There's only so much an employee can take. No matter how big the pot of gold their boss is promising, if the worker is exploited, eventually they'll realize that.
In an attempt to find out what pushes people over the edge, Redditor u/UsefulComputer4476 recently posted this question on the platform: "What was your 'I'm not paid enough for this s*** moment?" And I think they did because the replies came flying in!
As of this article, there are over a thousand of them. Continue scrolling and check out the most upvoted ones.
#1
So if you're familiar with build a bear, you know the happy faces the employees are supposed to have. You might also be familiar with the bear stuffing process. You pick a bear, bring it to me, pick a heart and you do a little dance (or whatever else I'd pick) I'd stuff the bear, you put the heart in and I stitch it up. There was a couple that came in one night in January 2008. She was extremely pregnant. They came in and pick one of the little blue bears. I asked how they want it stuffed, the normal. And then when they pick the heart oh, they also pick one of the fancy hearts that has a heartbeat. Then tell me that their son, who she is still pregnant with is going to be stillborn. And they are making a bear together to give to him to be buried with. Obviously, I immediately tone down to the happy-go-lucky bulls**t. The store was empty so it didn't really matter. And no, I didn't make them do the little dance and wish that you do for most people. I finished the bear myself, walk them through the clothing, check them out myself and then close the store. I got written up the next day for not showing the Build-A-Bear spirit. I was 16. I quit and got into a screaming match with that dumbass manager.
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549points
"I was just going on with my daily routine when I randomly thought about asking Reddit this question," u/UsefulComputer4476 told Bored Panda. "Most of the replies came from retail, but a lot are from other sectors too."
The Redditor doesn't think that there is a culture of exploiting workers but they do not believe that these are standalone examples, either. u/UsefulComputer4476 expects that the reasons giving rise to such stories are somewhere in between.
#2
When the boss said he was going to hire "Mary" back.
Mary, the woman who was fired for having her friends call me with death threats because I wouldn't switch days off with her.
Mary, the woman he told me he was never in a room alone with because she was 'the type to claim sexual harassment'.
He hired Mary back and gave her my job after I quit.
He was fired 6 months later over the sexual harassment claim filed by . . . . Mary.
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402points
#3
I worked at a Starbucks in a grocery store and a customer got mad because she wanted a drink cold but it was served hot (the girl taking her order was new and didn’t ask her if she wanted hot or cold, I was making the drinks so went with what was on the cup) so she threw it at me, while still freshly hot. Burned my face down to my stomach. I was 5 months pregnant. I quit a week later.
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309points
Interestingly, this fall might be a good time to look for another employer. According to a recent CNBC | Momentive Small Business Survey, that there are more than 10 million open jobs in the U.S., the highest level ever, and over one million more jobs than unemployed people.
Half of small business owners (50%) say it’s gotten harder to find qualified people to hire compared to a year ago and almost one-third (31%) say they have open roles they have not been able to fill for at least three months (up from 24% last quarter and 16% in Q1 2020).
#4
While working with a client as a consultant employed by a consulting agency. The client tried to hire me full time and offered me triple the salary. That was like the wtf moment which made me research the market value of my skills and turned out I was super underpaid. So I left and found a new job straight away.
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281points
#5
Scooping a stillborn baby out of a toilet.
I'm a cop and I make $20/hr.
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277points
#6
State of Louisiana. 8 year employee, Good employee. Weeks of accumulated sick time. Professional position.
They send us to work at home and put time tracking software on our computer so they can see we are working; because that big pile of finished work at the end of the just got there by its self.
I got a message one day asking to explain what I was doing on my bathroom break and why it was longer than 5 minutes.
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250points
Because of this, companies are investing more resources into retaining the employees they do have. 41% of small business owners are saying they are currently experiencing a rising cost in wages.
"It turns out that revving the economy back up after months of shutdowns, layoffs, and work-from-home is really disorienting," Laura Wronski, research science manager at Momentive, said. "Unfortunately, there’s no on-or-off switch, and these labor and supply shocks that we’re seeing are totally expected on our path back to normal, even if they are disruptive in the short term."
#7
When a customer had a full-blown adult tantrum on the floor of the supermarket I was working at because we were out of red cabbage two hours before we closed on Christmas Eve. Mind you that almost everyone eats red cabbage on Christmas here in Germany. To top this off she also threw frozen bread rolls after me because I told her to have her tantrum outside.
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245points
#8
Realizing the police reports i'm translating are not to help the victim escape her abusive husband, they're to help the abusive husband gain a refugee visa to Canada.....
I quit translating as a freelancer soon after.
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241points
#9
I was told to look the other way on a $1.5 million mistake I found on the books that one of the managers had made. Told the higher ups and was pressured to quit as a result.
