The first time I got fired from an IT job. I was relatively new to what I was doing. My supposed mentor was absolutely no help in getting me acclimated to the new company or some of the tech they used. I made a couple of mistakes which weren’t small but not disasters. That, along with me noticing that my mentor was actually crap at his job and making suggestions to improve things to people other than him only, let me to getting fired. I had only been there about 45 days and still on probation. The company was privately held and as such did not have to adhere to certain workplace laws (this was 1999–2000 - they were still using Windows for Workgroups on workstations) if you had an office with a door, you could smoke in your office. I never interacted with customers and would on occasion have to crawl under desks and other such thing but still had to wear a tie at all times (even while under desks). I was quickly becoming not a fan of the company and work.
I got called into a VP office. In there were my manager, his manager, their VP, another VP (who I did get along with) and head of security. They told me it was not working out and they were letting me go. My reaction was just “Ok” and I asked to get my personal belongings but was told no, I would have to come back after 5pm when everyone had gone home.
On the way home, I stopped at the recruiter who I worked with to get the job (who is a friend) and explained what happened. The company’s call to them after is another story.
I started job hunting. I explained to every recruiter exactly what happened and told them some of the things I endured. I told them not to refer people for my old job because the pain is not worth the money and gave them my friends number (as well as a contractor who came in after me for 2 days before quitting who was also a friend and reference) so they could verify (which some did).
I found a job in 3 weeks. 6 months later I was at a conference and my old company had a booth there. I saw the VP I liked and we chatted. I asked if they found my replacement. He said they were having a tough time because recruiters were not very helpful these days. I never told him why that might be but laughed a lot inside.