Minimum Wage Employees Reveal Their Worst 'I Don't Get Paid Enough For This Sh*t' Moments
The minimum wage in America is insultingly low, yet employees working for a pittance are still expected to go above and beyond the call of duty. Some of these stories are pretty frustrating, and only makes it clearer that all work deserves decent pay.
justme112358 asked minimum wage workers of Reddit: What's you re "I don't get paid enough for this shIt" story?
Submissions have been edited for clarity, context, and profanity.
10. Workers comp ain't enough.
So I broke my shoulder this winter because of an icy sidewalk. I work with elder care and one of our jobs is to wash and shower those who are bedridden. I took this job since I really need the money but the pay is less than the after school job I had when I was 13. Anyway my boss and I decided to see if I could work with one arm, which would be fine if I could do something else than the bed showers. When you shower someone who cant move, you'll have to turn them over and make the bed with them laying there. It's simply impossible to do properly with one arm, without ruining that one too. And what did my boss give me.. 3 different bed showers where one of them is a lady close to 200 kg. I did my round and told my boss that that was my last shift.
9. "Right to work," ain't capitalism great?
Our breaks changed. Instead of 2 ten-minute breaks for working 6 hours, 6 hours started to require a 30 minute lunch. So they started scheduling us for five hours and forty-five minute shifts... with one ten minute break somewhere in there, maybe.
I regularly work 10 hour days with a 30 minute break. I do that about 3 days a week. We don't offer full time positions at my job but you bet your @ss I work 39 hours and 45 minutes every week. If we work less than 7 hours they won't even give us breaks.
There's no laws in Michigan about giving employees breaks based on hours worked. Legally they could work us 6am to 6pm every day with no break
8. This was the right response.
I work at Subway, and there are a ton of great stories chock full of annoying customers that I can regale, so I'll riddle you with this one. This kid and his older sister walk in and there's a line of two people before they show up. The sister sighs, and drags the kid to the back of the line. Once I'm done with the other customers, the girl says "Finally," and starts shoving her list of four sandwiches down my throat. Okay, so I make them quite skillfully but in the middle of one BMT she stops me and gives me this stupid look.
"More lettuce."
"Alrighty then," I reply. I put a handful of lettuce on the bread.
"What are you doing? I said more, not all the damn lettuce you have."
I smile, and decided to start fresh with a new sandwich. Thankfully it's up to her standard this time, and she continues giving me her other orders. Once I'm sure she done, I direct her to the checkout and all that jazz, and I see the kid grab a sub off the counter. This particular sub had hot sauce (as she requested) on it, and that didn't seem right.
"That one's a little hot," I say to the kid. The lady reassures me that he can handle it, so I shrug and let him make off with the sandwich. Well it didn't take long for the boy to start crying over how hot the sub was, like I had thought. The woman yelled at me and said she had requested "mild" sauce to which I replied that it was indeed mild.
"You're an idiot. I want my money back for that."
Well that does it. I retort with the standard no refund policy crap we have to spout and she just stands there with her arm outstretched, waiting for me to give her some kind of handout. I just stare at her until she proposes the idea of a free sub.
"I don't get paid enough for this. If you want another sandwich, make it yourself." Apparently that was the wrong move to make, but I didn't care. I had my buddy try to calm her down since I didn't give two sh*ts about how she felt.
7. Pharmacy techs are supposed to control the weather, apparently.
I work in the Walgreens pharmacy and a couple of days ago we had a really bad storm, there was a tornado watch and everything.
So this lady comes in the drive thru and asks to pick up her medication, and in the middle of the conversation lightning hits something and our phones and computers went out, so we were offline, but the power was still kinda on. I tried to talk to her through the drawer and she swears she couldn't hear me, so I wrote: I'm sorry due to the bad weather my systems just went offline, my register is down, I cannot sell you the prescription (or finish it because nothing was working).
Starts screaming at me saying, "why are you denying me my medication, this is ridiculous" I tried explaining to her it's not me, but the weather shut down my stuff so I can't do anything, legally I cannot just give you a naked bottle of pills. AND SHE WAS LIKE I DONT BELIEVE YOU. JUST GIVE ME MY STUFF AND ILL PAY YOU BACK LATER. "Sorry ma'am that's not how it works"
Then this devil of lady okay, she does, "why did you make the weather this bad, it's so inconvenient for me. How dare you, is this what you do to people?"
