She started out the first year slowly doing contract work for other shops, on a piece by piece work.  As she got more connections her small business took off.

Don't know how to sew...  Learn, some community colleges off this as a course.

Most of her customers are very well to do people.   The poorer people just go to Wal-Mart and get their curtains there.  But the richer clients have fancy homes and don't shop at WMT.  They believe in craftpersonship.

You'll never get rich working for someone else...   Plus, alot of this lady work is cash...

So basically, I'm not impressed favorably with managers and think maybe 25% (lowball number?) of them have no business being managers.  A whole lot of them are in their job because they were buddies with their boss and because of that, they won't be removed from their job anytime soon and you are screwed.  In a small office environment, it is more like a family and perhaps for that reason, things at work get even more personal.  Being able to do your job or even doing it well won't guarantee you'll keep that job,   especially when layoffs are so accepted in the US now.  A person has typically 10 jobs in their lifetime and you got 9 more to go.  Welcome to the great old USA!  Some things really suck don't they.  

Do whatever you want on the legal side (I personally wouldn't bother unless I just wanted them to admit a reason in writing for firing me-- and this would be just to embarrass them). Believe it or not, I bet if you didn't push them, you would get a positive reference which could be valuable in finding your next job. Rather, I would channel my energy into finding a better job with 20% higher pay, as a minimum. I always got better jobs after incidences like these, and you will, too.

Be patient. A much better opportunity/better match for your personality and job skills is out there for you. Trust me on this!

I have worked in a few places many years ago with complete idiots and when I tried to be friendly, I just got brain-dead reactions, if any. So sometimes even if you play the game and try to get along, it doesn't work. However, I have been lucky over the past ten years that I have worked with really great people with whom I have a lot in common.

I know you might have had great hopes in your first employment experience in this country. But we change jobs a lot, compared to people from other countries. There are lots of opportunities. Next time, don't see the job as a one-way street. See it as two-way. You need to prove yourself to them but the company must be a reasonably good match for you, too. There is something called corporate culture. It's different in every place. Perhaps one aspect of the culture at your last job indeed did involve you showing an interest in the boss. That may be what the workers do there as a matter of course.

When you find a new job, be immediately critical of the corporate culture regarding your personality, needs and wants. Everything must be mutually beneficial to a reasonable degree. Be choosier. Consider being the one-- yourself-- who leaves next time before the 90-day period (if there is one) and move on to greener pastures.

Trust me-- later you will see how lucky you are because you were free to take a much better job.

I am an architect and awhile back the office hired a RW.  She was an engineer and doing some cad drawings for us.  The office was paying her like nothing I even think she was working for practically nothing.  Anyway my point is this she came in and did her job well as possible she was a little frustrated at times and I would help her out.  The other women in the office never seemed to gravitate to her and NO she was not so beautiful that she was intimidating the other women she was even sort of smugly.  But anyway she had a couple women that she would small talk with but for the most part the other women never really took her in as a friend and I am not sure why I consider it a cultural difference thing that works out with time.  She invited all the women over to her house for lunch one afternoon and it was a nice gesture on her part the women went to her house and they all came back rather different and a little happier.  A few of the women were talking about the different food and not really liking that at all but for the most part they were all a little more comfortable.  It is just something about AW and RW that really takes time for each other to cultivate a really close friendship.  This RW finally quit working at the office and stayed home to have children.  She still stops in with her children to show them off and now that she is not in the office the women stand around her and talk and giggle and are friends.

-blm

She says she has already contacted the EEOC, which we know has jurisdiction over cases involving violations of Title VII (inter alia) of the Civil Rights Act, and we all know that an "employer" must have at least 15 full time employees to be considered an "employer" under Title VII, and we all know that, yes, it is an unlawful employment practice to discriminate (in this case) based on "national origin," and we all know that the EEOC will probably not have jursidiction over this case because of the "small office" size and because of the restrictive definition of "employer," and we all know that even if the EEOC does have jurisdiction it would be hard to prove discrimination based on "national origin" when they HIRED her knowing of her national origin (sounds pretty "equal opportunity" to me), and we all know the other option is to sue through a private attorney, and we all know that private attorneys will look at potential damages and potential monetary recovery when considering filing a lawsuit, and we all know that lawsuits can be costly, and we can all imagine what she was earning as a receptionist and what her monetary damages would be, and we can all imagine whether it is worth it to her and her attorney to pursue a speculative case and file a lawsuit with such small potential damages (and small attorney's fees at 40% of any recovery based on a contingency basis).  I don't know many attorneys who would take a case like that.  (They all seem like sharks to me.)  But go ahead with this advice...spend time looking for a lawyer rather than moving on and looking for a job.  It probably beats working.  And that seems to be becoming "the American reality" for some.