This was about 15 years back, I was 27 and employed as a warehouse / truck unloader / stocker at a major chain store.
Actually, gonna name and shame – it was a Toys-R-Us, it was in Missouri, USA.
Not the most glamorous job, but it was close to home, and it was overnights 10pm to 10am (something direly necessary for my life circumstances at the time). I worked 4 days a week for a total of 48 hours per week. It often spilled in to the 70-72 hour PER WEEK category because it was a shit low wage job and shit low wage employees were common… constant calling off work, calling in sick, quitting, or just apathy (it was common for workers to disappear into a maze of warehouse rows to sleep for hours).
For close to a year I worked my close to 50 hours per week and OFTEN 70+ hours per week. I was never late, I never called out, I always accepted the request to work more hours (they were paying OT after 40+ so there's that, but at $8.50 an hour, time and a half was still only $12.75 hour). The fact is they could NOT keep enough people to do all the work that was needed.
So… here we are, me working my ass off for a YEAR with keep in mind NO VACATION, NEVER called off work for this year… The Manager asks me if I can go to another store and work there for a few days because all of their employees quit. This store was a 45 minute drive for me and I declined. The only reason I'm in this shit job is because it's close to my home, I could drive but was not interested in a 45 minute commute two ways after a 12 hour shift.
Also keep in mind, I am a GREAT WORKER. I move swiftly, I complete my tasks, when my work is complete I ask what else can I do and help with. I do not have a bad attitude, just a general “keep your head down and work” type of dude.
So, this “can you work at another store request” happens literally a couple weeks before performance reviews that happen at a set time each year. And I declined – remember? After a little begging from my manager and I still declined.
My manager pulls me in, also I forgot to mention I was promised a $1/hr raise to $9.50/hr at review time (yes, still a shit wage but not the point). A coworker who I had become come close with told me he received $1/hr and he had worked there for 3-4 months so I thought I was GOLDEN for a $1lhr raise…so my manager pulls me in, and gives me a raise of $0.12… 12 CENTS PER HOUR from $8.50 to $8.62.
I ask him… why am I getting such a meager raise when I was promised a $1/hr and I am a good worker and coworkers who start after me have received a $1/hr raise. Here is the golden response… Pure fucking gold…
My manager: “Well, ya know if someone is only capable of D level work, but they always perform consistently at a D level… but you have an A level employee that doesn't always perform at their highest level but performs at a C level? Well they aren't living up to their potential.”
So I look my manager in the face and, understanding what he is telling me (because I guess he didn't work it out)… I ask him “So you are giving me less money because I am a better employee?”
He turned red and was stunned in to silence. I didn't say another word and got up and left the review meeting. I handed in a 2 week notice the very next shift (yes, I STILL gave them 2 weeks after they bent me over).
I swear to you all, the next 2 weeks was them begging me daily to be sent, at their expense, to a manager training school, they wanted to pay for travel expense, for room and board, for meals, tried to entice me with 401k and stock options…I could not be swayed.
Anyways, fk them… after that job I got a legit well paying SALARIED job with all the proper benefits and more, lots of a nice perks.