LIKE WHAT. WHAAAAAT. so I'm like "ma'am I don't have to power to make it rain or storm."
DO I LOOK LIKE ZEUS?
She then proceeds to sit In her car for 40 minutes IN MY DRIVE THRU. CALLS OUR COMPLAINT LINE SAYING WE DENY HER MEDICATION. AND I'M LIKE please let them know that OUR SYSTEMS ARE DOWN BECAUSE THAT'S PRETTY IMPORTANT INFORMATION.
F*cking people like that make me want to bash my head into the wall.
6. Well-played.
My retail job allowed all pets in the store and whenever a dog would sh*t on the floor, I'd find a manager to clean it up. They get paid way more than I do and I would claim, "I'm not qualified to handle biohazards," which meant "Y'all don't pay me enough for this."
I'm a manager at Home Depot and wont let my associates clean up that stuff. It's disgusting and I almost throw up every time but I still do it myself. I mean who can actually tell someone else to go clean up sh!t? I cant do it and keep a good conscience at the end of it.
You are a good manager and leader. Leading by example and using your brain about what is reasonable to ask of your employees is underrated these days.
5. This militant couponer.
This happened a few years back, had to spend 20 minutes patiently explaining to an older, irate customer why we couldn't accept her coupons that had expired a month ago. She asked for a manager less than half way through the debacle, who then proceeded to tell her everything I had just told her. That was a fun way to spend a Sunday morning.
4. But you DID get to use a sledgehammer.
I worked at a now-defunct Kmart. I was asked to disassemble the electronics desk and put it into the compactor. So, I get this huge desk all the way across the store and to the compactor, and... it's not going down. They asked me to crawl in there with a sledgehammer and beat the hell out of it until it finally went down. I was paid $7.25 an hour for that. It took a good half hour to accomplish said task because I had never used a sledgehammer because, let's be honest, I'm no Peter Gabriel and I kept hitting the hammer against the wall by accident. It was what I imagine living inside a giant bell would be like.
3. People like this shouldn't have kids.
Less than minimum wage actually, it was an internship (~40 hrs a week at ~2.50 and hour, I was 16).
It was at a nature center (located in a park/nature reserve w/ info activities and even some resident animals [unreleasable due to health issues]) and I worked in their kids day camp programs. The kids were supposed to be ages 5-12.
Only these entitled parents decided their just barely 4-year-old should be allowed to go. Normally the director wouldn't have allowed it, but these parents had just bought us a new building so...
Cue the worst week I ever had at that job. 4yo was placed in my group for the week. Yay me. To list just some of the incidents: she wasn't appropriately potty trained for a camp like this (she could manage with reminders and a nearby bathroom; but it wasn't our responsibility to remind and we regularly went on hikes where there were no nearby bathrooms), she hit other campers (no damage, she was tiny but still totally not okay), and would try to open the animals enclosures to take them out. When I tried to tell her she wasnt allowed to do that because it was dangerous to her and the animals she said "but they're mine!!!" (would not believe me that they were not).
The worst was when, after being told several times she needed to wait like all the other kids for her parents to come pick her up at the end of the day, she took advantage of me having to deal with another kid having a sneezing fit with a bloody nose (which was fun even in itself) in order to run away and take herself home.
I noticed only moments after she left but it was enough time for her to have left the building and there are plenty of places in the park/nature reserve for a kid like her to hide (yes she hid from searchers). It was a sh*t show. She was found just fine a few hours later but her parents tried to blame me.
I'd have quit on the spot if the Director hadn't decided to finally stand up to them. She was not welcome back for the rest of the week.
2. Yeah, f*ck that.
Certified Nursing Assistant, hadn't even finished school yet. Did clinicals at a few different places right before doing our certifying exams. Hated most of them, but there was one I really liked. I asked a CNA what they paid him and it was like $8.25 an hour (2009)
And then we had a resident get violently sick. Like vomit on the ceiling and walls, sh*t all over the bed, call in a f*cking hazmat team sick.
It took about 3 hours to clean that room and the guy who did it only earned $25 for his time? F*ck thaaaat.
