Damnit! I've been unemployed for the past 6-8 months. And I finally found a job working at Toys R'Us as a nighttime stock person.

At the interview, they told me I would recieve AT LEAST 5 days a week, with 8 hours per day. This translates to 40 hours a week. 40 hours a week means fulltime. So needless to say, I was pretty fucking happy.

But then I get to the orientation. I'm sitting there for about 40 minutes listening to this dumbass bitch talking about company policies. And she mentions how seasonal employees don't get any benefits…

WHAT THE FUCK? I had applied strictly for full-time or part-time work. I ask her “What's this? I didn't apply for seasonal!”. She tells me that after January, they'll either fire me or give me a $1 pay cut (Making my pay $6 hourly). And then I ask if they are going to cut my hours below full-time come January as well.

Then comes the whopper. She gets the head manager and he tries feeding me some bullshit about how the most they'll give me is three nights a week and they won't even be eight hour shifts.

I look at the dude and I tell him, this is not what I was offered at the interview. He tells me that if that is the case, I best just leave. So I'm still unemployed because Toys R'Us is a bunch of fucking liars.

And I hate nothing more than a fucking liar. Nothing, not racists, not homophobes, not nazis, not even terrorists. Liars aren't even the bottom of the barrel. They are the ground that the barrel is sitting on.

So, share your stories about how corporations fucked you over. I'm sure you all have some nice ones for us to all hear.

“ I didn't wanna grow up, I wanted to be a Toys R'Us Kid. Until they raped me.”

you want retail stories? bookmark my comic.

working on several lawsuit strips.

Corvin

I have two stories.One was when I was applying to Borders.The whole time, the manager was acting impressed with me and my application, there was a lot of hinting that I pretty much already had the job. I was told that if I hadn't heard from them by the Friday following my second interview, then to call them back on Monday. I called,was put on hold for twenty minutes, before being told that someone more qualified for the job was hired.

I dunno if that counts as screwed over, but it was a lot of yanking me around, which I didn't like so much.

The second story didn't happen to me, but it happened to a friend of mine. She was working at Walmart(I think I just heard the collective groans of people rolling their eyes and nodding…xD), and injured her back while lifting something that was likely heavier than she was(she's a tiny thing, under 100 pounds). That's not AS bad as what happened next. She had a note from her doctor saying that she could NOT do any heavy lifting at her job, and to please put her in a non-heavy-lifting position until her back recovers. Walmart took one look at the note, decided that doctors don't know anything about injuries or what might affect them, and put my friend back to work lifting heavy things. Her options were to either do what she was told and risk hurting herself, or quit, when her finances were already down the drain. She chose to keep her job. No sooner than she decide that being able to afford her next grocery bill was important, and her back was reinjured. Worse yet, I doubt she could have sued them; or if she could, it would cost her more than she would benefit from it.

This isn't a corporation per say but well…it wasn't a pleasant experience.

My second teaching job was over at a remedial school. It was advertised at the career centre on campus and it sounded like a really nice job and would get me really good teaching experience in preparation for teacher's college.

To make a 7 month story short, I was told I would get, at most, 14 students per class and I would be teaching 3 classes in total. I ended up with about 74 students and them still adding students halfway through the year. My preparation time is incorporated into my pay but when I calculated how much time/things they expected me to put in, how many times I was called to the office, and how many nights I spent marking, the total came up to well below minimum wage. I think that in itself wouldn't have bothered me if not for the totally confusing bureaucracy that was happening in that school. I had two bosses that would tell me to do different things. I got the green light for a curriculum (that I created and wasn't paid for) from one boss but was then yelled at about it by another. One boss understood what I was doing, the other boss wanted to know why I didn't provide answer keys for a creative writing class. They insisted I come in so that they could watch me staple and hole punch handouts. I was so stressed and so worn out that I tried to quit but my two week notice turned into a two month one.

I left that job on a really bad note and am secretly hoping that I never ever have to use them for a reference. Ever.

Dude, I work at TRU too. Beleive me it's not the highlite of my life - but I had been constantly seeking work for about 8 months, and they were the only people that hired me. And I'm in some debt, so I took it. Like a starving dog offered a bone, I snapped it up.
I signed up for full time, and haven't recieved anywhere near full time in the past two months. What sucks, a lot, is that I don't even have constant hours. So one week I make, like, 120 bucks, and the next, 40.
Though, and I have no idea why this happened, but I asked for $8/hr, and so, instead of $7/hr I got $7.25/hr, you know, the living wage. Which puts me ahead of the game since NY is going to have its minimum wage pushed up to $7.25/hr within the next year.
What also suck about TRU is that employees get a 10% discount. 10% is like saying “I might as well buy it at full price”
… But at least it's a job. I'll tell you this, not one person who has worked at TRU for more than 3 months, smiles.

