Out-of-work employee secures college teaching job, accidentally gets paid 3x normal salary: 'I was thrilled'

Is a paycheck mistake a secret worth keeping?

There are a lot of people out there who believe that they don't get paid enough, and that isn't just those who work in the typical types of minimum wage jobs. In fact, there are probably employees in all industries who have complaints when it comes to the size of their salary. Even those who are relatively happy with the amount they get paid probably wouldn't say no to the opportunity of a little extra money if it came along. Life is expensive, after all.

However, this becomes a dilemma if the money in question is acquired through lies and deception. Even those who have no moral objection to such a thing will risk losing their job or worse if the situation is found out. One department it is wise to stay on good terms with is payroll. They are the ones who control the money that most people work for, and honesty is usually the best policy to keep everything functioning as it should.

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

Author image for Ally Perry Ally Perry
Add as a preferred
source on Google
Advertisement
  • A man smiles as he stands behind a podium with a laptop on it
    via Andrej Lišakov (Unsplash+)

    A man smiles as he stands behind a podium with a laptop on it

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • One man found himself in a less-than-ideal financial situation when he had to quit a job in order to move and help take care of a relative. He decided he wanted to go into higher education for his new role, as he enjoyed teaching.

    He managed to find a part-time position at a local college, which he was worried would not end up paying him enough. However, he was delighted to find that the paycheck was much more substantial than he had hoped. He justified it to himself as he felt that the fees to attend the institution were expensive, and the workload was higher than expected. Little did he know that all was not what meets the eye.

  • I got overpaid (3x my salary) and never told anyone.

    Early in my career, I had to quit a full- time position and change location in order to support a loved one's medical needs. It was also time for a change, and I looked at university jobs because I thought teaching might have some future potential. I had been successful
    via DudelyMore
  • as a supervisor and trainer to newer graduates at my previous job and really enjoyed it. I needed something I could do from anywhere and with flexible hours, anticipating up to 6-12 months before the situation resolved and I could look for a more conventional FT
    via DudelyMore
  • job in my field and have freedom to choose where to live again. I took a remote job teaching for a university that had an online/hybrid learning program for students in my profession.
    via DudelyMore
  • When I got the offer, I was a little worried that they limited me to one class for the first semester, pending a performance review before I was allowed more. Not great, as the pay per class was less than half of what I was targeting as a minimum salary to break
    via DudelyMore
  • even (especially since there was no health insurance). BUT, when I got my first check, I was thrilled to see it was exactly 3x what I thought the pay was to be! I must have misread or misunderstood the salary details when I signed up. The math kind of made
    via DudelyMore
  • sense, as there were three pay periods over the semester, and I got paid what I had thought was meant to be the full semester pay for this one pay period. I thought I must have read the pay per check as the pay per semester, and to say i was pleasantly surprised is an understatement.
    via DudelyMore
  • This was a great salary for teaching one class, though, admittedly, there was also a lot more work than I expected when I accepted thinking the pay was going to be 1/3 of this. Still, it was more than fair at this pay rate. I started
    via DudelyMore
  • A college teacher sits on a stool and takes questions from students seated in front of him
    via Andrej Lišakov (Unsplash+)

    A college teacher sits on a stool and takes questions from students seated in front of him

