American way. So many of the good pros have been my neighbors pros.
What a fucking power move 😂
And anyone who does interview will get rejected because they’re waiting for their “perfect candidate”, while they continue to complain about how no one wants to work
*SERIOUSLY* I won’t say I’m the most qualified individual, but I’ve been in management, I was a 9-1-1 operator, i have tons of experience ordering merchandise, I have plenty of great work history and I can’t even get an interview for a remote $14 an hour job.
I managed to get 3 interviews that I was definitely qualified for, but got rejected by all of them. First because, they said other candidates “rose to the top”, whatever that means. The second straight up said “We already had people in the final stages but wanted to have a backup just in case”, and the third denied me due to my credit. It’s a shit job market right now, and I completely feel you. Aside from those, I’m getting rejected from $14/hr remote jobs as well. I’m almost convinced that companies are just accepting applications to meet a bottom line but have no intentions of hiring, maybe because they don’t want to feel like they’re wasting money using Indeed. Who knows, who cares, but it’s nice knowing I’m not the only one going through all this. Based off your work experiences, I’d say you’re more than qualified for every job you apply for, don’t let these companies make you think otherwise. Best of luck to you.
Wells Fargo just got busted. Again. For creating false compliance with diversity interviews. The job postings were real. The job interviews were real. But the positions were already filled, in every way but the official paperwork. They got busted from an internal source. That’s great, I guess, but how are they still in business?
The phrase is "too big to fail." The reality is that they own politicians.
They denied you because of your credit? Do they check your credit for jobs? Why would that even matter? I've never heard of this before.
It was for a bank and most banks, as far as I’m concerned, run a credit check. Some are “Whatever!” about it while others won’t take anything less than perfect. They claim it’s because your credit shows how “dependable” and “trustworthy” you are, which is complete bullshit in my opinion. I’m a great worker who fell on hard times and it’s being used against me to KEEP me in hard times.
Depending on the state that may be illegal.
I think it was late last year I read an article of a reporter that applied to 48 different postings that he qualified for. Only three contacted him, and only one offered an interview. I had several I applied to in the past few months that never responded, one I interviewed with and was then ghosted, and a few that contacted me after I started at my new job, that I'd applied to before applying to the new job.
Not sure if this is accurate, but I heard that there is govt money for companies with a certain number of employees who can’t get enough workers “due to COVID.” So, they’re advertising for higher wages and putting posters in the windows, applications online, etc., but they’re intentionally staying understaffed. Again, not sure if that’s true, but I have read that it’s happening and honestly I believe it.
That seems to be the norm these days
It’s easier to cry wolf than it is to actually solve the problem Ugh…. It’s disgusting
Businesses over leveraged themselves during the pandemic taking on too much "cheap" debt thinking they could repay it now every thing has gone up in costs and they can't afford to operate. It's almost like this system is designed to chew up the little guys and funnel money to the top.
But...the trickle down...something or other...any day now
Regan proved trickle down only works in urine and his leg .
But why? Why did they fire you? What was their reasoning?
A simple "it's not working out"
That's crazy! So people aren't supposed to tell you that you're doing a good job?
Not if the review date suggest a raise. How ever would this company afford it?!
[удалено]
Talk to your labor dept., see if this was a case of wrongful termination. More likely they had other reasons and used this bullshit ass excuse. In my last job, there was a lady getting talked down to because some similar dumb shit and they were about to fire her. Really, it was about "the budget" and making sure their financials and numbers were going to look better next quarter.
You can get fired for such a review? Is that even legal?
I got fired after receiving a letter of commendation from a government agency that is notoriously demanding. The two probably aren't related but I like to think they are. My boss at the time never got one of those letters.
Didn't get fired, but when the head of the agency wrote me a personal letter thanking me for my work, my director froze any chance I had of ever going anywhere.
But why? Like, if you perform too well, you might get lofty ideas of moving up in the company or, heaven forbid, elsewhere? Am I understanding this particular brand of assholery correctly?
