No matter how likeable you try to be, not everyone is going to like you.

[Tobin S.]

And sometimes it will cost you dearly. That's the life lesson I'm taking away from the job I got shit-canned from. I already knew that to a certain degree, but I've found from past experience that if you treat people with kindness and respect, it will most likely be reciprocated. I went into the job with that mind set and I was nice to everyone I met there. It didn't make sense to me that someone there might not actually like me, and I didn't have any solid evidence of that until I was called into the boss's office and told to take a hike.

It took me a couple of days to piece it all together, but I traced it all back to one person. That one person was a co-worker, but he had the power to influence the boss and HR as to whether I was going to make it past my probationary period. He decided he didn't like me for some reason unknown to me. I have an idea of why, but I really can't say for certain what it was. I was nice to this guy and I did everything he asked me to do, but for some reason he just didn't like me. There was nothing I could do about it.

Yeah, it's incredibly unfair. But I'm not going to let it change me. I'm not going to let it make me bitter. I'm going to keep being who I am and I'm going to keep being kind to people. I've got a new job now and everything appears to be going well.

[hibbing]

1. keep on keeping on

I think most of us want to be liked by everyone, but that does not always happen. Of course I'm not a fan of all the people I work with and I know some of them can't stand me either!


Peace

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. I hear you, my dear Tobin, and boy howdy are you right!

We've discussed this too, you and I...

People can be strange and there's no accounting on what they'll do.

I'm glad that you're OK now!

[Avalux]

3. Sometimes what you thought cost you dearly ends up being a gift.

You are in a much better place with a much better job, and all of that unpleasantness was just a stepping stone on the path to now.

It's all good.

[Worried senior]

4. I've worked under

those conditions and ended up quitting, couldn't take the meanness and it was from a supervisor. Could have been a nice job but it wasn't.

[lastlib]

5. Put it behind you

Keep on being who you are, and let the azzholes go their own way. Time wounds all heels, someone said.

[struggle4progress]

6. I always figure my real friends are the people who -- when I pound drunkenly on their door at 3 AM,

because all the sirens we hear and all the helicopter searchlights we see in the neighborhood, are the authorities trying to hunt me down -- will hide me in the basement, feed me, get me a fresh set of duds to wear, loan me a few thousand dollars, and then drive me quietly to the border so I can relax a bit and think

Everybody else is just an acquaintance

[raccoon]

7. My guess is he felt threatened by you. I've run into that before.

He decided he didn't like me for some reason unknown to me. I have an idea of why

It's bad to work WITH an insecure person, but worst of all is working FOR an insecure person.

Hope things work out better for you.

I heard once, "Some people wouldn't warm up to you if you were cremated together."