[Closed] Teenage daughters first ever paid day at work..

Only minimum wage which, for a 16 year old, is £4.30 per hour

Crikey can't believe its that low 🙁, I was on £4.20 an hour as a kitchen porter at 16 before minimum wage was a thing.

You’re going to be even more annoyed as the minimum wage for under 18s isn’t £4.30, unless she’s an apprentice shelf stacker.

My bad, I knew she was getting minimum wage but my Googlefoo failed me, it is actually £4.62 p/h

They haven't actually paid her yet but I'll keep an eye to make sure it is the right hourly rate.

Drac is right - I had gone away to check I though that was low:  https://www.gov.uk/child-employment/paying

I agree it sucks, and doesn't bode well as a good employer.

All our three have worked up from paper round, through either local café or McD's, elder two now doing a couple of jobs with local (Hilton) hotel or at Cv19 testing centre. Other than paper round, they have never earned less than £8 an hour....

It's a good lesson in how the world can work. I'd explain to her that you get to know a place and the people when you have a job and if you don't like the way its run you should look to move on. But rather than being down about it you have to take the positives - It will help her to have it on the CV and when she goes to other jobs and they ask her why she is looking for a new one she can say that on her first day / first shift they under paid her and right from that moment she new to move on. The world of work is all about onwards and upwards.

It's good to know early on how your relationship with your employer is going to work!

Lesson 1: life ain't fair, get on with it or get a new job, expect to be working from the bottom.

Leave and get another job. Loads of places around at the moment that can't get staff for love nor money so no need to work for a dick. If people keep taking it then they'll keep behaving like it.

The next useful lesson she can learn about employment is that she owes an employer nothing (particularly one who chisels her out of a couple of quid), and should bugger off to another job without looking back if something comes up.

Lesson 1: life ain’t fair, get on with it or get a new job, expect to be working from the bottom.

There is starting from the bottom and there is being taken advantage of. This example is the latter and completely unnecessary for the sake of a few quid. It is also rude to chat to your mate for 15 minutes when you know somebody is there to see you, to not pay them on top of that is not on.

Tell her to join the union. 🙂

30mins pay unlawfully docked IMO.

On the plus side, the employer is introducing themself with a nice clear, 'I'm a total ****' so she's not having to wait a few weeks finding out bit by bit.

Sadly, I think it's just the way of the world now that employers feel empowered to do this kind of thing.

****s.

My oldest (just turned 16) got a waitressing job in a local pub/restaurant run by a big chain- turns out she's on the books as an apprentice because it means there's more flexibility over her working hours. Sailing pretty close to the wind imo, they know perfectly well she's heading back to school.
She's happy though, she had an early finish from school with GCSE's so she's had a lot of hours, topped up with decent tips she's been happy to go along with it.
I'm not totally ok with it, but as uwe-r says it's a bit of an intro to the world of employers....

That's pretty poor. My middle one worked in a cafe and the boss had a bit of a reputation that turned out to be quite fitting. They "sacked" her for no apparent reason, save for saying some people had complained about the coffee she made. 17yo, a bit naïve, no training offered. Totally knocked her confidence but she now has a great job in hospitality and as I told her at the time, now she knows what a bad employer looks like. As for OP, daughter needs to rinse the job for her benefit and just keep looking for alternatives. But what a terrible way to treat a new starter.

Crikey can’t believe its that low 🙁, I was on £4.20 an hour as a kitchen porter at 16 before minimum wage was a thing.

My first ever job after leaving school was for £1.32ph at Asdas. Which equates to about £3.60ph now. So Minimum Wage has at least improved things a bit, for some.

30mins pay unlawfully docked IMO.

Yep. 100%; turned up on time, should be paid from that time. Why anyone would dock a teenager £2.15 is beyond me. What utter ****s. I'd be finding a new job, asap.

Tell her to join the union.

This. The more people that do, then hopefully the less people can be exploited and ****ed over by ****s.

Thanks everyone. Its worth her sticking it out for a bit as the hours suit her really well, they don't eat in to her evenings or weekends so that time stays free for her to stare at her phone and scowl at her parents study hard and socialise with friends.

They did let her bring home some stilton which was on its sell by date so not all bad (she hates stilton so bonus for me)

Yeah - stick it out for a while. The life lessons learnt can be much more valuable than the money.

And there's an attitude amongst a lot of teenagers (many of my daughters friends), that if something doesn't quite suit them they up sticks and bugger off.

Always worth sticking it for a while, but probably worth her applying for larger stores, such as the B&Ms, Home Bargains, etc of the world as they tend to have more structure, smaller independents can either be a good environment, or horrific, they don't tend to follow much structure and that can push them down the route that this way sounds.

She can easily recoup those loses by helping herself to the stock every now and then. She just needs to learn where the cameras are first.

