13 People Share Their Most Memorable “I Don’t Get Paid Enough for This” Moments
We’ve all had jobs that have had their moments, right? The ones that make you roll your eyes, grit your teeth, and think, “I don’t get paid enough for this.” You can probably recall yours right now.
If you’ve been feeling like that lately, take heed. There’s a full Reddit thread with people sharing their most memorable “I don’t get paid enough for this” moments, and they’re, at the very least, good for a laugh. Take a look at these, and check the thread for more.
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A Baby Pooping on the Floor
“When I was 18 and working at a retail store, a baby in his mother’s arms took a sh*t so massive that his diaper couldn’t contain it. A bunch ended up on the floor, and the mother ran away. I was not paid enough for that literal sh*t.”
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Barista Gone Wrong
“Grabby customer grabs drink on the counter, tastes it, says, ‘This isn’t mine. I ordered a vanilla latté. This is also iced.’ I proceed to tell her it’s clearly not her drink she picked up then. Am currently making Grabby’s drink, then have to double back to make the previous drink for the customer it was originally intended for. Again. 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. Customer service should definitely be paid more.”
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The Depths of Plumbing
“Owner of a mobile home called and said they had a stinky yard. I could smell it when I pulled up. The mobile home was new and had only been set up for about 8 months. While setting it up, someone didn’t tighten a no-hub band of the toilet in the kids bathroom. 8 months of flushed toilet was all over the ground, under the home and had just started being noticed outside. I told the homeowner to call the guys that set it up to come fix it. I wasn’t crawling under there.”
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Financial Management
“I ran the entire company’s financials and general management for $14/hr. I had a meeting with the owner telling him I need a raise and to hire an assistant, he told me I wasn’t ‘business minded’ and should be a stay at home mom. I quit the next day.”
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Cleaning Data
“I worked for a small college. The president’s secretary thought that most things were above her paygrade and at one of the busiest times of the year for my office decided that I should put in 80+ hours to clean her data and get something she needed done. After getting it finished she decided that she wanted the whole thing changed. I broke down. I went to the doctor in the midst of a full-blown panic attack and was given a note for two weeks off work, which meant they had to use what I did or do it themselves. I came back to work and resigned.”
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Kids Getting Sick
“I used to work at Old Country Buffet, and there were kids who would eat until they threw up- like alllll the time- This one case that is seared into my mind was when I was once fixing up the salad bar and I heard ‘Billy Run!’ screamed from an ignorant parent and then I see this 12ish year old boy running to the bathroom, only he didn’t make it. An unholy amount of undigested red Jello-O came exploded out of him like a fucking volcano all over the Caesar Salad, the floor next to the cash register, and on about 5 or 6 diners waiting in line to get in. It looked like he had literally vomited his guts out in an arc about 10 feet in diameter. I had to sweep up the chunks with a broom until a dishwasher with a mop could take care of the rest.”
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Dumpster Trashing
“Manager at a grocery store I worked in my teens refused to pay the waste management bill for several months. When they finally came and emptied the dumpster, there were still mounds of trash laying about around the area. He had me go out and clean all of it up alone. I didn’t have any protective gear or supplies whatsoever, and was out in 100+ degree weather. I was only given a bunch of trash bags to put it into, and when I went in to ask for help, I was just given a shovel. I worked one more day after that, and after just being given more work to do without so much as a ‘good job’ or ‘thanks,’ I never went back.”
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Fixing Phones
“When a thick stream of sweat drained out of this girl’s cell phone case. I had to explain to her that her phone had water damage and that she shouldn’t work out with her phone in her bra, all the while trying to be professional and not gag while cleaning the mess. (I sold phones at Sprint).”
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Getting Screamed At
“I worked at a heating and air conditioning company doing bookkeeping. I was being trained by the companies accountant. If I made a mistake the owner would literally scream at me full voice. I overheard him talking to his brother and his brother had told him not to scream at me. The owner said, ‘you have to tear them down to build them up.’ I decided I wasn’t going to take another day of his screaming after that.”
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Bartending
“Grown man threw a lit cigarette at my face and threatened me with physical violence. This was a year or so ago but a 45 (maybe older) year old man behaving that way towards a 24-year-old female was definitely one of those moments. Plus the people getting handsy and occasional cleaning of vomit I do not get paid enough.”
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Fish Monger
“We got a large number of lobsters in, soft-shelled and already dying. So my manager decided we could at least sell their tails. Apparently lobsters don’t really have a central nervous system, so when you sever the tails and put their tails on ice they freaking run away. So I had to chase these tails down because they’ve escaped into the rest of the display case, onto the floor, and hidden under our prep tables. Never again.”
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Grocery Bagger
“The manager came over to tell me that I needed to clean up the bathroom. An elderly gentleman fell off the toilet while pooping and it was a literal sh*tshow. Apparently I was the most qualified because I was 16. I was handed a broom and a dustpan. I sh*t you not (sorry had to.) My reward for going above and beyond the call of duty? Five dollars in store coupons. Sometimes dreams really do come true.”
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Librarian
“I was helping someone in the computer room and turned to tell someone he needed to keep his exclamations at the video he was watching down. Just then, the woman I was helping leapt aside because the man I was shushing pissed himself. It ran down onto the jacket he had tied around his waist, down the chair, onto the ground. Turns out he’d snuck in alcohol and was totally black out drunk. I told him he had to leave. He put the piss covered jacket on and stumbled out. As I returned with gloves and cleaning supplies, another patron decided this was a good time to complain about some kids who were making noise. I took a deep breath and said ‘This is a good time for us all to appeal to our higher selves and do our best in the moment. Please just adapt for a minute.’ Then I thought about the student loans I took out for the master’s degree as I scrubbed up piss.”
What’s your “I don’t get paid enough for this” moment?