Media Planet Man Fired For the Sound of His Voice New York, New York

Media Planet is an independent publisher that publishes special interest technology and health reports for the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, USA Today and the Boston Globe. I worked there for a whole 8 days and then I was fired. They stated the reason for the termination was that it was obvious I had no enthusiasm about my job because of the sound of my voice and my posture. I always took my work home in the evening to get further ahead and I also completed work over that one weekend during my time there. I always spoke professionally, in perfect English, and in complete sentences.

But Ka**n the Office Director, didnt like the sound of my voice. He didn't want to hire me. I had 4 in-person and 2 telephone-interviews and when it came time to meet him towards the end, he complained about my voice. He kept referring to it as my monotone. First he said I should really wait several months to decide if I really wanted the job. That sounded ridiculous and obnoxious- so I told him it was obvious I wanted it because I came in for all those interviews; I just needed him to shake my hand and make it official. I put out my hand, and then he shook it, but then he didnt want to set up a start date for me. He said to call him later that same day and hed do it then; but then he never returned any of my calls. I called him repeatedly for almost a week leaving messages and he never got back to me. Finally I e-mailed him to ask in writing what was going on and his reply was that Id first have to meet with several more managers before he could do it. So I sent that e-mail around to one of the other managers I met on the first interview to ask what was going on and who all these other new people were and then that guy invited me in to set up a start date with him.

From the first moments of the first day, while I was waiting to be sat at a desk, Ka**n wasted no time making me feel uncomfortable with his actions and remarks. I saw him off to the side just standing there when I first came in so I approached him to say hello and he just walked away saying hes busy doing something. I gave him the benefit of the doubt and figured maybe he was off to do something but then I had a training session with him & he didnt want to answer my questions that I asked about the company or the job; he would interrupt me when I spoke and at one point he even turned around and told me watch my monotone as part of an answer to a question I asked.

I thought I could just do my job and this wouldnt be too much of an issue, that when he saw me working hard, hed get over it. But instead of being assigned to the manager I had my many interviews with, I was assigned to a different supervisor who decided that its best not to train me to do my job. Lu***na , my supervisor, would get upset if I even tried to ask her anything or get information out of her. The office was a giant studio space, so I was able to look over at the next table and see what the other manager was doing to train his new-hire who started on the same day as me. The other new-hires boss was always helping her out in all aspects of the job. The only advice my boss ever gave me was about my voice. Lu***na

 - 1- complained that I spoke too fast  while talking but also complained that I spoke in a dull monotone.

 - 2- refused to set up mock calls as part of my training so I could have practice before starting my project. (something the other manager did for days for his new hire.)

- 3- refused to answer questions about techniques to use while on he phone while dealing with various prospects. If I asked any thing she would get upset and tell me it was my job figure things out on my own.

 - 4- contradicted herself regarding how much she wanted to be kept in the loop about my project and how independent she wanted me to work.

 - 5- refused to help me with technical issues

      - 5a. -a formatted document she gave me for writing my media kit wouldnt open in the same format on my computer and she refused to look at my media kit because it wasnt in her desired format. I kept pointing out that was the format that it opened as on my computer and she acknowledged that but still wouldnt look at my work because it wasnt in her anticipated format?? -

      -5b- There was another program named Napolean which I was given a password for, but she never showed me how to use.

      - 5c- I was new to Skypes and she wouldnt show me how to use it, one of other employees had to.

 -6. I believe there was a contract I was supposed to have available for prospects to secure their commitment to buy ad space when I got a verbal commitment from them because I heard others speaking of it, but whenever I asked about it or for it I didnt receive it, so I could never really close business and have my prospects firmly committed to their purchase.

 - 7 Lu***na also pulled me aside once and along with her friend, complained that I didnt have enough enthusiasm in my voice and that it affected their ability to have enthusiasm at their jobs. (I found out the next day that her friend who was blaming me had ADD, and Lu***na knew, because she was the one who told me.)

Amongst these training difficulties, Lu***na also put my research on my project behind a great deal. I brought my work home every night to try and do a better job and learn more. The next morning when I would pull out my work and bring it to her (we sat at one big long table with her right by my side) not only did she neglect to look at it, but she recommended I rearrange my research in a different way, which sent my project on a tangent. It was the end of the day on Wednesday of my training week when she finally took a few minutes to look at what I was doing all week and I could start to put my project back on track. I worked amongst these inconsistencies in training / management and discouraging remarks for 8 days. I wanted to believe that eventually theyll see how hard Im working and that would get them to stop harassing me about my voice and train me. But then on the start of the my third day post-training, K***n grabbed his laptop and sat next to me in the morning (the person who normally sat next to me was late because of a doctors appointment.) And at the end of the day, K***n left early and Lu***na and E***c (an editorial director), called me in to the conference room and fired me because of my voice and my posture.

