#but soon it becomes that and basically being an unpaid employee for 4 hours a day

[miodiodavinci]

woughh,,,,, busy,,,,,,,,,

[prorevenge]

Deny my wages and steal my stuff? I'll take that and more, and prevent you from owning a business again.

About 5/6 years ago I was doing my apprenticeship to become a mechanic. I managed to land my apprentice role at a classic car restoration shop. It was a one-man band operation run by an ex-Lotus technician (we'll call him Slimy Git), and I thought it'd be a great business to be a part of and help grow. Unfortunately, I was wrong. Looking back on it, SG clearly only took me on because the UK government has an arrangement with various trade industries that, if a company takes on an apprentice taking part in an official apprenticeship scheme (which I was), the government gives the company a cash grant. They're also allowed to pay apprentices well below the minimum wage as an additional incentive. During my 11 months at that workshop I earned only £300 a month. So SG got free cash, and also got to use me as dirt cheap labour, but I was willing to put up with it for a couple of years and learn the trade on awesome old cars. It didn't turn out that way.

Whilst I was working there, SG asked me to do many questionable things, including removing parts from a customer's car and using them to fix another car of the same model that we had in the shop, and disassembling a large part of another customer's car, before ceasing all work on it (I later found out that this was his tactic to put the car in an undriveable state, and then effectively hold it hostage so he could extort more money from the car's owner for repairs that, ultimately, we would never do). I really wish I had wisened up to what SG was doing at the time, and I feel really awful for my part in his fraud, but I was a young, naïve apprentice, and I just did what I was told.

Then, one Monday in late 2014, I turned up for work in the morning, and SG didn't. After an hour of waiting, I drove home again and fired up my computer, and found an email from SG, saying that he was super sorry, but he was closing the business. That was that. At the time he was overdue with my wages by two months, but promised in the email to pay them into my account before long. That was the last I ever heard from him. He never replied to any emails or picked up his phone, and of course, I never got my last two months wages, leaving me £600 out of pocket. Not only that, but SG stole my socket set, worth about £100. By the time I was able to get the landlord of the workshop to let me in to retrieve it, all the tools were cleared out.

I was totally fucking furious as you can imagine, but luckily my dad knows what to do in this kind of situation, so we started putting together a case for small claims court. We basically assembled as much evidence as we could that I was owed money, with a demand that SG pay me £700 (unpaid wages plus the socket set), and send it to the county court (I suppose similar to a district court in the US). The court accepted our case, and sent it to SG to give him the chance to respond. He responded basically saying that, because I had been employed by the company (that he was the sole proprietor of), and not directly by him, he didn't have to pay me, as the company was no longer in existence. We wrote back to the court asserting that this was basically bullshit, especially as I had an email from SG's personal account promising to pay me. The court agreed, and lacking any further replies from SG, automatically settled in our favour, slapping SG with a County Court Judgement (CCJ) ordering him to pay me the £700.

If you're not from the UK, a CCJ is a real ball and chain to have on your name. It can make it very difficult or downright impossible to do things like apply for credit cards, buy things on finance, get a loan or a mortgage, or start a new business. I'm not sure exactly how you get rid of one, but obviously paying the debt it was awarded for probably helps. What it did do though, was give us the option to have government bailiffs forcibly collect the £700 from SG. One problem though, I didn't know where SG lived, as he had moved out of his old house a month or so before, clearly part of his escape plan, and I didn't know his new address. We appealed to the same county court to furnish us with SG's address, but they wouldn't because of some ridiculous bureaucratic reason, I imagine to do with data protection or something. If I wanted to get my money back, I would have had to somehow find out SG's new address. Short of hiring a PI, I had no idea how to do this, so, reluctantly, I decided to let the issue go, and chalk it up to experience, and hoped the CCJ would give SG grief in the future.

​

Fast forward to last year, and a letter drops onto my doormat. It's from a county court, this time in Kent, which is about 300 miles away from where I live. Turns out, SG had moved there, and applied to the court to have his CCJ dismissed, as apparently, he had tried to set up a new business, and had applied for a bank loan, and had been denied both by Companies House (the governmental register where all businesses in the UK must be registered), and by the bank, because of my CCJ against his name. The court had contacted me to ask if wanted to oppose his motion to dismiss the CCJ. You bet your arse I did.

