Fired from my job after 19 days—- after I relocated.
am still in absolute shock and just need to get this out.
I am a graphic designer with over 20 years of experience. After a brutal stretch of unemployment, I finally landed what I thought was a dream senior design role at a major utility cooperative. I went through a rigorous, multi-stage interview process. They offered me the job, authorized a relocation, and I packed up my life and moved from my home state to a completely new city to start over.
I acted in total good faith. I signed a lease on a bare-bones apartment, bought basic necessities to set it up for the work week, and showed up ready to pour everything into this role.
The first week and a half was classic corporate chaos. They didn't even have my working laptop ready for days. Despite the lack of onboarding, I jumped right in. I helped execute a major department project and meeting. My direct supervisor literally texted me afterwards telling me my work was "excellent," "well organized," and "well run." I felt so relieved. I told my family and friends that I loved it here and that this was my fresh start.
Then, at the start of week two, I sent a completely routine, professional email asking a simple logistical question about scheduling flexibility. No demands, just a standard inquiry to plan my workflow.
The next day, I was called into an office. The Chief Communications Officer (the head of the entire department) personally handed me a termination letter. Her reason? "You're just not a good fit."
When she handed it to me, **she actually smiled.** Then she walked away.
They completely upended my life, forced me to incur thousands of dollars in relocation costs and a binding lease, praised my work as excellent, and then threw me away like trash over a routine question after less than 20 days on the payroll.
I’m currently sitting in a half-empty apartment, staring at the things I just bought to build a life here, facing a massive lease-break fee, and trying to process the absolute cruelty of it all. I already hit their HR and executive suite with a formal demand letter for relocation and lease-break restitution, but the emotional whiplash is real.
Please tell me I’m not crazy, because right now my brain is trying to blame myself for a corporate nightmare I had absolutely no control over.