“Easily retail.

Those performance based raises are deliberately rigged to not give people the best raises. I only really understood how much when I became a manager and was overruled on how much to give my employees a raise when I gave them a 5/5.

I was told, and I quote, “No one is a 5/5″

She came in whenever we called. Stayed late whenever we needed. Was the epitome of the perfect employee and was well loved by everyone that shopped there.

They changed her evaluation from a 5/5 which was I believe a 50ish cent raise (still not enough) to a 3/5 which was a 10 cent raise.

She quit a few weeks after I told her and no one we’ve hired has been half as productive as she was.”

“I never ever called off sick.

And yes, I understand now why that is not a good thing, but when I was young I thought you went to work unless you were on your death bed.

At a staff meeting, boss was reading everyone the riot act for calling off too much and his second in charge said “Well, except for (me), they’ve never missed a day.”

Boss said “Hmmmm, really? I never noticed.”

Lesson learned.”

“Worked this office job for 9 years, ever since I turned 16.

They kept giving me responsibilities, never any pay raise beyond the minimum they had to, all the while telling me how I was indispensable. Then Covid hit and they laid off all my coworkers.

They told me I could stay, but for less hours than before and definitely no pay raise — just more responsibilities, either working from home or in an empty office.

I declined the offer and quit right then and there. Felt pretty cheated though.”

“The first time I had a real job.

Turns out that working harder than your coworkers does not impress them.”

“Worked hard at my first job for an entire year after a $0.20 raise. Got a $0.10 raise after that year, while a guy that avoided work got $0.40.

So I avoided working too hard for a year and got a $0.40 raise. No bullsh*t. Also passed up a “crew leader” position to work in an easier area, then they made me a crew leader anyway in the new area, I didn’t even ask.

The company I work for now does some *ss-backwards stuff too. It drives me nuts. Progress takes time and there’s a fine line between getting stuck because you’re too good at something and getting moved on to promote you.”

“When they reward you for getting your work done well by giving you everyone else’s work to do.

Pretty much every job I’ve ever had.”

“I worked 4 years at a Walmart almost constantly being praised as one of the best employees on my shift / team

Now what kind of reward did I get for this

A raise? A promotion?

Nope

I got a small pin I was “allowed” to wear that just said something like “Management Appreciates Me”.”

“I worked for a few years at BJs.

First year I got a 59 cent/hour raise, which was unheard of because I’d been hired far higher than what cashiers were hired at. I got glowing reviews by the person who reviewed me.

By the time of my next raise, a trusted person had told everyone who would listen that I was gay. This led to a LOT of gossip, harassment, and bullying on the job. My reviewer, the same woman from before but who just HAPPENED to also be a devout Christian, gave a harsher review and I got something like 9 cents.

I went from being super well liked to suddenly a pariah all because of my s*xuality. It was f*cking awful and I knew that it didn’t matter how hard I worked if some Bible thumper was going to use it as an excuse to hate me.”

“I was a really bit of a people pleaser when I was younger.

Tried to do everything to make life for everyone easier, turns out that they just took advantage on me”

“When I realized I get paid the same as coworkers who are putting in bare minimum.”

“By being taken advantage of repeatedly.

Go above and beyond the expectations in hopes to advance? You now have to do that advanced job with way more work for no pay increase and in less time than the people getting paid more than you.

Don’t ever let an employer know you’re capable or willing to do significantly more work than anyone else for the same pay.

If an opening arises and you have been consistent, you’re more likely to get the position than someone who does twice the work you do for the same pay just because you “follow the book” more.”

“There wasn’t one particular moment for me, but the saying “It’s better to be lucky than good.” is oh so true at times.

Sure working hard helps, but being at the right place at the right time is often overlooked by those that purely equate hard work with success.”

“My first job.

I was working at a pizza place known for letting you, the customer, bake the pizzas at home. I was working minimum wage, but I felt like I’d been there a while and wanted to move up. So I talked to my boss about a possible raise. She said she’d keep an eye on my performance over the next month and see if I deserved it.

Now, there was another employee they’re by the name of Jimmy. Jimmy was great of the was a rush because in those instances, just having an extra pair of hands makes a difference. But in all other aspects of running the store, he was useless. He slacked off and left his work for the rest of us to do. Of course, the manager loved him.

After a month of picking up every shift I could and doing every unpleasant task assigned to me, my boss tells me that I’ve been doing a fantastic job and that I earned my raise. I looked in my check and I was now making an extra $0.50/hr. Not great, but I was 16 at the time and it felt like the squeaky wheel got the grease!

Until I find out that Jimmy also got a $0.50 raise. And everyone else did too. Turns out the minimum wage was increasing nationally and they were legally obligated to give everyone a raise. When I confronted her about this, she turned the tables on me, telling me that talking about my pay with other employees was unprofessional.

She went on vacation shortly after that. I taped my two week notice to her door the day after she left.”