However, let me just balance this out by saying I didn't expect anything better, the lack of hours just pisses me off. And that the only reason I even needed a retail job, which I'll be working even through the holiday season, is because 2 peoplelied to me, and if I ever met them in the street I'd punch ‘em in the face,
I was supposed to have gotten a nice receptionist job, part time, at a law office in the city. $10/hr no benefits, but 10 dollars an hour, 20 hours per week. And then he decided that he’s “going to move in a different direction” and no longer needed me.
And then there was a guy who was going to pay me $450/wk and said that I had the job, and then decided I didn't.

So, compared to being told I had jobs that would start in two weeks, and then having them tell me “Ooops, I lied” and dealing with crap hours, or dealing with confused management, I'll take the latter.

Tater Salad
Why didn't you just take the job and then come January, quit and find another?

Good point. But I'd take it further. If someone screws you like that, screw them back. Work until Black Friday, and then don't show up. That would reeeeaaallly hurt ‘em. Retailers hate it when you don’t show up for black friday. You could even be like, “I'd like as many hours on BF as possible.” ;)

Me and the two other people that were working at the time got fired from Coldstone Creamery just because the Ice Cream display machine broke while we were working.

black kitty, that's more than just an unpleasant experience. that's FUBAR!

Tater Salad
Why didn't you just take the job and then come January, quit and find another?

The dude told me to leave for questioning their sudden change in their offer. I had no choice. I even offered to take the job and leave in January, but they wanted someone they could fuck over.

I think everyone's been messed over by an employer at one time or another. At my workplace, my co-workers and I have created a little song and dance number we call "I just don't give a F*ck". It involves 1930's style jitterbug movements and is performed anytime we need to blow off steam. And by that I mean daily.


…hourly?

geez and I thought my job sucked! The only big fat gripe I have about my job is that refuse to pay overtime even if you stay more than 8hrs. After more than 8hrs we should be getting paid time and half…but instead they just tell us to come in later the next day or tell us that the time we stayed over doesn't count because it's technically our fault we took so long to leave.

dude, work as a janitor. They get paid about $15-20 an hour.

BigFishComic
geez and I thought my job sucked! The only big fat gripe I have about my job is that refuse to pay overtime even if you stay more than 8hrs. After more than 8hrs we should be getting paid time and half…but instead they just tell us to come in later the next day or tell us that the time we stayed over doesn't count because it's technically our fault we took so long to leave.

unless you're in california, overtime pay doesn't start until you surpass 40 hours total, not 8 hours a day.

Corvin

Rich, you're right, they're bastards. This is what happens these days when workers once again have no power, just like the 19th C, we're going backwards…
6$ an hour is a complete joke, even for unskilled work. I can't beleive a first world country has pay rates like that, I'm frankly amazed. That is bizare. You'd have to have atleast 3 or 4 of those jobs (with those short hours), at once just to live!
You should have told them to their faces that they were fucking jokes.

BigFishComic
dude, work as a janitor. They get paid about $15-20 an hour.

That's the plan actually. My background check just came back and all I need now is a physical and my old school will give me an interview for a janitor job.

Ozone
Rich, you're right, they're bastards. This is what happens these days when workers once again have no power, just like the 19th C, we're going backwards…
6$ an hour is a complete joke, even for unskilled work. I can't beleive a first world country has pay rates like that, I'm frankly amazed. That is bizare. You'd have to have atleast 3 or 4 of those jobs (with those short hours), at once just to live!
You should have told them to their faces that they were fucking jokes.

Unfortunately $6 an hour is incredible compared to half the jobs around here (Here as in Greensburg PA). Corporations are too concerned about saving a few extra dollars and not concerned enough about how well their employees can live off their wages.

And unfortunately I couldn't tell the dude off. I act like an ass online, but in RL I try to maintain my proffessionality even when being fucked over. It's all part of being a better person than them.

I sympathize for the ones that worked at TRU. I worked at Toys R Us in the early 90's, and it seems like things haven't changed since I left. I never got decent hours or pay in my time working. And after the holidays were over, you were lucky if you worked 15-20 hours a week (If you were one of the few people that they kept after the holidays). And the only people that worked full time (outside of management) were janitors. And they didn't make much more than the cashiers.

jgib99
And the only people that worked full time (outside of management) were janitors. And they didn't make much more than the cashiers.

