I’m on SSDI, was helping under the table at a tattoo shop for a bit. Their set up was that the artists have to pay the shop, whatever each artist takes home from a tattoo I would get 10% of- no hourly pay from the shop and it was on me to track down my tips, which meant my coworkers often owed me money. One of the piercers still owes me a couple hundred that I know I’ll never see.
My position was expected to be there open to close- at their two other locations this meant 10am to midnight. However piercers come in at noon and leave at close, and the artists switch out around 6. My shop had people leaving early constantly, so I started changing my hours since I also didn’t have a key.
Anyways. I’d been working there 4 months. Came in for my shift that day even though my gut was saying to call off because my depression was kicking my ass. I struggled with SI, thought about how shitty my coworkers would feel if I bailed on work to do that, and begrudgingly head in to work. I drive the 20 mins in, i see a tattoo apprentice there. In my head I’m thinking that makes a big part of my job redundant but I know they’re renovating and want the tattoo side of things to be handled by apprentices. I do paperwork for piercing to that they don’t. Owner has been saying they’ll be renovated next door since I started, it’s January and their Instagram still says they haven’t finished.
The artist is doing a tattoo when I come in, I talk to the piercer about piercing my nose in a bit. I ask artist if he needs help cleaning up when he’s done, he says apprentice has it. Apprentice and I go smoke, he tells me Owner called him in to help next door- apprentice is engaged to my friend, have since found out that owner never showed for that.
After I come inside artist takes me to the back and says: “I guess they didn’t have the balls to tell you this, but they’re letting you go.”
I blink and then respond in a way that closely resembles a Pete Davidson SNL sketch: “oh, word?”
I packed my shit and left. Haven’t heard from any of them since, was removed from the MANY group texts + work Fb group + work Fb chat (because shop manager for all 3 shops had to be in EVERY group chat!) within 30 mins of being fired.
Actually-the other day I got what I believe to be a spam message from the artist who had to fire me. I asked if he meant to send that to me and have been left on read