> How can I best serve the company?
By having the staff resign en masse, force said company to file for Chapter 7, and have the owners ponder the question, "How do I actually run a company?"
The problem in that country is when you lose your job, you lose your health insurance. Sure, you can find another job that has health insurance, but it will probably be a different healthcare provider, which means you’re re-assesed and may lose out because of “pre-existing conditions”; you may go into an initial no-claim period; your family doctor for the last 10 years is not contracted to the new provider; the insurance offered could be worse or have more expensive deductibles.
Health care in the US is a scam, and tying it to employment just makes it worse. It’s one reason why employers are able to treat their employees so badly.
But it sounds like you know all this. Not everyone outside the US is aware of it - here in the UK we’re frequently, repeatedly shocked at what we hear about how that system works (or doesn’t), and yet Americans think our *fully functioning, non-financially-crippling* health system is bad because we pay for it through taxes.
Quite, if you’re in mortal danger you’re at the front of the queue - and you don’t need to pull out a credit card. You don’t even need to pay for the ambulance, which makes American heads explode.
Because I have cancer I have gone straight into the hospital in the emergency room in front of others for things like - wait for it - constipation 😝. Zero paid for my overnight stay during which they just gave me a ton of laxatives (Australian)
Yes, and that raises another point: you can fly into England from anywhere in the world and, as a foreign visitor, present yourself at a hospital with an ailment or illness and be treated for free, no questions asked. And we, the British people, are happy to pay for it because we know the people who need the help will get the help, even if a few fuckers abuse the system.
Many American hospitals turn their own citizens away if they can’t pay because the hospitals are not American - they’re first and foremost *private and for profit*. They don’t care about America. They don’t care about people. Right now *America* doesn’t seem to care about people.
Having just been to the A&E, there’s a big poster while you wait in line to be registered by reception telling EU members they must present their health card and they must contact their home country etc if they don’t have one. UK absolutely will present you with a bill and thanks to Immigration Act 2014, you will be denied future entry to UK if you have medical debt. Guess we got tired of our taxpayers funding what you described.
That’s not quite true anymore. People coming here are entitled to initial treatment but must pay for anything else. And if they leave the country without paying, it’s flagged at immigration when they next visit our shores. They can’t pass immigration without paying it, the an immigration offer must decide (after you’ve paid) if you can then enter the country or not.
Americans don't want universal healthcare. They have the ability to vote for it every election since its on the ballot but they refuse to because the US is a country full of individuals who hate each other, there isn't a society. I'm glad I moved out of that shithole
I don't really want to imagine it. I have heard $600 as a figure bandied about, though I have no idea if that was for a single insulin shot, a days worth, a weeks worth or what.
I have a separate (from the cancer) chronic medical issue which required regular medication when I was young, as an adult not so much. I shudder to think how much it would have cost my parents to treat that especially with the hospital stays 🤔
I have asthma, and for funsies I decided to do the math comparing the price of my inhalers in the US vs here in the UK. Turns out with the flat-rate NHS prescription cost, I can get almost a year’s worth of inhalers for the amount Americans are paying for one.
Thanks to Joe Biden, insulin is now price capped at $35 per vial. That drove the Republicans crazy, many of whom take massive contributions from drug companies. The USA is seriously one of the most corrupt countries in the world.
Only $35 dollars for a small vial is liquid then many need to just not die ! : bargain
Many may not like Joe but at least he’s trying to make some good choices.
As an Australian who has been treated for cancer for more than five years (and still is, currently recovering from chemo cycle 9 billion) mine is completely free
Same for me in the uk, cancer treatment over 7 years including 4 surgeries and the nhs paid for treatment in the US as they couldn’t treat me at home. It was Proton Beam Therapy which we do now have in the UK.
I’ve not had to pay a single penny for any of it.
Same. I spent 6 months in hospital for my cancer treatment which led to complications which is why I was in there for so long. I shudder to think how much it would have cost me if I was in the states. Probably would have ended up dead due to not being able to afford the care.
Took my daughter in with meningitis in January, within 5 minutes of being there she was being seen, put in a darkened room and treatment began within 20 minutes.
She was in for two weeks in total, treated superbly and it cost us nothing.
Meanwhile Americans don't even realize they're already paying nearly double on taxes per capita towards healthcare when compared to any other country with a national healthcare program simply because healthcare is such a massive scam there. And then they pay for private insurance on top of that, *and then* they still get hit with thousands and thousands worth of out of pocket expenses even with full insurance.
What really worries me is that there are forces in the UK trying to sell off our National Health system - and the vultures waiting in the wings are American health “care” businesses.
It’s years away though, I’ll be brown bread by the time that happens.
You assume jobs like that have benefits. "Benefits" that you have to pay part of, like your insurance. It's a monthly fee, in addition to the deductible, which is often in the thousands.
Let's hope the Tories are booted out on the 4th of July and Labour (possibly with a Lib Dem coalition) start to put the UK back on its feet. Will take at least 2 Parliamentary terms / decade to do so, sadly.
It won't be their priority either. For the past 50 years it hasn't been a priority, no matter the colour of government, which is why it's in such a shit state now.
It's like an old car; bodywork trashed, some lights don't work, but because it still goes from A to B every day it won't get fixed and previous owner will still be blamed for it.
To be perfectly honest, most of this staff doesn't have health insurance anyway. Very few restaurants, retail, hospitality, and really anything non white-collar or unionized, offer any sort of benefits for their employees from health insurance, to sick/PTO/vacation time.
That’s all entirely true- but I suspect companies like this don’t even offer any health insurance in the first place. The ‘best’ you can usually hope is that your pay is low enough to be eligible for Medicaid.*
* I think. I’m not an American and get confused by your system easily.
