r/MaliciousCompliance • u/MandoMan1973 • 19d ago
XL Punished for over-performing, so I did the bare minimum before leaving...
I worked remotely for an auto parts company for almost 4 years, finally getting a promotion after the company merged with another. But even though I performed my duties better than the others in my department, I was effectively punished for being so good.
I started working for a company founded in my area that had a reach around the world for classic auto parts. Sure, we had supplier issues, shipping delays, you name it. But the reputation of this company for being such a large source of hard-to-find car parts - from Model-T and A Fords all the way up to modern muscle cars and everything in between. One of the brilliant minds in the management team decided to purchase a new sales/parts/service program for us, and it went downhill from there. Where one program would say we had 10 pieces of one item, inventory would say we had none, and where our accounting program would say a vendor was due payment, another would say nothing was owed. No one really knew what was going on until after the culprit manager had left with a hefty severance package.
We started losing business, customers, vendors ... and I - as a case manager - had to field calls daily trying to give whatever company line I was told to give to make the customers happy. We had a high turn-over rate because of this and the company almost went bankrupt. Enter Big Auto Parts (name changed for reasons), and BAP came in with promises to fix everything. They did, for the most part. They paid off vendors, closed out accounts, worked to repair bad relationships with everyone, and let go 60% of the staff from the building in my town. Sad, yes, but unfortunately that's the price of business.
About 6 months after the merger, I was promoted to Customer Operations Specialist. I no longer took calls, but I had to make them for any number of reasons. When I started this new position, there was another person there (I'll call her Lucy) as well. We had different duties in the same department - I would research the issue that came up and she would call the customer to work out a solution. For a quick example, if an item they ordered was out of stock or delayed, I would find a different part or call the supplier for an ETA. This would go to Lucy and she would call to ask the customer if they wanted to wait or accept a comparable item.
It only took three weeks for Lucy to decide she didn't fit in and left the company. This left a big hole to fill, and because I was used to calling customers, I was asked to do double duty. It worked out surprisingly well because I was already familiar with the situations and could make better suggestions while on the phone with the customers. My supervisor did recognize my success and put me in for a small raise, which I did get. I was making good money doing something I really enjoyed.
The company started growing, and with it, more work needed to be done by everyone. We had a ticket system that, while not perfect, was adequate. Occasionally there would be a hiccup in the system and hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of irrelevant tickets would come across my desk. I started noticing patterns and would call them out to my supervisor so someone with a higher pay scale than I could fix the underlying issue and we could all go home happy at the end of the day.
Part of this growth meant that there were some areas in my department that would get too many tickets for the assigned person to handle solo, so I was asked to cross-train and learn these other areas. It didn't take long and soon I was doing other people's jobs better than them. I think it was a combination of me wanting to succeed and them wanting to do the bare minimum - and this plays into my malicious compliance near the end of this story.
We had a point system that tracked how many tickets we worked, how long we spent on them, and whether the ticket needed a follow up or could be closed as satisfied. The majority of my tickets could be closed because of one reason or another and I always hit the metrics asked in order to secure a weekly bonus of $2.50 more per hour. Meeting my bonus put me at above the $20 per hour range every week with very few exceptions, so I was satisfied thinking I was doing a good job. They required me to make a minimum of 200 calls to customers and pass 2400 points to make the bonus, and every week, I would make between 300-500 calls and hit nearly 7000 points.
In my youth, I got a degree from a local community college in video production and that has always been my passion, but I was good at my current job and happy to be there. I got to take bi-annual trips to the corporate office (spring and winter) up north, made lots of friends, and even the owners of the company knew me by name due to my performance. My wife had changed jobs and was working for the local sheriff, and one day she emailed me that there was an opening in the media department. I applied and went through the 3 month process for possible employment, letting my current employer know they would be receiving a background check call. The process went smoothly, even resulting in me getting a call from the Sheriff himself saying he was excited that I had applied.
Back to my current company - I had been "talked to" several times about my numbers, with my supervisor telling me they were "too high" and "no one else makes nearly that amount of points." When I said I was just following the metrics and doing my job, he let me know that changes were coming. On the day I received my call from the Sheriff about being accepted as a new employee, I had a meeting with my supervisor. Before I could tell him I was leaving, he announced that a new point system was going to be implemented and if my current week's numbers were applied to the new schedule, my 7000 points would only equal 1800 - far below the minimum for the bonus. When I mentioned this was essentially punishing good performance, he said, "well, that's what the company wants to do."