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • thinking about the tuition (which was pretty high), times the number of students, times my work load, etc., and I started rationalizing that this was a proper and fair amount. Honestly, it probably was considering that I was pretty much doing all the work as an
    via DudelyMore
  • adjunct while my boss, a tenure-track professor with the department, would meet with me and other instructors for only about an hour every few weeks to check in. But I was only thinking how lucky I was for this pleasant salary surprise.
    via DudelyMore
  • End of semester came, and I was excited. They told me I was doing a great job in my review, going above and beyond expectstions (of course I was with how generous my salary was!), and that I could easily pick up a couple courses each semester as long as I
    via DudelyMore
  • wanted to and as things continued to work out so well. With two classes a semester at the same rate and three semesters a year (they had a full summer docket, too), this would add up to more than I'd ever made at that point. This would be plenty to get by and to save, even with having to buy my own health plan.
    via DudelyMore
  • Needless to say I accepted when they offered me two more classes each for the next two semesters. Over the two- week break in-between, I started making plans around the job, and I turned down another good-paying part-time job because this one paid so
    via DudelyMore
  • much better. Also, since I could work from anywhere as long as I held certain office hours for student meetings, I was already starting to think about staying on indefinitely. I started looking at property in some tropical places where I could live well cheaply, imagining saving and investing my excess salary
    via DudelyMore
  • while sipping drinks that come with paper umbrellas and eating fresh fish and fruit. I was feeling on top of the world despite that I was still dealing with arrangements for my family member's care and spending a lot of time supporting them. To think I had originally just wanted to figure out how to eke out enough to survive for a year...
    via DudelyMore
  • So d in was I disappointed when that next semester started and that first paycheck for two classes was 1/3 less than I was paid for one! Luckily, I did not go straight to HR to complain. The money from the first semester was mostly spent on the move, and I started to worry they would ask for it back if there had been a mistake. I would not be able to pay...
    via DudelyMore
  • After digging around, I found a job posting with the salary for my boss's position, which was exactly 3x mine. I realized someone made a clerical error and must have accidentally coded me as an "Associate Professor (tenure track)," a FT salaried position, the instead of "Adjunct Professor (temporary)", a pay-per-credit position. You could easily mix the two up in a hurry, especially from an alphabetical list...
    via DudelyMore
  • So I kept my d In mouth shut, worked too hard the next two semesters for not enough pay, no healthcare, and never moved to the Caribbean Sigh... At least HR never found out.
    via DudelyMore
  • Doing a lot better now, many years later, but I still remember thinking I had it all figured out back then. If something seems too good to be true, it probably is. :)
    via DudelyMore
  • A college teacher standing a podium looks to the side with blurred students seated in front of him
    via Andrej Lišakov (Unsplash+)

    A college teacher standing a podium looks to the side with blurred students seated in front of him

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

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

Tags

salary secret employee work teacher workplace mistake college
Scroll Down For The Next Article

Also From Memebase

27 Flu Memes for People Missing the Days When Breathing Through Their Nose Was Not a Privilege

27 Flu Memes for People Missing the Days When Breathing Through Their Nose Was Not a Privilege

Trending Now

60-year-old employee defies 33-year-old manager in refusal to return to office 2 days a week: 'She argues everyone is overwhelmed'

60-year-old employee defies 33-year-old manager in refusal to return to office 2 days a week: 'She argues everyone is overwhelmed'

01
Grandma refuses to watch grandkids over the summer after their mom makes one too many demands without a single thank you: ‘We are rewarding her bad behavior'

Grandma refuses to watch grandkids over the summer after their mom makes one too many demands without a single thank you: ‘We are rewarding her bad behavior'

02
Kids hire professional cleaners to prove their mom’s complaints have nothing to do with actual cleanliness: 'Mom was a spite cleaner'

Kids hire professional cleaners to prove their mom’s complaints have nothing to do with actual cleanliness: 'Mom was a spite cleaner'

03
24 Plant Based Memes for Vegans Handling “How Do you Replace Meat?” Questions Like a Champion

24 Plant Based Memes for Vegans Handling “How Do you Replace Meat?” Questions Like a Champion

04
Employee hands in notice, manager demands she write 100 page technical manual in her last 10 days: 'I have spent seven years building these processes'

Employee hands in notice, manager demands she write 100 page technical manual in her last 10 days: 'I have spent seven years building these processes'

05
15-year-old employee is fired after refusing to work a 14 hour shift with no break: 'I couldn't handle working 7am-9pm my first 2 days of having a real job'

15-year-old employee is fired after refusing to work a 14 hour shift with no break: 'I couldn't handle working 7am-9pm my first 2 days of having a real job'

06
Advertisement