I do hope that the involvement of a German parent company in my termination does not or has not made any of our German posters here feel uncomfortable.  Kohinoor, I appreciate your honesty when saying the status between admins and bosses is very different. I very much got the impression that the fact that I was "just a secretary" had a fair amount to do with it. If only I had known! If I had been from marketing for example I don't think they would have such a problem. It is possible that what we perceive as being bright and interested would be seen as being arrogant and demanding. I have to face the fact that I may well have acted inappropriately in a culture and an industry that I was new to and uninformed about. I shall know next time, but nobody warned me to be on my guard. (NB I don't think I want to work in a place where I have to act as though I am at school all the time). I think the fact that my background is in academia and creative industries and this was sales was also a factor. It is perhaps to do with the concept of "face" in a similar way to the Japanese, people cannot bear to lose face (whereas we would say that it is important to acknowledge weaknesses  so that you can control them and address them).

I have NO DOUBT however that my boss was leaned on heavily. I also have no doubt that one of the senior sales people was having lots of conversations about me with the people she was meeting. Pincer attack. No wonder she looked so guilty when I offered to get her a sandwich at lunch time!

Nevertheless, it is behind me now, and as I have already been offered another interview I think I would like to chalk the whole thing up to experience, a learning experience.

I will just add sales to the list of industries that I don't want to work in!