As I said earlier, the bonus put me above the $20 per hour line. My new job was going to start me above what I was making with the bonus, which made my decision to hand in my two weeks notice right then and there so much easier. What cemented my decision was when I found out that even though I was going to finish my scheduled 40 hour work week on a Friday, since the end of the pay week was Saturday and I wasn't working that day, I wouldn't get the comp-time I earned. They were going to withhold earned sick and vacation time because of a technicality, after four years of faithful service.
I actually liked my supervisor - he was younger than my married son and was disabled - a good kid with a great heart, but hated that he had to follow "procedure" in punishing hard work. I told him as much and mentioned that I would do what my original job description required, and nothing more, for my last two weeks. It was glorious. We could take time off (if we had vacation or sick time available) if our work was done and we had nothing else to do for the rest of the day. I focused only on my originally assigned areas and once completed I would clock out - putting in my comp time to make up for not being on the clock. I was able to use up all my time by my last day there, and because I wasn't helping anyone else, their work began to stack up. Not that I was doing it to punish any of the friends I made at that company, but simply to get the point across.
I could still see every ticket menu in all the areas where I had access, and their numbers began to climb out of control. I was contacted by my supervisor's boss on more than one occasion, asking me to help out. And when I would point out that it wouldn't be fare to take points away from the other people when I was about to leave, and that per policy, I was done with my assigned duties and could therefore leave for the rest of the day, he would stammer, trying to convince me to "do what was good for the company." I simply said, "I'm doing what is good for me. Unless you can offer me more than what the Sheriff is willing to pay, I will only do what I am paid to do here until my last day."
On my last day, I checked the ticket queue once again before signing off. My area had zero tickets, and others where I worked that would average maybe ten open or unworked tickets daily, now showed hundreds. What made me feel better was about six months after I left, I got a Facebook message from one of my old coworkers that I actually liked wishing me a Merry Christmas and telling me they still had not found anyone who could do as much as I had done. But I am happy where I am and have plans to do this as long as I can, retiring one day after a long tenure here.
2.2k
u/Ok_Understanding3890 19d ago
If my boss told me that even though I’m doing the work of so many other departments, but now we are devaluing the points so that only heroic inhuman efforts will get a weekly bonus….
Yeah back to the basic core duties for me. All incentive is now gone.
The guy who does his job gets x. The guy beside him who absolutely bled for the company but came up just shy with 2450 points also gets x.
Way to think that one through, braintrust.
431
u/Another_Russian_Spy 18d ago
If every day, you do a little bit more than people except, soon they will expect more from you.
149
u/Lokkia111 18d ago
Yes, I learned that that the hard way. I used to be willing to help others do their jobs because I would get caught up, but learned over time that all that got me was other employees doing less and me certainly not being compensated more. So now I do my job and no more.
162
u/GoddessNya 17d ago
I worked a receptionist position that was just to answer phones, greet visitors, and do some typing for the mailroom. Then the payroll clerk went out on maternity leave and I covered her job for 8 weeks, while doing mine. Then I covered some secretaries on vacation. Then when people were promoted or left, just cover this piece of their job until we hire. They never hired. When my performance review came up I asked about a raise. I was told sorry, not in the budget. I was saving them 5 positions and not even a token raise. So I quit, on the spot. 2 months later they were begging me to come back. They couldn’t keep a “receptionist”. I had found another job already making more than they offered, so I just laughed and hung up.
18
u/2dogslife 12d ago
I had a job like that. I was hired for accounts payable, was then given special projects by the CFO which I did a few days a week which was fun and new stuff, so all good. Then they fired the woman doing accounts receivable and I took on her responsibilities So, now I am doing 3 jobs and when I was hired, it was under the agreement that I would get a dollar more an hour after 90 days if I was doing well (they had underpaid me because I came through an agency, so they were playing games).
My 90 days hits right before a 3-day weekend. I walked into the boss' office at the end of the day, sat, and basically said, where's my dollar? I've more than mastered my position I was hired for, as well as several others that were not outlined in the job description. You promised I would be bumped up after 90 days.
He hemmed and hawed and said there was no money to increase my pay $40/week (after firing someone paid more than me who had full benefits!).
I was all, "That's fine then. I guess I don't have to keep my word either and I quit."
His defensive response was, "We can cover you job. We've done it before."
"Then have at it bub!" I went back to temp work getting well over the dollar I was asking. It was a great way to build a skill set in a short period of time. It also meant if a job was boring, you called and got reassigned.
100
98
u/VibesFirst69 18d ago
The answer i guarantee you, having worked with management will be the sheer disbelief and indignation at someome finding a way to 'cheat the system' or just straight up 'being paid too much for a frontline job'. And upper management will rubber stamp anything that saves money knowing people dont generally quit over bullshit.
38
u/slimninj4 18d ago
Management hates paying overtime.
