Employee Says She Was Fired On The Spot After Only A Month On The Job For Not Interacting Enough With Customers
She was shocked at being fired without being given a chance to fix her mistake.
wutzkoh via Canva Pro A woman named Natalie Ulwelling admitted that she was fired from one of the best jobs she's ever had with no warning because of how she treated customers.
In a TikTok video, Ulwelling, who worked in retail, shared that she was not only shocked at hearing from her managers that she would no longer continue working at the boutique, but that she was being let go without any warning or chance to improve.
She was fired on the spot after a month on the job for not interacting enough with customers.
"I just got fired and I've literally only been here a month," Ulwelling began in her video. "The reason that I got fired doesn't even make much sense."
Ulwelling explained that she'd been called into a meeting with her managers, who told her that they noticed on the security cameras that she wasn't interacting with the customers enough, and they wanted an employee who did. Thinking they were just giving her feedback to start using from now on, Ulwelling agreed that the criticism was fair and would be an easy fix for her to implement.
However, her managers didn't feel the same way and proceeded to tell her that they were letting her go. Ulwelling was shocked since she was expecting the meeting to be more of a warning than a termination. She pointed out that she worked in a boutique and not a corporate office, and didn't think she'd just be fired on the spot after only a month on the job.
"I'm open to critique, like yes, I wanna do my best. It's a sales job as well so I wanna learn more about that," she continued. "I loved the job. I loved all the girls that I met. I really thought I was gonna be here for a while."
Ulwelling pointed out that she felt that she was a good employee who was dedicated to the job, and never in a million years did she think she'd just be let go just like that. She admitted to feeling as if she were a good candidate, and interaction with customers would've been something she would've done happily and without any complaints.
Photo: golubovy / Canva Pro
"The days I've been working are really slow, so when customers do come in, I love it," Ulwelling said. "That's the highlight of the working day, and it's just frustrating because she said that not everyone is a people-person and sometimes it's hard for people to get over that hump to go talk to people."
Ulwelling explained that she was frustrated because she worked hard on her social skills.
She insisted that while she used to be a socially awkward person, she's made strides to become more outgoing and sociable, especially in a work environment.
"I know for a fact I'm good at making connections. If you know me, you know that the reasoning just doesn't make sense," she said. "It was funny because every question I asked them, they kind of responded with the same thing and said that how one of the other girls said I was doing really good, like that was their answer to one of my questions. They were trying to use that as justification for letting me go."
Ulwelling admitted that it didn't quite make much sense to her, but she wasn't going to argue with their decision since that's not who she is. Instead, she was calm because she could tell they'd already made up their minds about the decision anyway.
She also claimed that she wouldn't want to stay at a place that didn't feel as confident in her as she did about herself and her skills. It clearly wasn't meant to be and Ulwelling wasn't going to fight that.
Photo: Polina Zimmerman / Pexels
"Just one of those life's unfair moments because I loved that job, and they didn't even give me a chance to show them I can do better. That's what bothers me 'cause it's an easy fix for me. I wasn't aware I was doing anything wrong in the first place."
In the comments section, people were equally up in arms about Natalie's abrupt firing, pointing out that she might have been fired for other reasons but her managers used her lack of interactions with customers as a cover-up, and that it was unfair she wasn't given a chance to show improvement.
Ulwelling's termination felt unfair but was ultimately an important life lesson.
Ulwelling's sudden termination certainly seemed unfair on the surface and illustrated how a lack of communication in the workplace could result in a dedicated employee being wrongfully let go when they clearly had the ability and skills to rectify any criticisms.
Yes, it's unfair that Ulwelling lost out on a job that she really enjoyed, but it taught her two valuable lessons about the workplace. First, the job market is volatile and job security is an illusion, but most importantly, Ulwelling learned not to take things personally when it comes to workplace criticisms.
Nia Tipton is a Chicago-based entertainment, news, and lifestyle writer whose work delves into modern-day issues and experiences.