'Be here 15 minutes before shift starts': 20+ Workers share scams that have been normalized in the workplace

As the slow march of time presses ever onward, it's not uncommon for change to occur—in fact, it's unavoidable. Small incremental shifts in policy and perception mount and build up into larger changes. Sometimes, you won't even realize how far things have gone until you take a look back at the winding road back to where things used to be. While these changes are usually for the better, sometimes things work their way into normalization that takes us back a step or two. We might not even realize that this is not how things have always been.

Like what you see? Follow our WhatsApp channel for more.

Author image for Brad Dickson Brad Dickson
Advertisement

  • Take, for instance, the usual reference to a "9 to 5" job. This colloquialism is ubiquitous across the English-speaking world, usually denoting a stable full-time, usually the white-collared working-class role of a salaryman in which you start your job at 9 AM and are out the door by 5 PM, this all-inclusive time period including time to go out and get lunch and talk sports with Steve at the watercooler. These desirable "9 to 5" roles were highly sought after, sustainable roles that offered as much work/life balance as one could hope for. 

    Somewhere along the way, companies stopped offering paid lunch breaks, instead requiring workers to go off the clock for half an hour to an hour, effectively lengthening the time spent at work by that same amount of time. Suddenly, a "9 to 5" job was actually worked between the hours of 8-5 or 9-6, meaning workers either had to leave home earlier or stay at work later—at the cost of their own personal time. But still, inexplicably, we refer to these jobs as "our 9-5" even though in a lot of cases, despite being paid for those same hours, this is no longer the reality.

    Members of this online community gathered to share other things that they feel are scams that have become normalized in the modern workplace.

  • Advertisement
  • 01
    Sleeve - "Be here 15 minutes before your shift starts."
    Via Christina Hawkins
  • 02
    Font - Posted by u/slipsbups What's a work scam that's become so normalized we don't even realize it's a scam anymore? I'll start, when they start processing your payroll days out from your check but won't actually show you the check until it's paid. Show us the amounts in advance and we can tell you if it's wrong before it's too late! I can't tell you how many employers have an app that says the hours I should be paid and still screw up and get me late fees on my bills!
    Via u/slipsbups
  • 03
    Font - Lazerith22 "Be here 15 minutes before your shift starts" Ya bro. Normally I would because I like to ease in, make a coffee etc. but if you require it and don't pay, I'm rolling in at 9 on the dot. Reply Share 5.6k
    Via u/slipsbups
  • Advertisement
  • 04
    Font - sicilian504 Call centers in my experience are terrible with this. They'll say things like "Be ready to take calls at 8" when it takes 15 minutes or so to open and login to all the programs you'll need for the day. Some companies like to say things like "You can clock in up to three minutes early". Gee thanks. Because your basic a computers y'all bought take 5 minutes just to login before I can even start to open programs and y'all tell us to not keep any of the programs we need open over
    Via u/slipsbups
  • 05
    Font - Aern Unpaid lunches resulting in a 9 hour work day. Absolute fr horses 2.4k Reply Share Underwhelming Twin Plus the commute! 664 ور My work day is 10h long on days when I'm in the office instead of 8h when I work at home (because I can actually use my lunch breaks and have no commute time). Reply Share
    Via u/slipsbups
  • 06
    Font - dtelad11 For the Americans in the crowd: Let's talk about tying proper healthcare to our jobs, shall we? It's become so normalized that we sometimes forget how wild it is that a huge chunk of our healthcare security is linked to where we work. If you or one of your loved ones requires ongoing medical coverage, you literally CANNOT quit your job. If you're thinking about switching careers or just need a change of pace, there's this looming threat. You can't just leave, cause if something u
    Via u/slipsbups
  • Advertisement
  • 07
    Font - BuffaloJackalope Used to be a normal shift was 9AM-5PM with an hour paid lunch break included. Now, it's 9AM- 5:30PM, or 8:30AM-5PM or some other weird shift, and the half- hour for lunch is not paid. Reply Share 2.2k ekd003 ●●● Or the dreaded 8-5 or 9-6 with a required unpaid hour lunch Reply Share 1.2k
    Via u/slipsbups
  • 08
    Font - Psychological-Poet-4 "Do it for the team, others are counting on you" to try and get free labor 1.7k Reply Share Mad-_-Doctor Even just "come in on your day off or you'll be letting down the team." The employee knows that their saying "no" is an inconvenience. There's no reason to intentionally guilt them for it. 313 Reply Share
    Via u/slipsbups
  • 09
    Font - rnagy2346 Mixing together sick and vacation PTO.. 1.4k Reply Share 258 ●●● SomeSamples This is bullt. Unless they give you unlimited PTO or some large number to cover it all. And if you are getting sick leave not being able to cash that out when you want. Reply Share
    Via u/slipsbups
  • Advertisement
  • 10
    Font - rubygalhappy Attendance policies, telling an employee who they can and can't take time off to grief for. Reply Share 834 ●●● iamxaq. Or even how garbage grief time is. If my partner passes, I get three days of bereavement. Reply Share 295
    Via u/slipsbups
  • 11
    Font - Tschudy Unpaid lunches. Yes you aren't required to work during that time but you also can't realistically go anywhere and do anything. 2.3k Reply Share 1.0k ●●● Jerking_From_Home This, plus places that say you're not allowed to sleep during your lunch break. Why not? I'm not getting paid which means you really can't tell me what I can/can't do with the time. Reply Share
    Via u/slipsbups
  • 12
    Font - durgadas Wage Theft of almost every type is so normalized we barely notice it. 661 Reply Share ThereHasToBeMore1387. Wage theft in terms of total dollars stolen absolutely dwarfs any other form of theft, including shoplifting. Yet I hear at least one news story a day about mass shopliftings and how companies are closing stores in some areas because of it (which is a lie). 196 Reply Share ●●●
    Via u/slipsbups
  • Advertisement
  • 13
    Rectangle - thomascameron "Team lead." It really means "you're going to get management responsibilities without management pay." 4338 Reply Share
    Via u/slipsbups
  • 14
    Font - DrSnap23. Working most of the day for most of the week. 150 Reply Share
    Via u/slipsbups
  • 15
    Font - Deckbothular4 . A work contest to see who can have the highest sales dollars. We push to make them a cap ton of profit and they give us sk rewards like $10 gift cards or the smallest percentage of a bonus they can find. It's total garbage. 471 Reply Share
    Via u/slipsbups
  • Advertisement
  • 16
    Font - dartheduardo. Sick days. Don't call them sick days. When I need them they drain my available PTO first before they get to the sick days. By then I am usually no longer sick and with the little amount PTO I accrue during the year, I am now not getting a vacation. Out sick is not a frig vacation. Reply Share 309
    Via u/slipsbups
  • 17
    Font - OTU Away-Quote-408 Showing/Adding up health insurance as a part of Total Compensation. 189 Reply Share
    Via u/slipsbups
  • 18
    Font - Tigger808 HR is there to protect the company, no one is there to protect the employees. 694 Reply Share
    Via u/slipsbups
  • Advertisement
  • 19
    Font - Loud_Internet572 Five day work week. 787 Reply Share WrinklyScroteSack my favorite fact about the five day work week is that it was a compromise. The same opposition against 3 and 4 day weeks happened when companies were making people work 7 days a week. Reply Share 239
    Via u/slipsbups
  • 20
    Font - omw_to_valhalla · Working over 40 hours a week on salary. Fok that 125 Reply Share
    Via u/slipsbups
  • 21
    Font - galaxychildxo Being expected to give two weeks notice or you get a bad reference/can't be rehired, but we can be fired on the spot for literally no reason at all.
    Via u/slipsbups
  • Advertisement
  • 22
    Font - atomic_chippie Unpaid internships. How and why have we ok'd this?? 4 76 ♡ Reply Share
    Via u/slipsbups
  • 23
    Font - chibinoi Promising growth and development the stick) but not following through. 39 (dangling the on Reply Share
    Via u/slipsbups