This thread is weird. OP, are you seriously saying that you've basically told her that this sort of treatment is fine and she should just accept it?

Why?

Top parenting....

Maybe the life lesson here is to stand up to people and make your case in a calm but firm manner.

Find out what the correct rate for minimum wage is and do the maths. If she's been short changed, she can ask why. If not happy with the explanation, challenge further. It's an important skill. More and more people seem to resort to screaming and shouting to make their point.

@the-muffin-man +1

Yes do look for new job - but value the life experience while she is in it.

Nothing wrong with looking for something else if things don't suit. Much better than feeling you're trapped in something...that's no good for anyone. Where alot of modern teenagers fail is where they see certain jobs or tasks are beneath them. many teenagers these days wouldn't dream of getting a part time job stacking shelves down the local corner shop and would rather lounge around at home and do nothing and earn no money at all and try to sponge off their parents. Back in our day it was common place for kids and even people in the early part of their careers to do menial jobs...starting from the bottom as it were.

I did a work experience placement for free when I was 16 for 6 weeks just for the work experience. I'm not sure kids these days would do that and some on here would see that as exploitation. Not even sure its still legal these days. I may have not got a wage for that work but I got a hell of alot of learning and experience from it which stood me in good stead when I started looking for work. It's all about delayed gratification. Think current generations are less keen on that concept than older generations.

So good on the OP's daughter for being willing to get up and do the job, but that doesn't mean she should accept being treated badly or exploited...that's all part of the experience and learning to stick up for yourself.

Might be worth seeing how it goes...it might have been a one off and things might improve, but no point in hanging around being treated like crap.

Employer now know they can take the piss. Look for somewhere else. Easier to find a job when you have a job etc.

Then wee in shoes, bombers, sausages in lawn etc

Sounds crap, she can chalk it up to experience. Do the job while looking for another, in her exit interview she can explain that them doing her out of £2 was the reason, she'll move on and they wont change.

back in 1995 my first job stacking shelves at Scotmid got me £2.14.33p

Do the job while looking for another, in her exit interview she can explain that them doing her out of £2 was the reason, she’ll move on and they wont change.

This.

This thread is weird. OP, are you seriously saying that you’ve basically told her that this sort of treatment is fine and she should just accept it?

Why?

Top parenting….

Not at all but, so early on, not worth walking out or fighting it. There is lots of value in her working, earning, and learning about how some people are dicks. She won't learn anything by walking out or me getting involved. She'll still take home a wage this week, it will be more than she had last week and if a better opportunity comes along she'll take it.

If the unfair pay is anything more than a one off then we'll step up and address it.

What do you suggest we do instead?

many teenagers these days wouldn’t dream of getting a part time job stacking shelves down the local corner shop and would rather lounge around at home and do nothing and earn no money at all and try to sponge off their parents. Back in our day it was common place for kids and even people in the early part of their careers to do menial jobs…starting from the bottom as it were.

Ok boomer

exit interview

LOL!

There is lots of value in her working, earning, and learning about how some people are dicks.

Yep, totally agree

She won’t learn anything by walking out or me getting involved.

I'm not suggesting walking out. I'm suggesting she speak to them and say that she wants to be paid for the hours worked ( ie present, requested and ready to work)

If they push back then get her to tell them that withholding pay is seriously illegal and that she wants paying fir thd hours worked.

If she gets nowhere then fair enough, cibsider her options, bit it seems a bit early to lie down and be treated like a doormat

She’ll still take home a wage this week,

That sounds like fairly low aspirational bar, right there. Wouldn't it be even better to take home her full wage?

BTW, I fully sympathise with your situation and my frustration is aimed as much at the shit UK system of shitting on the people beneath as it is you.

But perhaps a bit more teeth?

I'd strongly suggest she pushes back. What's the worst that can happen? They let her go. Big whoop, like there's a shortage of low-skilled, low-paid jobs at the moment. If they know she's just going to roll over - and at her age, they will almost certainly assume that she will because she doesn't know any different - then they'll carry on doing it and it'll normalise it for her.

She worked for three hours, she should be paid for three hours, end of story. What sort of utter pondlife rips off a teenager for two ****ing quid? Send me Paypal details and I'll pay her myself.

agree this is very poor from the employer, but its good to have some working experience under the belt, so stick it out a bit until something better comes along, unless there is already something better out there.

my daughter's a bit older, but was subject to a few 'trial shifts' from cafe's. most were unpaid full shifts, where there is about half an hour of training, and then being left alone to do what they've been shown with minimal supervision.
thankfully the one she really enjoyed working at ended up paying her for the shift, and paid her bus fare for her to get to the trial, and gave her a job. top marks!

in her exit interview

my daughter’s a bit older, but was subject to a few ‘trial shifts’ from cafe’s. most were unpaid full shifts, where there is about half an hour of training, and then being left alone to do what they’ve been shown with minimal supervision.