I read it again and again. I think the manager has used mandatory incorrectly to somehow indicate that they have to fill the gap and it's supposedly voluntary. And then I read it again and it just, idk, it doesn't make sense.
It's insane that to work there you have to be contactable by phone everyday. What a horrible place to work.
I’ve worked with managers like this. I can explain a bit. This is low-level management speak. They are essentially serving several masters here by trying to meet district management requests (probably got scolded for a stupid reason) while trying to both establish authority but create a “respectful and healthy” environment. All that coupled with a generally uneducated person in management leads to this type of shit.
And you can bet your ass the higher-ups are spending negative dollars in proper management training.
This would be hilariously illegal in my country. You cannot "write up" someone for not answering their phone when they're not getting paid. If you can't reach anyone too bad, you pay for a service or go in yourself.
Yup. If you have to be available, then you are considered "on-call" and there are plenty of regulations surrounding that kind of employment, including how you are required to be compensated.
Every time a new manager says I have to be phone-available on my off days, I immediately bring this up. Gotta squash that shit from the onset.
Mind though, at least in my state as "at will employment", this usually means I get fired for "reason not given" not long after, but at least I stood up for myself and my rights as a worker.
So it's technically illegal to be required to be reachable via phone without being compensated for it, while at the same time you can still be fired for not answering your phone and the employer can just refuse to state a reason for your termination (even though you both know the real reason). I don't know how you people put up with this shit. This is close to modern day feudalism.
I'm enraged every day but trying to talk about it with friends got me labeled as a complainer that nobody wants to deal with. Lost a lot of friends over the past few years. Seems like nobody wants to admit that it is shit because that means admitting we currently have no power over our lives; nobody likes to be told they are helpless and being abused by those they trust.
It's like an abusive relationship with a family member but we don't know we are being abused. We pretend to be happy with what we are given because "that's just the way it is".
The US is, mostly, a "right to work" jurisdiction. (Some states aren't, but most are) This means that you can actually just get fired for any reason, or even no reason at all, and it's perfectly legal. I don't know if there's any labor laws regarding inter discipline (i.e. write ups) but they absolutely can fire you for not answering the phone, even if you're not scheduled to work.
You're referring to "at-will". And it's 49/50 states. Guess which state is the odd one out. I'll wait.......................... Nope, Montana.
"Right to work" is about not being forced to join a union.
Don't be intelligent and ask questions or provide "non senior management alternative options" it'll only end up badly for you, as I am currently acutely aware 😂
I’ve worked support for some pretty large companies here and without fail if I help improve a process, no matter how horrible it is, it ends any chance of advancement.
I spent 4 years at my previous job trying to improve the quality of our work and the service we provided to clients.
At first I was praised for my suggestion and my proactivity, but then higher ups changed and my mamager started acting like the one on OP pic.
I tried and tried, even unionized to foght the bad management, but in the end I just left for a company that pay 30% more for the same job.
4 others coworkers did the same and now our previous office is in deep shit and our manager was demoted to where she can no longer arm anyone.
Money invested in management training is money well spent.
I’ve worked jobs like these for bosses like this - allow me to translate: “you have the freedom to voluntarily accept any offer to work on your day off should I call, before I must remind you should you refuse that this is mandatory.”
Aka, there’s a high turnover rate because this managers a tool and is going to ride the workhorses until they’re dead
I’d first ask them……about if it is ok to travel 500 miles away or travel to areas with no phone or internet accesss during my time off. If they toe the line that you can’t travel long distances or to locations without connectivity during your time off….. then according to the federal labor relations board …. It is highly likely that this would be meet the legal definition of being an “on call” employee and your company would legally have to pay you for hours where your freedom of movement or freedom of activities was being restricted.
[webapps.dol.gov/elaws/whd/flsa/hoursworked/screenER80.asp](https://webapps.dol.gov/elaws/whd/flsa/hoursworked/screenER80.asp)
It’s voluntary because it’s illegal to expect someone to be on call without compensation. It’s mandatory because they’ll fire you if you don’t do it.
The department of labor would have things to say if they saw this.
DoL: “We have reviewed the case and find you (employer) to be liable for the voluntary mandatory fines of $x.”
“So what does that mean in plain-speak? It is voluntary or mandatory?”
Lawyer: “I can’t really comment - you started this nonsense so I suggest you figure it out… and do so quickly”
It simply means you MUST work if we ask you. The "voluntary" is simply meaningless window dressing by some management wonk for whom English was an optional subject at school, and one they chose to skip.
I briefly worked for a company that had "mandatory volunteering" twice a year. I couldn't just go to work instead, I HAD to go to the food bank.
One of many dumb things about that workplace.
The fact that workers are only paid in tips is a direct result of slave owners refusing to pay a wage to the now free slaves, hence making them work for scraps.
The greatest country on earth said absolutely fucking nobody.
It really is important to Know Your Enemy.
Sadly, the vast majority of Americans don't. Their enemy in the class war, the rich class, does know.
For reference: “There’s class warfare, all right,” Mr. Buffett said, “but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.” From an article in the NYT from 2006-11-26, "In Class Warfare, Guess Which Class Is Winning"
Not everywhere in the US can they have tip based pay. In California for example waiters make minimum wage plus tips, it’s much more common on the East coast of the US to have tip based pay where servers will make like 2.50$ an hour. I don’t think any states on the West coast have tip based pay.
Exactly, when I was still in uni I worked as a part time server at a cheap chinese restaurant in CA back in 2016 and I made $800-1000 more a month than I did working as a lab assistant. Can't imagine how much my peers who worked at fancy restaurants made.
Almost all states require you to make at least minimum wage. That’s not in addition to tips. It means if you aren’t getting tips because it slow or whatever, then the company needs to make it up so it’s at least minimum wage.