Stay up to date by following us on Facebook!

Tags

workplace discussion ask reddit employment issues antiwork workplace-stories jobs employment-discussion job work workplace Horrible Bosses employment in the workplace
Scroll down for the next article

Also From FAIL Blog

Hot Now

Stepmother encourages 19-year-old stepdaughter to put an end to joint family holidays with her husband's ex-wife

Stepmother encourages 19-year-old stepdaughter to put an end to joint family holidays with her husband's ex-wife

01
Petty boss refuses employee's request for paid sick leave, then fires employee when she puts in her 5-week resignation notice: ‘At this point I’ve had enough’

Petty boss refuses employee's request for paid sick leave, then fires employee when she puts in her 5-week resignation notice: ‘At this point I’ve had enough’

02
Office food thief steals coworker’s food for 6 months, learns the hard way it's been dog food all along: 'Their hair does seem shinier'

Office food thief steals coworker’s food for 6 months, learns the hard way it's been dog food all along: 'Their hair does seem shinier'

03
Professor tries to drop 22-year-old college senior from class based on one absence, student claps back with receipts: 'Will you please explain the policy to my professor?'

Professor tries to drop 22-year-old college senior from class based on one absence, student claps back with receipts: 'Will you please explain the policy to my professor?'

04
Neighboring business owners start parking feud forcing boss to create permanent solution: 'It's out of our control now'

Neighboring business owners start parking feud forcing boss to create permanent solution: 'It's out of our control now'

05
Update: Coworkers join forces to confront paralegal who blocks doors when he sees women approach: 'HR won’t do anything'

Update: Coworkers join forces to confront paralegal who blocks doors when he sees women approach: 'HR won’t do anything'

06
Advertisement