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Most of us have to work to be able to pay bills, buy something to eat, go out or travel somewhere. That means that sooner or later, we need to face adult responsibilities and work in order to have a decent life.

However, the world is unfair, full of scams and things that shouldn’t be tolerated. And in this case - the corporate world. Most companies don’t really care about their employees, yet employees need to provide for themselves and their families, thus they have no other way but to hold themselves together. Actually, there are so many things at work that we are just so used to them being this way that we have even forgotten that they're not exactly as they should be. For instance - unpaid lunches that result in a 9-hour work day.

So, speaking about that, one Reddit user started a thread in one of the communities asking folks online to share work scams that have become so normalized that we don’t even realize they’re scams anymore. So, pandas, explore these scams, comment your thoughts and maybe you will even spot something that you in fact never thought of as being a scam, but when you think about it… well, maybe it is in fact too normalized.

More info: Reddit

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#1

“Be Here 15 Minutes Before Your Shift Starts”: 30 Normalized Work Scams According To This Thread Having to find someone to cover for you when you call out sick. That's the f*****g managers job not yours.

ioncloud9 , Karolina Grabowska Report

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#2

“Be Here 15 Minutes Before Your Shift Starts”: 30 Normalized Work Scams According To This Thread Companies offering 3% raises while inflation is 8%

marchingprinter , Karolina Grabowska Report

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MaryHadaLittleLamb
MaryHadaLittleLamb
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This should be higher! My 3% raise is effectively a pay cut due to inflation, and they also raised our healthcare premiums last year by $200 a month. I'm taking home less cash than ever.

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#3

“Be Here 15 Minutes Before Your Shift Starts”: 30 Normalized Work Scams According To This Thread “Be here 15 minutes before your shift starts “

Ya bro. Normally I would because I like to ease in, make a coffee etc. but if you require it and don’t pay, I’m rolling in at 9 on the dot.

Lazerith22 , Monstera Production Report

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Donkey boi
Donkey boi
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The way I understand it is, you pay me to work from x time. Turning up at x time is a 'no no', because by the time I've got settled it's 5/10/15 minutes past time. I get there early, to make a drink and sort myself out, but I'm not doing a jot of work until I'm on the clock.

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#4

“Be Here 15 Minutes Before Your Shift Starts”: 30 Normalized Work Scams According To This Thread HR is there to protect the company, no one is there to protect the employees.

Tigger808 , Sora Shimazaki Report

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#5

“Be Here 15 Minutes Before Your Shift Starts”: 30 Normalized Work Scams According To This Thread "Team lead." It really means "you're going to get management responsibilities without management pay."

thomascameron , Jonathan Borba Report

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DennyS (denzoren)
DennyS (denzoren)
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11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

100% true but in some cases they are paid well but I can only comment for the industry I'm in.

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#6

“Be Here 15 Minutes Before Your Shift Starts”: 30 Normalized Work Scams According To This Thread Go above and beyond and we will reward you with….even more work

Maleficent_Sky6982 , Kindel Media Report

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Luke Branwen
Luke Branwen
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11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If you always work 110%, never miss a day, go above and beyond and dedicate all your life to work... then one day, your boss might go to space.

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#7

“Be Here 15 Minutes Before Your Shift Starts”: 30 Normalized Work Scams According To This Thread Unpaid lunches resulting in a 9 hour work day. Absolute f*****g horseshit.

Aern , Mikhail Nilov Report

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Jan Rosier
Jan Rosier
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This one seems normal to me... in the 30+ years I've worked now (Belgium) lunchtime has never been paid.

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#8

“Be Here 15 Minutes Before Your Shift Starts”: 30 Normalized Work Scams According To This Thread For the Americans in the crowd: Let's talk about tying proper healthcare to our jobs, shall we? It's become so normalized that we sometimes forget how wild it is that a huge chunk of our healthcare security is linked to where we work. If you or one of your loved ones requires ongoing medical coverage, you literally CANNOT quit your job.


If you're thinking about switching careers or just need a change of pace, there's this looming threat. You can't just leave, cause if something unfortunate happens, you're screwed. We are all hostages of our employers.

dtelad11 , Thirdman Report

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Donald
Donald
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You can COBRA you insurance between jobs, my last one was around 140 USD a week while employed. COBRA option was only 530 USD a WEEK while I was between jobs/switching insurance. Kicker is that insurance had a 10,000 deductible and barely covered anything.

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#9

“Be Here 15 Minutes Before Your Shift Starts”: 30 Normalized Work Scams According To This Thread Being expected to give two weeks notice or you get a bad reference/can't be rehired, but we can be fired on the spot for literally no reason at all.

what is that horses**t??

galaxychildxo , Nick Fewings Report

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bigoldthor
bigoldthor
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11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In the U.S., few employers will give official "references" for former employees. Too much risk of litigation. The most you'll usually get is yes, he/she worked here and from when to when, and maybe what position(s) they held, if even that. You can always ask for individual references, though.