This is why I work at the hospital. Most incontinent people I ever got was 4 out of 9 patients I usually work with. And if there's ever an episode like that, we have EVS to call.
1. Seems dangerous but okay.
I worked as a grocery store cashier for about six months with my sister and my best friend. A lot of crazy sh*t happened but my favorite was when the managers asked us to be on the lookout for a woman who was stealing groceries.
Apparently she would fill up her entire cart as if she was going to buy it but instead of going to the registers would just sprint out the front door.
Thankfully I never had to deal with her but being asked to chase down criminals was definitely not worth $8 an hour.
A lady did this at our local Walmart and tripped on her run through the parking lot and she and the cart fell over. She abandoned her $650 of stolen stuff and ran away. All caught on their security cam. Very amusing.
Sometimes you only need to experience something once, to know it's a never again situation.
I always say, try everything once.
Well, now that I'm older, a caveat to that is... try it all within reason.
How many things have we all walked away from saying the one time experience will suffice?
In fact, knowing when to say no is one of life's wisest choices.
Redditor Croakied wanted to discuss the times we've all said... "once was enough!" They asked:
"What is one thing that you will NEVER do again?"
Love. Did it. A few times. Moving on.
Stay Still
"Jump off a moving train."
DenseDriver6477
"My dad used to jump on a train when he was little to go to school. He broke his nose like twice doing it. He also would not recommend."
Darphon
“vaportini”
"Smoke alcohol. Me and my friends bought something called a 'vaportini' in college where you could pour alcohol into a bulb and after low heat separated the alcohol from the liquid, you could inhale it thru the glass straw you inserted into the bulb. Basically you got drunk directly into your bloodstream/brain and it never hit your stomach."
"If you did too much, your body wouldn’t make you vomit or something, there wouldn’t be a simple self regulation/safety measure. You’d just get alcohol poisoning. Felt very dangerous, the drunk wasn’t a regular drunk feeling. We used it once and were like okay, never again. I’d be surprised if you could still buy it, although it would be incredibly easy to replicate at home."
michelangelho
It’s heartbreaking...
"Fall in love with a drug addict."
Rains_Lee
"Good call, don’t do it. The drugs will always come first. Can’t go out unless their 'ok' with how much drugs they have and money left over if any, cant make love unless they have their fix for the night and even still it never feels normal, can’t trust them after the lies to get drugs and the manipulation they put you through, and you can’t change them no matter how much you try and wish they would. It’s heartbreaking."
Cvilla411
More me time...
"Give up my life for work. F**k going the extra mile for a place that doesn't value you and pays you crap even though you go the extra mile for them. You have 1 life with only so much precious time to enjoy it and slaving away at some job is not worth it. Do what you can to reduce your workload and find better employment, or hell try to change the working conditions at your current job to improve things for everyone if you can."
Mrhappytrigers
Well Obvi...
"Donate a kidney."
ToffieMonster
"Well, you could donate the remaining one. You just won’t be around to say anything about it."
shavemejesus
This is definitely list I can relate to. No thank you on a lot of this!
I Quit
"Smoke cigarettes, it's been two years since I quit."
SuvenPan
Forget It
"Climb mount Kilimanjaro. Toughest thing I've done and it's not worth it. I'm all about tough treks and camping but to put yourself under tough conditions and suspectable to altitude sickness only to get to the top for 10 minutes for a picture. No thank you."
Monks_
"I agree, it was memorable. Once was enough for my husband and I. Thankfully we stayed at American style hotel run by the US Navy with a hot tub and bar. Alcohol was definitely needed after all that."
Whatsherface112
I'm living alone!
"Sign a lease with a stranger without hanging out with them a few times beforehand. My past roommate experiences in college were terrible. Roommates either ignored me, hosted parties til 3 AM on weeknights, made the house the hangout and drug-den for them and their buddies. Meet up once and they'll put on an act for you. If you can, try to see how they act drunk or frustrated."