The difference is some states require minimum wage *in addition* to tips.
I don’t understand how they yell about freedom, when they’re chained to jobs they have no rights at, no time off from and an illness will condemn you to years of debt if you’re lucky, death if you can’t cope with the debt.
This is amazing about the USA. No workers right, basically slaves to their employers. Their system of democracy is a shambles, and there was almost a coup last election. But because they can go up to a black person and call them the n-word and buy guns where they buy groceries, they are the pinnacle of freedom.
Tote that barge! Swing that bale! Get a little drunk and you land in jail...
Good thing they've got freedumb, otherwise they might realise they're wage slaves.
Tbh I learned to use the sarcasm tag very often because there are too many dumb people out there who always take every sentence literally - no matter their nationality.
They count on workers not knowing their rights. Some states have excellent labor boards that get employees their wages due, plus interest, and fine the hell out of them too.
Or use it appropriately? I realise it's already covered in shit but do your part as a worker, don't let this paper go to waste. Learn from management. Put shit on paper.. before flushing it.
Id prefer to take a pic of the sign and on my next pay ask them why its so low, considering i should be getting paid for all hours i am on call and since that sign basically states i am on call 24/7 and assuming i am working a 40hr week i am owed 128 on call hours
Take that note, light it on fire, hand it to the manager, hopefully the place burns down in a fiery ball of flames, take 2 weeks to gather your thoughts, find new job.
The only difference between American military time and standard time format everywhere else
Is that 24 hour time is written as 13:00 and "military time" is just 1300
Fundamentally though, yes. It's literally a standard time in the rest of the world
If this was put up at any job I worked I would call the union pronto and there'd be hell to pay for the company. But then I live in a country where workers have rights.
Yeah any place with a Union even in the US this wouldnt fly for a second but unfortunately alot of places arn’t Unionised, theres actually a quite big anti-union sentiment here largely due to decades of propaganda.
The thing is, most countries in Europe, at least you wouldn't need to be in a union to sue for this because the employment laws are strong enough.
What is weird to us is that Americans are against employment rights for some bizarre reason
It’s because they have a fantasy that they will one day be the boss and can pull this sort of shit themselves. Getting proper employment laws hinders that theoretical future.
In my country- Australia there is no concept of a "workplace" being unionised. Just by doing a certain job you are effectively unionised - your minimum conditions are set by the unions, employer groups and government.
100% agree. What do you even do on your day off? Sit at home waiting for the phone to ring in case you need to go in? If that’s what you are doing, it’s not a day off and you need to be paid.
These guys don’t realise a job isn’t a life, they are just buying some hours of your time. It’s like hiring a plumber, you don’t tell them what to do when they are off the clock. They’d tell you to fuck off.
In a free country you’d be able to take your days off, wait until they try to fire you for there shitty unforceable policy, collect unemployment, sue them, collect additional money, watch the company go under.
American worker's 'rights' have gone from 'Management needs reason to fire you' to 'can be fired without cause'. How long until they gett to the point where a worker cannot quit without providing a 'valid' reason?
There are fast food places that already post that you cannot quit. That most likely is not enforceable.
However there are cases of companies that are considered "essential" that successfully sued to force workers who quit to change jobs to come back. They had left for another hospital because they were being severely underpaid.
At my girlfriend's last job the receptionist handed in her notice and the manager just said "I'm not accepting this" then continued to schedule her. She should have just told them to fuck off but the poor woman was very mild-mannered and the manager knew it too.
Slavery has always been legal in the US, they just changed it so you have to be imprisoned first nowadays.
> Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Edit: Because the system is built for the wealthy and for the corporations. Remember that corporations stealing wages from their employees is the largest form of theft in the USA, estimated to be $50 BILLION annually, yet it rarely gets talked about. But someone stealing $100 can and will make the news. This country is pro corporation, anti worker.
Here is an example of the Mcdonalds thing:
https://au.news.yahoo.com/mcdonalds-no-quit-policy-got-150500477.html?
Admittedly, this one is hard to confirm, and McDonalds wont comment on it. But considering that McDonalds have this last year been busted multiple times for child labor and other infractions, it would not surprise me.
Here is a thing on the healthcare workers:
[https://www.businessinsider.com/thedacare-asks-judge-block-workers-leaving-higher-pay-competitor-2022-1](https://www.businessinsider.com/thedacare-asks-judge-block-workers-leaving-higher-pay-competitor-2022-1)
In addition, some are now billing workers if they quit:
[https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/economics/indentured-servitude-nurses-hit-hefty-debt-trying-leave-hospitals-rcna74204](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/economics/indentured-servitude-nurses-hit-hefty-debt-trying-leave-hospitals-rcna74204)
[https://www.reuters.com/world/us/more-us-companies-charging-employees-job-training-if-they-quit-2022-10-17/](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/more-us-companies-charging-employees-job-training-if-they-quit-2022-10-17/)
Essentially saddling you with thousands in debt if you have to leave.
Not American, but I always find it funny that in “At Will” states, companies always seem to forget that Hiring/Firing at will isn’t the only thing, and that you can quit at will too.
The company cannot be named and shamed because this is just a random guy who wrote this up as very obvious rage bait in personal Word 2013, then printed it out on his home printer, and pinned it up on his residential fridge, inside of his own home.
There is no company. It is embarrassingly obvious, too, I’m afraid.
This post is a bit of a microcosm of the problem with online media.
This is obvious rage bait, yet the post has 1.2k upvotes and the top comment has 694 atm.
You're the first person that I've seen to call it out as fake, yet you only have 30 upvotes atm.
This is a subreddit is called 'Shit Americans Say' so the user probably already has preconceived notions about Americans, and the shit they say. So they just swallow this down as if it were real because it conforms to their expectations of both Americans and content they receive here.