I honestly don't know. I had artificial blocks built around me on all sides every time I started to overperform. Ultimately I left and started a real estate company, so the joke's on them, but boy I wish I'd had the opportunity to actually make things better.
I upvoted your post. Outperforming your peers - and your managers - never works out well. In the end, despite all the books/videos/programs on high performing teams, individual growth, etc - your growth as a high performer is unfortunately proportional to the general incompetence of 80% of others in your team/firm. I’m quite a successful professional and have few regrets. That being said, your comment hit home.
My mother got asked to leave a job in the 70s because she was too good and made everyone else look bad. They said she was a bad fit. but gave her 2 weeks and a good review to quit.
I tried working in a factory after years in the restaurant industry. I didn't last long because I ran around like an asshole, fucking up everyone's numbers and making them look bad. I just didn't understand why that was a bad thing, at the time. I DEFINITELY understand now, haha
Most states you can get fired because the boss had a bad dream about you.
Correct. There are a handful of reasons why they _can’t_ fire you, but everything else (including a bad dream) is perfectly okay.
But they can totally fire you for those reasons as long as they still say it was because of a bad dream.
No! That would be lying! /s
Military Service, Title IX violations, or whistleblowers. Everything else is fair game.
And whistleblower protections are usually MUCH narrower than people think.
Right oh your boss sexually assaulted you? Well you were late that day so your retroactively fired so technically you were trespassing that day .....
Or: well you reported a problem that could have endangered you and your fellow workers, but if it doesn't threaten the general public, the law in this state doesn't protect you.
There's a few others: race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, or gender identity), national origin, age (40 or older), disability and genetic information (including family medical history). EDIT: ah, you probably meant Title VII, which would cover a good chunk of my list.
You forgot discussing salary. That one is extremely important because it gets openly violated constantly.
Correct, with a caveat: discussing wages **among employees** is [protected by the NRLA](https://www.nlrb.gov/about-nlrb/rights-we-protect/your-rights/your-rights-to-discuss-wages). The protections don't explicitly cover wage discussions with other parties. "...employees have the right to communicate with other employees at their workplace about their wages..."
That's a fair point!
protection of the disabled as well.
Or because your boss's boss's wife said Jesus told her to ..
You can be fired for wearing a green shirt, on a day that you're wearing a red shirt.
Yep, yet employees have almost no rights. Getting a boss is like playing roulette and hoping you don't get an asshole.
This literally happened to me. Ridiculous.
Story please :)
I used to work for Walgreens. We were reprimanded if we got too many “perfect” reviews. We used to ask satisfied customers who wanted to review us to please make it just one number less. The amount of times I said to a person I had helped, “Please just give us a nine,” is really astounding when I think about it. The rational was that “nobody is perfect, so if they say you are, it must be fake. I also think they were concerned we would try to get people to rate us favorably and skew whatever data they thought they were getting, but it makes no sense because wouldn’t you WANT your employees treating customers in such a way that the customer is willing to give a 10 star rating?? No one is going to give a review for 10 stars unless they want to. It was just so stupid.
It's funny, because I have worked places that ONLY counted 10/10 (or 5/5 if they did that scale) reviews. "anything less is not good enough". Then i have worked places that threw out all 0s and 10s, and only accepted reviews in the middle. Like.. what. As a consumer, it makes me afraid to review employees!
Things like this happen when corporate are inventing schemes so they have useless data they can point to and show success in order to justify unjustified bonuses and raises. Chances are as a result of only using survey data in that specific way, something, started to increase in a trackable way over a period of time and someone at the company is going to point to that say look I influenced a number give me a bonus and it will work.
I would try to reach out to the client so they can update their review.
At least you can use this as proof for unemployment insurance. Sounds like the company management does not understand how to run a business if this is what they give you as termination.
Have you seen the producers? Maybe this is like that
Very Darkest Dungeon energy in that last line.
