This happened back in 2016 but it still angers me to this day.
I was working for a small family owned Cafe, my job was to basically manage the admin side of things (paying bills, rosters, stocktake, ordering, marketing, hiring staff etc.) The job provided next to no training but the tasks where straight forward enough for me to teach myself over time.
About 6 months in they decided to add additional tasks to my position – they wanted me to learn how to make coffee so that if they where understaffed I could step in.
I was only 21 at this point and didn't have the same attitude towards standing up for myself that I do now. At the time it sounded like a practical idea but in hindsight with already having alot on my plate, taking my time away from those duties to also make coffee was a terrible idea.
I became overwhelmed and brought this up with my boss. She was a retired, very wealthy, older woman who had zero business sense and basically bought the cafe as something to keep her occupied while her husband was away with work (he was a high court judge). Instead of understanding what an extra ask this was and how much my workload had increased (without extra pay of course) she immediately turned on me, giving me the silent treatment for the rest of the time I work there.
About a week after I had brought this up, her husband (who had nothing to do with the business) suddenly came in and shadowed me for an entire day. He claimed he wanted to see my 'process'.
The thing is, he came in on the one day where I uncharacteristically had zero admin duties that day. So with no admin tasks/emails/rosters/bills/ordering/stocktake to be done, I helped out making coffees like they had asked.
He then saw this as me being a 'glorified barista' and couldn't understand why I was being paid $26/hour when I should have been on $21 (almost minimum wage).
When in reality, for the amount of tasks that where expected of me I was actually being underpaid by Fair Work standards for my current role (meant to be around $30/hour).
He fired me on the spot for 'taking advantage of a small business' – I was in such shock I just walked out.
A week later I get a text from him. Apparently the business wasn't running properly as nothing had been paid and no orders had been done so there was no stock for the cooks. The new girl he had hired didn't understand what was required and had asked for training – they wanted me to be that trainer as no one else in the business knew how to do any of it.
Looking back I wish I had laughed in his face, but I sent a message basically saying I would not be coming in to train my replacement as I now needed to spend my time looking for another job.
Because I didn't agree to come back in, he withheld my annual leave pay from me (illegal).
I didn't chase it up because it would have been more effort than what it was worth, but it still angers me to this day that someone could be so entitled to think I had any loyalty to a business that was so out of touch; they didn't even realise how much I did for them.
Keep in mind this man was high up in the justice system!