Last year I was working at a electronic repair shop, I was our advanced repair technician, since I can do almost every single repair including those that require microsoldering. The pay was $15/hr, and I was driving 1 hour each way to get to and from work. I stayed because the owners were good people who looked out for us, even gave us holiday bonuses and time off when we needed it. But around winter, buisness was slowing down, and the store wasn't meeting the goals it needed to stay open. So the owners decided to sell the store back to the bloke they had purchased it from.
Both my coworker and I had worked for this dude before, and he was a complete asshole, always cutting hours and demanding impossible things. So when we got the news, we both decided the only way we were going to stay was if we got a raise. I wanted $26/hr, my coworker wanted $24/hr. And if either of us didn't get our request, we'd both leave. We ended up agreeing to $24/hr for me, and $21/hr for him. With the added requirement that I become store manager.
So in January the store changed hands, and we started having to do with micromanging bullshit. I had to deal with manager calls where I'd be asked about why sales were slow, and when I'd say “well, no one is coming in, and we have low call volume” I'd be told we needed to go out and find people. After about 2 weeks, my co-worker went on a vacation he had scheduled from before the change over.
I agreed to work 6 days a week, open to close, so that the store would stay open. I worked my ass off, getting up at 7am every morning and only getting home around 8pm. I did inventory every week solo, while still taking in and completing repairs, I salvaged 4 separate special repairs that were delayed do to part shortages, and I exceeded our monthly goal by 2k. All by myself, for 2 weeks.
Near the end of the second week, we got a MASSIVE shipment of accessories. I knew based on what we got, it would require taking everything off the walls and redoing the whole store layout. I was exhausted from keeping everything running, and made the decision to wait the few days for the return of my coworker so he could handle customers while I redid the accessories. But unfortunately his flight home got canceled, and he wasn't going to be back till the middle of the next week.
So when my day off rolled around, and the DM came to cover the store, he called me on my day off to ask why the accessories hadn't been put out. I explained my reasoning, said I wasn't going to change my mind on it. My coworker was arriving home that day, and thr following day he'd be in to work, so I said I would come in on my other planned day off to do the accessories. I wake up the next morning, 7am so I'm there before open, and as I'm getting ready I get a call from the DM. He tells me not to come into work, that I've been let go, and that they don't need my services any more. When I ask why I've been let go, I'm told it's no reason in particular, they just wish to go in a different direction with the buisness.
Fast forward a few weeks, and a manager friend let me know that the DM told him they never intended to keep me on for longer than was needed to cover my coworker's vacation. The store is now backlogged with special repairs that only I knew how to do, and angry customers yelling at my coworker.
I am a repair technician with 7 years experience. I know how to microsolder, how to diagnose problems quickly and efficiently, how to handle customers, and how to keep an entire store running by myself. And now I cannot find work in my field, because every store I talk to wants to pay me bellow minimum wage with 'commision' or won't hire me because I'm 'over qualified' for the position, and they're looking for someone with less experience.
I'm so fucking sick of this bullshit. They tell you that you need experience to be payed well, but when you have experience they don't want you because you won't accept starving wages. All those money grabbing assholes can burn in hell.