rSlash - r/Antiwork WHY WON'T MY EMPLOYEES WORK FOR FREE???

Episode Date: December 30, 2021

r/Antiwork "Honestly, employees are so unfair to their bosses. It's so rude to ask bosses for a paycheck in exchange for a hard day's work. In fact, I would say that employees are obsessed with getting paid! Why can't employees just work for free due to their love and passion for the job? Honestly, this whole generation of workers is selfish and greedy." -Modern Bosses Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to our slash anti work where a company tries to uncover an employee led undercover paint smuggling operation. Text from OP's boss. Hello OP, Sophie has just quit and we're already short staffed. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it looks like I'll need you to come in on Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, I'll be out of town visiting family as I told you in October. You approved it and I'm unable to change my plans. I'm sorry. I don't appreciate your tone. We had enough staff in October and what I said then no longer applies. Again, I apologize, but I'll need you here for Thanksgiving. That won't be happening. Speak to me like that again and you'll be really short staffed. You're about to get yourself into some big trouble. Co-operate

or you may find yourself here on Christmas as well. Got it? Yeah, I'm not sure how I put up with your garbage for almost a year. I quit. Good luck finding someone though. What is this guy's argument? You had better come in when you don't want to, or else I'm gonna threaten to make you come in when you don't want to, again. Dude, there's a- there's such an easy way to do this. Sorry boss, I don't want to work on Thanksgiving. Okay, well how about I up your salary to, let's say, 40 bucks an hour, then will you

come in? Oh, well, 40 bucks an hour. In that case, hell yeah, I'll be there. Like, it's not hard, man. It's not hard. What they want is, this is basic supply and demand. On Thanksgiving, demand for labor goes way up because workers don't want to work.

So that means the workers control the supply. So it's like, hey, pay us more. It's real simple. It's real simple. Ah, I feel like that. Feel like that last post got me worked up a little bit. Our next way to post this from this man are 256. About three years ago, I used to work as a videographer

doing social media content for a seven-figure company. I was paid roughly just better than minimum wage and I was cranking out at 1.50 videos. Whoa, 50 videos a day? I'm a pro YouTuber. I make videos professionally for a living, and I have an editor on a hire who helps me, but 50 videos a day is nuts. Even if those videos are just like 30 seconds long, that is an immense amount of work.

Okay, sorry, I just... Man, 50 videos a day. Okay, back to the story. I was freelancing and I was on a loose contract I was desperate for the money. It was an insane amount of work and How I managed to do it for six months is beyond me especially for how awful I was paid the office was an Incredibly bitter and snide place and it was clear that management would purposefully stir stuff up to watch staff fight as a form of entertainment. I kept well away from it, but it was incredibly stressful on top of the video work.

After about 6 months, I pitched the higher ups that my videos are making an insanely positive difference to their sales. I showed them graphs of interactions and direct links to sales on the website via my content, and I asked for a pay raise. I compared my ideal salary to others in the industry, and I made a big deal about how it would still be less than what I should be paid, however, I still wanted to continue working for them. I was fired hours later for, I kid you not, not pulling my weight, as well as not having

the desired effect they wanted on social media. I was fuming and now unemployed. I struggled for months to find another job. Today, years later, while browsing a very old Google Drive account, I found that that company was still using a folder that I created and owned. They were mostly active in the files containing templates, adjustment layers, presets, and even video that I created. Over 18 people were actively using it daily to continue with their social media campaigns. This was a cloud service that I was paying

monthly for as I wanted extra space for my work. This is my drive and my work. I own it. So I copied the files a local version for myself and then deleted the online version. Tomorrow they're gonna wake up with none of their video assets, including things they were working on. F them. Okay OP, OP, this is a great story. I'm really glad that you got that little bit of revenge against the company. I would also like to point out that if they're using work that you own without your like contractual approval, then you can definitely get those videos taken down. So if you feel like going a bit more scorched earth, then you can take down

their YouTube videos, their Facebook posts, their Twitter posts, pretty much anywhere that they use your templates without paying you for it. Yeah, definitely. You can get that stuff taken down. Also, OP, you seem like a really just amazing, incredible worker. If you can, if you can produce those results and you can put out 50 videos a day, which is just nuts, then I definitely know some people as someone in the industry that could use that type of like, diligent worker. So OP, if you're listening to this part of the video, contact me, and if you can prove that you're like OP in this post, then I can probably hook you up with a couple of people I know in the industry who can probably hire you on.

Or at the very least, I know a couple of resources that you can use to find like video editing, videography jobs because, you know, there's a lot of people in YouTube who are always looking for extra videographers. So if you're out there OP, I got you back. The next reddit posted from the mark of CJ. I work in the pharmacy department of one of the largest and most well respected employee own grocery stores in the world. Lunch breaks don't exist here since we're always short-staffed and prone to rushes completely

overwhelming us very easily. So lunch is scarfed down whenever there's a millisecond of downtime on the clock. A few days ago, I saw my chance to speedwalk towards a T-Ile and Snag a can of Arizona so I can pay for it and get back to work with no time wasted. That's how it usually goes, except this time there was a long line of customers ahead of me waiting to pay. As I'm waiting, I decide to crack it open and take a sip. I pay for it immediately and go back to my department.

