wrongful termination and slander!!!

I used to work as a waitress in a central florida strip club. I was never late and even volunteered to go pick up another employee for them from time to time. I showed up early, stayed late, came in whenever I was called in on a day off and did anything I was asked to with no hesitation. The owner started coming in every night to see how well everyone was doing their job. There was another waitress who was working their at the time who was pregnant. She got fired that night for mouthing off to the owner and for being in the back on her cell phone all night. The owner fired her then and there on the spot to her face. The next night, I was using one of the game machines while we were slow and had only 1 customer who was sitting at the bar. Prior to me using the game, 2 of our dancers were playing games for almost an hour straight. When one of the girls got up, I went and sat down to play a quick game to pass the time since we were slow. The owner came out and saw me sitting on the game and just stared down at me. I looked up at him and then looked back down at the screen to exit the game. The owner then asked why is it that every time he looks at me I'm rolling my eyes at him. I told him I've never rolled my eyes at him before and he said yes I did. I again stated that I never have and got up from the machine. The owner then walked into the back and into the office. I went on to sell my required 15 ladies drinks that night and at the end of my shift, I got fired by the manager, not the owner. When I asked why, I was told it was because I rolled my eyes at the owner which I didn't ever do. 2 nights later I find out from the DJ that now the manager is telling everyone and anyone who asks him what happened, that I rolled my eyes, mouthed off to the owner, and refused to get off the video game when the owner demanded I get off. None of this is true and it is making me sound like I am disrespectful and rude which I am not. I also don't appreciate the manager spreading false stories about what happened when he admitted to me when he fired me, that he didn't know if they were true or not and he was just going off of what the owner said. I am now not allowed back on the property for any reason. I don't want my job back due to the fact that now everyone there thinks that I was disrespectful and rude to the owner and a couple of the dancers that work there are very close to him. One of the girls is his wife's sister and another one has known him for 7 years. I would just like some type of compensation for being wrongfully terminated and then having false stories spread about me.

Unless you had an employment contract that specifically stated otherwise, Florida is an "at will" employment state and you can be terminated for just about any reason (or no reason at all) as long it the termination wasn't either 'illegal' or based on age, gender, race, national origin or disability. It isn't fair or unfair; that's just the way it is. If you'd been accused of theft, for example, and it could've been proven otherwise, that would be grounds for 'wrongful termination,' in my opinion. Even that is no guarantee you'd prevail. Given the circumstances you've posted, I don't think you'd succeed in a wrongful termination lawsuit, unless you could clearly demonstrate a prior pattern of the owner regularly firing only women the same basic age group or race, for examples. Even that would take some doing by careful and accurate research of the company's "hiring and firing" records. As long as you were terminated in accordance with company 'policy,' it's probably time to start looking for a new job (again, in my opinion.) Given the details of your post, I don't know as I'd feel comfortable working for an employer so quick to "fire on the spot."

You can always contact your local department of labor with specific questions. You may want to do that so you're aware of your state's employment law in the future. Tough 'learning experience' here, but I think you've just learned a basic rule of 'survival in the workforce': If you can't be busy when in the presence of a manager/owner, find a way at least to look busy.

Good luck.