Author: Olivia

My boss has been promising me a substantial raise since I started my job two years ago. I’m required to be certified by the gov to do my job, but to be certified you need experience in the field (without getting into what I do). So I was promised $23/hr while training, which would increase to $31/hr when certified. I completed the training about 6mos ago, at which point my boss said I missed the raise deadline and he “can’t afford it” anymore. I am now completely limited to a “cost of living” raise- $1/hr per year or until my boss changes his mind again. It will take nearly a decade of this job to get to that pay rate now. In the meantime my boss is making more money off of me than his other employees, at a gross rate of about $75-100/hr based on what we charge customers.…

I moved across the country for a job and recently found out that two of my colleagues who happen to be from the area (same job, started a couple months before me) are paid more than me and another colleague who also moved for the job. We all have similar job experience, so it got me wondering if there’s a geographical ignorance at play. HR recognizes local businesses on a resume = higher pay. Out of state businesses they’re not familiar with = lower pay. I doubt it’s illegal, but really stings after spending money to move. Wondering if I should take any action on this or just accept it and move on?

I work part time at a chain coffee shop (not the big green one). All of the employees are part time except for our GM. We’re located right in the middle of one of those dark red zones we saw in the storm maps yesterday for the severe weather. We knew the likelihood of a tornado hitting us (we are also in a midwestern US state that’s seen lots of tornados over the years). Yet our District Manager wouldn’t let us close the store. This is a guy who doesn’t even work at our location, he’s upper management and travels and oversees a bunch of our shops. He makes the call on whether or not we can close the store due to bad weather and he never lets us close. So two of my coworkers (I was off yesterday) had to sit in the bathrooms in the dark (no power)…