I started working at a place not too long ago on minimum wage. Well it’s gone unswimmingly. The contract doesn’t allow for breaks, the manager is petty as hell, and assumedly gets a power trip yelling at uni students working on minimum wage.
I also noticed some sort of weird racism because this treatment is given to only immigrants and not locals (British).
I am in a decent situation where I can afford to leave work and more so worked to have some savings and extra money. But the Others are not in a situation to afford getting fired and that’s why they put up with it.
After less than 2 months working here, I’ve been yelled at for things which are not my fault, been basically told to cover shift on short notice (felt very forced as they kept calling me after I said I’ll confirm if I can work it- I ended up saying yes due to the pressure and lack of a backbone in my body), been overworked – there is only one person per shift to handle stock, delivery, closing and opening. You also get viewed by CCTV at all times, so god forbid you breathe for a minute unless you want a phone call asking you what you are doing.
In general, I also felt treated like a second class citizen, to me I’ve worked in multiple jobs and never have I ever actively felt assaulted just by the tone in which I’m spoken to. It feels like I get yelled no matter what I do.
I also thing we get paid under minimum, because u close the shop at 11, but how much ever time you take to close the shop that’s effectively free unpaid time. This was not informed to me in the interview and I really felt like this was unfair. I already barely get by, is it really necessary that I can’t be afforded the minimum pay for my free time ? I usually spend 10-15 mins opening or closing each day.
The whole thing has gotten my moral down at this point. I felt sick today as I had a 8 hour shift and experienced horrible cramps and nausea. I was working alone for a couple hours and was gonna be joined by a coworker later. I called an hour into my shift to inform that I feel sick and I might just stay till my colleague comes in. I got yelled at and hung up on. But whatever I assumed that’s that.
Any repeated calls to the manager were ignored till my colleague walked in. I informed them to jump on till while I make calls again.
My manager still not responding, so I call one of the many suggested numbers, gets picked up by a polite dude who tells me he will get back to me.
Within 2 minutes, I get a call from my manager yelling at me for calling him and that it’s too late notice for her to bring anyone else in and “what’s wrong with you anyway?” Like I didn’t explain it to her 4 hours ago already.
I basically stand my ground and said, I can’t care but I’ll have to leave cuz I’m genuinely sick. She then pettily mentions the interaction I had with her in the morning:
The thing is I signed a contract stating that £100 will be taken from my first salary as deposit for my uniform. Now this uniform was given to me used and unwashed in a Tattered bag. I was under the impression that this deposit was £10 not £100, so when I got paid today, I asked to see the payslip because “I have come up short in my calculation so clarify “. She then kept calling me despite me saying multiple times that I prefer to text ( disabilities and have started panicking when I talk to her because she essentially yells at me). She mentioned this saying that I did not pick up her calls in the morning so how can I expect her to. She then basically said something along the lines of “I thought you can’t afford your rent , so you do realise if you leave now you’ll only get paid for the hours you did and not sick pay. I’m not sure if she’s wrong but it definitely felt inappropriate and irrelevant.
A lot more has happened, but I think I’m done with this shit. I’ve been treated with humiliation and been corrected about my English too although I speak fluently and never stated that I needed help.
I need advice, I have shifts next week starting Monday but I’m feeling like some malicious compliance is to be done here.
I’m also scared if I quit without notice they will withhold my £100 deposit. I also low-key wanna report them as I feel bad for my colleagues.