We all hope to work for decent people, but that's not always the case, as we learned when Redditor WapitiTal asked: "What's the most unethical thing you've seen an employer do in the name of profits?"
"I work at a clinic..."
I work at a clinic owned by a doctor that is notoriously cheap and shady. I hate even being in that building. I try to avoid it. One of my coworkers who has more of a stomach to deal with him told me a story about a time he was there. Our equipment needs chill water to cool it. The chill water system is installed by a different company so my coworker was relaying this to the doctor to get the right maintenance guy there.
The guy shows up and immediately identifies the problem. One of the electronic valve solenoids is out no big deal it will take an hour to replace. The guy draws up a quote and hands it to the doctor to sign so he can get started on the work.
For those of you that don't know how this system works. When you have gear that needs regular maintenance like this equipment you usually have contracts but in this case its a pretty robust equipment so instead they just do time and materials. That means if I go in to fix something I have to show you the cost of the materials and the labor. You then have to sign the quote showing you agree to the charges.
So the doctor looks at the quote and tells the guy it shouldn't have broke. The maintenance guy who is really just fixer-upper guy and shouldn't be brokering deals says he can't work unless there is a signature on that paper. The doctor yells at the guy for half an hour to get started but he holds his ground waiting for the signature. Red in the face and still fuming the doctor signs the quote. The guy gets started. He has to work in a back room kind of cramped. He finishes the job and started to get ready to leave. He looks at his clipboard and there is no signed quote. No one saw the doctor take it but it was obvious he did. The guy asked him about it and the doctor chased him off the property with his lawyer on the phone telling him how he was getting sued.
I applied and got a job when I was a teenager for a siding company for a few weeks for some quick cash. I went to the job site for 2 weeks, finished the siding job then the guy just ghosted me for a month. I told everyone I knew the guy was a sleazeball who is trying to take advantage of kids. Sure enough, he hired another guy I know and stiffed him. I lost track of him after that cuz he was dead to me essentially. I hope he gets his in the end.
"My husband..."
My husband worked for a company for 13 years. They had a big job and the boss told him if he got it done under budget and ahead of time there was said big bonus for him. He busted his @ss every day no days off for 9 months and the boss bought his wife a new car and himself a new boat . My husband got laid off a week before Xmas.
"I quit last year..."
So, I used to work for Nordstrom. There was a guy that was surpassing everyone in their daily goals to get as many people to join the Nordstrom credit card program. I didn't understand how this guy was racking in so many credit cards with the customers. It wasn't until I worked with him that I saw what he was doing. He was signing up customers under the thought that they were going to be "saving" money that day.
It totally sketched me out because the customer was not aware of any credit cards opening up with their name. I confronted him about his shady ways of doing this. He just walked away from me. I went to my manager and told her about the way he is going about opening these credit cards. Yup, that did nothing. He ended up getting a promotion on such a job-well-done with all the credit cards he was able to pull in.
I quit last year and never looked back. Places like Nordstrom scare me, because it is not only being shady to its people, but the ways these employees are finding ways to "bend" the rules is nuts. It is all fake.
"Pretty sure..."
Pretty sure my 1990's employer never applied the full raises I got. It was my first "real" job and a mom and pop operation. The tabulation of wages was just an adding machine receipt stapled to our check that made no sense to someone who was in the top math level in school. I didn't seem to ever make more money based on actual hours, though the amount fluctuated randomly. I am fully convinced that they stole hundreds or even thousands from someone making barely over minimum wage. I would not have been the only one either. I...am not inclined to forgive them.
"Telling families..."
Telling families of autistic kids they could "recover" their kids 85% and they can live full, "normal" lives. They would get families to move to my state, get funding and then fudge the results to show "improvements." Families would move with no family support, split families where one parent moved and the other would have to stay because or work or own a home. So much money out of pockets for extra services. Once I learned they were super shady, I quit.
"My brother..."
My brother had a coffee shop/restaurant. He bought a big container with pump of Ghirardelli chocolate syrup for the mochas and when that ran out he poured the cheaper Hershey's chocolate but still told customers it was the Ghirardelli one. He also claimed his canned chili was homemade and got mad at one of the employees when she told a customer she cut herself opening the chili can. When he made fish and chips he told people it was cod when he was using pollock...
