Company only pays half of minimum wage, so new teen hire refuses to show up for first shift, causes other employees to quit: ‘Good luck… You guys gonna need it!’

Author image for Elna McHilderson
Elna McHilderson • Managing Editor
May 24, 2025 4:00 PM EDT

Companies try their hardest to act like the are humans, but they, quite literally, are not. They use fancy lingo and power dynamics to convince you that what they are doing is totally fine, but in many cases, it is not. In many cases, the company is the one pulling wage and time theft from its employees. Take, for instance, this Reddit user's experience at one of his first jobs. He saw a posting for a job at a convenience store near his home. He was just a teenager and was hunger for some independence. So he interviews there and is appalled at what he hears from the management… They tell him that they only pay HALF of minimum wage. HALF. First of all, that is not legal, that is why it is the MINIMUM, but hey, companies tend to get away with whatever they want with no consequences, so why not try to pull this wage theft guised as wage transparency?…

Add as a preferred
source on Google
Advertisement

  • Luckily, as a teenager who is only getting a job for a sense of independence and not because they need money for bills and survival, he had nothing to lose. So he decided to play a little game with them and accepted the job. Before he even enacted his brilliant plan, they told him they weren't even going to pay him anything for the first four shifts because it was “training"—now he was REALLY excited to go through with his plan… Long story short, his plan caused other employees to quit and he didn't even have to be there. Hopefully someone reported that company to the labor board too!

  • Cheezburger Image 10509368832
    via Unsplash+ (and Getty Images)

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

  • "Want to pay half of minimum wage, I will make two other employees quit along with me"

    Seven years ago, I needed cash for a new graphics card. I was just a teenager back then. I had worked with my aunt before, but her place was about 40 minutes away, so I decided to look for something local.
    via Emotional_Union5892
  • Then I found a job posting just a couple blocks from my house, night shift clerk at a convenient store. It paid a few bucks above minimum wage. I applied, got a text back, and went in for an interview.
    via Emotional_Union5892
  • The interview went well, until the end. The manager said she wanted to be clear because a lot of people had quit over pay misunderstandings. Then she hit me with this, for the first month, Id be paid half of minimum wage. After that, I'd get
    via Emotional_Union5892
  • minimum wage for another two months, and then I'd finally get the rate from the job listing. I was stunned and abhor. But I played it cool and acted like I was totally fine with it. She was so happy, going on about
    via Emotional_Union5892
  • how young people these days don't want to work, but I was "different." And yeah, I was different, alright. A few days later, they told me I got the job. I was added to the kakaotalk group chat with all the clerks and the manager.
    via Emotional_Union5892
  • They made a schedule to cover the 24 hour shifts. Then the manager sent a message saying my first 4 hours wouldn't be paid because it was "training."
    via Emotional_Union5892
  • At this point, I wasn't even mad anymore. I was just amazed at how malpractice this whole thing was.
    via Emotional_Union5892
  • So when the day came, I just didn't show up. One minute before my shift, I left the group chat and blocked everyone. About 20 minutes later, I got a call from what I assume was the manager's husband, asking if I was coming in. I told him,
    via Emotional_Union5892
  • something along of "Nah, I'm not interested in working for half pay. good luck though. you guys gonna need it" She was livid. Screaming on the phone, yelling about how people like me make her hate youngs.
    via Emotional_Union5892
  • I'm guessing someone had to cover my shift, unfortunately. But I guess. that was the final straw, because later that few day I saw both the morning and graveyard shifts posted again on the same job site, for that same business.
    via Emotional_Union5892
  • So yeah, I didn't even have to do anything big. Just dipped. And it made people quit. It exposed a manager who refused to pay fair, legal wages.
    via Emotional_Union5892
  • PAYDAY CRUNCH Butterfinger HEATH B4/A PET FOOD CANDY & NUTS AUTOMOTIVE SOAP-DETERGENT SELECT MARKET TWIX LAY LOOK! MUNCH Kees Pe Your Winston Winston 9.50
    via Unsplash+ (and Ty Feague)

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

  • CoderJoe1 So shifty.
    via CoderJoe1
  • NotYourNanny Wage theft is a felony in some states. They really need to be reported to the labor board. And the news media.
    via NotYourNanny
  • FreddyForshadowing I'm guessing at the time you didn't think to also report this to the local authorities because that is all absolutely illegal in multiple ways. A missed opportunity, but what are you going to do?
    via FreddyForshadowing
  • About the only way that could have made this better is if you said, "Oh, yeah, I'll be right in!" then just never show, and make a game out of how many times you can get them to call before they realize you're never showing up.
    via FreddyForshadowing
  • I_Arman This is one of those times that I would start reporting them to every government agency I could. Not just for workers' rights, but stuff like tax evasion and health code violations.
    via I_Arman
  • You know if they are willing to blatantly break the law for paying workers that they will definitely be breaking all the other rules. Plus there's a chance you get a cut of recovered taxes, so, bonus!
    via I_Arman
  • Tremenda-Carucha It's really ridiculous how someone in power could think underpaying workers like that is okay, especially when it's so clearly against the law... what kind of system lets this happen without anyone stepping in?
    via Tremenda-Carucha

Want More? Follow Us and Add Us as a Preferred Source on Google.

Tags

karens blue collar employee service industry story boss how to quit tradie work drama working in trades employee dinning manager tradesman work story server workplace environment trade work waiter funny server i quit quit on the spot blue collar workers blue collar worker story reddit karen tipping fine dinning satisfying quitting story young blue collar server life what goes around comes around entitled people karma pay back senior blue collar quitting work karens in the wild justice served workplace entitled karen karma dining experiences r-entitled waitress Reddit quitting story restaurant work karen story blue collar karma karen quitting restaurant server entitled people workplace story service industry funny dinning
Scroll Down For The Next Article