I work in a mom-and-pop pizza place; I’ve been there for about three months. I generally show up about twenty minutes early every day and am asked to start working right away. I’m always willing, but I clock in first.

One day, the owners come to talk to me.

Owners: “Why do you always clock in early?”

Me: “I’m always asked to start working when I get here, and I always get here early.”

Owners: “You can’t clock in early. Just work off the clock for that time. We will change your time card to reflect what time you are supposed to start.”

Keep in mind, all of my coworkers have gotten used to me getting there early, so sometimes they leave early.

The next day, I was scheduled to work at 5:00. As usual, the day crew expected me to be there early and work, so three of the four workers clocked off at 4:30. Since I was told that I wouldn’t get paid, I decided to show up at 4:59. I clocked in right at 5:00.

In the half-hour that those three people were off, $200 worth of food was ordered.

The restaurant where I work is only open 8 am – 3 pm, and we take orders all the way up until we are closed. If someone places an order at 2:59 pm, we take it. If we are busy until closing time, I sometimes allow an order to be placed within a five-minute window after we are closed, though I only do it for carryout only.

If we have no new orders for the last half hour, I’m usually very firm on not accepting orders after 3 pm because the kitchen is cleaning up and putting things away.

Today was a very slow day. We had one customer who came in before two and was still there by three because he was waiting for his ride to come to get him. Between two and three, there are no other orders, and the kitchen staff is cleaning up and putting everything away. By 3 pm, they are putting on their coats and walking out the door.

A woman and her daughter come in a couple of minutes after closing.

Customer: “We’d like a table for two.”

Me: “We are closed, ma’am. Apologies for the inconvenience, but we are open 8 AM – 3 PM every day.”

Customer: “It’s only 3:03, you can’t serve us?”

All this while our head cook is walking out the door.

Me: “Our kitchen staff is literally leaving.”

I point at the cook who is heading to his car, then she points at the customer who had come in an hour before.

Customer: “But you’re serving that guy!”

Me: “He ordered forty-five minutes ago when we were still open, ma’am.”

Customer:*To her daughter* “Wait here.”

This lady then CHASES DOWN MY D** COOK! According to him, she asked him to come back and reopen the kitchen! Which definitely was unsuccessful because she came back and grabbed her daughter and left, while homeboy got in his car and drove off.

There’s a big meeting at work. It’s some big push about timekeeping. People haven’t been showing up to work on time in the morning or back from breaks; this adds up as a whole line of people are waiting for them, and then suddenly they get hit by a load of work as the first two have to rush to catch up.

I never realised it was an issue, but it makes sense as we get a load of repair work around these times and they look like rushed and bad work. They say that parts cost three times as much after you work out the cost of paying everyone to stand around and then a whole team to repair what should have been right in the first place.

It all kicks off in the break room as I enter.

Worker #1: “So what if I’m a minute late? Who cares?”

Worker #2: “To be fair, you’re always late and it isn’t a minute.”

Worker #1: “Whatever, a minute, four minutes. Why should I lose money?”

Worker #3: “Why are you always late, anyway? You live around the corner.”

Worker #1: “Because that’s what I’m telling you. It doesn’t matter!”

He seems to think a while and then stands up, clearly angry.

Worker #1: “Well, I’m not changing for them. I’m not coming in any earlier. What about you?”

Worker #2: “Nah, you’re on your own.”

Worker #1: “You?”

Worker #3: “No, what they said was fair. I’m going to come in on time.”

Worker #1: “Screw you guys. I’ll do it alone, then.”

Later in the week, I saw him led upstairs twice — I can only assume about his time. He looked so smug, like he was some hero of the people. But the following week, he was there before I was. So much for showing them!

Earlier this summer, I temporarily took a job as a roofing salesperson for a construction company. The job description said I was managing a book of insurance agents and realtors, working referrals. In the interview, the boss was adamant that there was no door-knocking —just working relationships and referrals. I took the job and came to learn about week into my hire that they expected five or more hours a day of door-knocking. I could’ve quit right away but I figured I’d give it a go for a bit and just see how things went.

The job was full commission with a small weekly vehicle allowance, and I wasn’t responsible for working a regular schedule. But eventually, my boss started expecting everyone to work a regular schedule and report “at least forty hours” on our timecard app.

I fought with him about it because, as a non-hourly or non-salary employee, there was nothing to report. I got paid only for the work I brought in. Whether I worked eighty or five hours, the pay was the same and there was no contractual obligation to my time.

He got upset that I didn’t just give in and he told me that, because I hadn’t filled out a timecard, they wouldn’t give me my weekly vehicle allowance. It wasn’t a huge amount of money, but it was a matter of principle; I don’t get paid for time worked, so why do they need to know my hours?

My best friend is a labor attorney, and I asked him what I could do. He said I should just threaten to call the department of labor for withholding wages. So, I told my boss I’d call the department of labor. At this point, I was already in the process of getting hired for a job I really wanted, so I was planning on quitting soon anyway; I figured the company had it coming for all their lies and deceitful nature.

They agreed to give me the allowance. But then, later that day, Human Resources rolled out a policy that said that they would now be paying out the allowance based on hours logged on our timecard app. It was the expectation that we’d log forty hours, and if you didn’t meet forty hours, they would deduct a prorated amount from the vehicle allowance. The policy also said it was retroactive for the previous week. Therefore, I didn’t get my allowance for that week’s pay, as I continued to not log everything. I was a little pissed off about it.

That week, our boss made us work a great many more hours than usual, commuting several hours a day, each way, to a town he wanted us to get some work in. I went into our timecard app and logged my hours for the week — *a lot* more than forty. When the pay came that week, I only got the regular allowance — for “forty” hours. I asked my boss where the rest was, and he said it was a flat rate. I cited the new policy and said he owed me based on the “hours worked” and that I’d be calling the department of labor if I didn’t get it.

They ended up giving me the allowance based on my full logged hours. Later that week, Human Resources emailed the department saying that full commission people were exempt from logging hours and would be receiving the flat pay.

I won. I ended up quitting a short time later, followed by pretty much the whole sales staff.

I’m working at an insurance office. Most of the time, customers come into the office in person or call if they need insurance questions answered. There is also a service hotline that they can call that is not directly connected to the office where I work.

When I get to work one day, around half past eight, there is a drunk customer waiting in front of the office already. He immediately starts berating me.

Customer: “Why are you still closed?! You’re supposed to be open at 8:20!”

I point at the door where the hours are printed.

Me: “We open at 9:00.”

Customer: *Angry* “I have a letter that states you open at 8:20!”

I’ve worked at this office for about two years and we have never opened before nine. The customer drunkenly starts ruffling through the letter of proof from a bag to show me. He takes several minutes to find the information and then points to it, shouting:

Customer: “See, it’s 8:20!”

He pointed at the service hours of the hotline, which were 8:00 to 20:00. I pointed this out to him, and he was NOT happy.

Naturally, I did not let him enter before 9:00. I already knew what he wanted, so I prepared everything for him to give a signature only. His stay lasted under three minutes, but regardless, the offices reeked of alcohol afterward and I had to struggle not to vomit.