Hey there,
I have a lot of details I have to bring up and explain so this will be a slog.

I've had this anxiety bubbling ever since this whole event went down at the end of February, and ever since I got the news I was let go over this mess.
I've no other communities then a few reddit ones that I lurk on that are public enough to get a message like this out.

To start out I'm a gay asexual handicapped Canadian in southern Alberta with severe social anxiety, depression and am prone to panick attacks.
I have been getting therapy for several years even before the pandemic, but I had no luck getting any employment until November 2020.

My store manager was looking for staff and asked my room mate if he knew anyone. So I was able to get an interview and introduce them to my handicap job support worker before I was even hired.

The whole time I was at this store was great for me. I was getting to see people again after being couped up for years, able to do self care and start to pursue hobbies I could never reach out to without any income. (I am a prolific grower of plants and regular /plantclinic often, I have most of what I have now thanks to the job I had here)

My handicapped needs were being addressed, the store manager trained me personally too, so I was able to thrive quite well and become considered one of her best hires in her own words.
I'm not a boastful person but I really did bust my ass there, and became one of the main bar baristas and the go to customer support by my 3 months probation being complete.



This is where it gets messed up though. There were times I had panick attacks at work because I got overwhelmed by how the floor was being run or if I was being dumped with too many tasks at once.

One of these panick attacks in February was caught on camera with me face planting and planting my arms roughly against the wall to hold my head while crying, after I had just burst through the swinging doors in distraught.
There was a staff on break back there.

After I recovered from the wall enough I became self aware again instead of literally out of my mind, I noticed that she seemed incredibly concerned.
I explained that I was having a panick attack to her and that they may need help on the floor, was I was the person on the register until just then, she went and found my store manager instead.
My store manager was on a day off but in the store and came to get me mentally sorted after that happened.

However this footage was used to make me look like I was yelling and being aggressive with this partner in this particular instance.



This was one of the few instances that was used against me to fire me during an investigation, this one stood out to me though in my ruminating mind because of how the footage was used. It wasused to make me out to be a bully, someone who yells, and is physical with other staff on purpose.

If any of you understand anxiety, and everything I explained before hand, you will quickly understand that those are all things that someone is my disposition are completely incapable of.
I'm so soft spoken most people can't hear a word I say..

Getting back to the investigation I mentioned though, this is the real part that is frustrating me and leading me to finally post this for some vision.



My district manager, would not speak to our acknowledge that my worker existed.



He called me one morning after I was suddenly on paid leave without knowing why, asking if I was bumping into staff on the floor with my shoulders on purpose, if I was doing any of the yelling or bullying I mentioned.
(we have a small capital shaped L style bar and counter setup, everyone bumps into each other every day even with, "behind you" calls)

The whole time I can barely form a sentence, and tell him that he really needs to speak to my handicap worker whom represents me in these situations because I can't vocalize on the phone. (my store manager also didn't have me pick up the phone at work).
I tried to give him my worker's number, but he suddenly just told me to give his number to her instead, I thought nothing of it and said okay.

In the mean time while I was not working;
I had my medication adjusted, got several doctors notes together and a paper trail of my personality and from my counsellors and therapy to show I'm literally not what I was being investigated as.


The only note that made it was describing that I have panick attacks and was asking for a pretty basic accommodation of two minutes to mediate when I start to get really anxious on the floor
This was an act I've already had in practice with my store manager.
I had texted her a copy of the note ahead of all of the aforementioned papers.

I got the first name of whom was checking the cameras for the investigation, I only obtained the name word of mouth when being told I was being fired.
They looked for all the times and dates I had supposedly done those things to the staff member I mentioned earlier.

What they didn't have access to was any of the rest of the information I was trying to get to them.

My district manager would not answer the phone or reply to any voice mail from my worker for the entire two weeks of march they had me on paid leave.


I had one singular anxious call on the phone with a district manager whom has never worked with me, to defend myself during this investigation they were doing, while the aforementioned partner had a couple people vouch for her on top of all these factors.
The only reason there was an investigation in the first place was because they went over the store manager's head to complain.

My store manager was livid when she found out that one of her best staff was let go after their probation, not to mention not being able to talk about it with anyone because of non discloure agreements, which was stacked against me in this case.
Many of the staff still don't know what happened to me, and a few only just found out as my room mate whom was working there left after this business went down.



I found a job after 3 years, I found friends whom were interested in plants and liked to talk to me and spend time with me, and understood my anxiety issues and what I was going through.
I put my heart and soul into my work every day I was there and most of them could tell.
I was just about to start using my benefits so that I could get crowns and implants, since I shamefully admit to missing a lot of my teeth that I need to eat with, and have to get constant fillings.

I swear I'm not talking out of my ass when I say I was well liked there, I still communicate with most of them on snapchat, Facebook and text.



It was all taken away by whom in my opinion was a very ablelist attitude from the district manager, so I feel like he should not have had any say in this investigation, and essentially tampered with it and cut off all communications so I couldn't to to make a fuss.
The district manager clearly didn't want to have anything to do with the word handicapped considering he literally ignored my worker every day for two weeks, email and phone calls.


All I really want is to be able to go back into that store (which I'm not allowed to now cause of this), and possibly work there again, but I know the later is a long shot as long as this district manager is involved.


Hence the whole point of this post.




Please, can someone get this to someone above this
District manager so I can actually make a fair case instead of a single barely articulated phone call from this district manager?
I'm just a gentle quiet person who likes to cuddle my room mate's cats, grow plants and play the ukulele.

I've been distraught, sleeping incessantly, barely eating (also on account of the drastic income drop), and just generally losing my mind slowly every day without having a job anymore to keep me busy and feel like I'm being productive and doing something with my life, especially with how this situation went down from my perspective..I don't want another 3 years without a job.


I just want my voice to be heard, because it never was, even if it doesn't change anything.
I just want someone on the other side to listen and see me instead of being stamped out the way I was despite all the support I had ready and at my side to do so.


I'm not out for blood for the district manager, I just want some understanding and don't appreciate how he handled me, because I was handled, not talked to. I would still work there like aforementioned if I was able to again.

Thanks for anyone whomever even takes the time to read this far.