yeah, never give up!
though it was a long time coming, good prevailed over evil. in this case, i’m the good and whole foods in durham, north carolina, is the very, very, very evil. I prevailed by fighting a good, honest fight and on Halloween, found out that the previous determination made by the unemployment commission would be overturned; i would be receiving unemployment compensation!!!
if you’ve been following my blog, you know that i’ve had the summer from hell. in order: my mother, the most important person in my WORLD, died from a rapid bout of cancer on june 8, 2009, i suffered an excruiating herniated lumbar disc on june 17, i was pretty much on bed rest for a good portion of the summer, got fired for this injury on august 3, but did not find out i was fired until i received my COBRA packet in the mail on august 22. i filed for unemployment on august 24, found out it was denied sometime more than a month later, appealed the decision of course, had the first appeals hearing october 15, when the hearing was dismissed because whole foods didn’t send me their evidence against me until the morning of the hearing (which turns out was just a copy of the evidence i sent to them–really?? YOUR evidence was MY evidence?? wtf.), and then finally had the second appeals hearing on october 30, 2009.
now, i was originally determined as not eligible to recceive unemployment because the UC said i was fired for “misconduct” because i didn’t return to work after my medical emergency leave ended on august 3, 2009. MISCONDUCT?? me?? little miss goodie two shoes?? i’ve never done any MISCONDUCT in my life. the bad girl inside of me who is just itching to come out sometimes, wants to practice some misconduct, but i never let her. so yes, of course i was going to appeal that decision. then, during the 2nd hearing the other day, the hearing officer was like, “let’s just see if we can have both sides agree that cherie was terminated and not voluntarily resigned.” well, i agreed, of course–they terminated my ass and never looked back. way to kick a girl when she’s down, whole foods!! but their third part rep, who i pictured to be a heavyset black woman shaking her finger and snappin’ her neck, was like, “oh no she wasn’t. she voluntarily resigned.”
WHAT? WHAAAAT? at that point, i pretty much mentally removed myself from caring anymore. Whole foods had been so, so dirty to me throughout this entire year–beginning with chasing me to accept the job in the first place, pretty much promising a promotion to assistant customer service team leader, and then not promoting me by choosing a tattooed, pierced female version of the customer service team leader who had less management experience than i, and telling me that i didn’t get the job on the same day that i found out my mom had cancer mind you, while sitting on a bench behind the store and blowing cigarette smoke in my face. I just can’t make this shiznit up.
i stated my case, they stated theirs and the hearing officer asked us questions. we went back and forth for about 45 minutes (this was all via telephone). i made my closing argument, which was worthy of a scene from law and order, thank you, and had to hope for the best, but not expect it. i could not physically return to work on august 3rd. i was not medically released by my doctor, and was explicitly told by whole foods payroll and benefit specialist, kevin, that i could not return until medically released to do so. had i broken that rule, THAT would have been misconduct. i was simply following his, whole food’s and my doctor’s orders. afterall, unemployment is reserved for those that lose their job through no fault of their own–and this was not my fault. it really almost made me sick just to hear kevin’s voice actually. a year ago, while having me sign all of my pre-employment HR papers, he was so nice and jovial, but now turned into this monster fighting to keep me from getting money to pay my mounds of medical bills. what a difference a year makes.
anyhow, Halloween morning was like Christmas. instead of going to look for presents under the tree, i ran to my computer and looked at my bank account online. and there it was; my rightfully earned money that was due to me. i think this was the first time in all of my years that i cried because i was happy. it wasn’t just money that was there before me. it was the sympathy card that whole foods never sent to me when my mom died. it was a bouquet of get well flowers that also never came while i was lying in my bed in agony. it was tuition for me to go back to school. it was the ability to get heat for my old car. it was a way to pay my medical bills that just keeping piling. and it was the biggest, warmest hug from my mommy telling me that it was okay, she was still watching over me, wouldn’t let anything happen to me even if she couldn’t physically be here any more, and it was the words she always uttered when somebody had been doing something dirty to mess with us, “God doesn’t like ugly.”
my lessons? the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. i left harris teeter because whole foods had this reputation of being one of the best 100 companies to work for. BS!!!! everything and everyone was more genuine at harris teeter. before you take a pay cut, make sure you REALLY think it over. i thought i’d be getting a promotion to cover the money i was missing. i trusted my bosses and their basic winking at me about how i was a shoe-in to get the job. BIG MISTAKE. money isn’t everything, but yeah, it’s pretty close to it. never, never give up. when i found out that i was denied for unemployment, i could have just stopped there. but i knew i was in the right. i knew i hadn’t done anything wrong, and deserved that money. i wasn’t going to sit back and let the big corporation win over on the little person again. i fought them and i won. because i never gave up.
good cherie 1, evil whole foods, 0.