This is the one that is really pissing me off at the moment. There are bars and cafes getting 20 free shifts a month out of this bullshit practice.

I saw a TV report where some pondlife from the Bar Owners Association or whatever the **** they're called was basically saying, 'It's unfair for people to expect us to pay for these trial shifts. We're barely turning a profit as it is.'

I bet a lot more businesses would be profitable if they could figure out how to not pay their staff.

That sucks, I fancy it's not the start of a great employer / employee relationship.

My Eldest turns 16 next month (HTF did that happen!) and I'm frankly amazed and delighted he's dying to get his first job.

Luckily for us, there's loads of supermarkets and their mini versions near to us and they're all understaffed at the moment.

Tesco, who I worked for when I was 16, pay all their staff the same, regardless of age, £9 a hour, Co-op £9.30 etc. He's after a couple of evening shifts and a Saturday (just like I did) I don't know how realistic that is in 2021, but that's what I did in the mid-90s and earn himself about £500 a month... £500 a month, no bills, no responsibilities and limitless energy to enjoy it? He's doing better than me!

Reminds me of my first day of proper work after leaving college in the 80s, company was a manufacture of power supplies in the East Midlands with a high employee turnover. Made all three of us new starters work an extra hour the first day after most people had left to make up for time taken with induction. Fortunately got home to another job offer so told them to stuff it the next day, all three of us starters had moved on with a couple of months.

I'd not kick up a fuss while she looks for something else and then move on.

Reminds me of my first day of proper work after leaving college in the 80s, company was a manufacture of power supplies in the East Midlands with a high employee turnover. Made all three of us new starters work an extra hour the first day after most people had left to make up for time taken with induction. Fortunately got home to another job offer so told them to stuff it the next day, all three of us starters had moved on with a couple of months.

As above, my first 'real' employer was Tesco and whilst I moaned a lot because I was a lazy kid, they were pretty good to us. 10% Staff Discount you could sign over to your parents made a read difference in our house, 3 subsidised meals a day and double-time on Sundays, which none of the grownups wanted to do and frankly they put up with a lot of surly teenagers hanging about trying to look busy and not doing much. The world has changed a lot since those days, if nothing else we closed at 8pm and the store was like a ghost town by 7.

My first full-time job though was horrible, Argos, recruited us all for a new store opening in September after I left school, no mention of 'casual work' or 'zero hours' we just signed a contract and told to get to work. The work was hard, hot and relentless, pretty dangerous too, lots of people getting minor injuries in the dark warehouse (the back of Argos is nothing like the front). When December came it was announced that our "trial period" was nearly over and they'd be cutting half of us. It didn't take long to work out they'd recruited a lot more than they planned to keep after the Xmas rush.

Xmas eve I arrived at work, told I didn't have a job after today and told to get to work, it was a madhouse all day of course, 8pm (12 hours after starting) they locked the doors, with us inside and we were told we had to take down all the Xmas displays and build the doxing day sale displays before we could leave, they literally locked us in, being 19 and a bit stupid I stayed! We left a few hours later, and they didn't even pay us the OT.

3 subsidised meals a day and double-time on Sundays

Subsidised canteens! Extra pay for working outside normal hours! I remember those days. We're lucky to get a vending machine with £1 per can of pop in it now.

I once earned a week's pay for working an Easter Monday (I think) at 4xhourly rate. Testing the milk out of bulk tankers as they came into the creamery.

Subsidised canteens!

One of my clients still has one!

When I say imagine eating with your colleagues every day and most people think “oh sod that, I’m not spending anymore time with those dicks”.

The funny thing in that place, they all seem to get on, moral seems high and almost no one ever leaves.

But nah, better everyone leave for greggs or pret or eats sandwiches at their desk alone.

Over 20 years later, it still gives me huge sense of smug satisfaction thinking back to when I walked out of a crappy chefs job.
Head chef was the owners son and a complete prick, the family owned a couple of successful places (inherited from the grandfather) and were absolutely loaded.

It was split shifts, minimum wage. On my first day I was told to come in half hour early each day to get set up - unpaid. I was also told I'd be occasionally expected to work right through without a split so over 12 hours work with the 4 in the middle unpaid, and it turned out it wasn't an unusual occurrence. So basically I was earning less than the minimum.

I lasted about a month, got another job lined up, then waited for a particular busy day.
"You need to work through, we've got a large party coming in"

"Oh that's a shame, I've already agreed to help out my brother for a couple of hours"

"You'll have to cancel it, you're needed here"

"Ok, well he's paying me for that 2 hours, and you're not. Goodbye"

I can still see the prick's face drop as he realised he was totally in the shite.