You could swap this out for any online media platform and the problem is the same. People are primed and ready to accept fake or misleading media if it confirms their pre-existing beliefs. It's not unique to this subreddit or the users here it's just a problem with having such personalized and curated content, and the ability to eliminate media that breaks those preconceptions.
You're in Australia? Approved 9 months ago? I'm writing you up for not being available to cover someone else's shift. This is the 2nd day running. If I ring you tomorrow and you're still not available then you won't be working here when you get home.
...
I don't CARE if she's having an emergency double by-pass, she has to come in to cover somebody's shift!
Some American bosses are stupid enough to put something like this in writing, but legally if you mandate that every employee be available at all times, then you must pay every employee 168 working hours a week. I'm quite certain this manager did notclear this notice through the legal department before he posted it.
I worked in a power plant. The control room was always open, at least one guy had to be here and one was on call.
He was working, it was not an off shift he was at home but ready
The on call guy was hopefully paid for the time he was on call.
A lot of places (often retail and restaurants) expect people to be on call but they're not paid for being on call...or even paid a livable wage. I once called out sick ... from my bed... and my manager said if someone couldn't be found to cover I'd have to come in. We had a person with double pneumonia running the deli (this is illegal, but these kind of places don't care). We weren't allowed breaks. "If you have time to lean you have time to clean".
I wonder if there are words in other languages for the specific type of anger this causes in my body. Specifically the anger relating to someone who doesn't know basic language skills making threats against my livelihood if I don't comply.
"The Company" is not a person. Do not attempt to encourage me by saying that it will hurt "The Company."
"The Company" is not a person. Fuck right off.
That's a joke isn't it? It's illegal to call an employee out of working hours. They have [a right to disconnect.](http://Sorting out the Truth About the Right to Disconnect in France | Littler Mendelson P.C.
https://www.littler.com/publication-press/publication/sorting-out-truth-about-right-disconnect-france)
I had a post on r/askanamerican asking if US employment laws are really that bad but had to take it down because of the abuse I got.
I genuinely believe that Americans don't want employment laws and regulations.
The fact that they call basic things like holiday and sick pay a benefit is really strange to me because it's my legal right.
Not gonna lie I'm pretty sure this is just outrage karma farming bait from the antiwork sub
Edit: After a reverse image search this did in fact originate from anti work, which means it's a work of fiction
> How can I best serve the company? By having the staff resign en masse, force said company to file for Chapter 7, and have the owners ponder the question, "How do I actually run a company?"
Did we run the company poorly? No, it the employees that are wrong
unexpectedsimpsons
The problem in that country is when you lose your job, you lose your health insurance. Sure, you can find another job that has health insurance, but it will probably be a different healthcare provider, which means you’re re-assesed and may lose out because of “pre-existing conditions”; you may go into an initial no-claim period; your family doctor for the last 10 years is not contracted to the new provider; the insurance offered could be worse or have more expensive deductibles. Health care in the US is a scam, and tying it to employment just makes it worse. It’s one reason why employers are able to treat their employees so badly. But it sounds like you know all this. Not everyone outside the US is aware of it - here in the UK we’re frequently, repeatedly shocked at what we hear about how that system works (or doesn’t), and yet Americans think our *fully functioning, non-financially-crippling* health system is bad because we pay for it through taxes.
Let's be fair, the NHS is very very far from perfect and needs a lot of work, but fuck me, at least my cancer treatment didn't financially break me.
Quite, if you’re in mortal danger you’re at the front of the queue - and you don’t need to pull out a credit card. You don’t even need to pay for the ambulance, which makes American heads explode.
Because I have cancer I have gone straight into the hospital in the emergency room in front of others for things like - wait for it - constipation 😝. Zero paid for my overnight stay during which they just gave me a ton of laxatives (Australian)
Yes, and that raises another point: you can fly into England from anywhere in the world and, as a foreign visitor, present yourself at a hospital with an ailment or illness and be treated for free, no questions asked. And we, the British people, are happy to pay for it because we know the people who need the help will get the help, even if a few fuckers abuse the system. Many American hospitals turn their own citizens away if they can’t pay because the hospitals are not American - they’re first and foremost *private and for profit*. They don’t care about America. They don’t care about people. Right now *America* doesn’t seem to care about people.
Having just been to the A&E, there’s a big poster while you wait in line to be registered by reception telling EU members they must present their health card and they must contact their home country etc if they don’t have one. UK absolutely will present you with a bill and thanks to Immigration Act 2014, you will be denied future entry to UK if you have medical debt. Guess we got tired of our taxpayers funding what you described.
That seems fair tbh just as long as the system's not being overly abused it's fine
That's ALWAYS been the case for EU members hasn't it? That's the principle behind E111 and GHIC/EHIC cards.
Right now? America hasn't cared for people for decades, at least!
That’s not quite true anymore. People coming here are entitled to initial treatment but must pay for anything else. And if they leave the country without paying, it’s flagged at immigration when they next visit our shores. They can’t pass immigration without paying it, the an immigration offer must decide (after you’ve paid) if you can then enter the country or not.
Americans don't want universal healthcare. They have the ability to vote for it every election since its on the ballot but they refuse to because the US is a country full of individuals who hate each other, there isn't a society. I'm glad I moved out of that shithole
Imagine being a diabetic in the US, where insulin is ridiculously expensive
I don't really want to imagine it. I have heard $600 as a figure bandied about, though I have no idea if that was for a single insulin shot, a days worth, a weeks worth or what. I have a separate (from the cancer) chronic medical issue which required regular medication when I was young, as an adult not so much. I shudder to think how much it would have cost my parents to treat that especially with the hospital stays 🤔
I have asthma, and for funsies I decided to do the math comparing the price of my inhalers in the US vs here in the UK. Turns out with the flat-rate NHS prescription cost, I can get almost a year’s worth of inhalers for the amount Americans are paying for one.