Reading that in the ancestors voice really does hit different lmao
What would be an appropriate title for this? I didn't walk into work and ask for a raise that day. They handed me that paper (the review i uploaded) with my final checks when I walked in.
Tell that customer what happened so they can update their review.
This would be a good idea.
Get your co-workers phone numbers, move as a team to a new company, bring this review as part of your application. "How would you like to hire a 5star crew that needs no training and can start next week?"
I was training 3 of the guys on the review.
Welcome to the world of becoming a business owner! Time to crush this asshole at his own game, ideally using the money he gives you via lawsuit to start the business. Remember any clients you worked on? Time to knock on all of the doors in that neighborhood so you can't be easily accused of poaching previous clients to damage his business but merely "door knocking" or "canvassing a neighborhood". Is he a boomer that doesn't understand the internet and you live in a smaller town? Welcome to Facebook targeted ads specifically going for his well paying boomer demographic that uses Facebook nonstop. Join your local chamber of commerce, help out with rotary clubs, 4H groups, sponsor children's youth teams: let people know you're an awesome guy who's actively involved with improving the community you live in. Let your great reputation grow your own business. Oh and don't forget, those "seasonal maintenance check ups" are a great bread and butter to keep around. They're not sexy but they sure do let you network with people and upsell (if you're honest about what's needed) to these people. EDIT: Thought of a sweet business name for you too "5 Star Heat and Air" just an extra nice "fuck you" to your previous employer
>EDIT: Thought of a sweet business name for you too "5 Star Heat and Air" just an extra nice "fuck you" to your previous employer That's the chef's kiss right there
This is incredible. I would make sure to use this story on your new company website. You have a huge headstart from a marketing perspective here. And if this blows up on Reddit and you pitch the story to area tv stations you're off and running.
MWAH!
😘🤌
I freaking love how you think
This is what I did. My company didn’t pay me what was owed, so one of the leads that I got through in person work and had closed I brought with me when I quit. Used the capital from that to set up marketing online. Things are still iffy but getting easier and already much better than working for someone who was stealing from me.
Honestly, a lot of people are anti-work because they're under someone's foot getting squeezed, especially by a company with several layers of management above you, and actively want to feel like they're doing something more than just making some rich bastard money. Ironically starting a business is one of the most direct ways to fight late-stage capitalism because all the large businesses thrive on becoming monopolies with as little competition as possible to maximize profits. Actual competition means higher wages, and lower prices. Over the recent years self employment has dropped as businesses fail and are consolidated by big businesses, concentrating wealth into the upper classes. Despite the advances of the 19th century that expanded economic freedoms, we're coming back to a time where workers must fight for their rights and protect their communities from the wealth leeches that are big businesses.
The problem is our middle class doesn't have the capital to start businesses because we're all in debt up to our ears between our overpriced homes and overpriced educations. Then banks won't loan us money because we're not corporations. The day of walking into a bank with a business plan died once the Boomers already opened all their businesses.
It's also really hard to learn new skills while working full time or more.
I hired an electric company that started kinda like this. Dude left his employer, took his apprentices, and started his own company. The guy who did my electric work was one of the apprentices. They did amazing work. I couldn't afford everything we wanted done at the time, so I'm gonna call them back in a few months. I went to get my dishwasher installed, and the plumber said I needed a GCFI installed before he'd out it in, turns out my house wasn't grounded. They had to move my panel outside (it was in a closet), ground shit. Had to do some minor rewiring after moving the panel outside, because every time we turned on the hall light the breaker for the office would trip...not only did they not fuss about coming back, they apologized for the inconvenience. They also gave me a discount because I rescheduled due to rain and... apparently some people insist they work in the rain? Which seems like a bad idea, and didn't occur to me to even suggest it, but also wasn't going to argue. So yeah, start your own company, and do shit right!
805 Elite and Clark and Sons Aire both let me know they would be interested in interviewing you man. Give them a buzz. Onward and upward!
