Forced to Resign

[lauras599]

California -I have worked at my company for almost two years now. Back in January there were rumors that my position was going to be disolved so whetwas offered to take a position in marketing I jumped on it. Lea the marketing manager was aware that I had no marketing experience (my profession is project administration), she assured me that I would do fine. I was encouraged by the CEO when he told me, if you can get Lea organized you'll be doing the whole company a favor, one thing I am good at is organization. I was never given a job description of any kind, it was my impression that would be Lea's personal assistant. Prior to my first day I researched software and other tools to allow me to better assist her, just to find out on my first day that everything I had in mind would be shot down, in fact any ideas I had of assisting her were not accepted. She had me doing social media which I know nothing about, she had me writing blogs, i am not a writer by any means, so of course my work was rough. I was also in charge of the company newsletter, which I embraced - the newsletter was just a few informational sentences written in outlook and I always wanted to update it to a more professional level. Needless to say, I was was excited to take this project on so I developed a new template using a program called MailChimp. I had to learn the program and get used to deadlines, so the project took longer than I expected to perfect and Lea was getting upset. Before I would send them out she would review them and sometimes there were grammar mistakes or formatting issues and they would go out a little late. she would get very very upset with me and would make me feel so stupid. She would insinuate how stupid I was and once even told me my work is worse than kindergartener's work. my self esteem started to diminish as I no longer felt confident in anything I did. I was always able to make my employers happy with my work, but Lea was never satisfied. I was used to working independently and here I was being completely micro-managed, I began to feel anxious and completely inadequate. It affected me at home and at work. One day she took me aside and told me I might want to start looking for another job and suggested a nonprofit or something that shared my beliefs as a Christian. I began to break down and later met with HR and explained everything to them. I asked if I could interview for an upcoming position in another dept. and he said yes. I interviewed and was not chosen, I was not surprised since there were rumors that I wouldn't get it anyway. A week went by and when Lea didntention anything to me, I approached her to ask where we stand. My job wwas now dangling before me on a string and it was driving me crazy. She basically said that as long as I improve on the newsletter and such that we're fine. Since then I had improved except one mishap with the newsletter. It was due to an HTML error. I had a guy from IT help me and he was even stumped. When I confronted her about it she told me "What do you need to know HTML for, that program it is made for people who don't know HTML it should be easy for you. I don't understand why you don't you can't fix it." Once again she humiliated me in front of people. She would often correct my grammar in front of people. She would take credit for my some of my ideas. She would get angry with me at things that were completely out of my control. I felt completely bullied in the workplace and it was stressing me out in a bad way. Here I am now, they are forcing me to resign. After all that stress to improve and living paycheck to paycheck, they want me gone. I begged to go to another dept. Even take a leave of absence to deal with my stress, they definitely want me gone. What should I do?

 

[ajkroy]

Why do you think you can do the job if you don't have a grasp of proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation?

I recommend you go back to school to learn these things. It will make you at least minimally marketable.

 

[TheGeekess]

Find a job better suited to your abilities.

 

[cbg]

You can do one of two things.
,
1.) Refuse to resign, let them fire you, and file for unemployment until you get a new job.

2.) Resign.

 

[lauras599]

Everyone makes mistakes

Everyone overlooks grammatical errors here and there. I would often be in a rush due to so many last minute changes. Under that kind of pressure I found myself making stupid mistakes - mistakes that I would not have normally made. Honestly, I have worked in administration for over 12 years (two of which I worked for a law firm) and have never been called out on my grammar. In fact many have complimented me on it, this is why I feel I am worth working with. I honestly feel that somewhere between the micromanaging and the degrading comments, my anxiety took over - I felt like an awkward teenager always anticipating the next insult. There were many degrading moments, too many to post here.

 

[TheGeekess]

Everyone overlooks grammatical errors here and there. I would often be in a rush due to so many last minute changes. Under that kind of pressure I found myself making stupid mistakes - mistakes that I would not have normally made. Honestly, I have worked in administration for over 12 years (two of which I worked for a law firm) and have never been called out on my grammar. In fact many have complimented me on it, this is why I feel I am worth working with. I honestly feel that somewhere between the micromanaging and the degrading comments, my anxiety took over - I felt like an awkward teenager always anticipating the next insult. There were many degrading moments, too many to post here.

No they don't. My professors and instructors insist on proper grammar/citing (in their chosen format). It's a great thing that most, if not all, word processing programs include a grammar/spell check.

 

[lauras599]

No they don't. My professors and instructors insist on proper grammar/citing (in their chosen format). It's a great thing that most, if not all, word processing programs include a grammar/spell check.

I am aware of that however, these were drafts that I would submit to her often to get her take on the content. Maybe I was not clear on the types of errors that were being made. Due to the program I was using, it would sometimes reformat content I had just proofread - or add a space here or there. There were a few times where I would enter customer reviews and I would proof it in the email, copy, then paste to the newsletter just to find that it took out a few words in the process. Because of the rush, It would go overlooked. Let me say that these errors would be corrected prior to distribution. I was able to figure the formatting problem later and as a result the very next draft I submitted for review was without error - yet this is when they chose to see me to the door. I was told that the CEO was frustrated with my mistakes yet each and every week he would send me an email complimenting my work on the newsletter. I'm just confused, because I'm getting complimented for my work yet it's not good enough.

 

[eerelations]

Please don-t get sidetracked by the spelling/grammar issue. Employers are legally free to fire employees with spelling/grammar issues, even if those issues were brought on by said employers.

As cbg said, you have a choice between the following:

1.) Refuse to resign, let them fire you, and file for unemployment until you get a new job.

2.) Resign (note you will not be entitled to UI benefits if you choose this option).