Not a true tale of vengeance, but more like, the person firing me didn't realize the ripple effect it would have. And to be honest, neither did I.

While I was in college, I worked for a well known car rental company that caters to people on a “budget”. I worked there the fall of 1983 until the spring/summer of 1987, taking off during times school wasn't in session and I went home to Vermont.

I had finished college around this exact time in mid May. I had worked part time after school and on weekends, but now was able to work more hours since my days were now free.

I also began as a guy who cleaned the cars, gassed them up, and drove them to various locations that needed a particular type of vehicle, like a station wagon, minivan, town car, compact, etc.

Later I became a rental agent. So I was able to fill many scheduling gaps in the offices that fell under that particular franchisee. There were around ten offices, but I belonged to one and had filled in another five locations. I could fill in as either a rental agent or if they needed someone cleaning and transporting cars.

I was a working fool through May and into June. Several days, I left one location and went to work at another. I was going to stop in mid July because I was entering active duty at the end of July. I needed time to move my stuff from college to my parents’ home.

I was probably averaging 50–60 hours a week by then. Many of the offices were competing with one another for me to fill a shift. There were a couple times that I was double scheduled for two different locations at the same time.

I would go to the location I preferred and let the other know I wouldn’t be there. Then it was up to that branch manager to fill the void, usually with their own body pulling that shift.

I didn’t like one location and I tended to not choose to work there if I had an option of putting hours elsewhere. I was still only a part time employee at one particular location. Working at the other locations was doing those offices a favor, but it was mutually beneficial; they had an extra person and I got more hours.

I did not like that location because it was farther away from my college. It was in a part of Long Island I was not familiar with and to me, seemed like a sketchy area. I did not have a good vibe there and the office manager had an attitude if I did pull a shift there.

I’d hear comments like, “nice of you to grace us with your presence” and other condescending remarks. And I’m thinking, I’m doing you a favor. I’m not required to work here.

My college friends had scheduled a barbecue for the end of the month. It was a last get together for many of us who were leaving school for the Army and for many of the ones still in school. In the grand scheme of things, it was no big deal; just a last blast of camaraderie before we go our separate ways.

To attend, I scheduled the weekend off with my manager from my location. That’s all that was required. But since I didn’t show up on that location’s schedule, other locations thought I was available. Other managers are supposed to ask an agent from another location before scheduling them, but it didn’t always happen.

The location I disliked jumped at the opportunity to schedule me for one day. I never bothered to check the schedule at the other locations because I had the days off.

Of course, I missed that day, which was a Saturday and I had been scheduled for the entire day. I also didn’t work on Sunday because I had that day off as well. No one had scheduled me for Sunday though.

I show up for work Monday afternoon and I find out I’ve been fired because I didn’t show up for work on Saturday. I was fired by the main office because the branch manager at the other location was mad that I didn’t show up to work and reported me.

So I leave that location (not my “home” location) and when I get back to my dorm room, I call my home location. My manager is unaware I’ve been fired and knows I had the weekend scheduled off that she approved.

She says she is going to fix it. I tell her not to bother, I’ll just take the next few weeks off and head home to Vermont.

That’s when all hell breaks loose. I was scheduled about 45 hours that week at multiple locations. Now the managers all have to scramble to replace me at short notice.

I got a call that week from one of the higher ups from the main office asking if I’d come back, but I told him no, and to mail me my final check. I’d be in the Army in a month and didn’t need the job any longer.

My manager did call me at the end of the week to pick up my check, which I did. She said everyone was mad at the one branch manager and mad at the guy from the main office who called me. He was the one who made the decision to fire me. I don’t know what his function was there, I do remember his name was Nigel. He remains the only Nigel I’ve ever met.