An hour later, my department gets visited by the store manager and two assistant store managers and they proceed to question me about the tea. I show them my receipt and tell them that they can check the cameras for proof that I did in fact pay for my drink. Then they proceed to tell me that they did check the cameras and they saw me break company policy for drinking a beverage before paying for it. I was in such disbelief that I was speechless jaw-droppingly speechless. The store manager then tells me choose your next words very carefully as if to imply that my career is on the line. He asked

me if I'm under the influence of anything. Seriously, I told him no, and he immediately sent me home early and told me that I'm temporarily banned from their premises until they hear back from corporate. Four unpaid days later, I get a call from the manager and he asked me if I can come in to talk about my future. I drive an hour across town just to sit down in a room full of corporate scum and listen to them attempt to make me seem like some kind of criminal for theft of merchandise. Even though I paid for it, they fired me right then and there. A billion dollar fortune 500 company can't handle the theft of a 99 cent can of tea that I paid for.

Meanwhile, I'm 20 years old already living out of my car while using my gym membership for simple amenities. I wasn't making a livable wage to begin with, running my city keeps rising, and I feel like an effing loser. I don't know what to do. My body hurts, I feel so alone, I hate this life. I just want to scream until my lungs liquefy.

Okay, down in the comments we have this nut-so story from Matthias. I feel for you man, I used to work for Sherwin Williams. My roommate and I decided to paint the interior of our house. Since I work at the biggest paint company in the world, I figured sweet, 30% discount, I may as well get some at work. My roommate and I split the cost 50-50. I paid cash and he paid on his card. Surewin Williams flew in and investigated from Cincinnati to investigate my suspicious purchases. And he grilled me for two days about how much paint I'd been selling under

the table. My manager knew that I'd done nothing wrong, but somehow it triggered some weird security system. They flat out told me that I'd stole from the store and to admit all the stuff that I'd done. I was legitimately confused at first since I just bought paint from my own home. Eventually they left, but they never said anything in wave apology, and not long after I was fired for unrelated issues. They really flew someone in from another city and presumably put that person up in a hotel room for two plus days and then flew back. How much would that have been?

Had to have been thousands of dollars to catch some notorious underground paint rings muggling operation. What? What? Our next reddit post is from Dr. Squirtle. some notorious underground paint rings muggling operation. What? What? Our next reddit posted from Dr. Squirtle. My fiance got fired for manifesting failure. So my fiance worked at a bridal shop. She had an appointment set up at the end of the day

and the person ended up not showing up. She jokingly said, I said I doubt she shows up, so I must have manifested this. Her coworker ran off to tell the boss. The boss pulled her aside and said, you can go home. Called her later and fired her with the reasoning being,

you're manifesting my business's failure, and I can't have that, so I need to let you go. I'm absolutely dumbfounded at this reasoning, but she was a terrible boss, so this is the best thing for my fiance in the end. Oh, down in the comments, this post from Omji It's a Ghost. Tell her to go back in tomorrow and say she manifested her job back. Our next reddit post is from Purple Pinball.

I'm a 26 year old guy and I work at a local big box store. It sucks, I know, but I haven't had much luck entering the career that I studied for. I worked at Closing Shift last week, and I noticed my boss having car issues, and I asked if he needed a ride. I drove him home, and it was really awkward. He just talked about work, and I got the sense that work is his entire world. As I dropped him off, he says, pick me up here tomorrow at 7am. I was like, yeah, sure, because I thought he was joking.

He proceeds to tell me that his car will need to be taken to a mechanic and he needs to ride tomorrow at 7am. I reluctantly agreed. I've been driving him into work for over a week, and he's gone as far as to change my shift schedule so that I start at the same time as him every day and get off at closing. He has me off for four hours in the middle of my shift so that I don't rack up any overtime hours. Yesterday while driving him home, which is 15 minutes out of my way, by the way, I asked if he could pay for some gas. He went nuts!

He said that I should be glad to even have a job And that I should be grateful for being able to make a connection with someone who's in a powerful position inside the company I need the job, but I don't know what the heck to do. He hasn't even told me when his car is expected to be fixed Life sucks at the moment. Okay, Opie. Let me tell you a story from my life Which will show you just how badly you're being treated. So when I was like 17 or so, I had a job working at Subway. And one of the managers who worked with me, like I had a pretty decent relationship with her. We got along well, we didn't really disagree much.