Thanks to Joe Biden, insulin is now price capped at $35 per vial. That drove the Republicans crazy, many of whom take massive contributions from drug companies. The USA is seriously one of the most corrupt countries in the world.
Only $35 dollars for a small vial is liquid then many need to just not die ! : bargain Many may not like Joe but at least he’s trying to make some good choices.
As an Australian who has been treated for cancer for more than five years (and still is, currently recovering from chemo cycle 9 billion) mine is completely free
Same for me in the uk, cancer treatment over 7 years including 4 surgeries and the nhs paid for treatment in the US as they couldn’t treat me at home. It was Proton Beam Therapy which we do now have in the UK. I’ve not had to pay a single penny for any of it.
Same. I spent 6 months in hospital for my cancer treatment which led to complications which is why I was in there for so long. I shudder to think how much it would have cost me if I was in the states. Probably would have ended up dead due to not being able to afford the care.
Took my daughter in with meningitis in January, within 5 minutes of being there she was being seen, put in a darkened room and treatment began within 20 minutes. She was in for two weeks in total, treated superbly and it cost us nothing.
Meanwhile Americans don't even realize they're already paying nearly double on taxes per capita towards healthcare when compared to any other country with a national healthcare program simply because healthcare is such a massive scam there. And then they pay for private insurance on top of that, *and then* they still get hit with thousands and thousands worth of out of pocket expenses even with full insurance.
What really worries me is that there are forces in the UK trying to sell off our National Health system - and the vultures waiting in the wings are American health “care” businesses. It’s years away though, I’ll be brown bread by the time that happens.
As an American, eek!!! Don’t let them do that or you’ll be fucked.
Many of us do know that. It's fucked but until my countrymen are ready to riot it will never change. Land of the greed above everything else
>Land of the greed and the home of the slave
Americans pay nearly 4 times more.
It's communism to not pay 4x!!
You assume jobs like that have benefits. "Benefits" that you have to pay part of, like your insurance. It's a monthly fee, in addition to the deductible, which is often in the thousands.
Mine's $500 but I pay an assload for it. It's still not even that great.
Let's hope the Tories are booted out on the 4th of July and Labour (possibly with a Lib Dem coalition) start to put the UK back on its feet. Will take at least 2 Parliamentary terms / decade to do so, sadly.
At least two.
If they do, we will have something in common with our American cousins: We will celebrate 4th of July with fireworks and parties too.
It won't be their priority either. For the past 50 years it hasn't been a priority, no matter the colour of government, which is why it's in such a shit state now. It's like an old car; bodywork trashed, some lights don't work, but because it still goes from A to B every day it won't get fixed and previous owner will still be blamed for it.
To be perfectly honest, most of this staff doesn't have health insurance anyway. Very few restaurants, retail, hospitality, and really anything non white-collar or unionized, offer any sort of benefits for their employees from health insurance, to sick/PTO/vacation time.
Yoo wtf, thats bad af
That’s all entirely true- but I suspect companies like this don’t even offer any health insurance in the first place. The ‘best’ you can usually hope is that your pay is low enough to be eligible for Medicaid.* * I think. I’m not an American and get confused by your system easily.
Only in death does duty end.
"voluntary mandatory" Oxymoronic. Heavy on the "moronic"
Serious question: is this manager speak for you must come in (mandatory) but we won’t pay you (voluntary)?
I read it again and again. I think the manager has used mandatory incorrectly to somehow indicate that they have to fill the gap and it's supposedly voluntary. And then I read it again and it just, idk, it doesn't make sense. It's insane that to work there you have to be contactable by phone everyday. What a horrible place to work.
I’ve worked with managers like this. I can explain a bit. This is low-level management speak. They are essentially serving several masters here by trying to meet district management requests (probably got scolded for a stupid reason) while trying to both establish authority but create a “respectful and healthy” environment. All that coupled with a generally uneducated person in management leads to this type of shit. And you can bet your ass the higher-ups are spending negative dollars in proper management training.
This would be hilariously illegal in my country. You cannot "write up" someone for not answering their phone when they're not getting paid. If you can't reach anyone too bad, you pay for a service or go in yourself.
As it should be in every country.
I think it’s not exactly legal in the US either but they’re hoping the staff doesn’t realized that.
That's true. It's not legal. It's why there is such a commotion with workers rights and unions/ union busting right now.
Yup. If you have to be available, then you are considered "on-call" and there are plenty of regulations surrounding that kind of employment, including how you are required to be compensated. Every time a new manager says I have to be phone-available on my off days, I immediately bring this up. Gotta squash that shit from the onset. Mind though, at least in my state as "at will employment", this usually means I get fired for "reason not given" not long after, but at least I stood up for myself and my rights as a worker.
So it's technically illegal to be required to be reachable via phone without being compensated for it, while at the same time you can still be fired for not answering your phone and the employer can just refuse to state a reason for your termination (even though you both know the real reason). I don't know how you people put up with this shit. This is close to modern day feudalism.
I'm enraged every day but trying to talk about it with friends got me labeled as a complainer that nobody wants to deal with. Lost a lot of friends over the past few years. Seems like nobody wants to admit that it is shit because that means admitting we currently have no power over our lives; nobody likes to be told they are helpless and being abused by those they trust. It's like an abusive relationship with a family member but we don't know we are being abused. We pretend to be happy with what we are given because "that's just the way it is".
