Hello from a French lurker (sorry in advance for my bad English)
Just got my 1st experience worthy of sharing on /antiwork
I am a 4+ years software engineer based in Paris
I applied to a full remote job offer listed as 50k yearly requiring 3-6 years of exp.
(same salary for 3 or 6 years?)
Did the 1st interview with the CTO, to learn that it's a small 8 person company, started in 2015, where the majority of the team is based on a smaller city
(Nantes, where the cost of housing is 48% & cost of living 30% lower than Paris)
They do some private ubeareats equivalent for Pros/Companies and apparently were very successful during the pandemic, so they are expanding
did the 2nd technical assessment (1 full non payed weekend to implement a full API )
Then came the 3rd interview with the CEO & CTO (that last BS interview to objectively assess the coolness, astrology & ethereal vibes of a candidate)
During that interview I learned that the fixed salary is only 45k + 4k variable according to peer review:
Each years all employees review each other anonymously and the highest rated ones get this 4k cheque
Salaries in France, by law, are always meant before taxes, so when the [IRS, Social Debt, Retirements, Health coverage, Habitation, Sanitations, Public TV,… etc.] take their due, what you can pocket of that 45k is a little less than 34k.
34k in Paris is probably equivalent to 44k in Chicago: you can live comfortably, but away from civilization in some 1h+ crap dorm city.
So I'm speaking to two, at least 100k+ yearly income guys, trying to explain to me, that it would not be fair for the other employees if they paid me 49k fixed without going through that variable ordeal.
I swear the CEO used the phrase, I won't be able to look the others in the eyes.
And OFC the usual claptrap like we are a family company, we are all friends, we do carting each month…
I tell them that I need a week to think and go through the other propositions (which was not true) hoping to play the competition card so they reconsider their crap offer.
Come today, seeing that they are inflexible in the proposition, I tell them that I will be refusing the offer, because I had a better one (which is also not true).
Instead of having an “OK, good luck, think of us in the future”, the CEO goes berserk on me and start yelling:
It's good to know that I was dealing with a bounty hunter.
We are offering you a golden opportunity to join a family, but all you think of is monetary gain.
I lose my shit and start yelling that since he choose the disrespect route, I will be choosing it too
I tell him about how scammy the salary listing was, and how utterly evil that peer review based variable is.
He then says I have no lesson on respect to take from someone coming to an interview with a tee-shirt (this was the last interview, done using Teams) & that the listing was for someone with 6+ years & then hang up.
It's so amazing how fluid they can be with facts when it does not suit them, and how can they see & remember every detail when it does.
Sorry if i was long, i needed to vent