https://www-chicagotribune-com.cdn.a...815-story.html

Above is a link to an article that explains more extensively why describing an experience as "traumatic" can be counter-productive.

This article is worth reading in its entirety, but here is an especially relevant excerpt:

"According to one study, young people increasingly believe that their destinies are determined by luck, fate or powerful people besides themselves. People who hold these beliefs are more likely to feel helpless and unable to manage stress. Trauma is a way to explain life’s problems as someone else's fault."

Ruby keeps seeing herself as the victim. That's going to keep her stuck, as this article explains. In her view, she was plunged into great distress by this awful thing that was done to her. It certainly does hurt to be fired from a job. I know this because I got unexpectedly fired from a job I liked. Lots of people have had this experience. It sure feels awful. It brought me to tears. I had to do some heavy thinking to process it.

I wouldn't presume to tell anyone how they should feel about being fired, or being rejected or any other experience. True: how you feel is how you feel. By bringing the concept of "trauma" into this discussion, Ruby is trying to manipulate how we view the experiences she's gone through at the fast-food place and more recently. This is a ploy for sympathy. It shows intelligence and a sophistication about the use of language. (Those are assets Ruby might use more constructively and actually get somewhere with.) Ruby is not going to control how I interpret her experience. Not getting your own way can be disappointing. Some people do just about lose their minds when they can't have things as they want them. That doesn't mean their experience was traumatic in nature. It can mean they have a problem adapting to reality.