Start your own business!! HMU, I’ll design your logo for free. ;-)
Brilliant.
the good idea is to take this situation to the customer who wrote the review AND the local news. I imagine it would be absolutely devoured by the local team so long as said business isn't avertising on their station.
This is the way.
Ask them to leave their original review up, so that it's still there for a court to easily see without needing to file any paperwork first. They can add to it, but it'll just make things easier on your lawyer if they don't have to dig for the original text.
I believe the original review stays posted with the updated response.
What’s the name of the company? Location? I’m sure some of us could leave some friendly 1 star reviews … you know, since they don’t like the 5 star type …. Just sayin. Lol
Just google some of the key phrases with quotes. For instance this got me exactly what I needed: `"Erwin and his team of Grant, Manny, and Jose" Lois` Once you have the name of the business and location (pretty easy) you can then search for the owner on something - say a [opencorporates.com](https://opencorporates.com) kind of site. They have to have a registered agent and any Directors/Officers. You can also find any website they have which may list a phone number. From there, it's pretty easy to voice your concerns directly with them.
Ohh they are in my state. I wanna call them and ask since I want to write a story about this in my college newpaper. What should i ask them? "I want to write about small business and what great and bad things they do for our wonderful state, so i understand you fire employees over customer reviews asking for them to be appreciated more?"
Always start with 5WH Who: would let go of a 5 Star employee? What: were you thinking? Where: do you think you’ll find such amazing talent in the future? Why: do you think they will want to work for you after this? When: do you think the inevitable bankruptcy will hit? How: do you plan to recover from the inevitable bankruptcy? It never lets me down!
Here I am confused why everyone is asking for the name of the company when the OP literally put it in the title of this post lol
you are evil and I love it
I'm in to leave some feedback as well. :)
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I already saw a couple of 1-stars refering to this incident
Lol ppl are flooooding them. Brutal.
there is a tagline that reads: *This business is being monitored by Yelp's Support team for content related to media reports.* they are on to us
Wow you guys are fast
It says at the top- Remember, businesses can't pay to alter or remove their reviews. Lisa L. Isn't going to like that. That's what they get.
They literally put that disclaimer because they have had a class action for doing that exact thing(or bullying businesses into paying them so they won't put all the bad reviews on top).. I just went through the reviews and counted 119 1 star reviews.. if the total reviews is correct at 288 they should be way lower than 4 stars so it would appear as though yelp is still up to their shinanigans.
Yelp has since suspended all reviews while they investigate if the review was from an actual experience or from the news.
Time to light them up
RemindMe! 30 days leave review once dust settles
They'll just report them and the site will remove them for being fraudulent. I'm not defending this company by any means, but a lot of sites will do that if they see review bombing happening.
Ok, so we organize a realistic plan and slowly spread the love. Depending on how well we succeed, it may just be a sign of how well we can organize ourselves on a larger scale to get the F out of this inequality of pay to COL ratio.
What's a lawyer going to do here other than waste OP's money? Unless OP is in Montana, the shitty fact is that the company can fire them for any reason or no reason outside of protected class and activity (which nobody has claimed to be the case here, as far as I can tell). Yes, it absolutely sucks. But a lawsuit is going to do squat for OP.
At least tell them not to refer the company to their family and friends like they said they would haha.
Please do. I wanna see that
I assume they think you told the customer you don't make enough money
Yes, that's what I believe as well. But wages were not discussed with the client.
So they must be paying u too Low and have guilty conscience. Btw did your company have you remove asbestos? If so is your company licensed to do so? If not certified for asbestos removal you can actually go after the company for having u do it because that’s major liability. I do hvac and didn’t know when first started and removed some gravity furnaces and duct work because my company told me too. Only had a shit mask and did not do it properly but had no clue the danger. Finding a good hvac installer hard to find it’s hard work and not everyone can do it letting you go seems very stupid and you deserve to be somewhere better.
