Union electrician spitefully applies to low-wage jobs requiring expert skills to waste unjust employers' time in interviews

Author image for Etai Eshet
Etai Eshet • Editor
Jun 17, 2026 2:30 PM EDT

Most people waste time in bad job interviews by accident. This guy does it on purpose, and the distinction is important. A true modern-day Robin Hood

The premise is simple. Companies post jobs demanding expert-level skills across half a dozen specialties, offer wages that would insult a recent graduate, and then act confused when they cannot fill the role. The union electrician in this story decided that if his time was going to get wasted anyway, he might as well be the one choosing when and how.

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    Smiling worker in blue coveralls leaning near equipment in a workshop.
    via PakulinSergei

    Worker in blue coveralls smiling in a workshop, like he's satisfied, as shown by a model.

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    I'm a union electrician. I started going to maintenance interviews just to make employers offering low wages waste their own time.

    It started after a customer kept trying to poach guys from my crew every time we went to work at his place. They don't want to pay union rates, so they're looking for an in-house electrician they can pay a small fraction of what they pay us.
    via cool_fetters
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    To be clear, I'm not applying to rival non-union contractors. That's a clear line I won't cross.
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    What I do is look on Indeed, LinkedIn, and random companies' careers pages for maintenance postings asking for someone who can do just about
    via cool_fetters
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    everything: troubleshooting, controls, service work, installs, code knowledge, machinery, everything. Things that, even as a JW electrician, I'd expect to
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    come with additional training or a much better package. And then the pay is something like $21/hr.
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    So I send in an application, and they get excited because my credentials cover a lot of what they're asking for, and we go through the whole interview
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    Smiling man in a hard hat and blue work jacket standing in a workshop with tools behind him
    via PakulinSergei

    Electrician in a hard hat smiling confidently in a workshop, as shown by a model.

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    hassle. And when they send an offer, I turn it down and tell them they need to at least double the wage and benefits, or raise them significantly, if they want qualified people to even consider it.
    via cool_fetters
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    Honestly, I can't even blame you. The number of companies expecting expert-level skills for low wages is getting ridiculous.
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    So far it's mostly been annoyed hiring managers and a few irritated HR emails.
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  • There is something genuinely poetic about a guy with serious credentials walking into these interviews, sailing through them, and then declining the offer with a note explaining exactly what the job should actually pay. He is not being cruel. He is providing market research. The companies just do not like the findings

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    Smiling worker in an orange hard hat and blue uniform holding a large wrench in a tool-lined workshop.
    via PakulinSergei

    Smiling electrician holding a large wrench in a workshop as shown by a model.

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    owaikeia We all have our hobbies, and I genuinely approve of this. Keep up the good work!
    via cool_fetters

  • The job listing that asks for troubleshooting, controls, service work, installs, code knowledge, and machinery experience is its own comedy genre at this point. Every field has a version of it. The ask is essentially for someone who has mastered several overlapping careers, ideally with a decade of experience, and the compensation listed is what a starting retail position pays. The audacity is not even hidden. It is right there in the posting, formatted in bullet points.

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    Purple-Lie-354 Not all heroes wear capes. Union wages should be the norm, not an outlier. Living wages, not survival wages. I like his overall plan.
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  • What makes this particular form of protest work is that it costs the company something real. Interview pipelines take time, coordinator hours, hiring manager schedules, and HR bandwidth. Every time someone qualified walks through the process and walks back out with a note about doubling the salary, that is a measurable waste of resources. Enough of those and someone in accounting starts asking questions.

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    bagofwisdom I ain't even in a union anymore and I'm 100% behind you.
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  • The irritated HR emails are the best part. The people most offended by this are the ones who built the system that made it necessary, which is a level of irony that does not require any additional commentary.

    Pay what the job is worth and the problem solves itself immediately.

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    PostNasalLeakage This is awesome. As a Union member, different trade, I whole heartedly support this.
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    Ok_Comfortable589 your doing gods work
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    woodenblinds nice. we need more of this
    via cool_fetters

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workplace discussion boss worker workplace-stories hr wages colleague Horrible Bosses electricity blue collar
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