"Try to hang out with their buddies too so you can see the type of people who could be coming into your future place of residence. As soon as I can afford it, I'm living alone! Now, I investigate a potential roommate's social media and hang out at least twice before signing a lease with them."
fleursdefer
Stay Away
"Take back a cheater. Know your worth my brothers and sisters."
santichrist
"Ughhhhh going back and forth on this one. My boyfriend of 5 years has cheated on me. Several times, actually but says he’s really changed and is ready to settle down and wants me to move in with him. I’m on the fence. So they never change???"
madlecroy
Sleeptime
"Take a laxative and sleeping pill at the same time."
karmaredemption
Once, twice, three times... I'm out. Bye.
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People Imagine How They'd React If Their Significant Other Wanted To Sleep With Other People
There is an age old question that has been getting more traction surrounding sex for partners the last decade or so.
And that is... "is just one enough?"
Were we really meant to only be with one person forever?
There are so many flavors to taste.
What if your partner wants more cookie dough with your strawberry?
Redditor Pineapple-Status wanted to hear everyone's thoughts on opening the bedroom to others. They asked:
"What would you do if your long term SO suddenly wants to have sex with other people?"
I say I'd be ok with it, but I'm remembering my last relationship and I feel like I'm not a "put my $ where my mouth is type" on this issue.
Bye
"Wish her well and spend the next 2 years getting myself back to a place where I am ready to get hurt again."
wickedblight
It's Time to Roll On...
"Personally I would leave them."
"I think they're the ones leaving you. I don't think the relationship changes at that point; I think it ends. If you have a monogamous relationship, they are telling you they want to end that. They might be suggesting starting a new, non-monogamous relationship, but that is a separate thing. The original relationship is over."
octopoddle
ethical non-monogamy...
"OP, it's no different than anything else they want: you either agree and stay together, disagree but stay together, disagree and break up, or even agree and break up. What you're talking about is called 'ethical non-monogamy.'" The seminal book to read is called The Ethical Sl*t."
"It basically boils down to be whatever you want, just don't lie about it. The tricky thing is that this is something that was not present before, but is present now. So it's a potential fork in your road. If you're against it, it's up to your SO to decide if sex with other people is more important to them than a life with you."
Tokugawa
a different story...
"I think it depends too how intently they're interested. If it's a thing they bring up because they're curious but it's not a dealbreaker for them, I'm fine with that even if I don't want to proceed. A solid relationship involves open communication, and it'd make me happy if my partner trusted us and our bond enough to voice that curiosity with me."
"If it's something their heart's absolutely set on, then it's a different story. Either way, it's kind of strange to me how these posts always assume simply asking your partner how they feel about opening the relationship means they're now wholey invested in the poly lifestyle and they'll resent you or cheat if you say no."
donkeynique
Others
"Happy that we have common interest, sad that it's different 'other people."
i_lick_icicles
Sex is always an issue. Remember when it was just fun?
Mine
"Leave her. I’m far too possessive and jealous to be able to mentally accept polyamory. If she has a desire to be with other people I’m not going to stand in her way but I’m not going to be there when she gets home either."
Thiek
Not Me...
"Break up. My parents were poly and it's just not for me. I've been honest with every relationship I've been in that I'm not interested in any type of open relationship. If they want to be with someone else that's fine but we'll be over. My husband is aware of this and on board (and has been for over twenty years!). So if he came to me with this yes I would be heartbroken but I'm not willing to budge on this and it would be the end of our relationship."
GoldDustWitchQueen
Let's Talk
"Counseling time! We're married. I'm chronically ill (stage 4 breast cancer) and have no libido. We try to make intimacy work, and obviously in that case it wouldn't be working. So. Time for a pro to sort out the marriage, and possibly a sex therapist for me."
insertcaffeine
Awkward Positions
"I’ll put myself hypothetically in this position. My partner and I only want each other. We’ve made this abundantly clear to each other. However, if she came to me with desire to open our bedroom and she wanted to sleep with people outside our marriage."
"I would simply express how I vehemently do not an open bedroom and that it would kill any desire I have to want her, be with her, love her, etc. Our couple dynamic has been working well through our ups and downs. Involving some stranger in the ONE thing I find most sacred with my partner is the best way for me to lose any interest or passion for the relationship."
RedFlaim
Farewell
"Break it off, because they definitely already have someone in mind and you telling them no won't change the fact that they were only one step away from following through with it."