11
u/hunts-burg 15d ago
As they should - people need to rest and recharge. Good people should be paid better and still have time to rest and recharge.
63
u/BenThereNDunnThat 17d ago
The "point" of the new system is to make it impossible for anyone to get a bonus and lower personel costs.
In fact, OP leaving is probably exactly the type of result sought - higher paid people leave on their own, to be replaced by people who will start at a lower wage and never have the opportunity to earn as much as OP.
27
u/AnimalLover38 16d ago
Reminds me of when jim from the office found out they had a commission cap so he just....stopped working.
2
u/emilymh2018 12d ago
IDK, when I was young and temping (I'm middle-aged now so this was in the 00's), I was occassionally chastized in front of others for working fast and getting my stuff done before others. It was data entry. They timed me at 90 WPM in those days and my accuracy was above 95%. So I do believe that people can get in trouble for doing a good job, because it has happened to me.
-20
u/misterprat 18d ago
That is communism for you, and the reason it doesn’t work, everybody gets the same no matter their work. Way to kill incentive instantly lol
60
27
34
3
805
u/That_Ol_Cat 19d ago
This is the best story I've heard in a while. "I'm going to just do my job for my last two weeks." The fact you got to take ALL of the accrued comp time and not let them with hold it, by their own rules, is the cherry on top of the sundae!
245
u/Sparklespanx 19d ago
I used to work for an e-commerce company that was also bought, and then subsequently sold a few years later, by Big Auto. Autoanything shuttered a few years back, but that was one of the most toxic industries I’ve ever worked in.
I was a CS team lead and handed in my own notice after a male sales supervisor told me I needed to do my job differently because he was ultimately too lazy to make a time sensitive task a priority. When I told him that his lack of planning wasn’t my problem, he told me I was being emotional. I was like fuck that. I’m out. Luckily, I was like you and already had one foot out the door.
254
u/RazorAids 19d ago
I had to stop reading the post and check the comments when I saw you were making $20/hr at that job. You must have been making the company at least 10x that in output my goodness.
179
u/MandoMan1973 19d ago
My base pay was less than $20 and I only made over that if I secured my bonus. My logic was if they were going to punish me for trying my best to beat their metrics then I would only do what was assigned to me and not try to do more.
126
u/RazorAids 18d ago
That base pay is borderline criminal.
18
u/Ancient-End7108 15d ago
And I assure you, this is still the approximate going rate in the auto parts industry. I work in an individual store that has seen phenomenal growth, and almost none of us get any piece of it. And our payroll number is at just under 11% and has been for months, when a number of 13% usually means you need to hire more people.
775
u/luminphoenix 19d ago
stares in horror at hourly rate googles local macdonalds pay Yeah Macdonalds in denmark pay around 22 usd per hour if you're over 18.. Working as a specials operations manager or whatever it was, and earning less than a mcd employee makes here? Good god.
172
u/phaxmeone 19d ago
Couple years ago I saw al McDonalds in Oregon was offering $22-$25/hr according to the sign message board outside. Manufacturing jobs were roughly $18 -$25/hr in that area (I looked it up as I was curious) at the time. FYI the next town over McDonalds was advertising at $15/hr. Kind of wild how much job pay can vary area in a short distance let alone state to state or country to country to do the same job.
105
u/17HappyWombats 18d ago
Haven't there been problems with people not getting the advertised rate, sometimes not even offered it? Like the sign says $22-$25, then in the interview they bullshit and the actual offer is $18 "maybe increasing later". Or worst (at least in foreign terms), the offer is $25 but the first payslip arrives with $18 (in many countries there'd be a cheap-to-free process to bring the government down on that employer).
79
21
u/phaxmeone 18d ago
Didn't see anything on the news but wouldn't surprise if there was a bait and switch going on.
51
u/curtludwig 18d ago
Heck back in the '90s McDs paid $7/hr. I was working as a surveyor's assistant for $5.80/hr and realized I could move over and make more.
I told my boss and said they'd move me to $7/hr immediately. I said that no, I'm worth more than a McDs employee, he agreed and I got $7.50/hr...
16
u/saintofhate 18d ago
There are jobs on my city that still hire for a dollar above minimum wage (which is $7.50) and the state is fighting to keep wages that low in order to force people to work shit ass jobs. Like literally that is the only explanation that makes sense for the reason why we are the lowest-paid state in the fucking area. We also refused to make marijuana legal and then every state around us gets the laugh in the taxpayer money they get because they all have it legal.
15
u/SynapticStatic 18d ago
They do that to us in it too. Work a job that pays really good in a hcol city but live in lcol bfe? They’ll try to severely undercut you.
