In 2008, there was a sudden financial crisis in the company where I worked, which led them to owe salaries for 4 months. I was a single lady living with my parents so it didn’t affect me much. But my fiancé was out of a job and we needed financial stability, so we began job hunting intensely.
Through a former colleague, I landed a job at an IT/software firm. It came with an official car and a salary that was twice my former one. What a way to end the year!
I resumed on 1 December 2008. In the last week of January, I noticed that I grew tired easily. After visiting 2 hospitals, I found that I was 8 weeks pregnant. I was happy, yet sad at the poor timing. My fiancé was also sad. He suggested that I terminate the pregnancy since it might affect my job.
I confided in my direct boss who advised me to keep the pregnancy and offered to help me find ways to reduce my work stress. But the general manager wasn’t as understanding. She suspected that something was wrong with me. She continuously picked on me whenever I came late or asked for time off due to early pregnancy issues.
In desperation, I opted for an abortion. I paid for it but the doctor warned me against it.
My boss and I decided that the best thing to do was to come clean with the general manager. She was furious. She accused me of lying to the company to get the job. Then she asked me to resign. She even went as far as calling me a sinner!
I left her office in tears and turned in my resignation letter.
It turned out that my fiancé was more interested in me because I could support him financially, so I called off the wedding. My other bosses were upset that I resigned without reverting to them. I found out that the sanctimonious general manager was asked to resign and left the company shamefully after 15 years of service.