I got fired and am afraid to tell my family. I still leave the house every morning but I go to the mall or coffee shops all day and go back home when my shift would be over. How do I tell them?
How long ago was this and are you looking for work in the meantime? If you’re just pissing away the hours shopping or drinking coffee (it better be Buff Boy coffee, by the way), then you’re not helping your situation. If you’re spending your day looking for work and applying for jobs at the mall, then hopefully you’ll find work. If you’re acting like a teenager skipping school and not doing anything of substance, well, you’re making it awkward with every day you drag it out.
If you’re actively looking for a job, then I don’t see a problem with the charade of pretending you’re still going to work. Keep in mind, if your family knows your co-workers or calls and emails you at work, that could be difficult to explain. If it’s a job you go to where your family has minimal interaction with the people and place, then they likely wouldn’t know you departed. Also, too many people share their professional history online so you could risk people seeing that you’ve updated your work chronology with the recent exit. (I remember a time when a resume was a private document only for potential employers to see. Now it’s gone public which has always felt like oversharing to me.)
If you’re spending your day looking for jobs (though it doesn’t sound like it from your brief description) then it’s easy to go for an interview or two and then later tell your family you’re leaving your “current” job for a new one. They’ll never know the difference. Remember your lie because if you contradict yourself in the future you’ll get busted.
You also wouldn’t be the first person to say you quit or that you got laid off. Is it a lie? Sure. Is it less embarrassing? Absolutely. If your feelings and comfort are most important and not what others think about you, go with the lie for a little while. Your overall message is the same: I’m not at that job anymore. And with time, when the embarrassment subsides and you’re in your dream job making way more money than ever, there’s no problem with saying, “Yeah, remember when I said I quit? I was actually fired. But it worked out in the end, hey?”
If, however, you pay rent or your finances come into play where you’ll need the family support, then that’s another issue. It’ll be tough to expect their help when you come clean after months of lying. I wouldn’t blame them if they gave you a tough time. It also depends on how close you are with your family. Do you talk about work all the time? Do they ask about your work on a regular basis? I also feel like lying can be different than withholding information. If you’re lying and saying, “Work was great today” versus not discussing work at all, those are two different things. (“Why didn’t you tell us what happened?” is easier to address than, “So, you were lying to us this whole time?”)
As for, how do you tell them? Again, that depends on the above factors. How long has it been? Have you been lying? Do they or will they have to support you financially? Hopefully the different hypotheticals can help you piece together your big announcement without embarrassment and drama. Fingers crossed.