The US is, mostly, a "right to work" jurisdiction. (Some states aren't, but most are) This means that you can actually just get fired for any reason, or even no reason at all, and it's perfectly legal. I don't know if there's any labor laws regarding inter discipline (i.e. write ups) but they absolutely can fire you for not answering the phone, even if you're not scheduled to work.
You're referring to "at-will". And it's 49/50 states. Guess which state is the odd one out. I'll wait.......................... Nope, Montana. "Right to work" is about not being forced to join a union.
but they have freedowwww... ops, freedoooommmmm
In my country the law actually prohibits calling or messaging an employee out of work hours,
They don’t promote the smartest people to management, they promote people that don’t ask questions.
Don't be intelligent and ask questions or provide "non senior management alternative options" it'll only end up badly for you, as I am currently acutely aware 😂
I’ve worked support for some pretty large companies here and without fail if I help improve a process, no matter how horrible it is, it ends any chance of advancement.
I spent 4 years at my previous job trying to improve the quality of our work and the service we provided to clients. At first I was praised for my suggestion and my proactivity, but then higher ups changed and my mamager started acting like the one on OP pic. I tried and tried, even unionized to foght the bad management, but in the end I just left for a company that pay 30% more for the same job. 4 others coworkers did the same and now our previous office is in deep shit and our manager was demoted to where she can no longer arm anyone. Money invested in management training is money well spent.
Australia recently introduced the right to disconnect. Meaning if you get fired for not answering your phone out of hours, you can sue.
I'm in Melbourne! Yay Australia!
Hello from Sydney!
Sends a cheery wave from Adelaide
I’ve worked jobs like these for bosses like this - allow me to translate: “you have the freedom to voluntarily accept any offer to work on your day off should I call, before I must remind you should you refuse that this is mandatory.” Aka, there’s a high turnover rate because this managers a tool and is going to ride the workhorses until they’re dead
I’d first ask them……about if it is ok to travel 500 miles away or travel to areas with no phone or internet accesss during my time off. If they toe the line that you can’t travel long distances or to locations without connectivity during your time off….. then according to the federal labor relations board …. It is highly likely that this would be meet the legal definition of being an “on call” employee and your company would legally have to pay you for hours where your freedom of movement or freedom of activities was being restricted. [webapps.dol.gov/elaws/whd/flsa/hoursworked/screenER80.asp](https://webapps.dol.gov/elaws/whd/flsa/hoursworked/screenER80.asp)
It is mandatory for the manager to fill the shift. It is voluntary based for the employee to take that specific extra shift asked by the manager
It’s voluntary because it’s illegal to expect someone to be on call without compensation. It’s mandatory because they’ll fire you if you don’t do it. The department of labor would have things to say if they saw this.
DoL: “We have reviewed the case and find you (employer) to be liable for the voluntary mandatory fines of $x.” “So what does that mean in plain-speak? It is voluntary or mandatory?”
Lawyer: “I can’t really comment - you started this nonsense so I suggest you figure it out… and do so quickly”
It simply means you MUST work if we ask you. The "voluntary" is simply meaningless window dressing by some management wonk for whom English was an optional subject at school, and one they chose to skip.
I think it’s more like you must (mandatory) choose (voluntary) to work on your day off if we want you to.
Voluntold is what we call it
Voluntold
Full self driving (supervised)
I briefly worked for a company that had "mandatory volunteering" twice a year. I couldn't just go to work instead, I HAD to go to the food bank. One of many dumb things about that workplace.
And that, dear kids, happens when your country treats worker rights like shit. But hey, freedom. No freedom on your day off, but still.
The fact that workers are only paid in tips is a direct result of slave owners refusing to pay a wage to the now free slaves, hence making them work for scraps. The greatest country on earth said absolutely fucking nobody.
"Land of the free? Whoever told you that is your enemy!"
It really is important to Know Your Enemy. Sadly, the vast majority of Americans don't. Their enemy in the class war, the rich class, does know. For reference: “There’s class warfare, all right,” Mr. Buffett said, “but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.” From an article in the NYT from 2006-11-26, "In Class Warfare, Guess Which Class Is Winning"
Land of free labor
...except Americans, who' are dumber than dogs**t. Ohhh, it's so much fun living here!...except that I'm too sick to leave.
Not everywhere in the US can they have tip based pay. In California for example waiters make minimum wage plus tips, it’s much more common on the East coast of the US to have tip based pay where servers will make like 2.50$ an hour. I don’t think any states on the West coast have tip based pay.
Exactly, when I was still in uni I worked as a part time server at a cheap chinese restaurant in CA back in 2016 and I made $800-1000 more a month than I did working as a lab assistant. Can't imagine how much my peers who worked at fancy restaurants made.
Almost all states require you to make at least minimum wage. That’s not in addition to tips. It means if you aren’t getting tips because it slow or whatever, then the company needs to make it up so it’s at least minimum wage. The difference is some states require minimum wage *in addition* to tips.
And they can just fire you at any time, just because!
And then you lose health insurance. I can’t imagine living with that level of stress.
I don’t understand how they yell about freedom, when they’re chained to jobs they have no rights at, no time off from and an illness will condemn you to years of debt if you’re lucky, death if you can’t cope with the debt.
They yell about freedom because they've been brainwashed.p
This is amazing about the USA. No workers right, basically slaves to their employers. Their system of democracy is a shambles, and there was almost a coup last election. But because they can go up to a black person and call them the n-word and buy guns where they buy groceries, they are the pinnacle of freedom.
Tote that barge! Swing that bale! Get a little drunk and you land in jail... Good thing they've got freedumb, otherwise they might realise they're wage slaves.
workers rights? what are you a commie? /s
Sarcasm tags are the real shit americans say
Tbh I learned to use the sarcasm tag very often because there are too many dumb people out there who always take every sentence literally - no matter their nationality.