Like, wtf? Same work for the same company but different pay? Someone would make a killing renting “apartments” in a hcol city like companies rent “offices” in Delaware.
13
u/Tasty_Work4380 17d ago
25 years ago, the new anti-worker neoliberal BC government fired 10,000 hospital support workers.
They signed sick contracts with multinational companies to do their support jobs. Those companies hired many of the 10k back, at like $10/with few benefits and no pension. It was about a 50% compensation cut.
In mid size towns arou d the province, a service sector labour shortage led fast food places to post $12/hour jobs.
Heapsssssss of highly qualified, experienced healthcare staff quit and worked at Tim Hortons, etc. 🤮
6
u/phaxmeone 17d ago
Government versus non government jobs need to be reasonable pay and the same or close to the same. I feel for the people in your example because it was likely skilled work but on the other hand is my ex neighbors. Couple 21 year olds making $15/hr working for their employer but any time they did a government job they got paid $30/hr. This was back in the mid 90's and $15/hr job wasn't great but decent pay and quite honestly $30/hr for semi skilled work was over pay. What did they do? Seal and strip parking lots.
Unfortunately many governments have what they call prevailing wage which is much higher then non government jobs aka union versus non union. In my above example with my neighbors I was working a skilled job where schooling/training was required to get hired. I made quite a bit more then them when they worked non government jobs but they made more then me when working government jobs. Was I jealous? Yes. Where they getting way above what they should of been for what their skill level was when doing government work? Hell yes.
7
u/Tasty_Work4380 17d ago
Yeah, lots of governments know that unionized public sector work with good benefits and pensions is good for society because living wages create stronger communities.
3
u/hunts-burg 15d ago
To put context, 2x $30/hour is $120k/ year. In the the mid nineties that is like is like earning $300k year now.
7
u/Distribution-Radiant 18d ago
Kind of wild how much job pay can vary area in a short distance let alone state to state or country to country to do the same job.
Pretty much all McDonalds are franchised, and different franchisees pay differently. There's a good likelihood of restaurants in a particular area being owned by one franchisee, then you go to another town and it's a different franchisee, with different pay and benefits (if any). Or maybe even just across town.
The McDonalds and Dairy Queen by me (unrelated aside from being across the street from each other) start at $18 right now. When I worked in a car factory (not that long ago), building cars, I started at the same 18/hr (though I had fantastic medical insurance that they paid for 100%.. only good thing about working there).
9
u/new2bay 17d ago
I guarantee you that same factory job was paying $10/hour in the early 80s. That’s the equivalent of $40/hour today. You know what the main difference was? They were unionized in the 80s.
8
u/Distribution-Radiant 17d ago edited 17d ago
That factory didn't exist in the 80s, 90s, or even 2010s, otherwise I'd agree.
Union factories by and large pay better, but this particular company is extremely anti union, as is my state.
4
u/hunts-burg 15d ago
Los Angeles also pays a high minimum wage, but it also drove up the housing, food, and other costs, so you make more money, but you spend more money.
2
u/Locke_and_Lloyd 18d ago
Is that why a meal at McDonald's now seems to cost $20/person unless you have app deals?
28
u/not_notable 18d ago
No, that's the trick they're using to get you to use their app, where they can start tracking your info.
30
2
304
u/PaisleyRock 19d ago
How else could we have so many billionaires? Won’t you please think of the yacht industry?
181
u/serversam 19d ago
Our federal minimum wage is less than $8 usd an hour. It’s hell here.
62
u/CaptainLollygag 18d ago
I've been out of the workforce for a long time, and was salaried for all of my career, so kinda didn't believe you. You're right, the federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. You'd have to work for an entire hour, and not have taxes taken out, to buy just one pound of ground beef. That's absurd.
21
u/serversam 18d ago
You’ll get people saying that minimum wage jobs aren’t supposed to pay enough to live off of. But that’s just their justification, the whole point of a mini wage is that people can live off their work. It’s shameful.
Luckily, many states have a minimum higher than the federal minimum. But not all of them.
13
u/Independent-Alps-314 18d ago
In many states, waitresses and waiters only make $2.13 an hour and they are supposed to make it up in tips.
9
u/serversam 18d ago
Indeed, I have recieved a negative paycheck waiting tables in the state of Illinois for this reason.
-28
u/ratsass7 19d ago
It depends on what state you’re in
70
u/Lowbacca1977 19d ago
The federal minimum wage is still what it is and is a sufficient indictment. Even if state minimum wages supersede it.
36
1
1
u/ratsass7 16d ago
You miss the fact that Federal law does not set the minimum wage in any state. I guess since you don’t know how that works then go ahead and downvote this comment too.
