by Norma jean
(Bayview Idaho)
Not sure, I am really scared.
I quit my job, walked out, because I could no longer take the owners methods of doing business. The owner could be called a micro-manager. I had to have four conversations per day with him via the phone. Sometimes the phone conversations were many. My job duties were many and varied, sometimes overwhelming and frankly impossible to complete. We had many conversations that were interrupted because of dropped calls from his phone or interruption from incoming calls. This past summer was particularly difficult because of the heavy tourist season; I was responsible for booking rooms and booking RV sites. Frankly there were times that it was difficult to follow his processes. Included in my duties were leasing boat slips. I wear hearing aids and was required to carry a special phone while on the property that connected with the office line. The phone communication was very frustrating. The owner speaks with an accent that can be very heavy or difficult to understand over the phone. He also stated that he liked to slur his words to see if the person he was speaking to was really listening to him. I forgot to inform him about a piece of mail before the completion of the dayâs work. He commented that he just wished I would do my job. He told unemployment that he asked me why I did not follow the process, a matter of semantics. The comment was the end of our relationship. I walked out. I filed for unemployment. I left because I felt I had no other choice. The owner was not going to change. Any advice?
Hi Norma Jean,
I assume you read my piece on why people rarely get unemployment when they quit?
So, I could ask you questions to dig down and try to find what efforts you made prior to quitting.
Such as if you ever spoke to him about your “hearing disability or your inability to understand him or the fact that he had been known to say he intentionally slurred his words to assure himself people were really listening to him .. or if you happen to have a witness willing to testify to this.
But the final incident itself cause me concern because it was an impulsive decision on your part .. rather than a thought out decision after having a meeting to address “legitimate communication problems” you were having with this employer.
It is also the emotional and impulsive reactions of an employee that seem to prevail when they are presenting their own case for unemployment benefits.
This is why I think that if a person is “scared” or uncertain of how to optimally approach their own case with the inherent strengths front and center, they would always be best off to have an experienced unemployment representative on the phone with them for the appeal hearing.
And since this is Idaho unemployment .. the hearing will be by phone .. most likely.