Chronological Order of Events that led to my Termination

The things I found out later are marked in purple.


June 23rd: Herr Seefeldt, from ICE, comes for a meeting.

June 27th: Herr Seefeldt writes an email to me explaining how poorly I've been doing and that I need to work harder, faster, better, etc. etc.

Things in the email include the arrival in Hamburg incident, my punctuality (which I was only late once- with excuse- after I had been disciplined the first time), speed of work, unhappiness (which was not so, only stress and frustration really), and my greetings with coworkers.

Some of the things I was quite baffled by.

One thing Herr Seefeldt told me was that I needed to have brought gifts from the States....  yeah, maybe in one line on the checklist.  By time I was in Germany, the shipping prices alone were out of my price range (one estimate: two mugs shipped for $50-$60-- not including the price of the mugs themselves).

And why hadn't any of my coworkers told me to work faster?  Instead of using Herr Seefeldt as the middle man to give me that message.

I'm still confused as to why they said I never said "hello" or "Morgen" to my fellow coworkers....

After this, I did try to work faster, talk more to coworkers.  Though they still didn't see it.

June ??: I am told by Herr Dame that I need to complete some paperwork in the Rathaus and in Bad Oldesloe.  Paperwork that should have been completed within the first week after arriving in Hamburg....  by this time I had already been there for about a month....

June 30th: I ask for time off.  With this time off I am supposed to take care of paperwork in Bad Oldesloe before heading back to Hamburg.  Discussion was with Herr Dame.

July1st-3rd: Worked two extra hours per day to make up for the time that I would be missing.


July 2nd: Went to the Rathaus in Reinbek.  Took care of the Einwohnermeldeamt and received the paperwork needed for Bad Oldesloe.  Found out that the offices in B/O would not be open on Wednesday, and the best time to meet with the guy I needed to would be on Thursday.

Was about 10 minutes late to work.  Because I was working on paperwork, everything was okay with Herr Dame.  Explained (or so I thought), that I was going to have to go on Thursday to take care of the paperwork.

Misunderstanding which led to an angered Herr Kratzmann and myself crying and confused.

July 3rd: Super busy day at work because of the game that afternoon.

Payday.  Also received the money for rent.  Since my host mother was still out of town at this time, I just left it in my room while I was gone.

July 4th-7th: Took my mini-vacation to Strasbourg.  Yes, the timing, with everything that had happened the past week, perhaps was not the best, but it was already discussed and settled.

July 7th: Lost my passport.

July 8th-10th: Worked two extra hours per day to make up for the time that I missed.

July 8th: Supposed to go to Bad Oldesloe, but with missing passport, there was nothing I could do there.

Went to the Fundservice (lost and found) with no luck.  Host mother helped me call the DB hotline to report it missing.

Asked host mother if it was okay if I kept 50Euros until my next payday.  I thought she agreed (I can't be so sure now....).  Gave her the other 200Euros.

July 9th: Herr Kratzmann and Herr Seefedlt talk on the phone on how I am doing at that point.  Herr Kratzmann is still disappointed.

Host mother emails Herr Seefedlt to complain that I still hadn't taken out the trash and how overall, she is unhappy on how tidy I am not.  She writes how I will need to find somewhere else to stay after July 31st if my habits don't change.

So, okay, I will admit I am completely guilty when it comes to the trash.  And my room was a mess because I hadn't gotten a chance to do laundry yet.

And she had asked me to clean the bathroom, but I didn't know there was a "right now" applied.  Now I know otherwise....

July 10th: Busiest day I had worked.  I kept moving, did everything that anyone told me to do, and just tried to keep as positive as I could.

After I am done with work, I go back to the office to ask what time I was working next week: mornings.

About an hour after I get back from work, I get an email from Herr Seefeldt stating that I will be asked to leave the accommodation and leave work.

I head to the store to talk to either of the Herr Kratzmanns, or Herr Dame.  No one is there, but I run into Frau Schwandt.  She says that Herr Kratzmann had talked to Seefeldt the other night.  She hadn't heard anything about me being fired.  Just that they thought I still needed to work faster (after the day that I had, I was kinda shocked).

My host mother gets back to the house, and I talk with her.  She tells me how upset she is with me, and how she had wrote Herr Seefeldt the night before.  

She heads to the store to talk to Herr Kratzmann, since he was not there, there was nothing that could be settled that night.  She tells me that if he does let me keep working, I can keep living there.

I was supposed to go with my Mitbewohnerin to the movies that night.  Instead I stayed in, cleaning and making lists.  If given a second chance, I was going to give it EVERYTHING I had....  but at the same time, I knew I had to prepare for the worst.

July 12th: I wake up, completely nervous, but super early.  I get dressed, I make my bed....  still with plenty of time.

I leave the house at about 5:35 and arrive at 5:45am.  I stay in the break room until it's time to get to work.

I ask where I'm going to be working, this time in the Mopo (Molkerei- in the milks, yogurts, cheeses) and I start as if someone lit a fire behind me.  I didn't stop to take any breaks.  I worked as quickly as I could, helped customers as quickly as I could, etc. etc. etc.  Even Sabrina, who I worked with on Monday, told me I did much better.  But this was still not enough.

So I asked if I could take a break (as everything was ausgepackt- unpacked), and afterwards, worked my last hour of the day in fruits and vegetables.  There were no more bags in some of the stands, and none in the cupboard, so I had to go back to get some more.

As I was heading back to the front, I ran into Herr Kratzmann.  After looking at his watch and determining it was noon (and the end of my shift), he told me to meet him in his office once I was done.



We all know what happened next.