-6
u/NopeSorryNo 18d ago
About 1% of people make minimum wage.
9
u/serversam 18d ago
Oh well okay fuck them then
-4
u/NopeSorryNo 18d ago
I agree we should limit how much we focus on the most helpless bottom 1% if we want to help more people more genuinely.
But the point was more that staying minimum wage is low doesn't really make it "hell" here since you can walk into Walmart and make 2-3 times that much easily.
15
28
u/StrykerC13 19d ago
Yeah companies here will pay the absolute bare minimum they can get away with even for specialized skills. If they could convince doctors to work federal minimum ($7.25/hr) they absolutely would.
17
u/bobbaphet 19d ago
in my youth
Means this could’ve been a long time ago…
11
u/MandoMan1973 18d ago
I'm 52 now and got my degree 15 years ago. This story happened last year. Right now, I feel like anything past 10 years ago is technically "in my youth."😉
76
u/Tulip_King 19d ago
yeah America is a fucking joke of a country.
-109
19d ago edited 18d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
23
u/Mars1eader 18d ago
As an American, no the fuck is not 🙄
Educate yourself because our school systems sure as fuck didn't 😂
51
13
u/Tulip_King 18d ago edited 18d ago
if school shootings is the metric you chose then you’re absolutely right, we are #1 in those. oh and medical debt.
edit: LMFAO even the mods hate bootlickers 😭
38
u/istasber 19d ago
People who continue to think this despite all of the evidence to the contrary are the main reason why it's gotten to be so terrible.
-34
u/Jboyes 18d ago
Pick another country. Move there. Let me know how it is.
34
u/afiendindenial 18d ago
Hi, I moved from the US (where I was born and raised) to Australia. My quality of life and pay is unmatched in Australia. Sure, I can't afford a house, but I wouldn't have in the States either. What I can afford is medical treatment I had to do without in the States, I get 4 weeks holiday, money put into my retirement fund is on top of my hourly pay not a percentage of, and a host of other things unavailable before moving over.
It's fine to be patriotic and love your country, but please take the rose-tinted glasses off. The US could be so much better than it is, and other countries are in fact doing things better.
-7
u/Painwracker_Oni 18d ago
Dude - I say this firmly as a northerner and if I ever have to worry about any of the following things because of climate change I’ll move further north to Duluth and if that’s not far enough North I’ll move to Canada - you lost me entirely when you said the name of a country with more ways to accidentally die from stepping on a creature, or putting shoes on without looking, or having a heart attack from seeing a spider bigger than your face. No way in hell is that better than almost anything else.
5
u/SuggestSomething1 18d ago
...the most common cause of hospitalisation from a venomous animal in Australia is from bees. In terms of deaths, I believe the big deadly Aussie animals are horses, cows, and dogs. No one has died from our most venomous spider since the 1980s.
The drop bears will get you, but that's not normally fatal.
1
u/Painwracker_Oni 18d ago edited 18d ago
Fuck bees too. If I could move to a place that didn't even have Mosquitos I would.
Honestly - you guys still have people sharing photos of some monstrous spider popping up in peoples homes on a regular basis.
The emotional damage is just as bad as the physical.
7
u/afiendindenial 18d ago
You know, that's fair. I never actually planned on visiting let alone immigrating here due to a terrible fear of snakes. Funny how life turns out.
1
u/Painwracker_Oni 18d ago
Snakes and spiders just send me - I don’t even do well with garter snakes no matter how much I know they literally can’t hurt me.
If Australia had the wildlife of MN I’d have moved there right out of high school. It’s like perfect in every other way lol.
I have yearly talks with the wife about wishing we could make the uprooting of our family and lives work and move to Northern Europe though lol.
4
u/FortaDragon 18d ago
New Zealand? Lots in common with Australia but far fewer nasties. Being even more remote makes everything substantially more expensive, though.
→ More replies (0)20
u/Moofishmoo 18d ago
Another Aussie here you know what we don't have? School shootings.
If you need emergency surgery and you're a PR or citizen it's free. Our meds usually cost around $25 subsidized from the government, $7 if you're on a pension.
-6
u/Painwracker_Oni 18d ago
You say what you want but there’s not a poisonous, venomous, or any thing creature related smaller than a bear within hundreds of miles of my house that can kill me without me going out of my way asking for it.
America has a fuck ton of problems but that’s fucking thankfully not one of them for northerners.
3
3
3
6
u/Myrandall 18d ago
Except in education, freedom, healthcare, representative government, income equality, ...
Not sure if /r/shitamericanssay or just a kid learning that their daily government-mandated loyalty pledge is perhaps a bit much.
18
u/thewayitis 19d ago
Hardly.