Yeah, he's a piece of work, and that's the least of the sh*t he's done.
"Taking money out of my paycheck..."
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Taking money out of my paycheck to cover the cost of a drive-off. The gas station I worked at was pretty old-school and had a rolodex of "trusted" families and businesses that were authorized to pay inside. This guy must have been aware of that, as he hit the "pay inside" button and then stared angrily at me, like "What gives? Don't you know who I am?" I was brand new and didn't want any complaints, so I authorized the pump request. $50 later, he drove off. If I wasn't desperately broke and living shift to shift, I'd have hired a lawyer. Being in an at-will state, I'm sure they'd eventually find some other reason to fire me. So I ended up just biting the $50 bullet and cutting back my food budget. Never authorized another "pay inside" request after that unless I could personally identify them.
"I worked..."
I worked at Mr. Goodcents. The original store. I cut my finger while using the slicer. Got blood all over the turkey. My boss washed it off and put it back with the rest of the meat.
"I used to work..."
I used to work at a staffing company in the automotive manufacturing industry.
All of their salespeople were women. I noticed and asked my boss why that was. She thought I was being sarcastic, I suppose, but it didn't dawn on me right away:
They refused to hire salesmen because the women would attract the business. Several of our saleswomen reported sexual harassment and the company swept it under the rug.
They are probably still in court over a few of their cases.
"Buddy of mine..."
Buddy of mine worked for a guy doing landscaping for about half a year. His boss withheld income tax on every paycheque, but pocketed it rather than paying the government. Friend got audited and was fortunate enough to have saved his paystubs showing his deductions, but he would've been SOL without them.
I've also seen business owners telling their employees how to vote in elections, saying that if X party gets into power, they won't be able to afford to keep their staff.
"Then take government bailouts..."
Sell sub-prime mortgages they knew would fail and have the parent company buying derivatives betting that those mortgages were going to fail. Then take government bailouts and not help the people we ducked over.
(Sold Mortgages for a subsidiary of AIG).
"I once worked..."
I once worked in a restaurant. The veal parmigiana was made with pork butt. The crab cakes were made with imitation crabmeat.
We were frequently asked for the recipe for these items which was always denied. I didn't learn the truth until I had been working there for about a year.
"I worked..."
I worked at a local Italian restaurant briefly. My boss insisted that if we served a customer a fountain drink, we had to pour it back in if they didn't finish. So if a customer ordered a coke, and only drank half, we'd have to pour the coke back into the fountain machine. Apparently he thought it was saving money.
"Went and literally fussed..."
Went and literally fussed at the business that sought to hire one of his employees, thus causing the new and far better job to say "ehhhh, no, we don't want drama from their employer..."
"I drive coach..."
i drive coach, my boss started giving the coaches really cheap to our major client, in exchange for which the tour guide went round the coach and collected a £2 per head tip for the driver per day of the tour (our coaches had 57 seats) this money was placed in a sack, given back to the tour company by the tour guide (all this was done in mandarin, thinking the drivers wouldn't know) , who once a year passed the whole amount in cash to my boss, who placed the whole lot in an offshore tax haven....we are talking very high 6 figures, this client had between 5-10 coaches a week on 4-9 day tours, at the rates he was charging they barely broke even on the hires. I quit when a passenger who spoke good English accidentally told me what was going on, and sweated out the rest from the tour guide. We need our tips to survive (minimum wage job), every owner knows this, but i guess getting all that tax free and screwing us over is worth more than ethics.
"When people would bring in parts..."
I used to work at Auto Zone. When people would bring in parts to test, our machine/testing equipment was always down. Which forced people to either leave or buy the part. They could also go to another store which I would recommend. The management also got mad that I informed the employees about the updated sick leave policy. the store I worked at also did commercial sales to auto shops. The shops get a big discount ..bigger if they spend a lot of money. They turn around and charge the customer double for a part they could walk in and get themselves. They would focus more on the shops than the actual customers who were inside the store.
"University..."