Caressticles
Well it feels like a lot of people still believe in one partner, happily ever after. Good for y'all. But big props to these couples who have open and honest conversations about their wants and needs.
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Many of us sometimes fantasize about what we would do to our worst enemies, especially in the moments when they're actively making our lives worse.
While most of us would never actually do any of the things that we contemplate instead of screaming at that super annoying person at the office, we do get pretty creative with the ideas.
Redditor take_me_there_ asked:
"What WOULD you wish on your worst enemy?"
This One Would Hurt
"A conscience. Let her realize the horrific things she’s done."
- Jenny010137
"Seriously. Introspection, self awareness, and empathy are traits that would improve a lot of sh*tty people."
- el_muerte17
"Oh I wish I had thought of this one. If my enemy had a conscience, wow life would be much different."
- Shelbysouth43
No Pearly Whites For You
"I’d like all their teeth to turn really yellow and stay yellow no matter what they do."
- toothfixingfiend
"What did I ever do to you?"
- Spideredd
"I don't even know you! Give me back my enamel!"
- AngryMustache9
Everything You Own Is Orange Now
"Permanent Cheeto fingers. Just orange cheese dust getting on everything."
- cocoapuff1721
"This has to be one of the most evil things I ever heard, yet absolutely hilarious."
-Merk0411
"The Midas Touch: Snack Edition"
- MaryVenetia
Ouch, But Forever
"Stubbing and breaking their toe and right as it’s about to be done healing it happens again over and over for the rest of their pitiful time on this hell we call earth."
- No-Bee-2971
"Sisyphoot"
- Alpha_6
"More of a Toemetheus imo"
- PykeTheDrowned
Self Reflection
"For them to realize how big of an a-hole they are."
- mayhemanaged
"Same for me. The trouble is mine probably knows what a tremendous a-hole he is, and just doesn't care (it's what defines him, is his outlook more than likely), so, give mine a conscience as well, he undeniably lacks one."
- RhoadsOfRock
"a crushing moment of self realization is something that can destroy you mentally. I wish that on them."
- chancetodream
Bury Them Under A Mountain Of Minor Inconveniences
"Always being hungry two hours after eating no matter how large the meal. Slow internet. Traffic jams no matter the location. Self doubt. Allergies. Favorite shows spoiled."
"Nothing major enough to be life altering but constant, low grade inconveniences that wear on your soul every day."
- I_Love_Small_Br**sts
"Every bite of food they eat/drink they drink being slightly the wrong temperature."
"Coffee? Warm but not hot. Cola? Cool, but not cold. Muffin? Ever so slightly frozen."
"Not enough to ruin their life, but just enough to not quite have full enjoyment of anything.."
- HappiHappiHappi
They'll Never Be Able To Use Their Computer Again
"Quick scan with McAfee on their computer."
- halflife_3
"You f**king monster."
- Orion_2kTC
"The constant pop-ups from McAfee is too far."
- _Land_Rover_Series_3
That's A New Level Of Evil
"Bed bugs."
- thrawn1825
"Currently dealing with bed bugs, and I can absolutely confirm this is the kind of thing I would wish upon my worst enemy. It is miserable and painful, and I've tried everything to get rid of them at this point."
"I would easily wish this upon my worst enemy, x10."
- ArbitrarilyStagnant
"Oh hell no, you went there... Hopefully they aren't living in an apartment complex or you've cursed everyone in the building."
- expect_less
Well of course I know him. He’s me.
"$100,000. I sure could use it."
- Sparklesperson
"'It’s no surprise to me I am my own worst enemy'"
- FishyVonFishenHymer
"Lol I thought this was that deep sh*t like 'pray for those you resent to have all the things you want in life….' Then I realized."
- No-Chipmunk9527
Forever Constipated
"That they can never have a satisfying poop. They always feel like they have to go to the bathroom and when they do nothing comes."
- [User Deleted]
"Wow. That's evil. Always feeling the need to pee would be good (as in horrific) too."
- ipakookapi
We definitely don't recommend implementing any of these plans (not that most would actually be possible), but here's some new ideas for the next time you're stuck in a meeting with your most annoying coworker and need a little fantastical escape.
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I grew up poor, and I remember the little things that made me smile when we just happened to have enough that week.
The little things that a truly rich person would not think twice about.