Don't you at least get free toys????????!!!!

If not, that DOULESUX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


As for biyen a ‘better person’ Rich, there're times when that's not appoprite… Times when it's even better to simply speak you mind, rather than hold your peace. SOmetimes you simply have to tell people to their faces that they're evil buggers. How are you ever going to change anything if you never speak out?

ozoneocean
As for biyen a ‘better person’ Rich, there're times when that's not appoprite… Times when it's even better to simply speak you mind, rather than hold your peace. SOmetimes you simply have to tell people to their faces that they're evil buggers. How are you ever going to change anything if you never speak out?

And what would telling the guy to go fuck his dead grandmother accomplish? I told the dude that I was lied to and was not happy about it and he told me to leave and not come back.

Yelling at him would have only prolonged the situation and would have solved nothing. I would still be unemployed, and the dude would still be a douche. The best thing to do was walk away.

Man, that sucks.

I once worked at a McDonalds for a week. They found out about my problem with the night air and promised to only give me day shifts and since I was young back then (About 13. They couldn't care less where I come from) they promised I'd always have at least 5 people with me at the registers. I had four shifts late at night where I was the only one at the counter and wound up suffering massive asthma attacks near the end of the third. What did the people in line do? Jump the counter, trample me and steal shit. Never mind about the kid who just fainted and is on the ground, about to die.

The owner came by on my fourth shift to berate me about what happened. I snapped. I pulled off the dumbass hat and did a Gilligan (Smacked it over his head… four or five times). He threatened assault charges. I countered with child labour. He cut me a check of what the store owed me, plus an extra $50. I was pissed, because after five 6 hour shifts, I had only made $140 (Not including the extra 50). Joke was on them though, they accidentally transferred my pay again into my account.

I went off part time work and stuck with my old paper route until I was 16. Then I got a job at Video Ezy. Not as bad, but I still have to put up with a lot of shit

Rich
And what would telling the guy to go fuck his dead grandmother accomplish?

It would have let him know he was doing something that made people angry. Maybe if enough people did that, they'd be forced to change their practices. THEY have all the power. That's not right.

Anyway, I wouldn't suggest using those words or shouting. Just telling them staright and making it known exactly how you feel is enough. No need for boorish histronics.

Least you don't have two jobs fucking you over at once. Take it from me, it's a bitch handling more then one job, let alone two that can't seem to understand the concept of set hours. Bastards.

Corvin

BigFishComic
geez and I thought my job sucked! The only big fat gripe I have about my job is that refuse to pay overtime even if you stay more than 8hrs. After more than 8hrs we should be getting paid time and half…but instead they just tell us to come in later the next day or tell us that the time we stayed over doesn't count because it's technically our fault we took so long to leave.

unless you're in california, overtime pay doesn't start until you surpass 40 hours total, not 8 hours a day.

Corvin

I'm in California.

subcultured
black kitty, that's more than just an unpleasant experience. that's FUBAR!

Yeah. :( I was also a new teacher and this was my first experience in a classroom setting. I knew they were running the school like it's a business but at the same time, I was freaked out that I was doing a bad job. By the time I was in the second term, I wasn't sleeping or eating properly and Fridays consisted of me going to class, rushing to the office, then rushing to my other job and then rushing home to prepare for the Saturday classes.

I know some teachers work there quite well so it may just be me. I personally found the whole situation stressful and weird. At one point I was told that if I gave too much homework then the students simply won't do it and the parents may even encourage that type of behaviour due to day school. But I can't give too little homework because then the parents will call and complain. I was not to talk to the students after the one hour class. If a student misbehaves or doesn't do their work, the only recourse I have is to call their parents and if that doesn't work then I'll just have to deal with it. And sometimes that's pointless anyway because everytime I call their parents, they would hand the phone to their kids immediately. I was also clearly told that if I don't get enough returning enrollment next year, then I'll get fired for it. There were other rules set by the school that I was technically suppose to follow but everyone was breaking them and I was told that I should do the same.

The kids were great though. :)

I was suddenly ditched from my old job, without warning. Co-manager or whatever the heck she was just came up to me while i was working and told me it was my last day.
I hadnt done anything wrong or anything like that. Always worked hard and such.
Just apparently i was only temporary, and they couldnt afford me anymore.
But in the interview i was told i'd be permanent :/

Soo yeaa.. never got the money back that i was wrongly taxed for either.

and guess what.. after i left. They completely redecorated their store and hired a whole bunch of other staff..
yea.. couldnt afford me.. right..

