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Davon Cooke

Professor Lindsay Ferrara

ENG 1010

October 23, 2023

Narrative Writing

On one afternoon at work after I have just completed my first few hours of my shift, I went

over to the lunchroom to eat my lunch. The lunchroom is painted in a bright blue color and

there are blue, green, and orange chairs with table presents around the whole room, there are

also snack machines and plenty of microwaves around the room. I got my food from my bag and

went over to the microwave section to get my lunch heated. While my food was getting heated,

I decided to put in my air pods because of all the loud noises, I could hear all the different

conversations the employees was having, and I could hear the almost deafening sound of the

television speakers playing. After my food got heated, I headed to a table and took out all phone

and started watching a new mr beast youtube video, while I enjoyed my lunch. I had finished my

lunch like fifteen minutes before break was up, so I decided to head back to my workstation

because there were too many people in the lunchroom and I was starting to feel nervous and

anxious, feeling like everyone was looking at me. While I was heading back to my workstation, I

still had in my air pods and I listening to my music.

I suddenly got stopped by Kevin who is my manager and he said to me “That’s a write up,” I

wasn’t thinking much of it because I was focused on the music I was listening to. After a few

seconds I thought back about what he said then I realized that he had just written me up which
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means I could get fired. I quickly ran back to him to ask him why he was about to write me up.

He said, “because you’re breaking the work policy by wearing airphones.”

I said to him, “How is that?”

He responded, “because it’s work policy”.

I said, “But the work rule states that there should be no air pods within work hours,” I

said, “which means I’m not breaking work policy because it’s still breaktime.”

We walked back to the manager’s table, and he took my work badge number and wrote

me up on his computer. He didn’t want to listen to anything I was saying. I waited by his table

for a few minutes then the fifteen minutes was now up it was work time again I went back to my

workstation. My workstation was close to one of my work friends named Marcus so I told him

what had just happened to me I told him how the manager would always try to pick on me.

Marcus said, “You should file a complaint on him.”

I said, “but he’s the manager so they would believe what he said over anything I say.”

Marcus said, “a similar situation happened to me with my last manager,” he said, “I

reported him, and he never tried to pick on me again.”

I finished my shift and went home to get advice from family on whether I should report him for

picking on me. Everyone at home told me that I should report to him, but I was scared that I

would get fired right away so I didn’t.

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The next day I went to work I saw my manager talking and laughing with one work associate

that had their in air pods. After they finished talking, I stopped the associate that he was talking

to I asked him “did Kevin tried to write you up for having in your air pods?”

he replied, “No he didn’t say anything about it,” he said, “I always have in my air pods in, and he

never said anything about it.”

Then I realized he was just picking on me. I went to my friend Marcus to tell him about what

happened and to ask him about how to report to my manager. He told me to go to HR and tell

them about what happened from start to finish. After my first shift ended, I went to HR and told

them everything that happened to me. They told me to come back after my second shift

because I would be meeting with my manager and the senior manager to discuss the problem.

In the meeting I told the senior manager how my manager had been picking on me and letting

other workers who were breaking work policy get away, but it was his word against mine as I

had taught it would be. He was lying about what happened and the senior manager believed

him. After the discussion the senior manager decided to move me to another department.

I was extremely upset that my manager lied and abused his power. He didn’t face any

repercussion and when back to work. While I was forced to move to another department that I

didn’t have any training or experience in. I feel like he should’ve been punished instead of being

sent back to work to be able to pick on another associate and continue the cycle. Managers

shouldn’t have the right to just fire anyone without a proper reason, there should be a process

where the manager gather proof that the employee is violating the work policy, and the

employees should get a chance to explain their side of the story and the managers should give a
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detailed explanation as to why they want to fire an employee from a company. The employees

deserve justice because sometimes the managers don’t like some of the employees and will find

any simple thing to get them fired. They will let the other employees that they like get away

with these small things but let the others pay. The justice system in workplaces should be

improved so that there is fairness amongst employees. Managers should have a healthy

relationship with the employees and treat them all the same. Kevin would smirk every time he

saw me knowing he got away with no repercussion.