I've lurked this sub for a long time. Today I decided to share the story of my daughters first job.
She was 16 and had answered an ad for Christmas character actors for a mall Christmas village. A woman reached out and asked her to come in for an interview and she landed the job playing the Christmas angel representing a Christian bookstore in the mall.
Starting out, it was all good. She was fitted for a dress and they spent a couple of days going over her lines and stuff. It was a three week commitment to be paid entirely at the end of her three weeks. I figured it was a great way for her to dip her toes into the working world.
The fourth day she came home and seemed disenchanted. She didn't say much, just that she wasn't sure she wanted the job. I thought it was probably just a bad day and encouraged her to stick with it.
What I didn't know is that the Christian bookstore owner had told my daughter to basically try to lure kids into the bookstore by befriending them and taking free photos with them outside the door but to not speak to kids whose parents had tattoos or kids who weren't white because “those people never buy anything.”
My daughter was understandably very uncomfortable with that. She wore a beautiful gown with flashing lights and was a kid magnet. She decided on her own to ignore her boss's request and be equally kind and welcoming to all kids.
At the end of her three weeks, her boss pulled her aside and told her she would not pay her full wages. She gave her a check for about half of what she was owed and said “you cost me money by wasting time with people outside of our target demographic so I cannot pay you the rest.”
My daughter texted her later that night to say she didn't think it was fair and that she was supposwd to be paid hourly, not per commission. The owner admitted this then said she still had decided not to pay the rest because “I prayed on it and Jesus said not to.”
My daughter told me everything. I helped her find the DOL website and file a complaint attaching the screenshots of her conversation with her boss.
A few weeks later her boss texted and said she was willing to give her her earnings but only as store credit. “You can buy my inventory at sales floor price for free. We will keep track of your purchases until you are squared away.”
My daughter didn't accept and forwarded that message to the DOL as well. She was owed about $1000 and had no use for $1k in Christian books.
DOL was a slow process. A couple months later, there had still been no movement on her case. But the woman posted an ad on Facebook trying to get rid of a dog she had bought to breed only to find out he was sterile. In the ad she said she'd spoken to Jesus and Jesus had told her not to accept less than a thousand dollars for the dog. In the photo the dog was in clearly unhealthy surroundings. A very dirty crate. He was not groomed. He looked hungry.
People began commenting saying that she should surrender the dog to rescue, etc. She came back with the “I talked to Jesus and he said that I cannot accept less than a thousand dollars and if he doesn't have a home by the end of next week to put him to sleep.”
Shes clearly insane.
Someone commented “So Jesus said to kill the dog if nobody can pay you a grand?”
She replied “Jesus said the right owner for the dog will figure out a way.”
This is when my daughter, who had been following the conversation, decided to jump in.
She posted all the screenshots then commented “Jesus just appeared in my cereal and told me that I'm this dogs rightful owner. I'll pick him up today instead of your Christian books.”
She refused the trade and shut down her Facebook but not before our very small town had seen everything.
Within six months, the woman was facing animal cruelty charges, her bookstore was closed, and my daughter had her thousand dollars.
Also, the dog in question and all other dogs in her backyard puppy mill were saved.