I was fresh out of grad school and totally pumped to have found a job, especially in such a cool location. I was eager and ready to learn. I made an honest mistake my second or third day on the job and they decided to let me go. I was devastated. Right away the trainer had given us full access to the database so we could learn the system. My brother had passed away the year before from a mental illness, and I was curious to see if he had reached out to an EAP service. I decided to type his name in. I realize now I shouldn't have done this, but hindsight is 20/20 and I was grieving, hoping for some answers. Our trainer never warned us that this kind of thing would be grounds for termination. Had I known that, I would have never done it. I just wanted to do a good job.
I confided in a coworker that I had searched my brother's name, not knowing that it was wrong. He decided that he needed to tell management what I had done. He had said, "it's best to come clean. They monitor what we do on the computers anyway so they will probably find out eventually."
The next day they called me in to HR, and they had the company attorney waiting there. They told me I was done. Somebody brought in my things from my desk in a plastic bag (including a framed picture of my late brother and I). I was hysterical. I felt so guilty and ashamed and couldn't believe it.
This whole experience turned out to probably be the best thing that could have happened. This company does NOT care about their employees or their clients. It is a stifling work atmosphere with horrible pay/benefits and no room to grow.
Do not accept a job here. I promise you will thank me some day!