My dad and I got hold of all our original evidence from 4 years earlier, which luckily my dad still had on his computer, and trekked all the way to Kent to face this fucker in court. Since CCJs and small claims stuff is fairly low level, lawyers are apparently not usually involved in the court proceedings, so SG and I were representing ourselves. The judge asked me first what the original CCJ was about, and I summarised it for him, stating that I was after my £700. The judge then turned to SG, and asked him why, after 4 years, he hadn't paid the debt. SG then goes on a whiny little tale, giving the same argument that he gave 4 years ago, that I was employed by his company, not by him, and that the CCJ was unfair, and that I was being “vindictive”. The judge asked for my response, and I simply told him that that was SG's original defence, and that if it hadn't stood up in a different court 4 years ago, it shouldn't stand up now. There was a bit more back and forth, but ultimately, the judge agreed with me, and gave his ruling.

Not only did the judge order SG to pay us not £700, but £1000, to compensate us for interest and having to come to Kent to go to court, but also slapped the CCJ on him for ANOTHER 5 YEARS! He actually said to SG “You are a deceitful man, who clearly cannot be trusted with a business or with employees.”. As soon as we were done, SG just turned and stormed out of the courtroom, and that was the last time I saw him. I waited for a cheque for my £1000 to arrive, but of course it did not. Luckily, however, this time we had SG's current address from the court documents, so we contacted the court and arranged for bailiffs to pay him a visit. It took another two months for them to do their thing, and I had to pay a £60 fee, but I finally got my grand. So finally, after years of waiting, I get my wages, tool money, and then some, and the satisfaction of knowing SG won't be able to scam anymore customers or employees for years. Arsehole.

(source) story by (/u/Superior_Comestible)

[stephicness]

A long rant in case you want to read, because I quit my job today! C:

So I think some of you guys may have known this before, but I had started this job in around July. Applied, got recommended by a worker there who had gone to high school with me, and boom, the job was mine as soon as I met the boss. It’s not a particularly hard job, to be honest. We get the overstocked/returned items from Costco, process and check them to see if they’re quality enough to resell, and then sell it online or at our store base. Simple enough!

Upon being hired, I was promised some pretty basic things as apart of the job: $10/hr fulltime, a really good raise and a manager position as I worked with the company, my own office space, and at the most basic of it all, respect for being a college graduate and a great worker. It was simple demands, 

I specialized in inventory oversight and listings for online products for sale on Amazon and Ebay, but I was hired mostly to just help out the manager and assistant manager at the time. Grunt work like picking inventory to help with shipping, cleaning and folding clothing, and eventually listing products for online sales. It was an easy job to do, and fun at first.

But then little things added that just made it worse as momentum picked up.

First off, despite being promised fulltime hours, I was docked immediately to parttime. Not by much, as instead of 8-5, I’d work 8-4. But when I eventually lose 50$ a week, which I could be dedicating to my student loans, it definitely adds up as time passes. So she compromised with me for 8-4:30, but nothing over 40 hours. If I work any more, I’d get in trouble. If I work any less, I’d also get in trouble. So to compensate, it was hour-long lunches to remedy my lack of break at this job.

So then time rolls around, and within the three months that I worked there, a grand total of five people were fired or left the business. One because of differences in management, one because of better opportunities (and a dispute over her time to spend with her newborn child), one because she was stealing from the business, one because of work ethic being shoddy, and another because she received no benefits after two years of working there (and because college was a more important calling. Good for her!). Already that seemed to be alot of warning signs. One person in a few months is understandable. But five? And one of them being fired the day I got hired? Well then!

So then amongst the five people, the assistant manager and manager left/got fired, leaving me and my co-worker of a month less than me, to take on the duties of managing the inventory, listing products, doing online customer service, shipping assistantship, and alot more. I figured because the manager was gone and my boss was often busy that maybe I could help a bit more. Check-in with people during the morning to see what needs to be done, what I need to get done, and if anyone needed help throughout the day. General things that a good worker would do, I hope?

But no. Instead, I gave off the vibe that I was trying to become the boss in place of my boss. For showing leadership traits and for wanting to know what my co-workers needed in the warehouse. Instead, that came off as too boss and as if I was superior than everyone else. And I’ll admit that I’m slightly guilty of it because I know for a fact that I work hard and do my best to be an optimal worker. Take it into perspective too VIA these scenarios:

1) In the time it takes me to take inventory out of our system for shipping -- through three - five aisles (depending on help that day) and a hundred products -- it takes my co-worker that same time to get through one aisle picking the same things.

