One time I was forced to quit
I worked as Internet Tech Support for a call centre that dealt with Orange (then Wanadoo), Virgin and Sky.

Anyway, I went out one payday and went shopping on my lunch break. I came back to work and set my bag down under my desk and carried on working.

I got a call into the top floor office about 3. Somebody had told them I had a knife in my bag.

Yes, I did. A kitchen knife, in it's SEALED wrapper, in its box, under about £150 worth of clothes. I told them this, and they asked me to present it.
So, 4 minutes of digging and I found it, made a point of breaking seals and put it on the table.

'I can't believe there's a KNIFE in my office' says HR.
'It's shocking' says another.

I point out that this, as stated on the box, is a KITCHEN knife, and as they'd see by my records, I'd just moved out of my parents house. I also pointed out that in the bag there was a cutlery set and a cookery set.

They had none of it. They told me to leave the office and not come back before they called the police. They said I had to quit, but I refused to quit. I let them fire me. Why?

Even though it looks bad on the CV, I had another job anyway which I could use for reference, and their firing me meant I got paid three months wages. This isn't company policy; somebody let on to me that their system was fucked and still paying people.
I lived quite happily on that. And they didn't ask for it back, probably because they thought I was a knife-wielding maniac.
( Methylene Blue - electrohead, Mon 26 May 2008, 11:39, 19 replies)

There's no common sense used
in these situations. I would have let them fire me as well, it's stupid to have to quit over them being stupid.

Also I think you probably meant to say you'd recently moved out of your parents house, not knife :)
( Roxy_Hart is so so old, Mon 26 May 2008, 11:47, closed)

I carry a knife every day
Just a Swiss Army knife, but I find it very useful. I don't know how HR would view it, but given that I also have a larger knife lying around the lab, together with some other seriously dangerous tools, I think I'd be OK.

But your situation beggars belief. Like the above reply says, a little bit of common sense is all that's required.
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Mon 26 May 2008, 11:59, closed)

WTF?
You could easily have taken them to a tribunal for unfair dismissal.
(EuroSong I love horse meat: best of all the animals, Mon 26 May 2008, 12:05, closed)

Sorry
but that's impossible. Is there something you aren't telling us? because otherwise you could, as has already been said, have them over a barrel for unfair dismissal.

But it has to be said I'm seriously sceptical that any company would ever sack anyone for what you've just written. Is that really the whole story?
(loutre I've said too much, been too unkind, Mon 26 May 2008, 12:07, closed)

Statistics (and a *very* old joke)
Carry a bomb onto the plane whenever you fly; do you know how improbable it is for there to be two bombs on a plane? JOKE JOKE JOKE JOKE
(Eds Meds Mathskillz=1,Socialskillz=0, Mon 26 May 2008, 12:10, closed)

Hm
With regards to going to Unfair Dismissal Tribunals, sometimes doing that is much harder than it should be. I know someone who is going through one at the moment. The stress, extra costs and time it has taken is certainly starting to show.

However, there's no harm in making noises about it... but I am left wondering, if it was so well hidden how did anyone know the OP had it?
(Captain Skippy pooed in a bag and left it on your doorstep, Mon 26 May 2008, 12:21, closed)

Knives
Before 9/11 I used to go everywhere, and I mean everywhere, with a Leatherman strapped to my belt.

My job involved loads of travelling and I was only ever asked once about my knife - and even then was allowed to carry it on a plane.

But getting back to your story - HR are a bunch of clueless wankers. In all companies.

Cheers
( Legless Mister Stabby - shanks for the memory, Mon 26 May 2008, 12:48, closed)

@K2k6
Since 11/9, common sense has been thrown out the window. I too carry a Swiss Army Knife (a Victorinox Cyber-Tool if you must know) and since 11/9, I've had to think about where I'm going each day so I can decide whether or not I should take it.
( mistaspakkaman and the inedible shifting caterpillars, Mon 26 May 2008, 13:13, closed)

^ Agreed
I used to go absolutely everywhere with my knife, and the only time I was ever stopped was in 1998 at Toronto airport. They made me check it in as hold baggage, so when I got home I had to wait for a manila envelope with my knife in it coming round the carousel!

But since the world went mad, I've had to write an extra line on my travel packing list - "Penknife in suitcase".
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Mon 26 May 2008, 13:28, closed)

@mistaspakkaman
11/9? I dont recall there being a terrorist attack on November 9th? :D
(Miggyman, Mon 26 May 2008, 14:16, closed)

i'm with loutre on this
I’m afraid I too find this dubious.

1. A knife sealed in its box is not an offensive weapon neither would it be considered a concealed weapon

2. If it was under a pile of clothes then how did anyone know it was in the bag - unless you told them? Perhaps in a "fuck off, I have a knife in my bag" manner?

3. I've never heard of a call centre that would let you traipse in with a bag of personal belongings - staff lockers?

4. Any company large enough to have an automated payroll would spot 3 months salary overpayment when audited - particulary in call centres where staff turnover is high

I've also had a look at your profile - I suspect the real reason you were fired was for antisocial behaviour. Even the most broadminded/infantile have little interest in when you have shit and the rainbow matter is best left unmentioned.

posts work best if they are either entertaining anecdotes or outrageous fiction

yours is neither
( spimf ™ is whoever you want him to be, Mon 26 May 2008, 14:22, closed)

@Miggyman
This is a British site. 9/11 is the American way round.
( idonthaveafunnynickname Drink-Aware? Sure. I'm aware I want another drink., Mon 26 May 2008, 14:43, closed)

9/11
The American way of doing dates often seems counterintuitive to us Brits.

We at least do dates in order, as it were - day/month/year - but the Americans mix it up as month/day/year.

However, as a scientist, I'd say the logical way to do it would be most significant to least significant.

So you would write today's date as 2008/05/26. Time then follows, e.g. 14:51:16 as I write.

Scientists don't get to make these things up though....
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Mon 26 May 2008, 14:52, closed)

absolutely right k2k6
Surely, you should either write something as biggest-middle-smallest or smallest-middle-biggest. Why on earth americans feel the need to write their dates as middle-smallest-biggest is completely beyond me. But then so is a lot of things that americans do.
(unciebana It's good, but it's not right., Mon 26 May 2008, 15:11, closed)

The American way of writing dates
is the same order as the way a date is spoken ("September eleventh 2001"), but I agree with what unciebana said.
( mistaspakkaman and the inedible shifting caterpillars, Mon 26 May 2008, 15:14, closed)

Spoken dates
Yes, but I'm just as likely to say "11th of September".
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Mon 26 May 2008, 15:27, closed)

How
exactly did you move out of your parent's knife?
(tico_24, Mon 26 May 2008, 17:03, closed)

Common sense
Is simply not an option these days. The law seeks to arbitrarily judge, black or white, right or wrong. This line of thinking seems to have polluted the workplace and society too and we're all the poorer for it.
(Bicycle Repairman "you're also a bit of a wanker", Mon 26 May 2008, 17:28, closed)

@ Eurosong: I was 17, and not really that informed about tribunals and stuff. I didn't care much either; I was due to go to college that September and I had a job anyway.

@ Everybody who commented: I meant HOUSE not knife. I was eating me brekky this morning!
( Methylene Blue - electrohead, Mon 26 May 2008, 19:51, closed)