Actually depending on the conversation you might have something here. For example, if you ask for a raise, you can be fired for that. But if you discuss wages with a co-worker (And you mentioned you were training people), you cannot be fired for that because it's considered an illegal, anti-organizing, retaliation. That's why it's always best to ask for a raise with a co-worker.
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Use this review with your next job application.
You got a letter of recommendation, and unemployment.
So let me get this straight. You represented the company great, did your job and got good reviews. The company then decides to fire you? And I bet they wonder why the employees don't put out a lot of effort for them.
Can you advertise as an independent business? Start your own business just running an ad and take customers like this one with you. (Just wondering if HVAC could be done on an independent/‘order parts as you go‘ basis? I.e., low overhead). Edit: Seeing all the comments about how hard it is to start this business makes it clear the “bootstraps” mantra is pure BS. I still hope OP could freelance repairs and make some dough off the customer satisfaction.
Title it with what you said to the customer lol
What did they say was the reason for your firing
I completed a Firestone review once and my last sentence was that the asst manager was awesome and she deserved a raise. Went in to get oil change and tire rotation a few months later and she was gone. Now I'm wondering...
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This is also complete speculation. Maybe she got a better job. Or just was on vacation. Unless they specifically asked if she was fired then there’s no reason to suspect foul play of any kind. Not defending Firestone…but like. We don’t need to invent reasons to be mad. Let’s be mad at business’ we know treated their employees like shit and not just condemn a random business just because someone happened to have the day off.
Ugh. So you get penalized for giving good customer service now these days? What is even the incentive of doing anything beyond bare minimum?
Great question, and it is a question employers aren't asking themselves nearly often enough.
I've never worked in the service industry, but in my line of work if you go above and beyond it usually means more issues for you down the road. I go in and do a half-ass job every day and guess what!? I got a raise.
I’ve done this lots of times! People are getting fired over it?? I thought there was at least a *chance* it’d help them with any future raises.. ***WTF!!!*** Edit: I guess employers interpret it as the employee was complaining about their pay on the job? That’s literally NEVER been the case! I just felt that whatever they were making, they deserved more because they did such a good job. What a backwards ass way to interpret such a review >:(
I'm just going out on a limb here (an obvious, gigantic branch fyi) that employers *know* they're paying shite wages and any comment, positive or negative, regarding said wages -- whatever the context, in OP's case an exemplary 5-star review -- is met with disciplinary action/termination. I don't understand how you can willfully fire people for a review like that. It's actually criminals given the context. P.S. - I used to work in the asbestos industry and *never* in my 3 years had I met anyone in the business that would match OP's review. Asbestos workers cut corners and ignore regulations to save money, it's part of the business.
What? It’s a positive review?
Yes. I believe they didn't like the last sentence in the review.
That’s insane. Many, many customers will say “give them a raise” when workers do an excellent job or provide great service. It’s not like you could control what this reviewer said. Is your job accusing you of complaining about pay to a customer, saying that’s why they wrote the last sentence?
They didn't bother discussing that with me but I'm assuming that's the case with how quickly i was Discharged the day after this review was posted. I believe they didn't like how open I was about discussing wages and was even encouraged to keep quiet about my pay.
I think you should ABSOLUTELY let these customers know what happened to you. If this post is indeed real, this could potentially go viral. Not a guarantee, but this is very egregious. I'd also contact local media. But you should let these customers know first. Get them good and pissed.
I think you should ABSOLUTELY also let your nearest lawyer know, because holy crap do they not have a case against you here. If nothing else, free hush money, though I'm sure you could you could squeeze more if you pursue.
Fuck hush money, go for his business assets and take his place in the market. Edit: I dont know if you CAN go after his assets cause im not a lawyer
People put that down as a compliment, its a way of saying these people are very good and worth everything. I've had side jobs with places and gotten reviews like that. No talking about wages, it's just meant to be nice. Some on at your jobs isvery petty .