University I went to hired me as a notetaker (special-ed accommodation), let me go halfway through the term when the student dropped the course, and then tried not to pay me for the work I'd done because the contract wasn't completed. I had to threaten small claims court (over $30!) to get them to pay.
Wish I'd taken it to the department of labor. Guarantee I wasn't the only person they tried that on, and most of the others probably needed the money more.
"The former..."
The former Assistant Manager that I used to work with would close my tickets (I'm a Computer Tech), refund the customer's money, Reopen another ticket under his name, add a few services and retap the customer's credit card. He did this repeatedly to all the other techs I worked with.
When we're intoxicated, or even the slightest bit tipsy from having a little too much to drink, our immediate perspective on things is hazy.
But there's nothing like a bit of alarming news or a jarring incident to snap us out of the fog and focus on the moment.
Sometimes alcohol isn't always to blame for our impairment.
It can be a state of mind, like a perpetual numbness from being complacent in life, and all it takes is one shocking moment to rattle us back to our senses.
Curious to hear from strangers online about this type of scenario, Redditor Known_Challenge_7150 asked:
"What’s one thing that sobered you up real quick?"
These individuals were witness to shocking events that sobered them up right quick.
Bleeding Out
"Got out of a taxi and found a naked man profusely bleeding from his head crawling up the driveway in my condo. Called him an ambulance completely forgot I was absolutely wasted until 45 minutes later when I'd helped him translate and in to an amublance and stepped in my front door."
"Later a few days later learned he'd slipped in the tub and literally crawled out for help. Poor dude. He was fine but I genuinely thought he was going to die there."
– DongLaiCha
Tragic News
"At a bachelor party and we got a phone call that the groom’s father had suddenly passed."
– accountnameredacted
Bottom Of The Barrel
"I went to visit my parents back in July. I was homeless and deep into fentanyl addiction so I lost a lot of weight. My folks could see it. They knew something was up. Anyway, I spent the night and I was getting ready to leave in the morning and I looked at myself in the mirror for a good long time. I finally had enough and told them everything. They took me to detox, from there I went to rehab. Graduated in August and been living with them ever since then. I have 160 days clean and sober."
– Crotch-Monster
A reality check can be enough for some people to snap out of it.
Like Father, Like Son
"Was driving a drunk friend home, he had been on a bender again and was smart enough to call me for a lift rather than try and drive. As I helped in to his house his mother came down the stairs and said 'your as drunk as your father' and went back upstairs. I haven't seen him drunk since then, he still drinks but the thought of turning into his dad scared him out of hard drinking."
– psycospaz
Busted
"Flashing blue lights."
– FiddleOfGold
"This sobered me up just thinking about it."
– redmaple_syrup
Losing Sight
"Woke up to no sight in one eye. I had cataract surgery so just thought one of the lenses had slipped and it was an easy fix. Eye doc says nope, you had a stroke. I loved soy sauce, teriyaki sauce and salty food, which caused high blood pressure, which caused retina damage. Over six months was able to get most of my eyesight back with medication, and all back within a year. Trying to navigate life with one eye was very sobering. Started taking HBP much more seriously."
– MissHibernia
Quitting The Bottle
"Looked up someone I went to highschool with who was an awesome guy. Found out he had been dead for 3 years from alcoholism, at age 33. I made an overnight change. I hadn't started drinking that night yet, 10 months ago. Haven't touched it again since."
– omgtater
These disturbing moments were enough for Redditors to immediately come to their senses.
Unplanned House Guests
"Me and a buddy Woke up in someone’s living room, realized neither one of us knew the people, they were just nice and let 2 drunk guys sleep on their living room floor. We didn’t even say goodbye."
– Oneinsevenbillion75
Serious Health Warning
"Elevated liver enzymes."
"And the knowledge that this sh** was gonna kill me and I just couldn't orphan my family over it."
"So I opted for recovery, instead."
"Clean and sober since June 5, 2009."
