Boss scraps bonuses and cuts employees' pay to build $140,000 pool pushing them to plan their swim to freedom: ‘I was praised for being the #1 earner then in the next breath said no more bonuses’

Greedy bosses and their unquenchable thirst for profit have become a draining part of the lives of too many of us. These pinnacles of commercialism, these paragons of entrepreneurship, have truly mastered the art of milking their employees dry while lounging on their piles of cash. 

Who needs content workers when you can dive into the watery contents of your shiny new pool?

In this particular episode of How to Alienate Your Staff, we find ourselves in the cutthroat world of hair salons. It's a place where dreams of fair compensation go to bald, and the only thing getting trimmed more aggressively than hair is the employees' pay.

Our hairstyling hero, armed with nothing but their trusty scissors and dwindling hope, face a barrage of delightful surprises. Pay cuts masked as promotions? Check. Impossible sales targets? You bet. Rewards that would make a dollar store clearance bin look luxurious? Absolutely.

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  • Boss thanks us for record profits by taking away bonuses and giving us a paycut!

    "My lovely overlords have been having individual meetings that resulted in one of the top earners quitting on the spot"

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

    via Kaspars Grinvalds
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  • I work in a smallish but very successful commission based salon as a hairdresser owned by a husband and wife. My lovely overlords the last few weeks have been having individual meetings
    via Adnama024
  • with each one of us which has resulted in one of the top earners quitting on the spot due to harassment from the owner who treats her business like an episode of Real Housewives (besides the point, but I'm mad about it).
    via Adnama024

  • As our plucky stylists contemplate their next move, be it unionizing or a mass exodus, one thing is clear: the only thing more styled than the clients' hair is the boss's ability to spin move away from responsibility. 

    Proving they may not be scholars in cutting hair but they sure are masters of cutting corners.

  • Cheezburger Image 10460272640

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

    via Samotrebizan
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  • When meeting time came for me, I was praised for being the #1 earner with the highest retention rate then in the next breath said no more bonuses. In order to make my same commission rate, I will need to increase my weekly
    via Adnama024
  • totals by $1500. Our commission is on a sliding scale, so what used to earn me 50% now gets me only 43%. However, I was one of the 'lucky' ones to have a heads up. People who had their
    via Adnama024

  • The bosses, blissfully unaware of such trivial matters as broken equipment or employee morale, are busy planning their next exotic getaway. After all, nothing says "successful business owner" quite like being perpetually absent while your salon crumbles around your staff.

  • Cheezburger Image 10460274944

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

    via kali9
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  • meetings earlier in the month weren't clued in to their new idea and only found out when they were missing hundreds of dollars from their checks and had to ask. Instead of our bonuses, we now
    via Adnama024
  • do sporadic 'contests' which is borderline harassing clients for 5 star reviews to drown out negative ones from the owner and free marketing for their business. (We run our own social
    via Adnama024
  • media pages and all contribute to the salon's page) This current contests prize is a $15 box of cheetah print hair foils that's been taking up space in a cabinet for the last year!
    via Adnama024
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  • I really felt the love this last Christmas with a $5 Starbucks gift card after in their words 'the most successful and profitable year the business has had to date'. Sure, theres been weeks where we run out of product, have broken sinks
    via Adnama024
  • and no hot water, but they wouldn't know because instead of being present they are swimming in their new $140,000 swimming pool, or on one of their bi-monthly lavish vacations.
    via Adnama024
  • Not sure what I'm looking for here. I needed to rant and this seemed to be the place to do it. I'm personally supporting my husband and I while he's in school but I also work with single
    via Adnama024
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  • mothers but EVERYONE is already paycheck to paycheck. Finding a new job is a definite, just super bummed because my coworkers are the best and we're all getting bent over. We are all scared of
    via Adnama024
  • retaliation to speak up individually so we're considering 'unionizing' for lack of better term and writing a group letter. Unfortunately I am in Texas and none of us signed any type of contract so the only thing we can do is beg for money or find a new job.
    via Adnama024
  • EDIT*** A few of us have discussed opening our own salon/suite. It is my ultimate goal down the line. Unfortunately for now, they have 'locked' our clients information behind a
    via Adnama024
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  • password only the owners know so we're devising a plan to 'break in'. In the meantime we are gathering our clients information as they come in.
    via Adnama024
  • 2ND EDIT*** Thank you all for the overwhelming support and advice. Currently walking into the salon on a Sunday to hopefully get a good chunk of my rations this paycheck. I'll reply when I can!
    via Adnama024
  • cr1ter Honestly why don't you guys think of starting your own salon, and take your customers with you.
    via Adnama024
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  • IceDragon_scaly So in short: Your good work has been honored with more work right since to get at the same money you have to work more?
    via Adnama024
  • Greed knows ni limits. Thats just the start of how they can f you over, milk more $$$ out of you!
    via Adnama024
  • thejenwith1n If you stay it says to these owners that you all accept being exploited. It will continue, and it will only get worse. For people like this it's never enough. Takers TAKE until you stop giving. I'm sorry you're in such a
    via Adnama024
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  • position. If you don't have a contract, is there any reason you can't take clients with you and start working out of your house or something similar? My
    via Adnama024
  • stylist left her salon and worked out of her kitchen for years. It wasn't the fancy salon experience but it was affordable, and the flexibility worked for her. Good luck!
    via Adnama024
  • csimon2 If you have a healthy social media page, and clients willing to move with you, then you should have no issue finding a new salon with better terms to bring up shop. This seems pretty
    via Adnama024
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  • cut and dry. If my stylist approached me and said, "I'll have to charge you $10 more if I stay here, or you can continue to pay what you do today at this new place", I know where I'd go for my future cuts
    via Adnama024

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management boss workplace-stories hr toxic-workplace manager bosses work PTO managers supervisor workplace Horrible Bosses work-life balance
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