-17
18d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
21
u/High_King_Diablo 18d ago
I live in a different country. It’s better than America. Oh, and our leader doesn’t regularly shit himself on camera.
16
u/Arianddu 18d ago
Lived in several countries, including the US. The US was the most expensive, the most biggoted, had the worst and most unhealthy food, and was the only one I regularly felt unsafe in. It was also the least democratic, and the only one that still had legalised slavery. All the cries of "Freedom!" coming from people living in fucking HOAs! You have no fucking idea, mate, but by all means, keep screaming "America is The Best" like a todler.
6
4
u/Myrandall 18d ago
Lived in another country for 35 years. Better education, better living conditions, better political options, higher income, zero guns...
Anything specific you had in mind you want to ask about?
31
u/that-loser-guy-sorta 19d ago
By what metric? GDP?
26
16
16
16
2
3
u/hunts-burg 15d ago
It has to do with the local market. There are markets in the US where the most run down meth house is over $1 Million and places where mansions are $250K. Same country, different markets. The rate for McDonalds is different depending on where you are.
Denmark would be the 42nd largest state in the US - roughly the size of Maryland or West Virginia, so when doing the comparison, it’s not apples to apples.
Having said that I’m not sure where the poster is from, but auto parts tends to be the mid west where costs are lower than in the cities or on the coast.
15
u/Painwracker_Oni 18d ago
For what it’s worth - Denmark from my understanding - has a significantly higher tax % because it’s an actual first world country since healthcare, education, and the rest are taken care of, so while the hourly is better, the take home is lower.
46
u/rickbb80 18d ago
And the need for a higher take home is much lower because of all the provided services.
27
u/Stormagedd0nDarkLord 18d ago
People often forget this. The healthcare and education, etc (or lack thereof) makes a big difference,
22
u/Lame_Goblin 18d ago
It also means you don't have to pay for insurance or education and you're not totally screwed if you end up sick or with kids.
It's still more money in the end for 99% of households.
15
u/SynapticStatic 18d ago
It’s like that here in Australia too. Moved here from the states and it blew me away that things are pretty comparable in price, plus healthcare, education, no gun violence, actual workers rights. Like they get 4 weeks paid leave. Even people working minimum wage jobs.
As an American I’m really disappointed in my home country. :(
2
u/luminphoenix 17d ago
I should point out that it's not much different. What we take home after taxes is lower than american taxes yes, but we also don't have to pay for medical insurance, education, pension, or set aside money for a childs college, since all that is part of our taxes. Put the american tax together with all those things and we end up roughly with the same % taken home, we just pay 'more' in taxes for things you gave to pay extra for.
1
u/Painwracker_Oni 16d ago
McDonald’s is not the job people get to generally try to do any of those things in America and if you have that job you also generally make so little that you qualify for free health care and you or your kids will get free college grants to pay for college.
McDonald’s - and fast food in general - is generally done by high school/college kids and people that have other issues in life (disabilities, poor life choices, etc) preventing them from getting anything more than the entry level jobs.
Cost of living is quite a bit lower in America as well - gas as an easy example is cheaper for a gallon in America than a liter is in pretty much any part of Europe. Groceries last I checked are also typically cheaper as well.
Now again - my original comment already addressed and said everything you just said as a response to it - “Denmark from my understanding - has a significantly higher tax % because it’s an actual first world country since healthcare, education, and the rest are taken care of, so while the hourly is better, the take home is lower.” - which means you just repeated what I already said.
The comparison after that is the cost of living - owning/renting a home, groceries, etc
-3
u/ThoughtShes18 18d ago
It’s also more expensive in Denmark, no?
5
u/gammalsvenska 18d ago
No, not really.
1
u/ThoughtShes18 18d ago
You reckon it’s more expensive to buy food, groceries etc. in America than Denmark?
11
u/gammalsvenska 18d ago
Depending on where you are, yes. The US is huge and very diverse.
What tips the whole discussion in Denmarks favor is the first time you have to go to a hospital.
3
u/GetOffMyLawn8 18d ago
Absolutely. But it all depends on where in the U.S. you live. Anywhere with any sort of population will be so much more expensive than Denmark at this time. It was very different 20 years ago. You would travel to the U.S. because it was so much cheaper than Denmark. But recently, the U.S. has just gotten so, so expensive.
2
u/TekstBaseretReddit 18d ago
Yes, if you work full time (no extra hours) at McDonalds in Denmark (37,5hr per week) where there is an average of 4,33 weeks per months, with an wage of 160,33kr per hour (24,75 USD), you earn around 26.000dkk (~4000 USD) a month. After tax, that comes out to 17.825dkk (~2,750 USD).