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#10

“Be Here 15 Minutes Before Your Shift Starts”: 30 Normalized Work Scams According To This Thread Wage Theft of almost every type is so normalized we barely notice it.

durgadas , Kenny Eliason Report

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#11

“Be Here 15 Minutes Before Your Shift Starts”: 30 Normalized Work Scams According To This Thread Attendance policies, telling an employee who they can and can’t take time off to grief for.

rubygalhappy , Yan Krukau Report

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bigoldthor
bigoldthor
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is true but also a double-edged sword. Sadly, there are many people who will take advantage of liberal bereavement policies to take off whenever they feel like it. Not fair to those who play by the rules and to those who are genuinely grieving, but I do get the sentiment.

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#12

“Be Here 15 Minutes Before Your Shift Starts”: 30 Normalized Work Scams According To This Thread Sick days.

Don't call them sick days. When I need them they drain my available PTO first before they get to the sick days.

By then I am usually no longer sick and with the little amount PTO I accrue during the year, I am now not getting a vacation.

Out sick is not a f*****g vacation.

dartheduardo , Andrea Piacquadio Report

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Caroline Nagel
Caroline Nagel
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11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is not the case in Europe. We don't have a set amount of sick days. When you're sick you're sick and it's the doctor who decides how long you need to stay home. Why do Americans keep saying they live in the land of the free?

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#13

“Be Here 15 Minutes Before Your Shift Starts”: 30 Normalized Work Scams According To This Thread "Do it for the team, others are counting on you" to try and get free labor

Psychological-Poet-4 , fauxels Report

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#14

“Be Here 15 Minutes Before Your Shift Starts”: 30 Normalized Work Scams According To This Thread Unpaid internships. How and why have we ok'd this??

atomic_chippie , Emil Kalibradov Report

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#15

“Be Here 15 Minutes Before Your Shift Starts”: 30 Normalized Work Scams According To This Thread A work contest to see who can have the highest sales dollars. We push to make them a c**p ton of profit and they give us s****y rewards like $10 gift cards or the smallest percentage of a bonus they can find. It's total garbage.

Deckbothular4 , Scott Graham Report

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kitten levels tokyo
kitten levels tokyo
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Today’s managers want employees to work with as much enthusiasm as entrepreneurs, but without receiving any of the rewards a successful entrepreneur gets.

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#16

“Be Here 15 Minutes Before Your Shift Starts”: 30 Normalized Work Scams According To This Thread Downsizing and not getting compensated for doing more work.

ccafferata473 , ANTONI SHKRABA production Report

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#17

“Be Here 15 Minutes Before Your Shift Starts”: 30 Normalized Work Scams According To This Thread Five day work week.

Loud_Internet572 , ThisIsEngineering Report

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#18

“Be Here 15 Minutes Before Your Shift Starts”: 30 Normalized Work Scams According To This Thread My employer keeps paperwork that we are supposed to be filling out regularly in the break room. A lot of people have too much to do and they fill it out on their breaks. I never have. I don’t care how behind I am, if the company wants something done, they are going to have to pay me to do it.

happyme321 , RDNE Stock project Report

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bigoldthor
bigoldthor
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11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Agreed, but what kind of paperwork would an employer keep in the breakroom to be filled out by employees?

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#19

“Be Here 15 Minutes Before Your Shift Starts”: 30 Normalized Work Scams According To This Thread When you're expected to be ready to start when your shift starts, fine. When you come in a bit early to get a coffee and get your work face on and colleagues immediately start throwing work at you.

I used to come in 15 minutes early and people who were due to finish when I started would just pack up and go.
Thanks to this sub I no longer tolerate that. I still come in early to prepare for the s**t show and get a coffee but *I'm not working*.
I actually had a nurse storm up to me once saying a call bell had been going for 10 mi why wasn't I responding. I shrugged and asked her where her day staff were.

DifficultCurrent7 , Vlada Karpovich Report

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Trish
Trish
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11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I often get stopped in the parking lot on my way in to work. Could you let me get into the building first?

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#20

“Be Here 15 Minutes Before Your Shift Starts”: 30 Normalized Work Scams According To This Thread Promising growth and development (dangling the 🥕 on the stick) but not following through.

chibinoi , Karolina Grabowska Report

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bigoldthor
bigoldthor
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yeah, this is baked into every HR/corporate performance review and development program I've ever used, and it's usually just lip service. Rarely have I seen any follow through, and I've been around for a lonnnnnnng time.

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#21

Being gainfully employed without being able to even make basic ends meet.

tehjoz Report

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bigoldthor
bigoldthor
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11 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If you can't make basic ends meet, then you are, by definition, NOT "gainfully employed". You're just employed.

