Of course they wouldn't actually come out and say that, but it's what happened.

So my wife got this job a year ago, with the stated intention of becoming the general manager. (She had been an assistant manager at a similar business.) She was expecting to maybe get some training and have expectations and duties laid out by the owners of the company, which never happened. They apparently told her a couple times that they would "know she was ready for promotion when they saw it." So she did her best to meet unknown expectations. Seemingly, she figured some of it out because they promoted her about six months ago.

After getting conflicting instructions (e.g. You need to send someone home if there isn't enough business to justify full staffing. People are complaining about being sent home. People complain you're leaving when everyone else says they would prefer to stay for the hours. Too many people are here without justification.) she was bending over backwards trying to keep everyone happy, telling people to just be blunt with her about scheduling and other things, hearing different stories from the owners and the staff, unable to get a concrete answer about what she was supposed to do, only being told she was doing it wrong.

This weekend, they fired her. She couldn't figure out what they wanted from clues that would probably be vague to most people, but were absolutely opaque to someone with autism. So yeah we can't prove it, but she was fired for being autistic, for being unable to decode all the signals she got, and for being constantly lied to when she repeatedly asked for directness. It's doubly infuriating because our finances were already tight, so there's not time to metaphorically lick her wounds and recover; she's out actively trying to get a new job right now. (I work remotely and my bosses don't care how autistically I might be doing things, as long as work gets done, so at least there's that, but I can't support the entire household.) I'm also really frustrated that, if she discloses to potential employers, she may never get hired, but if they can't understand how she operates, she might keep losing jobs and burn out from masking.

I just wanted to vent to a community that can understand this. Wife and I are both autistic and sometimes trying to make it in this world is needlessly difficult. Why can't people just SAY, "hey, I want to go home and you're the manager so you should stay" or "I need the hours, please don't send me home" if that's what they want? Why upend someone's life because you can't be honest? And WHY is it seemingly never these dishonest people who suffer for the situation? It's my sweet wife who's doing her best but can't read minds! The two of us have to bear the folly of others. I just hate it.

ETA: Everyone there was authorized to do closing duties and work alone. A lot of small businesses work this way. There were days when the schedule (that was literally made by the owners) didn't have a manager on duty at all, or when she was scheduled to leave before closing. This is what I mean about the lack of clarity in expectations.

I appreciate those who are trying to be helpful. Yes, we have looked into unemployment. No, we probably don't have a case for legal action because it would all be hearsay and speculation.

If you're here to drag my wife or say she deserved it, I'm done with those posts. She tried everything. She wasn't in charge of the pay rate or general schedule of the staff, and she didn't make much more than they did. The "power imbalance" existed solely between the owners and employees. Drag the owners if you really want to side with the "little guy."