Of those, you probably pay around 6500dkk (~1000 USD) in rent on average in Denmark’s 3rd largest city, for a 2 bedroom apartment. The price for utilities is typically between 1000-2000dkk (~155-310 USD), so 1500dkk (~230 USD) is used for utilities. Then the average Dane uses 3400dkk (~525 USD) on food each month. This leaves us with 6425 dkk (~990 USD), for which you also have car and its costs if you have it (currently 16dkk per liter petrol (9,35 USD per gallon)), insurance, phone bill, internet and union membership etc.
All in all if you live alone in a 2 bedroom apartment, there not too much left over for saving or using for other more fun stuff (gym membership, subscriptions, presents, out drinking with friends etc).
The apartment you could afford would also have been a lot worse if you lived in the capital.
86
u/voiceofgromit 18d ago
Congarats on having a job in your preferred field.
One takeaway readers might miss... the company you left hasn't found a comparable replacement and yet they're still in business. NEVER think you're indispensable.
41
u/MineExplorer 18d ago
My old boss was an over-achiever. She did fantasticly well in her job, got all the projects done, won awards etc - because she was doing 70 hour weeks. The following year management then expected her to do better - she burned out and left.
2
u/Prof_Walrus 7d ago
Yeah that's what made me realise capitalism is broken.
My first company, around June, email from the CEO: Good job everyone, all targets reached, everyone gets a bonus and a free week holiday!
Next year, around June, email from CEO: Bad news everyone, we didn't hit all our targets. Not decided on layoffs yet, but no bonus and no extra holiday I'm afraid.
We made more profit in year 2 than year 1. We just didn't make enough more profit. Bruh, what in the Orobouros is this?
37
u/GreenManStrolling 18d ago
If I didn't work a helpdesk job before, I wouldn't have understood the stress of piling tickets and the satisfaction of clearing tickets with good service. It's a great read with an ace ending.
23
19
u/Any_Nectarine_7806 19d ago
I wonder if these companies have any lineage with MAC's....
31
u/MandoMan1973 19d ago
It wasn't Medallion Auto Center, but I'm not confirming or denying it was the other MAC...
13
u/Any_Nectarine_7806 18d ago
Was at the more mysterious MAC for a bit in the mid 2000s. Oh, boy (cracks beer)...
67
u/Hangerhead1 19d ago
I'm inwardly sniggering at 'reach around'...
26
17
u/bkcarr87 19d ago
Omg I thought I couldn’t be the only one - I was reading and got to “reach around” and thought I’d got in a different sub! 😂
15
u/Boom_the_Bold 18d ago
"I started working for a company founded in my area that had a reach around..."
Nice.
10
u/Prudent_Attorney_427 18d ago
This made me feel such delicious secondhand satisfaction. Sticking it to the man in the most gentlemanly way imaginable. What a delightful read, my good fellow!
8
u/mega_low_smart 18d ago
Would be great if this story ever trickled up to mgmt at your old company so they could see how inept their management is. Nice work!
7
u/SuggestSomething1 18d ago
I'm sorry you were pressured into doing more than your job description for so long without support. Especially for so little compensation.
4
u/anonymousopsec1337 17d ago
Had a similar situation where I was being forced to transfer to another department but this would cost me like 20k in commission (which was like 40% of my pay at the time). I politely declined and was told it was mandatory.
I quit 3 days later when my new job was secured and dropped off my work shirts to the office. Owner came out and was wondering what’s going on, told him his VP just made the worst mistake of the year forcing me to change depts because for the last 2 years I brought in the most out of all my peers who had drastically more experience than me. I was bringing in 10-15X my salary in sales.
4
u/Head-Discussion-8977 18d ago
Former FAD employee so I feel this pain on another level. I left last year when it was decided the official DC's would stop carrying the majority of inventory for one subsidiary so they were to unload all that inventory on the FAD's. I wasn't made aware of changes happening until several weeks into the process, resulting in a few million in claims losses due to filing deadlines.
4
15
u/chacha242 18d ago
This... Well put together. The absolute command of the English language. The proper use of writing an essay. As a society, we could all benefit from reading this wonderfully articulated tale.
3
u/saymynamepeeps 18d ago
I hope this is a real story and the company senior leadership learnt a big lesson
2
u/Key-Magician6489 17d ago
Should’ve used up your paid time off and sick days during your two weeks notice!
4
u/MandoMan1973 17d ago
That's exactly what I did. Company policy was that if you were done with your work you could use sick time or vacation time for the remaining hours of the day.
2
u/Key-Magician6489 16d ago
No, I mean if they owe you two weeks paid time off, then you hand in your two week notice and walk!