– Far_Meal8674
The Joyride
"Grew up in a rural area. The little town hosted dances at the hockey arena, everyone (adults and kids) went and they overserved everyone, regardless of age. I was maybe 16 or 17 and was absolutely sh*tfaced, and jumped in the back of someone's truck with about 8 other people to go back to someone's cottage for after dance drinking. The driver (still don't know who it was) started racing one of his buddies and we whipped around small dirt roads, flying around blind corners on the wrong side of the road, going god knows how fast. It was basically a disaster waiting to happen. It was crazy scary and I was sober and thankful to be alive when we finally arrived."
– foxfood9116
The human psyche is a fascinating thing, isn't it?
How we can automatically focus on something urgent at a crucial time, even after getting buzzed from drinking too much alcohol.
But as we're in the thick of the holidays, it's a good reminder to drink responsibly and stay off the roads if you drive to your celebratory destination.
Cheers. Stay safe. And happy holidays.
We've all complained or vented about something in our lives which, in the grand scheme of things, wasn't exactly a problem, or is very easily solved.
Then there are those who complain about things that others almost hope will happen to them at some point in their lives.
These are known as "first world problems", as they are problems that pretty much only the world's one percent faces.
From having to fly business class instead of first class, or being served Roederer instead of Dom Pérignon, these complaints are often met with amusement, bewilderment, or even anger.
Redditor jennimackenzie was curious to hear the most absurd "first world problems" anyone ever complained about, leading them to ask:
"What’s the most ridiculous 'first world problem' you’ve seen people get worked up over?"
"Tale As Old As Time..."
"I once knew a mom who was legitimately devastated, to the point of tears/grief, because a doctor predicted her 8 year old daughter's final height to be around 5'2","
"Which wasn't tall enough to get cast as Belle at Disney World."
"That was the child's (and her mother's) only dream in life, apparently."
"Didn't appreciate my suggestion that she could be Minnie or Mickey."
"Lol!"
"Only a face character would do!"- TravelLovingMom
"Must Be Funny, In A Rich Man's World..."
"My boss from about a decade ago was this insanely rich dude who always went to the bank to get fresh and crisp currency."
"He'd call the bank in advance to make sure they had some on hand."
"I think he was a germaphobe."
"He had a trash can that he'd throw $1 and $5 bills in that he thought was 'dirty' and regularly just donated it vs spending it."
"I asked him why he did this and he said it was too much trouble and asked if I wanted it."
"I said f*ck yeah dumped it into my bag and when I got home it was close to $400 in singles and fives.
"Another time, he wanted to upgrade all the computers in his studio, so we went to a store and bought 10 PCs."
"They all had $150 mail in rebates and he wasn't bothered to go through the trouble of mailing them in."
"3 weeks later I received $1500 after spending a whole afternoon filling out all those goddamn forms."- azninvasion2000
Money Burn GIF by nog
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Who Wore It Better?
"When I was about 19 years old, I was at my boyfriends family BBQ."
"I was wearing this pretty floral sundress."
"His cousins girlfriend showed up in the same dress and she was SO mad that she went and changed."
"I will never understand being upset when someone is wearing the same thing as you.'
"Did you really think that your shirt you bought off the rack is going to be unique to you?"
"No."- mertsey627
Seeing Red! Or Blue In This Case...
"The blue of the balloons wasn't quite the same as the bridesmaid's sashes."
"Years ago my wife and I attended a wedding."
"It was very low key."
"The dinner was in the dining hall at the university where the couple met, cinder block walls and all."
"It was a Baptist wedding - no booze and very serious."
"The dark blue balloons attempting to liven up the hall were a slightly darker shade of blue than the sashes on the bridesmaid's dresses."
"The bride lost here sh*t and absolutely raved for nearly an hour."
"I can't remember how they finally managed to talk her down."- mechant_papa
south park wedding GIF
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See You In Court!
"Rich neighbors who end up in expensive court battles because they disagree about where a tree can be planted or whether the color of a fence fits in with the street’s 'amenity'."
'These disputes get really heated and rack up huge lawyers’ bills."
"The most pathetic part is after the judgement when they are arguing about who should pay the other party’s costs."
"Lots of affidavits filed citing the 'emotional distress' they had to endure, or painting themselves as brave warriors who were forced to take a stand to fight for 'justice'."
"Also lots of pompous litigants insisting that the judge refer to them by their 'Dr' title."
