Fury As Manager Fires Employee After Spotting Job Application in Her Purse

With concerns over a possible looming recession and the rising cost of living, workers need every cent they can get right now.

And one restaurant worker has taken to Reddit's r/antiwork forum for advice after she was fired—over a job application.

In a post shared on 18 August, user u/bluebrindleivy said her manager went through her bag without permission, found the job application, and dismissed her on the spot.

She wrote: "I have been working [front of house] at this restaurant for almost a year. Lately I had been wanting to quit due to a toxic misogynistic atmosphere.

"I had grabbed a job application to another job, had it filled out and was going to hand it in this morning, but I was running late, so I just shoved it in my purse to hand in [tomorrow].

"[My manager] asks to speak to me. I go into the office and he says 'What's the job application in your purse.'

"I looked over to my purse and the little section where it has you fill out your references was poking out of my bag.

"He asked me why and I said 'Because I feel like you guys treat me like s***.' And he said 'Okay if you feel like that go ahead and clock out and go home.'"

In less than 24 hours, the post has received 14,500 upvotes and 1,500 comments.

Unemployment Applications

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, an estimated 6.37 million people were hired in June 2022, but there were also 5.93 million separations from jobs, including people who quit, were fired, laid off or simply retired.

There were 1.3 million layoffs and firings in June.

Although there are more job openings than ever, there has been a consistent rise in people filing for unemployment. The week ending August 6 saw 262,000 people apply for unemployment—14,000 more than the previous week and the highest number in eight months.

In 2019, Airtasker polled 1,400 people, and found 15 percent had been fired from a job at some point in their working life. The top reasons reported were personality conflicts (30 percent), the boss was a "jerk" (23 percent), and office politics (19 percent).

When asked about the last employee they fired, managers blamed attitude issues (57 percent), personality issues (41 percent), and not completing their job as described (40 percent).

Although 80 percent of employers said they have fired someone, 48 percent would consider rehiring the employee in the future.

'Report Him'

After the incident with her boss, bluebrindleivy felt "violated and angry."

"This is my personal property," she said. "Is that even legal? He has cameras but they are only accessible on his phone/app.

"He is the owner and takes an even split of the tip pool every day. Also I am only 21 so I am a bit young/inexperienced with things like this."

Enraged Redditors suggested the woman file a police report, with Amrun90 writing: "Report him the [Department of Labor] for taking tip pool (totally illegal), and file for unemployment. He just did you a favor."

Newmanr12 agreed, commenting: "I think there's an IRS site you could report him to as well... Very likely he's not reporting stolen tips... I think you even get a kickback..."

Electronic_Swing_887 said: "Wage theft is illegal. So is firing someone in retaliation.

"It's probably not going to amount to much, but if others make similar complaints it might be worth it."

While Designer_Ove_7075 wrote: "He did this because he thinks you're too young to know what to do.

"I would file for unemployment if you are eligible. I would also consult an employment attorney.

"He could face criminal charges as well. What he did was illegal."

Newsweek has reached out to u/bluebrindleivy for comment. We could not verify the details of the case.