And she was a middle aged woman who had a husband and a kid, and she just worked at Subway to make some like pocket change for her family. Anyways, one day like her car wouldn't start, husband and a kid and she just worked in some way to make some like pocket change for her family. Anyways one day like her car wouldn't start and she called up her husband to get her husband to come pick her up but he couldn't do it so she asked me if I could drive her home. And I said sure no problem, whatever. And unfortunately because I was driving to a place that I never been before, I wasn't

familiar with the roads, I was driving and you know also I was 17 so I wasn't the most skilled driver in the roads. I was driving and you know also I was 17 so I wasn't the most skilled driver in the world I was driving kind of shakily, you know, just not really not really as well as I should have been you know I was trying to find the right roads and I was listening to her give me directions and it was nighttime because we just closed So I couldn't see much and unfortunately a cop pulled me over and gave me a ticket and my coworker the cop pulled me over and gave me a ticket. And my coworker amazingly agreed to pay my ticket. And I was like, no, you don't have to do that. I mean, I'm the one who's driving wrong.

And she was like, no, if you weren't driving me to my place, then you never would have gotten the ticket in the first place. So it's the only right thing to do. And then she said, besides, I'm really pissed off at my husband for not coming to pick me up. So I'm going to make him pay for it. Which I thought was funny, so I agreed. And true to her word, she did it.

She paid for my ticket, and you know, we continue to work together just fine for the couple more years that I worked there until I graduated high school. That's how you treat a coworker with integrity, with respect. And your boss isn't even pitching in for gas money. And he's making you sit around and twill your thumbs for four hours. The least he could do, the least he could do is toss you some over time. You know, even if he doesn't want to pay you gas money, and I guess I can understand that because no one does want to pay gas money, he could be like, hey, look OP, I'm not going to pay you gas

money, but I'm going to throw you some over time. That way, that will basically act as gas money while you're doing me this favor. So you make a little bit extra money and I get a ride home. Is that seem fair to you? And like, yeah, he could do it better, but at least he's doing something for you, but the dude's not even doing that. He's intentionally making you do nothing for four hours in the middle of your shift just to double screw you over. Opie, you are getting mega screwed! Mega screwed! I wouldn't stand for it, Opie, especially in late 2021. People are desperate for labor. There's a labor shortage, so I would say a screw-in, walk out, get a job someplace else. I know I'm saying this with like a really blase attitude about it, but honestly, Opie,

your boss has basically got you over a barrel, and he's learned that you're just going to take whatever BS that he feeds you. So if you don't get out now, I think it's probably gonna get worse before it gets better. An Arkansas waitress was fired for not sharing her $4,400 tip with coworkers. The owner also wanted a cut. The waitress said that pulling tips never happened in the three years that she worked there. She made nearly $10,000 on GoFundMe since being fired. Wage theft is the most common form of theft in America. This is something that people don't talk about nearly as much as they should, because it's ridiculous.

Like the number one thief in all of America is... is company stealing from their own employees. It's... it's insane. It's it's insane. It's insane, man. Restaurants underpay their wait staff. And then when their wait staff actually makes money, they expect to cut, give me a break, man. Man, this this sub-write epist is me off sometimes.

I'm gonna be honest with you. And if it doesn't piss you off, then you're not paying attention. Like they're, they're literally creating a job where they don't pay their workers a wage. They say, oh, well, we're not going to pay you because you make tips. That's your money. So go make tips, sweetheart.

Then when they do go make tips, they're like, oh, wait, we want some of that money. Ah, okay, okay. I'm still having trouble finding baristas. We close for almost three months now after being open for two months due to baristas leaving and not finding any help. I'm trying to reopen and I'm offering 12 to 14 bucks an hour plus tips for part time and full time. And it seems as if we're attracting pay chasers are very unqualified people.

I know that beggars can't be choosers, but it's like they know we need help and yet they demand high pay all these benefits and no flexibility in any way on work days. What are y'all gonna do to help or to help us stay in business? Like, if I need to do this by myself, then I just want to know my options so I'm not working 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. by myself. Did this lady really call employees pay chasers? Pay chasers. Like, yeah, lady.

Bereases aren't working as bereases for the thrill of making coffee. Why are you bereasta? Well, I just really, really love the smell of coffee. It just smells so good, so I want to be surrounded by it every day so I'll work at a coffee shop and that's really my number one reason not for the money not because I have to pay rent and feed myself and because I need food to live. What is this woman talking about? Pay chasers? Yes lady, you do have to actually pay people to show up and work. They're not doing it because they love the smell of coffee. Our next reddit post is from Bunny Bun Bun. My boss ate half of my lunch while I was in

the bathroom. I went to the bathroom and came back to find my lunch box open and half of my meal missing. Confused, I asked about what happened from an older lady who sits next to me. She responded that our boss came in, noticed the food on the table, took half of it on a plate, and left for a meeting. I got angry and complained about how unacceptable that was, but she told me to just shrug it off and that it's to be expected. I mean, what's? Ha ha ha ha. Down in the comments, I'm gonna read this post from Tony Nukes, which is very appropriate.

Shit on their desk and say you're giving them the other half of the sandwich. That was our slash anti-work, and if you like this content be sure to follow my podcast because I put out new Reddit podcast episodes every single day.