Not the biggest win, but it sure put a grin on my face. TLDR at bottom
I did a WFH customer service job where I did chats, phone calls, and emails. I did this job for three years and I was the only person in the entire customer service department. Job was great at first but it very quickly became obvious that there was absolutely no communication between anyone. For example, I was hired by the CEO and she shared my screen and watched me do a few customer service tickets and then said she'd be right back and then I didn't hear from anyone for two weeks. No one else knew who I was, or that she had finally hired someone for customer service, not even her business partner/CFO, but they were all so happy to see me because “we've had such a customer service problem for so long” (should have been a huge neon sign right there)
I put up with it because they paid decently well, but then they started paying me late and saying they could do that “as long as we pay you within 7 days”. Then instead of direct deposit, I started getting my checks through apps like Venmo or CashApp. When I asked why, and expressed frustration at having to wait an additional two days to get my check, or pay to get it instantly, I was told “we don't have to release that information to you”.
Then customer complaints ramped up. I mean REALLY ramped up. I went from getting maybe 15 email complaints a week to 20-30 a day. Customers weren't getting their orders at all. Turns out there was drama in the warehouse, stuff was stolen, and we had nothing to send to customers, and my bosses had all known about this issue for weeks but didn't tell me. I found out when customers started coming to me asking about their orders. Some of them had been waiting literal months when I had been told the orders had shipped out already. I had to chase my boss down for days to finally get an explanation and she didn't have a reason why she didn't tell me. I informed my supervisors that orders had been marked as shipped when they were never sent and we needed to look into it ASAP.
Nothing was done and I was told “don't give out any refunds no matter what, because we can't afford it”. I told my wife about this and began looking for another job, but I didn't want to quit without something lined up. We'd recently had to empty our savings account due to medical issues on my part, and I was at least getting paid something.
And then I noticed my next paycheck was low, which was odd. I had a set schedule and hours, so I knew how much my check was each week. When I saw money missing from my check I logged in, kept chats and phones off, and refused to work until someone explained to me why I had money missing from my check. I called the CEO, CFO (married business partners), my direct supervisor, even other employees (who had no money missing from their checks), and finally I was told why.
Boss: “Well, on [date] we didn't have any customers for two hours, and on [date] there were no chats all day. So we're not paying you for those hours. We're not going to pay you if you're not actually working, meaning talking to a customer.”
Me: “So if there are no customers all day, I will not be paid for that day even if I was clocked in for the full eight hours?”
Boss: “Correct.”
And they were dumb enough to put that in writing in a private chat, which I immediately screenshotted and emailed to my personal email. I sent in my letter of resignation with my wife's support and quit that day.
And then I filed for unemployment. While I do live in the US and usually the rule is “if you quit, no benefits for you”, I'm lucky. I live in a state where you do get benefits if you prove you quit for a reasonable reason. The screenshot proved they were docking my pay, which was illegal. They had to pay me a year's salary, I have full UI benefits for minimum a year (which my old job also has to pay for), and lots of time to spend with my wife and focus on my health.
At least I'm finally getting paid on time.
tldr: my WFH job started docking my pay when there were no customers, now they have to pay me benefits for a year.