"An absolutely insane dumpster fire of entitled rich people problems."- ElectrocRaisin
It's Always People With Money Who Don't Want To Pay!
"I work in a public library."
"People will get so so mad if they have to be put on a wait list for a book."
"A popular book that just came out."
"Ok our services are not only free but so are the books."
"You’re welcome, a**holes."- Switchbladekitten
A Warm Butt Is A Happy Butt!
"My own."
"We have a bidet toilet seat (Fabulous! Everyone should have one!) and not only does it wash your bum and blow dry it, but the seat's heated!"
"It's shocking how much a heated toilet seat makes the whole process more agreeable."
"Except: We had a power outage and I went to use the toilet and the seat was cold!"
"Unacceptable!"
"This shall not stand!"
"I was really upset because it didn't feel good."
"Then I stopped and thought: This is the most first-world problem anyone's ever had."
"I was really pissed because my heiny was tepid."
"I got over it."- DeathGrover
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Holy Matrimony!
"Weddings are a gold mine for this question."
"People get so hyped up over their 'most important day of their life'."
"They'll destroy friendships, go into debt, and have crazy expectations."
"It's not always the couple who go crazy, either."
"Sometimes, it's the parents or another family member who feels entitled to control the wedding."
"It's just a party."
"Be considerate of guests, have plenty of food and drinks, and enjoy it."- magicrowantree
When Fast Food Isn't Fast Enough...
"Having to pull off to the side to wait for a drive-thru order to be brought out to you because your food isn't ready and there's a line building up behind you."- demanbmore
In Case You Don't Think Customer Service Employees Are Undervalued...
"I was working the return desk at a Target next to a military base so I have so many stories."
"One of my favorites was a lady who had her baby shower before revealing the gender and was livid that she had received floral newborn diapers when she’s having a boy."
"It was a huge box of super expensive, all organic diapers, that we didn’t carry and therefore could not return."
"I cannot accurately express her fury and disgust."
"How dare either suggest her boy could wear feminine diapers."
"I suggested she donate them if she didn’t want to use them and she instead threw away the entire box."
"When she left we pulled it out and threw it in our donate bin."
"There have also been multiple times where mom’s order massive toys and when we bring them out to the car they get furious that they aren’t wrapped."
"We don’t offer wrapping services."
"Here’s the thing, if you don’t want your kids to see the toys you got them for Christmas or their bit to day DON'T BRING THE CHILD WHEN YOU PICK IT UP."
'I’ve had multiple women scream and curse me out that I had ruined their kids Christmas by bringing the toys they ordered out to the car like they requested."- clever-mermaid-mae
Customer Service Waiting GIF by Juno Calypso
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Happiest Place On Earth!
"I used to work for Disney."
"That in itself should tell you everything."
"However for fun I'll give you two specific stories one form our tech department and one from my wife who worked bookings."
"I specifically worked for their call center to help with technical issues with magic band and the website."
"Suddenly got worse huh?"
"A right of passage call everyone has at least one story of is the 'Dome call'."
"Basically there is a subset of Disney Guest (TM) that believes if it rains at Walt Disney world there is someone that will push a button to encapsulate the whole of Disney property in a dome to keep out the rain."
"I'm not kidding."
"If this button is not pushed they call our tech department to angrily ask why."
"My wife worked booking."
"Pretty much everything including Bibbidi Bobbidi boutique and Pirate's league."
"These two things did roughly the same thing difference being price and theme."
"BBB was expensive did more and was focused on princesses, pirates league did a bit less and focused on mermaids and pirates."
"Lady called up my wife, and got pissed about BBB being booked up (It goes FAAAAST)."
"Karen: 'Im going to give the phone to my daughter and I want you to tell her how you are ruining her vacation by not letting her do BBB'."
"Wife proceeds to explain how pirate's league is so much cooler and how she can be a mermaid or pirate and basically gets the kid to start demanding to their parents about how they want to be a mermaid instead of a princess."- trollsong
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The horror!
Being booked into a junior suite at Disney World instead of an executive suite!
It's almost as bad as having no money for groceries, or no food to feed you children...
Said absolutely no one.