I work as a landscape gardener in the UK. My boss was a self proclaimed communist, which makes this all the more ridiculous.
Worked for him for 2 years earning £10 ($12.20) an hour. We would sometimes hire an extra person who was under 25 and he would pay them £8.50 ($10.37) an hour. With just him and I he charged customers £45 ($54.89) an hour and with three of us £55 ($67.09) an hour. On top of this he was paid £1900 ($2317) a month for a maintenance contract in a housing estate, which he only had to tend to once or twice a week.
We would work 40hrs in the heigh of summer, and much less sometimes nothing in the winter (just the way it goes with weather here) but he still got his contract money which is fair enough.
So he was making £1935 ($2360) a WEEK on the good months (March – October) then it would taper off.
I wasn't paid for time in the van between jobs, they were all close so it added up to 1 or 2 hours a day. So of the 40 hours a week I only got 30 – 35 of those, so me and the other guy would get £350 ($426) and £297 ($362) respectively a week at most.
I put up with this for over 2 years because he would constantly complain about bills for machines and people not paying him. Which turned out to be a load of utter codswallop! Lol.
I'm really handy with mechanics and would always be fixing and tuning machines and equipment. He got rid of a guy and told me he left of his own will, but I overheard him talking to his friend saying he kept me on because I could fix machines.
His van's brake warning light came on and I diagnosed it for him with scan tool, was just a sensor. He bought new brakes all round £700 ($850).
He bought a new van for £28,000 ($34,000) and would brag that he would claim tax relief on it and wouldn't have a tax bill that year.
He would come in with new clothing, boots, gloves etc every week talking about how much they cost. £120 new jacket, £50 gloves etc. This was EVERY week.
He said he got his kids swimming lessons for £350, and spent over £1000 on them each (he has 2 kids) for Christmas and birthdays. His front lawn was covered in kids toys and they were spoilt brats.
He got a pizza oven in his garden for £1000.
Overheard his wife talking about business grants worth £5000 coming in from the government
Heard him telling his friends about £48,000 profit and new van and machines for free because of tax relief.
The list goes on but you get the picture.
On top of this he would constantly bad mouth the customers, who were apparantly snobs and asked him to do too much. They were all lovely and mostly elderly.
Meanwhile me and the other guy would perform literal back breaking tasks: shoveling tonnes of stones/bark/sand, moving turf, cutting hedges, removing waste. This is the job but it was hard work. He would be on the phone mostly, if not walking behind a lawnmower and telling us what to do.
SO…
Eventually after lots of hesitation and encouragement from family, I worked up the courage to ask for, wait for it.. £1 an hour more!
Oh the audacity!
He went off: “I pay bills for machines” “I can't pay you more” “you want to work 20 hours and get paid for 40” etc…
I stayed calm and said I think my time is worth more and that I work hard.
I eventually said I was giving him 2 weeks notice.
He got me to tune all the carburettors on the machines, sent me home and said he has someone else.
The other guy and I were good friends and still talk, apparently he is struggling to find someone as useful as me and nobody wants to work for that amount of money.
I now work for myself and make much better money, I treat my customers with respect and always go the extra mile. I charge them reasonably and have had lots of work because I do a good job. Best decision I ever made. I fix my own tools and don't spend a lot.
My plan is to build a cabin off grid and become somewhat self sustainable. Helping those local to me for the little money I need to get by. Growing my own vegetables and using renewable energy. Will have to save for a while but at least I'm not a slave anymore.
TLDR: My boss refused to give me £1 an hour more while he was making thousands and being a dick to customers. I left and he is struggling to replace me. I work for myself now and have a better quality of life.