I am now eating a plain bagel, toasted, with cream cheese. No bacon salt, though. Or roast beef.

You know why I'm not on Twitter? (It just occurred to me.)

I post all my minutiae here.

Sophia, I think you might want to make a short written rebuttal and couple that with your action plan (which will acknowledge the issues they brought up).

From an HR perspective they've started the first step to firing you. They may not, but you need to firm up your position. Show them that you are not defensive but would like to correct some impressions based on phrasing.

You also need to talk to your director and the people who assign work at the theater. Because they're overworking you and it's affecting your dayjob.

Oh, David just said what I just deleted because I was skeered to freak you out. But I think he's right.

I got a verbal warning and fired the next day, and I am sitting here with no insurance and no unemployment, because I can't back up "without cause."

It sucks ass. Your employers ARE NOT YOUR FRIENDS. They might be friendly, but they're not.

Signed, Learning Things The Hard Way

Steph, me too.

I didn't realize that it was acceptable practice to write a rebuttal to a written warning. That's good to know.

sara, the bagel, or Twitter?

Twitter!

I would like a bagel.

Oh! Also! In the small world department, I'm 90% sure my high school nemesis was sitting facing me at dinner tonight. My first old-school sighting!

I would be hesitant to rebut, that is often seen as being insubordinant. It ISN'T and of course assistants should get to defend themselves, but very often responding at all is seen as being difficult if you're not ranked highly enough in the org.

So, maybe very delicately in your action plan mention that your perspective of events was different than those presented to you -- and quickly assert that you are glad to know how this was perceived and you'll fix it right away yes sir!

As far as the HR perspective... New York is an at-will state in the middle of a recession. Upstate is depressed even when there isn't a recession. You aren't (to my knowledge) part of any protected group that they would feel the need to cover their asses to fire. I don't know that they'd have any motivation to take those classic steps. I think if they wanted you gone you'd be gone pretty quickly. (But I'd also take my personal stuff off the computer at this time as access could be denied rather abruptly.)

I think its more likely that your nemisis would like you gone (either immediately or in whatever layoffs come down the pike) and your boss would rather keep you. Nem is a lost cause, but whatever can get you in your boss' good graces you should do.