Getting Sacked

My first real full time job was from half way through 1985 to I think 1989 when I was sacked. I was given a job to do by a salesman. The information was not very clear so I asked a question about it. It was a fairly typical question that comes up from time to time about the specific size of the product. He told me to stop being smart and to do my fucken job. It was a bit out of character for him because I usually got along with him fairly well. He wasn't the nicest person, but he usually wanted to get things done properly. I can't remember exactly what I said but it was something along the lines of "well if it doesn't matter I'll just average it out and it will be OK". I probably said it with a shitty tone in my voice. I was annoyed. I realise now that I was, and probably still am, a type C person who likes clear instructions and will then do a good job - possibly too good if it takes too long. Fuming a bit, I went and did the job, it wasn't difficult and probably took me half an hour, maybe an hour if I had some distractions. In the back of my mind I was worried it wasn't exactly what the customer wanted but it would have to do. I went home and came in to work the next day and had pretty much forgotten all about it. I really didn't think it was that much of a big deal and I thought I was doing the right thing asking. And I wasn't asking to be smart but I appreciate now that it may have looked like it to someone else. My boss, the production manager met me as I was walking up the stairs and told me I was sacked for misconduct yesterday and to get my things and leave. He walked me to my desk, I got my things took them to my car, and left. As I drove off the song on the radio was "Eternal Flame" by the Bangles. I was shattered emotionally and felt angry, sad, ripped off, confused. I enquired about unfair dismissal with the department of labour and industry but they pretty much said that misconduct is an acceptable reason to sack someone. I'd need to argue it wasn't misconduct if I was to challenge it. And he made it sound like misconduct was doing anything that your employer didn't like. When I look back, he was a public servant and there would not likely be any repercussions for him if he talked me out of pursuing it, whereas he would have had to do some work if I pursued it.
Obviously I've thought about it a lot since then.
The salesman was a dominant person in the company and controlled people by role power and fear of being sacked. He was a bully. I was confident in my job because I did a good job. I added a lot of value to the company in many ways. I was right to ask. The problem was that it put his credibility and authority at risk in front of other people. His credibility was being questioned. Why didn't he know the details of the order that were required in order for it to be completed? And his authority; how dare someone question him and then comment that his response was not helpful.
There was a good lesson in that. Often just being right isn't enough. You also need to deal with it in the right way, and I didn't. It sucks that there are people like him around, and it's the way it is. Dominant bully type people are more likely to be in positions that control people; that's what they like and they're often seen as "the ones who get the job done". They have to protect their "image" and keep people in line. Otherwise they will lose control. Role power and bullying is all they have.
The sun came up the next morning. Life went on. Almost straight away I got another job via a mate of mine.  In a strange twist of fate I ended up working for them again for a brief period later on but that's part of another story.