Last year I was volunteering for a not for profit organisation.When they hired me,they clearly said that I would be mainly doing accounting work with a little filing work etc on the side.I happily agreed.The office was highly disorganised and the first task they gave me was filing stuff and organising the shelves etc.

My boss(a middle aged woman)seemed to be nice at first.After a few days she started talking about her personal life and the tragedies that she had endured.I was genuinely sympathetic to her.Then she started with the office gossip...she literally badmouthed everyone around her.I used to listen(I didnt have a choice)but never commented on anything.

The next thing she did was ask me to accompany her to a dairy farm and tried to convince me to start buying milk directly from the farm etc for which I would have to go with her once a week.(I know this sounds rediculous but its the truth).My kid was 3 yrs old at that time and she was telling me I have to feed him that to keep him healthy.I politely refused .This kind of made her angry but I thought that it wasnt a big deal.

Apart from the filing work(which was my main task)I was given things like entering invoices into the system,cash reconciliations etc but I wanted more.At that time my auditing paper was still due...I had cleared the rest.My boss was the bookeeper of the company.

After a couple of months when I finished all the filing,organising etc work I finally mustered the courage to ask her for some more work...this is when she flipped her top.She fired me saying that my work was full of errors and I wasnt even fit to be a clerk leave alone a cpa.She said that she wouldnt reccommend me to anyone as she had nothing good to say about me.She also said that when' people like you' come to our country at least learn to talk in english(I am an asian)

I was shellshocked .I swear I have never ever seen such a hate filled person before.With great difficulty I controlled my tears and thanked her for the opportunity to work with her and left.

This was last year.I have completed my cpa papers since but not licensed yet.I still havent got over this incident.What should I have done differently?Please advise as I plan to work in the near future.

Thank you all.

In a way I know I am at fault for letting this incident affect me in such a way.I didnt apply for any more voluntary work after that as I really thought I was incapable of anything(I cant believe how pathetic I sound!)Anyway,its more than one year and I am willing to try again.But how should one handle oneself when the boss starts telling too many personal things and starts acting in such an unprofessional way?

She used to literally hold my hand and cry when talking about her life.I used to feel so sorry for her.My husband warned me not to get emotionally involved but I never felt she could even hurt a fly.Thats why I was stunned when she degraded me like that.

Though I always had a feeling they had hired me just to do the filing work etc,but was it reallly necessary to insult me in such a way when firing me?

So if I ever face such a situation again,how should I behave?