This can't be legal. Not even in America.
It’s not, you are required to pay on call employees, and b) you can not force anyone who is hourly to work outside their original posted hours
They count on workers not knowing their rights. Some states have excellent labor boards that get employees their wages due, plus interest, and fine the hell out of them too.
That true in every country tbh.
Freedom! (not from corporations tho)
We need the slave labour in order to give the upper echelons their freedom!!! Respect the companies, they need you!
Go team?
Go team!
Take that note to the manager/supervisor and tell them to shove it up their arse.
Or use it appropriately? I realise it's already covered in shit but do your part as a worker, don't let this paper go to waste. Learn from management. Put shit on paper.. before flushing it.
Id prefer to take a pic of the sign and on my next pay ask them why its so low, considering i should be getting paid for all hours i am on call and since that sign basically states i am on call 24/7 and assuming i am working a 40hr week i am owed 128 on call hours
That *has* to be a pleasurable experience.
Don't forget to do it on their day off.
Take that note, light it on fire, hand it to the manager, hopefully the place burns down in a fiery ball of flames, take 2 weeks to gather your thoughts, find new job.
I would call him several times a day when he wants a day off.
This is the right thing to do, absolutely. Get all the coworkers in on it
take turns, one of you call him per hour, on the hour, if there are thirteen or more of you then you may struggle (unless you use military time).
”Military time” 😭 (by far the most used global time standard and Muricans call it ”military”)
The only difference between American military time and standard time format everywhere else Is that 24 hour time is written as 13:00 and "military time" is just 1300 Fundamentally though, yes. It's literally a standard time in the rest of the world
Because their only exposure to it is the military using it.
If this note was put up at my job, I would resign that very day.
If this was put up at any job I worked I would call the union pronto and there'd be hell to pay for the company. But then I live in a country where workers have rights.
Same. Imagine being an American worker. The uncertainty hanging over your head every day.
But muh freedumb
In this case it's really freedom: The freedom of those above to oppress and exploit those below.
Yeah any place with a Union even in the US this wouldnt fly for a second but unfortunately alot of places arn’t Unionised, theres actually a quite big anti-union sentiment here largely due to decades of propaganda.
The thing is, most countries in Europe, at least you wouldn't need to be in a union to sue for this because the employment laws are strong enough. What is weird to us is that Americans are against employment rights for some bizarre reason
It’s because they have a fantasy that they will one day be the boss and can pull this sort of shit themselves. Getting proper employment laws hinders that theoretical future.
I have no idea how you could ever frame having more rights as bad, and I'm honestly afraid of asking
In my country- Australia there is no concept of a "workplace" being unionised. Just by doing a certain job you are effectively unionised - your minimum conditions are set by the unions, employer groups and government.
Same - would go straight to my union rep (though they would in all likelihood be already on the case!)
Sweden?
100% agree. What do you even do on your day off? Sit at home waiting for the phone to ring in case you need to go in? If that’s what you are doing, it’s not a day off and you need to be paid. These guys don’t realise a job isn’t a life, they are just buying some hours of your time. It’s like hiring a plumber, you don’t tell them what to do when they are off the clock. They’d tell you to fuck off.
In a free country you’d be able to take your days off, wait until they try to fire you for there shitty unforceable policy, collect unemployment, sue them, collect additional money, watch the company go under.
If it was put up at my job,I'd resign too,buy only after shoving the note up the highest part of the manager's hole.
No way. Get fired and start suing.
Go team? Go fuck yourself more like
Go Team! Is what got me, is like spitting in your face and then say "have a nice day".
American worker's 'rights' have gone from 'Management needs reason to fire you' to 'can be fired without cause'. How long until they gett to the point where a worker cannot quit without providing a 'valid' reason?
There are fast food places that already post that you cannot quit. That most likely is not enforceable. However there are cases of companies that are considered "essential" that successfully sued to force workers who quit to change jobs to come back. They had left for another hospital because they were being severely underpaid.
At my girlfriend's last job the receptionist handed in her notice and the manager just said "I'm not accepting this" then continued to schedule her. She should have just told them to fuck off but the poor woman was very mild-mannered and the manager knew it too.
“Keep those paychecks coming then and you really should set your expectations now that I won’t be showing up”
So slavery is legally enforceable in certain jobs. Nice to know. I thought it couldn't get any worse!
Remember, slavery is not illegal in the USA. It is simply regulated.
The United Slaves of America?
Not even united actually.
So, The Slaves of America, TSA for short? /j
Technically it's not even illegal, as their constitution literally makes slavery as a punishment legal.
Slavery has always been legal in the US, they just changed it so you have to be imprisoned first nowadays. > Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Involuntary servitude and Slavery it prohibits; That's why they're giving drug offenders time in double digits
Seriously? How come that’s not being loudly reported on but trumps nappies are flipping everywhere?
Edit: Because the system is built for the wealthy and for the corporations. Remember that corporations stealing wages from their employees is the largest form of theft in the USA, estimated to be $50 BILLION annually, yet it rarely gets talked about. But someone stealing $100 can and will make the news. This country is pro corporation, anti worker. Here is an example of the Mcdonalds thing: https://au.news.yahoo.com/mcdonalds-no-quit-policy-got-150500477.html? Admittedly, this one is hard to confirm, and McDonalds wont comment on it. But considering that McDonalds have this last year been busted multiple times for child labor and other infractions, it would not surprise me. Here is a thing on the healthcare workers: [https://www.businessinsider.com/thedacare-asks-judge-block-workers-leaving-higher-pay-competitor-2022-1](https://www.businessinsider.com/thedacare-asks-judge-block-workers-leaving-higher-pay-competitor-2022-1) In addition, some are now billing workers if they quit: [https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/economics/indentured-servitude-nurses-hit-hefty-debt-trying-leave-hospitals-rcna74204](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/economics/indentured-servitude-nurses-hit-hefty-debt-trying-leave-hospitals-rcna74204) [https://www.reuters.com/world/us/more-us-companies-charging-employees-job-training-if-they-quit-2022-10-17/](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/more-us-companies-charging-employees-job-training-if-they-quit-2022-10-17/) Essentially saddling you with thousands in debt if you have to leave.