Vaoni
and guess what.. after i left. They completely redecorated their store and hired a whole bunch of other staff..
yea.. couldnt afford me.. right..

AH! But there IS a solution if you like the concept of revenge! You find the bitch that fired you. Figure out what car is hers. Then you take and put dog shit underneath the car door handle and sugar in the gas tank!

Imagine the look on her face when she gets a handful of dogshit and her car doesn't run right!

Rich
Imagine the look on her face when she gets a handful of dogshit and her car doesn't run right!

Imagine your face as you're arrested…

:P

Still, I love that dogshit idea.

haha, thats a great idea. I think she's moved off to a bigger store someplace else though.
Ah well, will save that idea for if i get screwed over at this new job of mine :P

I used to be a janitor at movie theater and I got paid by the shift instead of by the hour. I got $22.5 per shift which worked out to more than $5.5 per hour IF the cleaning of the whole theater only took four hours. It took four hours on a slow night, the day Return of the King premiered I started at 9 pm and got out around 7 am. To get paid by the hour the other janitors (about two weeks after I quit to work at the college) didn't come in for a week, leaving the manager to try and find/train someone with no notice, or do it herself.

I have one or two things like these. Nothing nearly as bad, but still bad. First, back when my brother applied to Best Buy, he had to go through their ridiculous questionnaire which was so difficult not even the manager there passed it. Then, after one or two interviews they made him piss in a cup for drug testing. Few days later he found out he didn't get the job. After all, what's wrong with degrading yourself for no benefit whatsoever!

I work at Six Flags Photo at SF Great America, and I have got some horror stories. First off, a lot of the customers are just plain jerks. One woman asked me where something was that was within eyesight, and after telling her twice, she asked to see my supervisor. I have a dry, deep voice, so apparently she thoguht I was being sarcastic. Oh, then there's the people who ask where the photo booth is when I'm holding a giant arrow in front of my stomach, the people who think that our photos are free, and the people who bang on the bathroom door behind the booth.

Second, the old management for this year was so corrupt that none of them are still around. One of them told me I have received 2 complaints(my guess was I was backlogged and didn't assemble the photos fast enough). They were both from black women, and so her, being one herself, asked if I was racist to them. Even after being so dumbstruck all I could say was “what?!” and denying it, she held something against me until she left. Then there was the supervisor that was fired for stealing, and the manager that was fired for cutting people's wages and not telling them, simply because she didn't like them(still haven't been pai for 6 hours I worked). Oh, and a final note, yearly turnover for regular employees is about 70-80%, and nobody is there for more than 2 seasons.

Yeah, that probably sounded like one huge pile of whine compared to the rest of you, but I needed to get that off my chest.

I worked for the Sobey's Warehouse (Warehouse for a Maritime Grocery Store chain) for a week before I gave the manager a verbal rundown, a flip of the bird, and my friends resume (who…for some reason…they actually hired, and he remained there for 5 years o_o;;) for being a two-faced SOB.

At the time, I was taking a college course (Electro-Mechanical Technician) and thought I'd like to have a part time job on the side. I got the interview, aced it, and was guarenteed 20 hours a week, which I could handle just fine and dandy. Well….heh. It didn't turn out that way. I was hired in the month of October.

I worked four 10 hour shifts before I got fed up. Monday-Thursday, 2-12. I had to get up at 5 am for college, and you know, I required time and stuff to study, and maybe even just have a minute to relax here and there. I went to see my boss. He explained that if I could make it at that warehouse, I could make it anywhere. I pressed him further, explaining this was not the agreement I signed up for, as I was a college student, and could not handle 40 hours a week on top of educating myself. My marks were already starting to suffer, and I was there 4 days!

He told me to get used to it, because they were gearing up for the Christmas holiday season, and that I'd need to be ready to work a lot of hours. He also informed me I'd be working 4-12 on Friday, 8-4 on Saturday, and 8-4 on Sunday. This is approximately the time I told him I quit, and to cram it with walnuts. I came back, just to give him my friends resume, and all of a sudden he wanted to discuss my schedule…and I laughed. When inquired what my grin was for, I explained I had already sat through this routine once this week.

As for now, I'm doing just fine. I guess I made it, with only 4 days experience there! :P