If you've ever held a minimum wage job, you know the struggle of putting in excessive work for too little compensation. From stressful physical labor to confronting rude customers, these jobs can be frustrating and tiring. Still, most who have worked these positions for a while have learned how to deal with challenging customers... by not dealing with the customers at all!
When you hold an occupation where you aren't being paid enough, letting things slip through the cracks to avoid extra work can become second nature. This may encompass anything from giving out free food to letting customers sneak their pets inside to allowing petty shoplifting to happen right in front of your eyes! While these things may irk someone with a higher paying job, minimum wage workers know which battles to fight and which to let slide. These are some crazy testimonies from underpaid Reddit users who have let customers get away with some pretty wild behaviors!
Don't forget to check the comment section below the article for more interesting stories!
#25 Kicking Back With The Customers
A coffee shop I worked at was so poorly managed that I practically gave free drinks to the 5-7 customers we had on a daily basis. The manager and owner were always in China, and the few customers were usually our friends. I even took on double shifts so I'd get paid more. We let the customers do whatever they want and it even got to a point where they played Smash Bros in the back. They even hung out in the kitchen to cook food. As employees, we probably broke every universal employment law possible. It was the chillest minimum wage job I had, but unfortunately, it came to an end when the entire staff except myself decided to go to a music festival and my manager happened to show up that one day.
#24 Returning Karma In Quarters
Not something the customer isn't allowed to do, just an "I make minimum wage so I really don't care" story. When I was working the drive-through at a fast food restaurant a customer ordered around $15 worth of food and paid entirely in change. Then he realized he wanted to order one more item which came out to around $1-2, he handed me a $20 bill, so naturally, I handed him back $18 in quarters.
#23 Rescuing Wasted Circus Food
In Disney World, I worked at Cirque du Soleil. They would throw away all the food at the end of the night but nothing got me more upset then the Cotton Candy. It cost them like 15 cents a bag to make but sold it for $5.50 and they would throw it away. I used to grab bags and give them to the "guests" for free. Also, I gave away popcorn and hotdogs and stuff. No use letting it got to waste.
#22 Paying Off Angry Customers
I worked at the mall when I was in college. I was a peon, but I had the power to issue $25 gift cards. Every time some customer got mad, I would just say "OMG I'm so sorry, here's $25". I wasn't paid enough to deal with anyone yelling at me.
#21 Like A Kid In A Candy Shop
Not a worker, but I was being assisted by a minimum wage worker at a chain arcade. Me and my friend were figuring out what we could afford to get from the little "rewards" area, and we started to sit down and begin counting.
He saw us and said, "Naw, don't worry, they don't pay me enough to care". We still felt bad so we put some of the candy we got back.
He started scanning our point cards and the rewards. We had 5-10 extra pieces of candy and he was like, "looks like you can't afford it". Then he slid all of the extra candy into a bag and handed it to us.
10/10 employee, I hope he's doing well.
#20 Mystery Treats To Make Everyone A Winner
I worked graveyard at Jack in the Box near a community college. The line would get so long I decided to give out a mystery treat to every passenger in the car. From free orange juice to jumbo Jacks - everyone was a winner!
#19 Brilliantly Sneaky With Money
I never asked for ID when selling rated M games to people who looked under 17 at a major retailer. It is not a law and my supervisor didn't care as he wanted as many sales as he could get.
#18 Snatching Up Secret Tips
I worked at a hardware store in the garden center making close to minimum wage. We often loaded heavy bags of mulch and dirt for customers in their trucks beds and what not.
We were told that we were not allowed to take tips from customers.
So being the good boy that I was, I turned down a couple tips until one day I loaded up a full customer pickup bed and he handed me a $20.
I told him I can’t take that, and he looked me dead the eye and said, “Do they really pay you so much you don’t need it?”
I stopped being an idiot that day.
#17 Letting Dangerous Shoplifters Walk Out
My boyfriend worked for a store in a large mall. The store refuses to put security sensors in because it 'ruins' the laid-back vibe of the store. They wanted you to chase after shoplifters. One girl working there almost got maced. A male co-worker was threatened to be stabbed. He just didn't care and wouldn't chase, he would just tell the manager on duty what happened. Some of the managers never listened. The security in the mall is awful. So bad that a different store a friend was working at where their employees actually got attacked for trying to stop a shoplifter, that store hired their own private security to protect their employees. Nobody working minimum wage should get threatened to be fired for not chasing shoplifters, who are threatening them bodily harm.