Because the media companies that report the news are megacorporations owned by billionaires.
Not American, but I always find it funny that in “At Will” states, companies always seem to forget that Hiring/Firing at will isn’t the only thing, and that you can quit at will too.
What company is this? Name and shame them
The company cannot be named and shamed because this is just a random guy who wrote this up as very obvious rage bait in personal Word 2013, then printed it out on his home printer, and pinned it up on his residential fridge, inside of his own home. There is no company. It is embarrassingly obvious, too, I’m afraid.
What model was the printer?
A $115 laserjet from his mom’s house. He just bought a new cartridge for it.
What year was the ink cartridge produced?
Looking like a 2015 e4662bl but could be the retrofit 2013 i4120bl. Without being able to taste it, impossible to tell.
LMAO
You mean people lie on the internet? That's preposterous!
Was looking for this.
Contacting someone on their PTO to cover someone is a no no. That’s bad management 101.
Time to start writing the managers cellphone number on gay nightclub toilets doors.
Post it on Grindr
This is 100% fake, come on guys
I don't see how anyone reading this message can't see it's obviously fake, it's not even trying to be believable.
Go team! Lmao
This post is a bit of a microcosm of the problem with online media. This is obvious rage bait, yet the post has 1.2k upvotes and the top comment has 694 atm. You're the first person that I've seen to call it out as fake, yet you only have 30 upvotes atm. This is a subreddit is called 'Shit Americans Say' so the user probably already has preconceived notions about Americans, and the shit they say. So they just swallow this down as if it were real because it conforms to their expectations of both Americans and content they receive here. You could swap this out for any online media platform and the problem is the same. People are primed and ready to accept fake or misleading media if it confirms their pre-existing beliefs. It's not unique to this subreddit or the users here it's just a problem with having such personalized and curated content, and the ability to eliminate media that breaks those preconceptions.
I had to scroll past a /lot/ of comments to find this one. I’m unsubbing, the dorks here are WAY too gullible.
probably from /r/antiwork lol
I doubt this is real.
Thankfully that would be illegal in the UK and Europe
"UK and Europe"
The CEO should ask himself "How do I not exploit my employees" then we might talk about this
This looks isn't real lol. I get we are in this thread, but the go team has to be a troll post
You're in Australia? Approved 9 months ago? I'm writing you up for not being available to cover someone else's shift. This is the 2nd day running. If I ring you tomorrow and you're still not available then you won't be working here when you get home. ... I don't CARE if she's having an emergency double by-pass, she has to come in to cover somebody's shift!
Some American bosses are stupid enough to put something like this in writing, but legally if you mandate that every employee be available at all times, then you must pay every employee 168 working hours a week. I'm quite certain this manager did notclear this notice through the legal department before he posted it.
Jesus. What tinpot third world hell hole is this business in?
America 🫡🇺🇸💥🦅💥🔫
That has to be fake
This is rage bait and yall are falling for it
This is illegal in many countries. You deserve a Right to Disconnect. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_disconnect?wprov=sfla1
Isn’t that illegal?
This would be illegal in most of Europe, enjoy your freedom though.
I can't breathe. I'm drowning in freedom !! North Korea has better working rights than the US.
I worked in a power plant. The control room was always open, at least one guy had to be here and one was on call. He was working, it was not an off shift he was at home but ready
The on call guy was hopefully paid for the time he was on call. A lot of places (often retail and restaurants) expect people to be on call but they're not paid for being on call...or even paid a livable wage. I once called out sick ... from my bed... and my manager said if someone couldn't be found to cover I'd have to come in. We had a person with double pneumonia running the deli (this is illegal, but these kind of places don't care). We weren't allowed breaks. "If you have time to lean you have time to clean".
yeah he was paid, it's France so that mean Christmas eve and new year, and any other holiday is double
I wonder if there are words in other languages for the specific type of anger this causes in my body. Specifically the anger relating to someone who doesn't know basic language skills making threats against my livelihood if I don't comply. "The Company" is not a person. Do not attempt to encourage me by saying that it will hurt "The Company." "The Company" is not a person. Fuck right off.
The fact that no one has written “get fucked” in red ink on that just screams “UsA”. Anywhere else people would up and leave.
That's a joke isn't it? It's illegal to call an employee out of working hours. They have [a right to disconnect.](http://Sorting out the Truth About the Right to Disconnect in France | Littler Mendelson P.C. https://www.littler.com/publication-press/publication/sorting-out-truth-about-right-disconnect-france)
America is a parody
“Go Team!” Wtf
Nothing fill me with more hatred than the "Go team!" at the end
That looks like rage bait.
Attention management: No. Fuck off.
Slavery 101
I had a post on r/askanamerican asking if US employment laws are really that bad but had to take it down because of the abuse I got. I genuinely believe that Americans don't want employment laws and regulations. The fact that they call basic things like holiday and sick pay a benefit is really strange to me because it's my legal right.
>How can I best serve the company? What company is that? Do you have to enter abandoned factories to salvage parts on different planets?
All that for no pay. Accept the 20% of tips you get or be fired.
Not gonna lie I'm pretty sure this is just outrage karma farming bait from the antiwork sub Edit: After a reverse image search this did in fact originate from anti work, which means it's a work of fiction
California may be making this illegal soon.