'[I] made my ex-boss lose $25,000 on his salary': Fast food workers agree to walk out after district manager withholds bonus money

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Sep 7, 2023 3:00 PM EDT

This person worked 23 days in a row — but only because they were promised a nice cash bonus. Lots of jobs incentivize their employees to work as much as humanly possible. U/Log_Leader knows that all too well. Food industry jobs seem to take advantage of their employee's willingness to work more so than other industries. If you've ever done a "clopening" (close the store, then return several hours later to open it) it really starts to feel like you're living to work, instead of working to live. 

The OP worked at a fast food burger joint working about 65 hours per week. One day they were offered a bonus to take on another shift during their day off, and their work schedule just ballooned from there. When the money's good, you want to take advantage of it, so the OP was stunned when suddenly the restaurant's district manager wouldn't pay up. Worse still, they had a flimsy excuse to give the OP. Maybe they never planned on paying the OP that bonus money in the first place, since OP never got it in writing. 

Scroll through this excellent story of pro revenge. Then, these people witnessed instant karma as it played out right in front of them. 

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  • 01
    Eyelash
    via Onur Binay on Unsplash
  • 02
    Font - Made my ex-boss loss - 25,000 on his salary I use to work at a Wendy's as a manager. It was already a cy job, but my general manager was nice, and most employees were easy to deal with.
    via u/Log_Leader
  • 03
    Font - All this started when I was already working ~65hr/week. I was offered a $100 bonus to work one of my only days off. I decided to do it, and later that week. Before I had even been paid I was asked to come in again. I said this time I would like $150 as at this point I had worked almost 23 days without any days off. They said they'd do it, so in I went.
    via u/Log_Leader
  • 04
    Font - Cut forward 3 weeks, I've been asking about my money for a while now. I am told by my general manager that I could speak to my district manager as he would be in later that night. The conversation goes like me:"hey, do you know what's going on with the bonus? I'm owed $250 with both the days" district manager: "well, that's why I came here. The store has been having trouble making money." So, basically he's telling me that my performance isn't good enough. At this point I'm working dinner
    via u/Log_Leader
  • 05
    Font - close. district manager: "your shift isn't making as much money as others, and your drive time is higher" Me: "well, we are doing all we can. It takes extra time when we only have half the number of people with the same amount of customers." district manager: "that's really no excuse." Me: "when am I going to receive my bonus?"
    via u/Log_Leader
  • 06
    Font - My dm was a very sheepish man(py) so he is very obviously scared when he tells me this. district manager: "we can not give you a bonus until the revenue rises and drive time goes down." I am speechless at this point, the rest of the conversation was a blur. I grew up on the south side, you didn't mess with peoples money.
    via u/Log_Leader
  • 07
    Font - A day passes, I've had time to collect myself and speak to my entire crew. Everyone agrees to walk out with me. So I call my district manager. The phone starts to ring but then it cuts off. He declined my call. So I called him again, and again and again. Finally I just leave him a voicemail. Me: "look, Jakob you need to talk to me, you have until 8:45 to call me back or all of night crew is done." At this point it is 7:30. I go into my office and start watching my bosses email. She leaves
    via u/Log_Leader
  • 08
    Font - This idiot put my name on the email. So of course I read it. Long story short, in the email, it was him trying to make sure my general manager was going to be ready to go to work. Aka: he wasn't going to call me or give me my money, so I get all my people together and we walk out leaving everything out all the meat all the toppings, the fryer. Everything.
    via u/Log_Leader
  • 09
    Font - The next day I turn in my keys. About a week later I'm called by my brother. Me: " what's up." Brother: "Jacob lost all off his stores. He has to go back to Indiana." My brother worked at the store as well. If you don't know, district manager's pay is based on the amount of stores they have and how much they make. When he moved to Indiana his wages got reduced for 65,000 to around~ 40,000. All this for $250.
    via u/Log_Leader
  • 10
    Font - + [deleted] That was super tasty. Thanks for sharing. 2.7k Reply Log_Leader OP. Thanks for reading.
    via u/deleted
  • 11
    Font - Pan-Pan90 S Looks like Jacob doesn't know how to listen. You said in your voicemail ALL of Night Crew would be walking out and it sounded like he thought he'd only have to send in your GM to cover the shift. If he wasn't satisfied with the numbers that a shift manned by FOUR people did, what the h did he expect to do with a shift manned entirely by ONE person?
    via u/Pan-Pan90
  • 12
    Font - What Jacob should have done, was pay you what was promised out of his own pocket. Now he gets to not only enjoy going back to the middle of what sounds like bumfuck nowhere, but he gets to do with a pay cut. The fact you got an entire shift who liked your management style enough to put up with not having as many people staffing the joint to join you in a total walk out (which I imagine if they hadn't been willing, you wouldn't have scr wed them that night by the sound of it), Jacob killed
    via u/Pan-Pan90
  • 13
    Font - I do so love happy endings where the bad guy gets hosed by his own folly. ^^ Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
    via u/Pan-Pan90
  • 14
    Font - _GamerForLife_. Jakob wouldn't even need to pay the bonus from his own pocket. It's biggest lie that I have ever heard that a big firm like Wendy's doesn't have $250 to spare. This is just the good old tale of "me me me, f everyone else" and how it doesn't work.
    via u/_GamerForLife_
  • 15
    Font - Log_Leader OP. Oh, I didn't believe him for one second. But oh well, now I make 3 dollars more an hour.
    via u/Log_Leader
  • 16
    Font - Fearless_Hat_227 your entire crew quit? nice team efford! screw the DM lol 441 Reply Share Log_Leader OP. I knew the crew outside of work. I would consider most family anyway.
    via u/Fearless_Hat_227
  • 17
    Font - OzRockabella Make sure you tell the IRS you are owed wages. 152 Reply Share Log_Leader OP. How do I go about that?
    via u/OzRockabella
  • 18
    Font - prettypsyche You think by now bosses would get that it would cost them more in the long run to not pay their employees a fair wage. If you can't afford to do things honestly, you don't deserve to have a business
    via u/prettypsyche
  • 19
    Font - Log_Leader OP. You know what's also funny, as stated I was doing -65hrs/week. He would come in and b about the amount of overtime I had. He said it was because company policy. I just think he was mad my paychecks were bigger than his. I know they were bigger than my gm's.
    via u/Log_Leader
  • 20
    Font - Mikebyrneyadigg A Wendy's DM makes $65,000? That's.. not a lot holy s 48 Reply Share Log_Leader OP. At the time this all happened, he's was already down to 3 stores. Normally it would be 6-7 stores. So his pay tanked.
    via u/Mikebyrneyadigg
  • 21
    Font - macgillweer "I'll need that in writing." Always. 40 Reply Share Log_Leader OP. Yeah, hindsight. I had thought about it, but didn't think I would need it. Never trust anyone.
    via u/macgillweer
  • 22
    Font - [deleted] $65k doesn't seem like enough money to manage multiple stores as a district manager of any kind. 11 Reply Share Log_Leader OP. If he was good at it, he would've had 6 stores and his salary would be closer to 100,000
    via u/deleted
  • 23
    Font - surlydev Did you reply to the email? Or even better phone him up again and say "emailing someone else won't help you, phone me" 13 Reply Share Log_Leader OP. Nah I didn't, I was just so mad I just got my crew and left.
    via u/surlydev

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