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220points
#10
My boss refused to evacuate for hurricane Ida and somehow managed not to lose power or sustain damage. Everyone around her did. I evacuated with a large group and my complex lost power and water for days. The day after the hurricane hit she demanded we all traverse flooded roads so I could come back and do some things she “just didn’t have time for.” She threw a tantrum over the phone when I told her I wasn’t going back to an apartment without power or running water. I’m looking for another job right now.
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216points
#11
I live in a country where there is no particular 'minimum wage'. So the job I work in doesn't pay us much and we generally get paid very late (mostly a 1 month delay). Our boss's daughter had a very fancy wedding and all that, his son bought a fancy car but we still were not paid our salaries. One fine evening, I finished my usual work and i was on my way out. My boss called me and asked me why i leave on time and why i dont spend extra time in the evenings. I just stared at him and said I have a personal life too and went home.
211points
#12
Working for a nonprofit. At a fundraising dinner, a major donor touched my knee then later my butt and flirted heavily. I am a woman and was 25 at the time. When I brought it to my supervisor I was told that is just something you have to put up with when fundraising if you want to make the organization money. Stayed at that job a few months before I was fired for not being happy enough. Note that after that incident I refused to attend events where the creep would be there.. Can't say I was sad. Got a job that paid twice as much and came without sexual harassment. An employment lawyer probably would have loved if I called them, but I lacked the confidence to take that big of a stand. Now I would absolutely take action. I would actually probably yell in the moment to get your forking hands off me. Which would have been awkward for him because his wife was present.
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197points
#13
I was the 24/7 OnCall for failing jobs in our I.T. department. After 3 days of no sleep and stress I had a "cardiac event". Quit the next day.
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187points
#14
When my boss laughed and bragged to my face about how much he was saving by having me do professional design work (in addition to my other duties) instead of a designer he'd have to pay 5-6x more. That didn't last long.
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184points
#15
Being scheduled to work 30 days in a row without a day off
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172points
#16
So I’m working this register at a truck stop circa 2011. It’s by a door that gets very little traffic so I mostly just watch the gift shop area and try to deter people from stealing. It’s an overnight shift about 3 am. This man comes barreling in bleeding from his hand and yells “IVE BEEN STABBED!”
Immediately I call for security. My manager is nearby. Security calls 911 on their way and shows up a few moments later. This guy is bleeding profusely, all over my freshly mopped floor mind you.
I’m off to the side “Sir where is the stabber?!”
My manager is asking for towels, so I bring a clean towel. Again I ask “SIR, where is the stabber?!”
My manager and security are saying stuff like “Put pressure on it. Go wave down the ambulance when they arrive!”
So at this point I’m practically yelling “There is a stabber on the loose in that parking lot some where and I’m not going out there until I know where he is!”
Finally the guy goes “Oh he was at the truck stop across the street. We got into an argument it wasn’t random.”
Relived and now no longer fearing for my safety I went out to wave down the ambulance.
Unfortunately $8/hr is not enough to get stabbed over.
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166points
#17
Was working in a large bakery for my first job at 15. Tried to pull a six foot tall baking tray but there’s a lip to get the tray over, started to fall on me and caught it with my forearms, burning myself (not terribly, but still not great feeling). Told my boss and showed him my swelling, reddened forearms and asked to go home. He said I could, once I’d mopped out the bottom of all the 10+ freezers and then he left, leaving me alone. I left as soon as he did and then road my bike home to take care of my burns.
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158points
#18
When I was 16 and worked in a supermarket, I was asked to escort a mentally and physically disabled person around and help him with his shopping. No biggie, I did that quite a lot. This one was veeeery different though.
When we went by the clothing section he took a pair of panties and asked me to try them on for him. I was shocked to say the least, but firmly told him that I would not do that, and he had better behave like a gentleman, or I wouldn't help him anymore.
He then proceeded to take of his pants and started masturbating! I don't think I've noped out of anything as fast as I did in that situation.
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154points
#19
I practically saved a 100.000 euros deal at a company, and I got awarded a pay cut. What a time to be alive.
143points
#20
I worked at a high-end car dealership in the service department where the customers could be pretty demanding. One lady came in complaining that her car was making a noise. I asked what kind of noise and where it was coming from, since the car wasn’t currently making any unusual noises. She snapped that I should be able to figure it out. I told her very politely that since the car was not making the noise at the time and no codes had come up on the computer when we plugged it in, that knowing what kind of noise and generally where it seemed to be coming from would help the technicians figure out what was going on. She screamed “JUST DO YOUR F-ING JOB AND FIGURE IT OUT!” and threw her keys at my face. I caught them, threw them on the ground, and walked to my manager’s office to tell him what happened and to request that he deal with her, because I was not going to. He told me that difficult customers come with the job. I’d been yelled at, talked down to, hit on, basically disrespected in so many ways at that job, but having someone chuck keys at my face and being told to accept it was the last straw.
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137points