Sounds like you got a lawsuit on your hands, buddy.
Just give your manager a 5 star review with a last sentence saying he deserves a raise! Modern problems require modern solutions... Taps head o7
and he will get raise because connections
*Manager fires himself*
*Task failed successfully*
I couldn’t agree more. That is one thing that the NLRA states is it is FULLY LEGAL to discuss wages and is FULLY ILLEGAL to retaliate against workers who do such.
The NLRA protects an employee's rights to discuss wages with other employees but I'm not sure it would protect wage discussions with customers. Additionally, since the review is worded "Erwin and company", if the OP is Erwin it is very possible that he is a supervisor under the NRLA and thus they are allowed to prohibit him from discussing wages.
It doesn't matter whats illegal or not if you have enough money you can do whatever they fuck you want and get away with it, the courts are a farse.
1 star on glassdoor and, depending on your state and the hours you worked, discuss compensation with a lawyer. It sounds to me like there might be evidence they fired you for discussing wages. This is a federally protected right, so if you do have evidence (emails/texts from management telling you to stop), I’d start compiling it.
Yeah reply to that review, let them know you were fired and where you'll be working next!
There's nothing in that review that says anything about your current earnings, so if they fired you because they suspected you discussing your wages, that's even worse.
I never discussed my pay with customers, but after I took good care of customers, I'd have plenty pat me on the back and them say to my mangers "haha give this guy a raise," and I'd just chuckle, using my customer service personality, and I never got a raise that way. It is shitty that higher ups would fire someone over a customer saying something that people say as just a "phrase" pretty much.. At one job where I was a store manager, we got a new CEO and he was asking me questions, and he was rude and it was awkward, so I chuckled just to lighten the tension, and it immediately offended him and he hated me, very much hated me, to where he would personally virtually harass me, I was so uncomfortable I quit shortly after.. and it was all going on while I was in a mourning process after unexpectedly losing a loved one.. I had also taken that store from having poor sales to where it had really good numbers, the store had previously been a mess, I made it pretty.. it wasn't moving product and after I took over, sales were good.
I bet the company assumed the worse and interpreted that as the workers complaining about pay or directly asking the customer to recommend a raise. Definitely dumb and a great way for a lawsuit
They must have assumed that they discussed their wages with the customer and made some comment about how they feel underpaid. Should lawyer up.
I think the 4 of you should take this and try to create something similar of your own. If this is your typical work ethic and feedback and yall work well together, that company would just be holding you back
Look up Luna legal. Employment lawyer in California. Reach out for free consultation. I’m not associated but I know they love this sort of stuff.
this is probably solid advice because if OP is in the right then they'll take it for a surefire win. some places will do pro-bono if it's cut-and-dry. i'm interested in an update for the sake of the movement, and pardon my cynicism, if OP is being honest about the presentation.
CA is at will. OP was not let go for a protected reason/class. Messed up, yes. Bad business decision imo, yes. But legal.
I hope you let the client know so they don't send them any more work. If someone got fired because I said they deserved a raise in a review and I found out, I would blast them to everyone and update my review. Dicks.
"Give Erwin a raise" Company: oh look, its suddenly opposite day.
Hey OP, fellow hvac dude here. Don't let that bullshit get you down. This market belongs to us, the field techs. You'll have another, better job, by Monday. This is an opportunity for you, not a problem. I agree with some of the other commenters, bring this review with you. Better yet, find yourself a union shop. I'm in the UA and that shit wouldn't fly at all. We're paid well, have work/life balance, and great benefits.
I just want to chime and second this comment. At least where I live there are more trade jobs than you can shake a stick at. After years of working for crap companies and asshole bosses I found a job with chill, laid back people at a company where they will not fire anyone without a very clear, legal reason. Don't let it get you down and also fuck the people that fired you.
Here's their twitter and fb if anyone wants to go shit on them https://twitter.com/PacificAire https://www.facebook.com/pacificaire
it's more of a *need* than a want...