Washington Post
#16 Kindly Covering Those Who Rang Up Short
I'd carry coins on me when I worked at McDonald's so if anyone came up to less than a dollar short, I'd cover it for them. I'd feel especially bad declining them if they were with a girlfriend or family or something. I know what it's like to come up short at a fast food place.
#15 Avoiding Conflict With Customers
Everything that didn't make my job harder was possible. Free food? Ask nicely and it's yours amigo. I wasn't that sort of person until I caught the owner skimming from every employee's paycheck.
#14 A 3 a.m. Bathroom Break
You aren't allowed to use the bathroom if you aren't actually a customer. We are the only place open at three in the morning. I'm not gonna tell people to go find somewhere else.
#13 Accepting Anyone As A Student
We do a 10% student discount at the shop I work at. We have to be shown a valid student card before we give the discount. I could be shown anything vaguely plastic and rectangular and I'm giving that discount.
#12 Refilling Kind Patrons' Popcorn Bags
At the movie theater I used to work at, we were only supposed to give free popcorn refills to the people who bought buckets, not bags. But sometimes if the person was nice to me and brought a bag up for a refill, I'd just do it. It's easier than explaining why all the time.
#11 A Genius Customer Hack
Whenever I shop at a department store, I always try to find the most disgruntled looking cashier. I've had cashiers bag things that weren't scanned. They didn't care and I don't say anything.
#10 Loading Up Fry-Eaters With Ketchup
Years back I worked at a local chain restaurant that had a drive-through. One of the owners would occasionally come through and reiterate that we were to only give one ketchup packet out per order of fries at the drive-through. Our fry orders were huge, and one packet was nowhere near enough, so as soon as he was gone, we’d go back to throwing handfuls of ketchup packets into the bags.
#9 Helping Out Hormonal Mothers
I worked at an online diaper bag company, and if a bag was returned, I was supposed to find out if it was a defect or the customer's fault to decide how to issue a replacement.
When a frantic hormonal new mom would call me getting ready to rant and put her foot down, I would always interrupt their story and just ask for their address and what type of bag they wanted, and ship it for free.
No way am I being paid enough to get in that argument. I don't care if they were carrying large bricks in the bag. Take a new one!
#8 Suggestions Against Shoplifting
I work at Target and we aren't allowed to do anything to physically stop people from stealing.
If someone's trying to be sneaky, we are supposed to say "I think you forgot that in your cart". But if you wanted to grab something and just walk away with it, the only thing we can do is tell asset protection.
#7 Flexible Per-Pound Deli Worker
I worked at a deli and had the power to override the price per pound anytime I felt like it. So if a customer was upset I'd give them half off. Or if they had a cool shirt. I didn't really care.
#6 Letting Car-Sleepers Rest
People sleeping in their cars overnight, I consistently work night shifts and see it all the time, we're meant to tap on the window and ask them to leave, but really if someone has to sleep in their car and we have a huge empty carpark, why kick someone while they're down.
#5 Letting The Dogs In
Worked in retail and while I got paid above minimum, it wasn't that much more. People aren't supposed to bring their dogs into the store yet they would walk their dogs on leashes through the store all the time. I'd see it happen, realize I hated my job, pet the dog then go about my business. I didn't get paid enough to get into an argument with some old rich dude and his equally as ancient wife about why Fluffy isn't allowed to walk around in the store.
#4 Dishing Out Double The Toppings
I didn't work there, but once at Coldstone this man asked me to choose between Chocolate and Caramel because I chose both. Well, I chose chocolate, turned around talked to my stepdad, and when he hands it back over it had both. I was so happy he did this, happened a couple months ago and I still thank him.
#3 Faking Heart Attacks For Free Food
I work as a Lifeguard at a theme park (first job) and one thing some customers do is pretend they are gonna faint or they are having heat-related problems so they can get us to call into base and get them free food or drinks. We always do it.
#2 Waiving Hassle-Inducing Fees
I worked for an airline. The minimum change fee was $75.00. At the time, that amount of money would take me about ten hours to earn. Let me tell you how many ways I found to waive that fee: oh what a great conversation about weather let me waive that fee for you, oh, your child is crying in the background let me waive that for you. I found any reason to waive that.
#1 Love-Spreading Build-A-Bear Worker
Used to work at a place where you build stuffed animals (like bears cough cough). We have little hearts that people put in the bears, but sometimes people would just come in and ask to take a heart or two.
We weren't allowed to say yes, but I'd let them do it anyway because there's some sort of symbolism in giving people a little bit of love.
