'Teaching 7 classes a semester on 3 different campuses and making less than $30k/year': Workers share experiences in the workplace that radicalized them

Emmy Pratt • Senior Editor

May 20, 2024 12:00 PM EDT

Everyone has a moment when they realize jobs can be cruel and unusual. I doubt that any of us had a great time at our first jobs, and I'm no exception to that rule. On my first day of selling my labor, I asked if I could leave when the shift was scheduled to end, and I got laughed out of the room. I got used to constantly being screamed at by adult male customers who don't care if they make a teenager cry. I wasn't allowed to sit down unless I was working 8 hours, and even then, I was only allowed to sit on the toilet for a moment of peace. Even going to the bathroom was policed and monitored by the bosses. Those events combined radicalized me on some level against the Chinese food chain restaurant industrial complex, and I'm not the only one. Twitter users recently came together to share the workplace events that radicalized them; some of them are harrowing.