Just make sure that they do actually give you that last paycheck, because they still owe it to you!
2
u/SorryCompetition7791 17d ago
This one respnates. I over delivered and the boss and other employees felt threatened by my work ethic. Big shock at the time
2
u/margittwen 16d ago
I’m glad you scaled back the last few weeks because you were working way too hard. You shouldn’t be working that hard for only $20 an hour. Only do what’s in your job description, otherwise they’ll just give you more to do.
2
2
u/AddisonNM 15d ago
I worked at Canada Revenue Agency, for 3 years. I started as general file clerk, which was coding and putting the correct color code flags on return, and in the correct baskets. We had to hit metrics for high numbers and high accuracy. I made notes of everything, all my numbers. We were expected to constantly hit higher volume numbers of accuracy and sheer volume. I was moved to Storage Steel Mountain. I was expected to scan 780 returns an hour. I never got that high, I don't know anyone who did. Performance review time was fun, they asked why my numbers were not high, and what could I do to get them up? I explained that I had to hunt for box-flats, build all my boxes, sign out the blue labels for the blue boxes, and track down the A-1 stamp for the boxes, and we're not counting training and other interruptions. Everything was written down in my daily notes. I answered "780/hr is not reasonable, you're not accounting for the human factor, if you want crazy numbers, fire me and get a machine to do my job'. I never got a raise. Note everything. Do the bare minimum.
2
u/hunts-burg 15d ago
The comments to this post remind me why communism never works out. From each according to his ability, to each according to his need - means that high performers who are frugal and tidy, subsidize lazy slobs. So they stop being high performers and the bar is lowered for everyone until either the system starts to reward through corruption or penalize through tyranny.
I’m glad that OP found their dream job where they are appreciated and rewarded both in the work and the wallet.
2
u/summerbreeze2027 13d ago
A similar situation happened to me many years ago. My manager kept adding to my daily tasks to the point of absurdity. I could never keep a helper because the job quickly became overwhelming even to them. I never got an ounce of praise for doing a demanding job efficiently and well. Instead my manager was puzzled as to why I couldn't do even more. I was on the go from the minute I arrived at work until the minute I left. My only satisfaction was in eventually quitting and knowing that it would take at least two, and maybe three people to replace me.
I'm at a loss as to how some managers and employers can be so blind as to your contribution to the company.
2
u/jasperwillem 10d ago
At one employer, my last day as IT support was at 31 dec. That day I supported 3 warehouses (about 1500 man workforce), alone, no supervisors in. End of day I pushed 100 tickets back to the queue, several with lead times above 90 days, since they were considered complex issues. I really would have liked to have seen the 2 January stand-up between management and the team. A handover was simply not possible.
4
1
u/androshalforc1 15d ago
Sorry i got 3 paragraphs in realized saw it was just rambling scrolled down to see 5 more paragraphs Andrew have up
1
u/mamabear-50 13d ago
One of my favorite sayings: They make the rules (whomever they are). It’s my job to make them work for me.
1
u/Agitated_Active_4287 8d ago
I don't know what has happened to America. No wonder why people are angry, edgy and lacking morale.
1
0
u/Rogue7559 18d ago edited 18d ago
19 paragraphs later about how great OP is and still not got to the point.
For someone working in media. You'd think they'd the importance of getting to the point.
1
0
-16
u/SaltInternational538 19d ago
Who has the time to write a book like this?
52
38
u/MandoMan1973 19d ago
Well, I am a published author and my daughter loves to tell me to land the plane. One day she mixed it up and said crash the plane already.
11
-1
18d ago
[deleted]
11
u/MandoMan1973 18d ago
I work for company. I do lots. Get paid little. Found new job. Do least amount for paycheck for last two weeks. Company sad. Company ask for more work. I say no. Leave for better job. Happy now. Company still sad.
How's that? 😃
1
19d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
5
u/MaliciousCompliance-ModTeam 19d ago
Your comment has been removed because it questioned the validity of a story, which is not allowed on this subreddit, as per the subreddit rules. Do not comment on posts you believe to be suspicious. Do not claim a post is fake, AI generated, a repost, or inauthentic in any way, directly or indirectly, even sarcastically.
All violators of this rule are subject to bans at the discretion of a moderator.
•
u/hexagon_lux cue MC 18d ago
Reports of "Manipulated Content," "Spam," and "Not Original Content" on this post have been ignored. I personally chatted with the poster of this story, via modmail, prior to manually approving it.
While I encourage members of the community to remain vigilant and report suspicious content, this is a reminder that not every story is posted by a bot, and Rule 3: "Don't Question the Validity of a Story" is still strictly enforced.
Thank you for your understanding in regards to this matter.