Quit my job and it was a roller coaster ride

TL;DR: I quit my off-the-books job because my employer absolutely sucked and was kind of a little bit of an asshole and now I’m wondering if I should report the employer.

It’s been about 5 weeks since I quit my job, and I’m still unemployed, but even though I have no money and am behind on rent, I can’t say I regret it.

This job was at a local bakery, and having just moved into the area back when I did, I really needed a job and went around to all the businesses around me and asked if they were hiring. This place was, and they had me fill out a paper application in-store. Nothing out of the ordinary, I didn’t really think anything of it. The very next day, they called me back (which I would learn in my time working there was unusual) and asked about my availability, experience, etc., and told me I could come in the next day to pick up my training manual.

That was when I started to think things were odd. There was no mention of employment paperwork, and my last job had even mentioned the pay rate upfront, so I wondered if they’d have me fill things out when I went to pick up the training materials. That, of course, didn’t happen, but I didn’t want to ask about the rate or the paperwork because I really needed a job and didn’t want to risk it by asking too many questions.

This will probably come as a surprise to no one, but there was no paperwork because we weren’t being legally employed. Everything was off-the-books, and we got paid a little below minimum wage to offset that no taxes were being paid on our wages. The owner has even straight up stated that he doesn’t want to pay for health insurance or unemployment, so that’s why he won’t do things the legal way. One reason they get away with it, probably? There are about 5 people (out of 30-ish total) who aren’t being paid under the table.

Anyway, once again unsurprisingly, the job was an absolute nightmare. Constant micromanagement, clear favorites being played, inconsistent hours, getting yelled at for “not working” because you happened to be standing around for a minute at best while there were no customers in the store, getting in trouble for other people’s mistakes or things that they didn’t get in trouble for despite also doing. Typical “if there’s nothing to do, find something to do” mindset of redoing tasks that were already done just for the sake of doing something. We weren’t really allowed proper breaks, either – 15 minutes was the absolute maximum, but they preferred 10 minutes or less, and it was encouraged not to take breaks at all on an 8 hour shift. Personally, I’m also dissatisfied with the way they lie to customers and say everything is made “from scratch” when I’ve obviously been in the kitchen and seen how many pre-made/boxed tart shells and muffin mixes etc. they use. Because of all the yelling and the unfair treatment towards all but maybe 4-5 people, they also have a horrendous turnover rate. Most employees don’t stay longer than a year, or two years at best (but we cycled through A LOT in my time there).

This post is getting long enough as is, so I’ll skip all the excruciating detail of the year and a half I was there, but the final straw for a lot of us was the all-staff meeting this summer. The owner had all kinds of words to say to us about our work, and one bit that really sticks out in my memory is that he got mad at us for drinking water while at work. “I only let you have water here out of my own kindness,” he said, “I don’t even need to do that. But maybe I should stop, since you guys just want to take advantage of the kindness I show you.” How were we “taking advantage” of his “kindness”? By sometimes daring to take a quick sip of water while running from the cash register at one end of the store to the entrance at the other end to start helping the next customer. Shocking, I know!

That bit was the straw that broke the camel’s back for my coworker, who had been sick of this like the rest of us for a long time, and he put his two weeks’ notice in the next day. Another coworker quit because she was pregnant and nearly due, and in response to her telling him she’d be leaving, he told her, “I don’t know why your generation can’t keep it in their pants.” Next, a coworker quit because he was removed from the next week’s schedule after forgetting to write out an order one night and coming in extremely early the next morning to write it out so it would definitely be made in time. The owner texted and called him repeatedly, expecting him to apologize and beg for his position back, but my coworker was having none of that and didn’t want to be expected to grovel on the floor for a job this shitty. All of us are struggling financially now, but if that isn’t a testament to how shitty the job was, I don’t know what is.

Anyway, I quit soon after that last coworker. I was scheduled for an 8-hour morning shift, which I really dreaded working, because the two people who exclusively work those opening shifts are very mean, one of them is constantly lecturing everyone (I swear she just loves hearing herself talk), and neither of them does their job, leaving whatever third unfortunate person gets put on for the morning to handle everything all by themselves, not to mention the owner being there the whole time to get on my case for things they did. My coworker, on the other hand, wanted that shift because his rent was due and he needed the four extra hours. I asked him to put in a shift trade request on our scheduling app, knowing that if I were the one to request it it would be denied the owner, and he did, but… it was denied anyway. Immediately afterwards, I received this text and responded as follows:

https://preview.redd.it/2n1k3wr3p45e1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=a17171eb3611aa28366cae7e0a7e3e542b99f5df

It was really only in that moment that I decided to quit, even though I had been considering it for ages. I knew that no matter what answer I gave to that question, it’d result in a long lecture and probably being fired, so I decided right then to quit while I was ahead. He never responded to this text, but immediately tried calling me (I didn’t answer) and then removed me from the schedule.

Now, normally, when others quit or got fired, their last pay envelope (if any) would be left in the usual cabinet for them to pick up whenever, but I was informed by four different coworkers the next payday that he wanted me to pick my last pay up directly from him, as he was keeping it in his office. Cool, I thought, another lecture to deal with. I kind of put off going to get it for two weeks because I was scared of what he’d do to me. When I finally gathered the courage to go and get it, he gave me a whole lecture about how what I did to him was “wrong”, how he “could’ve fired me six million times” but he didn’t because of his own “kindness,” how he gave me “so many chances” and it was “wrong” for me to quit like this in return. Now, he’s a huge guy, so as a very small person, I was pretty afraid and didn’t really say anything while there except a small “yeah, alright” as I turned around to leave.

As soon as I left, though, I got mad at myself for not saying anything and immediately wrote up and sent him this text:

https://preview.redd.it/zbc8v7anq45e1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=c79ab665c8a005d0cf051ca8c56739acf2b8857b

As requested, he didn’t try contacting me in response, but I found out through coworkers that he was very distressed over this text, reading it out to them over and over and over, asking them to reassure him that none of what I said about him was true (spoiler: it’s all true). Now that all is said and done, I still don’t regret quitting, because this job had my mental and physical health at an all time low (I have fibromyalgia and a hypermobility spectrum disorder with degenerative disc disease and degeneration in my feet), but I’m also wondering now if it would be worth reporting the bakery. Could I get in legal trouble for it since I worked there? Or would it be fine since there’s little evidence that I ever did and he’s the one doing this to everyone since we don’t have a choice? I don’t know. But some advice would be nice.

Anyway, I hope this excruciatingly long tale was somewhat enjoyable at least. Thank you for reading if you’re still here.