The Story They Didn’t Want Told

Every post is a piece of the puzzle — how a “supportive” workplace unraveled into gaslighting, retaliation, and the fight that followed. I’m not naming names. I’m naming patterns.

The Day It All Fell Apart

 

It didn’t come with warning — at least not the kind you expect.

 

There was no write-up handed to me. No final meeting to review my progress. Just a vague comment during a casual check-in:

“We’re just not seeing the results we’d hoped for.”

 

That was the first clue.

 

In the weeks leading up to my termination, I had been walking on eggshells. The so-called support had vanished. My FMLA paperwork was in. I had followed every HR process they asked of me — even when it felt invasive and humiliating. But the tone had shifted. I could feel it in emails. In quick glances. In the silence.

 

The official reason for my firing?


Two things:

 

I ordered “too much dinner” for a client event

I missed creating a graphic for the showroom

 

After nearly two years of building my role from scratch, self-training, streamlining chaos, and helping a team that felt like family… it came down to dinner and a missing graphic.

But let’s be honest — that’s not why I was fired.

 

It was never about performance. My end-of-year review — just a month prior — had included praise. My boss even increased my bonus. I was told:

 

“You’re too hard on yourself. You’re doing better than you think.”

 

A few weeks later, I was out the door.

No one said the real reason — because they couldn’t.
So instead, they let the paper trail do the talking.

I wasn’t written up. I wasn’t formally warned. I was just… done.

 

And the moment I walked out of that building, the emotional weight hit me:


This wasn’t about dinner.
This wasn’t about a graphic.
This was about retaliation — wrapped in professionalism and paperwork.

 

👉 Next post: They thought denying my unemployment would keep me quiet. They were wrong.