“In the last 5 years, learned hard work HARDLY ever pays off…

It’s about working the system more than anything.

The catch is that I suck at working the system…”

“Every single retail job I ever worked.

Working harder, faster, smarter than coworkers never got you a raise or promotion or recognition.

It just got you more tired.”

“When your boss rewards you with bits of their work and positions it as a “great learning opportunity”.

Yes, please let me do the b*tch work parts of your job while getting paid $45k less per year.

I guess that’s why they get paid so much – they’ve implemented creative strategies for ~cost savings~ and ~efficiencies~.”

“When I was proficient at my work and the boss brought in her old husband to replace me.

I did the most amount of work on that particular task, the most anyone had ever done, but it wasn’t good enough to keep me employed.

I also did a great, determined job in the warehouse but because the boss liked keeping us as casuals and cutting costs wherever possible, and glaring at me, too, I realized that working hard wasn’t worth it.

So study hard and earn qualifications and become a worthy asset.”

“Worked for a company for a few years in my early 20s.

Busted my *ss and was essentially doing a manager’s job for very little money (our manager left a while before and they just had me take on his duties). They employed a 40 year old guy to help in the warehouse doing basic stuff. They hired him on TWICE my salary.

I brought it up with the owner and asked for a pay rise, laid out why I deserved one and went about it in the right way. His response was no as I’m young. The other guy has a family and a house that’s why he’s getting paid more.

I could have lost my sh*t. Realised I needed to cut my losses.

I quit on the spot.”

“I was working retail overnight and I worked my *ss off (partly to keep from getting tired).

My living situation started falling apart and I had nowhere to go if I had to move, so I was very stressed. My “fun” boss who everyone loved came over to ask why I wasn’t working as hard as usual.

I told him I was possibly a week from being homeless, and he just kept smiling and repeating the phrase “You’re usually my superstar. I need you to be my superstar, buddy.”

My hard work wasn’t valued at all, this boss only cared that I’d been making him look good by accomplishing so much. No one at the store actually cared about me as a person.

I’ve told this story here before, but the truth is I never worked hard again. No matter how hard a job tried to pressure me that something absolutely had to be done, I never worked that hard for anyone ever again.”

“I was probably 16.

When I realized we were dirt poor and watched my dad kill himself working 12 hours a day and coming home coughing up black snot.

Then when he got sick and went to the hospital due to his lungs his company let him go and then fought him on unemployment..”

“Multiple times.

In School: Group projects. I always was one of the couple of people who would do their part and then I would have to make up for others not doing anything.

Work:

I worked my way up to being a shift manager at a gas station that basically allowed me to carry a key to the store and run the daily reports. I got no pay increase.

Now I am a software developer and I found out pretty quickly that if I stayed ahead of the “added features” curve, that I get no extra praise or recognition. Now, I do still stay ahead of the curve but I only send out required updates when it’s due.

Kind of annoying but it means I do less work in the day.”

“I’ve worked blue collar jobs my entire life.

It’s a good way to pay a mortgage and not much more. If by chance I ever find a way to retire, I’ll be too broken down physically to enjoy it.

There are two Moldovan guys where I work that would be billionaires if hard work made you rich.”

“Today, when my dad told me about his boss that bought him self a brand new Mercedes GLE while he keeps cutting pay from all the workers in his factory.

Even though thanks to them he has record profits even in this Corona crisis.”

“My first job was a cashier at Burger King.

I worked my *ss off, I was 16/17, in high school working over 40 hours every week. Somehow my grades didn’t suffer but my health did. I regularly would only get maybe five hours of sleep a week to a max of 4 or 5 a night and that was very rare, usually only when I had a day off and most assignments caught up.

Got a couple raises, but it wasn’t worth what I was working. Many managers hated being the manager or even hated working, so they would give me their keys and say if I need anything, they would be outback smoking, having s*x in the bathroom, or outside on the phone, etc. Their whole shift. I became the manger without the pay.

Finally got tired of it and put my two weeks in, they said if I stayed I would be a manager. So I stayed. Waited a couple weeks, nothing. They hired a new dude straight on as a manager. Same deal, dude just gave me his keys and stayed in the office on his phone.

When I asked about being manager the GM said they couldn’t make me a manager because I’m needed in drive thru and they won’t be able to find a replacement. Ok, so give me a raise. No, we can’t afford that. Make me a manager. No, we like you where you are. Okay, finally put my two weeks in and left officially.

F*ck that place.”

“After spending over a year researching and crossectioning samples, imaging them on powerful scopes, and measuring each sample at specific locations, proving my theory was valid and being told that the extra work time wouldn’t validate the changes in the process and the value attained.

They started using my idea within 6 months of my report being published. Guess who got no credit?

I gave up after that.”

“When I was younger my dad had 12 hour shifts too and was killing himself on the daily.

A hurricane came and took my entire house and all of our belongings, he got fired for not coming into work.

One of the kickers? His employer asked for the uniform back.”