First Lu***na said I was being fired because it was obvious I had no enthusiasm for my job because my voice is monotone and I slouched too much on that last day. Previously she complained that my voice was too fast and rapid, but since she and her ADD friend blamed me for not giving her enthusiasm the prior day, Lu***na had started complaining that my voice was dull and unenthusiastic. I explained to Lu***na that there was nothing I could do about the sound of my voice. Its just something I was born with like everyone else. I also explained that I slouched in my chair for her sake, not mine. She told me that if I ever found I needed more energy in my voice that I should stand up while talking on the phone. So I reminded her about that, how she told me my voice was too fast all along, and I explained to her I tried slouching a little bit because I figured it would have the reverse affect of standing. Her response was I should have stood up to slow down my voice as well (yep, you read that right.) Given her response and attitude, I said I wanted these reasons in writing. She refused and thats when E**c joined in saying the real reason I was being fired is because I dont do anything anyway; I just sit there and stare into space all day and hes seen it, and thats the reason I was being fired now. When I asked him to give me times he couldnt be specific he just said I do it, he couldnt provide any.

Lu***na and E***c then said it was all the other managers too who think Im not enthusiastic about my job and when I asked when the decision was made (because one was interviewing people all day and the other one mentioned I never even spoke to or worked with) E***c tried his best to shrug it off and kept saying he doesnt see why thats important. I asked four times when the decision was made that I should be fired due to my slouching and voice and he kept refusing to answer.

I found out the reason he didnt want to answer that question the next day when I started my job hunt- I saw my job was posted online on Craigs List the week before, while I was still in training, before I officially started on my project or slouched in my chair. I have a screencap of that I could provide.

Lu***nas next complaint was that the other day she told me to stay on the phone all afternoon and towards the end of the day, I was doing internet research instead, but she forgot how she screwed up my research the previous week, so instead of having a lengthy list of places to call, I only had a very short list and I needed to take time to keep looking up more phone numbers.

They then said that the reason I was being fired was because I wasnt contacting any major pharmaceutical companies regarding my report but I was and had the names and e-mails to prove it. I had kept great records of who I was calling and even had some of the e-mails saved on my AOL account at home since I was also bringing my work home.

Lu***nas next complaint was that she didnt like the idea that I told her after just a few days that I didnt know if my project would be able to be financed. I said the reason I voiced my concern was because I found out that the project she gave me was already attempted by another project manager and he had to cancel it as well because he couldnt finance it successfully. I spoke to the previous project manager who worked on it and he told me he was having the same problems I had. He tried for weeks and wasnt successful and then decided to cancel it and start another project. They told he was allowed to come to that conclusion since they knew him longer (even though he has the same job as me). I reminded them that I might be new to the company, but I didnt fall from the sky and that I have previous experiences that tell me that its hard to get a tiny company with no money in a niche industry to pay $100K for an ad in the Wall St Journal.plus they already tried it and came to the same conclusions. They nodded along and agreed but I was still fired.

So when you cut out all the bullshit excuses, my firing offenses were a part of m body (my vocal chords that I was born with), adjusting my posture to try and please them, as per their suggestion, and figuring out the feasibility of a project faster than they were able to when they tried financing it themselves.

I had one business goal for the week which was to have $100K in offers out to prospects by Friday. By the Wednesday I was fired, I had several small offers out there and if I wasnt fired mid-afternoon I was returning a call to a marketing manager at a major pharmaceutical who was interested in two pages which would have put me well over $100K days before my goal was supposed to be met.

As I mentioned, I have screencaps, e-mails and files to prove everything I said. I even have letters to my AOL account sent weeks after I left from prospects asking what was going on since I had them so excited about my report.

So Id really like to know how an employee who works constantly on a project, around the clock, kept trying to succeed amongst discouraging remarks about his voice, who worked through lunch twice and stayed late working once, who worked through his weekend, who would have met his weekly-goals by mid-week if he wasnt fired, and tried to do everything his bosses ever told him despite their contradictions can be considered unenthusiastic about their job just because the bosses dont like the sound of his voice?

I already contacted the Department of Labor and made a complaint and was pointed in the direction of an office that fights for people who are victims of discrimination in the workplace for free. I also got a list of Pro Bono lawyers- though I was told if I use the office for discrimination, I cant use a lawyer, I have to choose one or the other. I have a 300 day stature of limitations to make a decision and Im currently deciding which path to pursue. Discrimination hurts! Unless you want to go through the same thing I went through and be forced to make the same decisions I now have to make, stay away. STAY FAR AWAY!