Have you ever had the feeling that something at work was "off" but could never quite prove it? One former food and beverage manager says that suspicion turned into a months-long investigation after he was abruptly fired for allegedly missing scheduled shifts he insists he never agreed to work.The former manager shared his story on Reddit’s r/legal subreddit, where thousands of users weighed in after he claimed his employer may have altered his work schedule after the fact to justify firing him.Fired over attendance despite being the one making the schedulesAccording to the Reddit post, the employee worked for a food and beverage company operating across California and Nevada and had been promoted twice during his tenure, eventually becoming a store manager.He explained that the business depended heavily on tourism and snowfall, which led to a difficult financial year after a weak winter season hurt customer traffic.“We had a horribly slow year with snow coming extremely late and very lightly so tourism was bad and the year was not good,” the Redditor wrote, adding that management had placed him under increasing pressure over the store’s cost-of-goods metrics.The situation escalated after a new district manager joined the company. “We got a new district manager and I knew from the start he didn’t like me,” the former manager claimed.California store manager fired for ‘lateness’ claims one forgotten employee text now points to possible schedule tamperingWeeks later, he said he was suddenly called into a meeting with senior management and terminated for alleged time and attendance violations.“They hand me a document showing about 10 different days stating ‘you showed up at 8am, and you were scheduled for 6:30am,’” he wrote.But the employee immediately disputed the accusation, arguing that he personally created the schedules and would never have assigned himself those early shifts.“I knew this was a lie,” he said. “I MAKE THE SCHEDULE.”The text message that changed everythingMonths after his firing, the former manager says he uncovered evidence he believes supports his theory that the schedule had been altered after the fact.He pointed to a text message from an employee that read: “Hey, can you please pick me up at 8am since we both work at 8?”The message reportedly corresponded to one of the dates management later cited as a 6:30 a.m. shift violation.“To me, that proved she saw it was 8am, I knew it was 8am, and then someone changed it to 6:30 after the fact,” the Reddit user argued.He also shared another message from a worker he had hired, claiming the district manager appeared to be targeting him.“Hi, I don’t want trouble but I just want you to know that the district manager is asking a lot of questions and it seems like he is looking to get you in trouble and it feels like pressure.”Former manager requests records, company asks for meetingThe Redditor said he later contacted upper management requesting schedule change logs, audit logs, and time-edit records that he believed existed within the company’s scheduling software.According to the post, the company replied saying it had 21 days under California law to respond. But when that deadline passed, he claims he only received payroll information, not the records he requested.He then sent a “notice of pre-litigation,” requesting that all evidence related to his firing be preserved because litigation was anticipated.The next day, the company reportedly asked to meet with him. “What do I do? What do I say?” he asked fellow Reddit users.Reddit users overwhelmingly urged him to hire a lawyerThe story quickly drew widespread attention, with many commenters warning the former manager not to attend any meeting alone.One commenter wrote: “Sounds like you need to bring an attorney with you.”When the original poster clarified that the position was not unionized, the same commenter added: “You do not have to go to that meeting. Reschedule when you have an attorney. At least go for a consultation, you might be eligible for lost wages and maybe more.”Another Reddit user responded even more bluntly: “Lawyer lawyer lawyer. No point in going yourself / alone.”California legal questions became part of the debateThe former manager later updated the thread, claiming he had researched California employment law and referencing a California Supreme Court case that discussed employer obligations during workplace investigations.According to the Redditor, the ruling suggested employers should conduct an “appropriate” investigation, provide notice of allegations, and allow employees an opportunity to respond before termination.He argued none of those steps happened after he claimed the schedules had been altered. In a final update, the former manager revealed that an attorney had agreed to represent him after reviewing the situation.The Reddit post was later locked after attracting more than a thousand reactions and hundreds of comments, but the larger question remained unresolved: was the employee truly framed through altered scheduling records, or was there another explanation behind the firing?