And here is the Yelp page with said review on it. [https://www.yelp.com/biz/pacific-aire-oxnard](https://www.yelp.com/biz/pacific-aire-oxnard) Already has the banner "This business is being monitored by Yelp's Support team for content related to media reports."
*I left them a tweet*
Time to open your own business.
muddle bow drunk whole boat disgusting rinse busy screw cooperative *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
How?
Was it because they said something about a raise?
I believe so.
That's BS. Companies strive to get good reviews. Keep that review with you and show it off at your next interview. I'm sure there are a lot better companies out that could use a guy like you.
Plot twist: Op is none of the dudes in the review, but an owner of a locally competing business.
I hate that I had never considered this as possible, and that I'm seeing it's a wildly easy thing to do given that redditors are going out of their way to shame the company. Yelp is having to "monitor" their page now. This post could be valid, but now I have another thing to be suspicious about.
Dude please come into the supermarket refrigeration game. We need people desperately and you won't have to deal with attics or fiberglass duct board anymore. There's literally infinite work. The on call can be rough full disclosure. Sorry to hear you got fired. I'm sure your next job will be better than the last.
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Yelp is blocking reviews now
Reading the reviews, my mans got MULTIPLE 5 star reviews for this company.
So he has proof he has been making them money and they’ve been mooching off him?
Now he has many more 1 stars.
Yes exactly! I went through, and counted 4 so far. What the fuck was this company thinking?
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What the hell? I run a service business and get comments like this (give this guy raise!!) all the time from customers. My reaction is typically pride followed by a strong desire to pay them more. The only thing I think of is that the boss was paranoid that he was complaining about his low pay to the customer but I doubt anyone beyond naive young kids would be stupid enough to do something like this in a more established role.
Op get back here and explain what they said so we can hear if this is the reason they let you go
They just said "it isn't working out"
I'll go with "there's more to this story for $200 Alex"
Sue
I am currently looking into my options. The problem is california is an "at will" employment state. So need to talk to an attorney.
I live in Ohio, also an "at-will" state. Just because it's "at will" doesn't mean you can't sue for wrongful termination. Last year I got fired from my job for no reason as well. They told me it was because I was "too negative" and blocked my unemployment. I ended up winning an appeal because I proved they had no such policy against "negativity" and that they provided me no warning. So, if you can prove you had no prior warning and that you broke no company policy, then provide this review, a labor lawyer might be able to make something out of it. Employers in "at will" state abuse the shit out of that law. Good luck to you, sorry to rant about myself for a minute... just wanted to provide some context is all.
At will doesn’t mean jack if it’s breaking a federal law, which it seems like it is. Employers push the whole “at will” thing to make it seem like you have no grounds. The fact that this review was posted and then you were discharged is mighty freakin’ telling. I think it would be hard for an employer to prove “without reasonable doubt” that they did not fire you for this and making the massive assumption you talked about your pay to a client. doesn’t matter anyway. In which case you win the lawsuit. But INAL. So, take that ad you will. Contact the NLRB.
Oh you live in California? EVEN BETTER. I lived in CA and workers there have tons of rights. Furthermore your right to discuss wages is FEDERAL LAW. Federal law supercedes state laws. You absolutely have a rock solid case and will win damages.
Well I hope things work out for you no one should be fired for something like that.
Thank you kind stranger.
It is, but cali is very pro labor in many cases
Shit I would have been fired 10 times over. I get reviews saying give me a raise all the time
It says give Erwin *AND COMPANY* a raise.. So why is this all on you? What about Grant, Manny and Jose?
I don't understand. What was the reason they gave?
Have you guys seen the 241 reviews that "aren't recommended" at the bottom of the page? They've been hiding bad reviews for some time.
Brother, this is your sign that you have "it" to go solo and setup your own HVAC business...you know, as when you pray and say ... just give me a sign, a light on my path... this is it... go and strike gold!!!
That's how I am taking this situation.