2) I can list up to 300 products (AKA 15-20 boxes worth of products) in a day with the right focus. This includes having helped with shipping and tending to other tasks for the day. My co-workers before could only do somewhere between 5-10 boxes a day.

3) I am one of the only people who knows how to navigate the new system products and locate them under their skews and tags. I am also one of the only people (sans the boss) to recognize a product’s look with you just telling me the name of it.

4) When receiving inventory and inspecting it for listing, a palette containing 40-50 apple boxes can be processed by me in just a single day -- if it’s a good day. On average, it takes the rest of our team two days to do such if I’m not helping.

It’s little things in the warehouse, but all tasks that you can be good at if you’re efficient at your job and you work hard.

But instead, it felt like the work that I put in was only demeaned each day. Mundane issues were blown out of proportion, and I wouldn’t even have been there to make the mistake. But alas, it was often blamed on me. It was the whole ‘You’re not the manager, but you should assume more responsibilities like one.’

All while my co-worker, the one whom worked less time than me, was revered as the one who could do no wrong. Given tasks and radiating an air of superiority because his tasks were ‘harder’ in comparison to me. Work is gauged differently, and his work was no less hard or easier than mine. And yet, it felt as if he could tell me what to do when I couldn’t. As if he could brag about his successes in the warehouse and be praised, as I state mine and be told that I could do better.

Perhaps the sad tragedy of showing too much work ethic and being expected to show more than that.

But what really irked me wasn’t that I was forced into a position without benefits of cushion time, or that I was scolded for trying to be a good worker and leader -- it was the lack of respect that I got as not only just a worker, but a human being as well.

The least a person can do is keep their promises once they made them. But she took away my hours, she denied me any opportunity for this ‘management’ position that she eagerly encouraged, she took away my office because she viewed my isolation as something that made it harder for her to peek over and see what I’m doing (micromanaging, but she just calls it ‘being in the loop’). And worst of all, if I try to object to it and voice my concerns of the matter, I’m seen as ungrateful. Someone with attitude. 

Oh, I’m not even going to deny that I have an atrocious attitude. When you see my in real life and I’m having a bad day, boy howdy do you know I’m having a bad day. But when you wake up every morning and go to a job that you know doesn’t treat you well, that doesn’t pay you enough, that causes you so much mental exhaustion to where you can’t even bring yourself to smile anymore -- even the kindest or fakest of people can’t keep that facade up for long. The flat-out favoritism of my co-worker over me is exasperating, the petty things I get in trouble for, the potential of ‘doing better’ even though you’re trying to hardest. It really wears you down. Especially when you consider that your boss only views you as a slave, unwilling to help you if you need help, and hell -- unwilling to pay their employees on a national holiday out of courtesy.

Not to mention, as my added little salt, I worked there for almost six months now. Out of those six months, I only requested one day off. One. Unpaid time off on a Friday after completing the rest of my tasks for the week and helping my co-worker set-up for his workday in my absence. And during that single day off, according to another co-worker who tells me the juicy gossip, I was...

Accused of wrongly listing products on purpose.

Accused of doing my job wrong, again, on purpose.

Accused of misplacing items that should have been found VIA the new system with ease.

Complained about for not being there a total of 5 times throughout the day.

Dissed for having such an easy job at listing products with UPC codes over my co-worker, who specializes with products without one.

And then the days coming back, I was then complained to for not being there a total of 3 more times and then accused of ‘not asking for the day off properly,’ after having given my boss a week and a half-worth’s notice before ultimately taking the day off.

And this is one day out of the five months there. In comparison to my co-worker, whom has taken at least two every month.

Perhaps it’s petty of me to complain about a bad boss, because ultimately, it’s not the last job I’ll ever have. But it’s nice to be able to get it off my chest and finally quit this job. Now it’ll let me find a new job in a field that I hopefully can do well in. If not that, perhaps I can focus back on my artwork and make a profit from that once more. Because one thing I noticed while working for this company is that I lost my creative drive... Have you noticed it too? I don’t make as much content, I’m so unmotivated and unhappy that I just can’t bring myself to write, or draw, or make graphics -- and it’s detrimental to a person who strove to make a career out of being able to do all of this.

But now, I’m free from this job and able to get my footing once again and focus on finding a job that I will enjoy and pursue my intended career goals for the future. Who knows? Perhaps now I can focus on my commissions and working on those stories/games once more!

I have high hopes for the future ahead now. But one step at a time until then, right?