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#22

“Be Here 15 Minutes Before Your Shift Starts”: 30 Normalized Work Scams According To This Thread Saying we get 2 days off. It's more like 1.5 days. Saturday is the only real day off. On Sundays, you try to sleep early to be ready for Monday morning. There is no real rest when Saturday is the only day you can sleep in and sleep late.

40 hours a week of work 5 days a week is too long. It's harder to manage your regular life and it's too hard to get anything done in your regular life because you're too burnt out giving your entire days and times at work.

Work should be 6 hours a day (it's hard to stay productive after the 5th or 6th hour) and have 3 days off so we can get real rest and take care of our real life s**t.

LuvIsLov , Samson Katt Report

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neytjie
neytjie
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11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Workers paid by the hour will be screwed with only 6 hours a day.

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#23

“Be Here 15 Minutes Before Your Shift Starts”: 30 Normalized Work Scams According To This Thread After work activities being “not mandatory but advised” or affecting your standing at work.

I used to have a two hour turnaround commute for work and at least once a month my bosses would look to have the whole team go out for a few hours after an 8 hour shift starting at the crack of dawn where every minute of our day was accounted for. I just wanted to clock in and then go home because i was just mentally exhausted by the end of the day, but would always get the stink eye when i would politely decline the three hour detour for “team building” with a team we couldn’t even socialize with since we were on the phone 8 hours a day.

mbattagl , Yan Krukau Report

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bigoldthor
bigoldthor
Community Member
11 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I absolutely DESPISE any type of after work social gatherings, team-building, whatever. I mean, I don't HATE all y'all but dammit I want to go home after my workday is over.

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#24

Business tax cuts. The politicians say that it will create jobs, but they don't. The big businesses just use the money to buy out their competitors and they pay lower wages after removing redundant staff.

spiritfiend Report

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#25

“Be Here 15 Minutes Before Your Shift Starts”: 30 Normalized Work Scams According To This Thread So, so many but to name a few:

1) Having to pay for parking just to go to work. This blew my mind as a New Yorker when I met people from other parts of the US. They’re forcing you to be at their premises yet you have to pay for a separate parking facility, or worse yet, one of those corporate park deals where the employers there can easily cover employee parking but they don’t.

2) Hell, the notion of paying for commuting altogether is a scam that Americans have been suckered into so long and the lowest-paid workers get screwed the most.

3) The expectation that you have to give two weeks notice to quit, but you can get fired overnight with zero warning because a graph made the chairman of the board’s portfolio sad.

4) That it’s 2023 but employers and policymakers still cling to the 40-hour work week model for knowledge work. It was designed for assembly lines long before we had powerful computers that fit in our pockets.

5) Skilled and educated professionals having to practically beg for jobs they can damn well do but if you’re not automatically tossed by ATS, you’re not given a chance because your background doesn’t PRECISELY fit the criteria on the list. Then you have to answer a bunch of really stupid questions where you’re expected to lie a little, but not too much, when you know you can just DO THE THING THEY NEED.

6) Having your time wasted with 4+ interviews and employers constantly toeing the line between “skills assessment” and “free work”.

Jealous_Location_267 , Ruffa Jane Reyes Report

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neytjie
neytjie
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Try to fire someone here at the drop of a hat, you'll be so screwed. Forced to hire them back or pay a fair amount as a severance package.

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#26

“Be Here 15 Minutes Before Your Shift Starts”: 30 Normalized Work Scams According To This Thread Unable to leave early once you fulfill your daily/weekly quota. Must stay so they can exploit more of your energy.

been2busy , Beka Ichkiti Report

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ginshun
ginshun
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11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This should only be an issue if you are getting paid based on how much work you complete. If you are being paid by the hour, then you are being paid to work for that whole time.

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#27

“Be Here 15 Minutes Before Your Shift Starts”: 30 Normalized Work Scams According To This Thread Pensions are an easy one.

matty_nice , Andrea Piacquadio Report

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Justin
Justin
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11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

What about lack of pensions? They've all but disappeared in favor of the 401k here in the states

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#28

“Be Here 15 Minutes Before Your Shift Starts”: 30 Normalized Work Scams According To This Thread Capitalism is the ultimate pyramid scheme.

Rough_Ian , Karolina Grabowska Report

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jmdirks
jmdirks
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11 months ago

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

Really? How about getting out of your parents basement, off the video games and getting a job.

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#29

“Be Here 15 Minutes Before Your Shift Starts”: 30 Normalized Work Scams According To This Thread the part where i make 100 bucks for my employer and he gives me 10 for my efforts.

lobsterdog666 , Karolina Grabowska Report

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bigoldthor
bigoldthor
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is just the nature of business. No matter what we do as employees, we are technically contributing to corporate profits. They are not going to turn around and give all of that back to the employees, unless of course it's an employee-owned business.

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#30

The standard 40 hour work week.

CircledLogic Report

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Note: this post originally had 41 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.

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