odder_box23211's journey

I’m feeling really anxious about my job situation right now. I’m a college student and this is my first real job at a small retail business where I’ve been working since April. There are only seven of us on the team, so it’s a pretty close-knit group. I usually work on weekends and occasionally cover shifts during the week. Up until now, I’ve had no issues at work, and my supervisor has never mentioned any problems. Recently, though, they’ve started cutting my hours due to budget constraints, and I’ve noticed that my fellow weekend workers are experiencing the same thing. I’m leaving for school in another city in two weeks, and my manager had previously told me informally that I would still be employed and could pick up shifts during breaks. The work environment has always been positive, so I never thought I was at risk of losing my job. However, this morning I received a text from my manager asking if I could come in tomorrow morning, 30 minutes before opening, for a meeting. I’m not even scheduled to work tomorrow, which makes me think they might be firing me. This feels really sudden and unexpected. I genuinely enjoy working here and have a good rapport with my coworkers. If I am getting fired, I’m not sure how to handle it. I’m pretty devastated and would do anything to salvage my position, even if it meant taking a pay cut. I just hope it’s not as bad as I fear.

I received an unexpected email from my boss asking about my first shift as a substitute counselor for the Parks & Rec summer camp program. This caught me completely off guard because I thought I hadn’t been hired for the position. I had applied to be a lead counselor this year, but due to a family trip to Europe that would make me miss the mandatory in-person training, I reached out to my boss beforehand to clarify my eligibility. She indicated that missing the training would disqualify me, so I decided to apply as an on-call substitute instead, thinking it would be a safer bet given my situation. After applying, my boss confirmed my application as a substitute, but I never received any official job offer or paperwork, which led me to believe I hadn’t gotten the job. I even moved on and found another summer job, assuming my application was a no-go. I continued to receive automated emails about the program, which I thought were just leftover notifications since I didn’t think I was hired. Now, while I’m enjoying my trip in Europe (despite a nasty sunburn), I’m faced with this email about my first shift. I’m planning to be honest with my boss and explain that I never received an official offer, so I didn’t attend any training sessions. I want to clarify my situation without sounding like I’m making excuses for not fulfilling responsibilities for a job I didn’t know I had. It’s a bit of a wild situation, but I’m hoping my experience will still count for something, even if I missed the training.