Ah, the luxury of it.
What spells luxury for you?
Redditor ConAir161057 wanted to compare notes about the things in life that feel like items only money can buy. They asked:
"For people who grew up with little money, what always felt like a luxury?"
New clothes. I had so many hand me downs and thrift store clothes... new seemed like a dream.
Anxiety
"After growing up in a home where every unexpected problem was a financial emergency, my idea of wealthy became 'I just want enough money that if something breaks I don't get anxiety about how to deal with it.'"
Obiwan_ca_bl**me
Literature
"Getting to buy something from the scholastic book fair."
Rich*itch3232
"My school, at the end of it a bunch of books were 'donated' and then spread out on a table in the library. We all got to go pick one book. So even if kids didn’t get to purchase a book, in the end they had a chance to still get a book. It’s actually how I got my first Harry Potter book. Was a cool idea for any school staff or parents active in their kids’ schools."
glass_pillow
Christmas
"Getting new clothes at Christmas from relatives. I don't know if that is exactly a luxury or the kind of answer you are looking for, but we never had a lot of money when I was in middle school. I went an entire year wearing the same pants everyday. The funny thing was my parents didn't even buy them for me."
"I got them for Christmas from my Grandparents. All the kids use to give me so much sh*t for wearing the same pants everyday. I always told them that I had 5 of the same pair which made me feel good inside and kind of made them ease off even though I know they didn't believe me."
"I remember I fell on the school bus one day and the jagged floor cut a hole right in the knee cap and the panic that went over me was just insane. It was one of the worst feelings of my whole life because I knew that I didn't have any other pants to wear and that now all of the kids in my school were going to know that I only had 1 pair. Needless to say I could not wait for the last month of school to end."
themagicman_1231
I'm Away
"Summer camp, or basically any school trips that had to be paid for. At my school the kids who couldn't afford to go on trips that happened during school hours still had to come to the school, we just sat in a room and did extra work like it was detention."
Helpful_Yams
"I was lucky. If you taught at the day camp your kid could go for free. That was just day camp though not sleepaway camp. My mom found a camp teacher who had no kids of his own and he signed me up as his kid so I could get free day camp. Did that all through elementary school."
randtcouple
Big Deals
"Going out for pizza was a big deal. Those free mini pizzas for reading books were huge."
Shroom4Yoshi
Food is always an issue when you're broke.
Damage
"Being able to turn on the heat in the cold and pay a professional to fix damaged appliances, plumbing, and other issues."
Liggettef
Spoiled
"When my grandma would come pick me up and spoil me. My parents didn't have much money and were addicts so when my grandma would come get me I would come back with new clothes, video games, toys, etc. I used to think my grandma was rich but she actually just had a stable income."
nawlepen
"I was in this position when I was younger. I always thought my grandma had SO much money… but all she did was go to work everyday. Always made sure I had clothes and all my school supplies. I miss her pretty bad."
Keywork29
Water
"I am from a small island in the Pacific. While I mostly still take cold showers, I have always felt that a hot shower is the finest luxury one can experience. I had my first hot shower when I was 22 years old and I can never forget it."
FSMPIO
"This is the kind of luxury I think people take for granted, I always avoided showers in the winter as a kid since most of the time they where cold showers and the temperature here was around 12c° during those times."
PowerfullDio
Showerware
"Towels. Honestly, I was almost 10 When I realized people didn’t just put back on their dirty clothes after a shower because my family was so large (12 kids total including myself) and extremely poor. I thought towels were just for hotels or were maybe a prop on television. I went to a friends house and she asked for my help folding her towels. I remember laughing and thinking she must be rich."
"Long story short, I wasn’t sure which way to fold the towels, and begged my mom to buy them after I revealed that my friend, Simone, had them. She bought a box of used ones from a local auction and I walked around with them on my head feeling like a frigging empress after that, even though—-let’s be clear… these were second hand towels!"
shakezula1025
Or BK...
"Grew up poor and when I was a kid I used to think you were rich if you had a dishwasher and a millionaire if you had one of those refrigerators that have a button for ice. McDonalds was also a luxury, a couple times a year on our birthdays."
chinderellab*tch
Everyone should have access to all of these things. Why is life unfair?
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