In my experience, small business owners, particular in hospitality, who can only pay minimum, don't deserve to be in business. They're relying on virtual slave labour.

Advice to the op's daughter. They're paying less than minimum, so give them less than minimum effort, look for something else, and if they take piss again just walk out.

“Ok, well he’s paying me for that 2 hours, and you’re not. Goodbye”

It astounds me

a) how many employers expect free labour, and

b) how many employees supply free labour.

Subsidised canteens!

Quite a few High tech firms in Cambridge have these, seen as a really cheap way to keep staff onsite, encourage collaboration etc

I'm glad my exit interview comment made at least two of you laugh.

First holiday job was in a bakery at the height of summer. 10 hr shift picking up loaves from a conveyor and putting them in a tray. At the end of the shift I forgot to clock-out, so they didn't pay me anything for that day! Valuable life lesson learnt.

Understandable to take the job though, if you kneaded the dough.

Aren't you allowed to steal from shitty jobs where you are treated like that?

nwmlarge
Full Member

Lesson 1: life ain’t fair, get on with it or get a new job, expect to be working from the bottom.

Bad advice in general, terrible advice for a young person imo. You've got to be willing to stand your ground, the 2 choices aren't "suck it up or leave".

Amazed that places take the piss like this. My summer job paid for every bit of time, even when there were days between clocking in and out.
Used to take on and trial a lot of staff each season in that job and every day we headed back to the yard with the new guys the boss would be waiting with enough cash for the agreed rate. We knew the job wasn't for everyone, but their effort was appreciated and showed that the boss didn't shy from his commitments.

Next job cut the line so close that when the seasonal job asked if I could do another season, I told them I'll be there in a fortnight and the current job I was off due to falling through on their promises and taking the piss.

Tell her to find somewhere else pronto!!! A decent life lesson at that age is the value of working/earning. A poor life lesson is being exploited.

I fallen into the part time "crap" job world post Covid after my music career was largely wiped out....driving a supermarket delivery van. Did a couple of hours shelf filling as I was done early tonight. The night staff are one about 12/13 quid per hour shelf filling. 20% staff discount, and massively subsidised canteen. There's definitely worse employment situations than that I'm sure, especially considering how low the entry requirements are (you basically need to be a human that is alive)

At the end of the shift I forgot to clock-out, so they didn’t pay me anything for that day! Valuable life lesson learnt.

Was the lesson "don't work for ****s?"

Good money in trucking just now. Just sayin'

Subsidised canteens

We get a free 3 course meal every day, plus free fruit and drinks. I don’t usually have it as we also have a gym next to the canteen, only 3 of us use that and we laugh as pretty much everyone sat in the canteen eating and looking at their phones go up in clothes sizes

But for the OP that seems out of order but it seems a lesson worth sticking out. I did shit jobs as a teenager and my first real job after leaving school was horrific, it motivated me to finish school as an adult and get a degree and gives me perspective now. My girlfriend who never worked or had a shit job now moans about the most petty nonsense in her corporate job. Of course for her it’s a big deal and doesn’t detract from the stress it causes her but I do struggle sometimes to empathise

how many employees supply free labour.

I am no socialist but this just highlights the asymmetric relationship between employer and employee. Arguably more so at the lower end of the market.

But for the OP that seems out of order but it seems a lesson worth sticking out. I did shit jobs as a teenager and my first real job after leaving school was horrific, it motivated me to finish school as an adult and get a degree and gives me perspective now. My girlfriend who never worked or had a shit job now moans about the most petty nonsense in her corporate job. Of course for her it’s a big deal and doesn’t detract from the stress it causes her but I do struggle sometimes to empathise

Interesting perspective. I had a Saturday milkround that started at 4am, worked for a horticultural business in 40°plus greenhouses, worked on farms for minimum agricultural wage, holiday jobs in office's where the key job was to make teas correctly.

Subsidised canteen at first job. You lunched with friends, got to know people outside a pure work context. Could tell who were single blokes using the free three course meal! Used the loss of that value to help negotiate an increased offer when I moved on.

My girlfriend who never worked or had a shit job now moans about the most petty nonsense in her corporate job. Of course for her it’s a big deal and doesn’t detract from the stress it causes her but I do struggle sometimes to empathise

The following is said without knowing anything about you, your girlfriend, or the kind of stuff she is complaining about.

Another perspective could be that, as a person who hasn't experienced an employer acting illegally and fully expecting to get away with it, she has a better perspective than someone who has been conditioned to expect their employer to cheat them out of pay and conditions?

It's not something I'd want any of my children to come to expect wherever they end up working.

One of my clients still has one!

When I say imagine eating with your colleagues every day and most people think “oh sod that, I’m not spending anymore time with those dicks”.

Up until Covid we all used to eat together - depending on the office I was in it was either reheated food from tupperware or a subsidised canteen. And for me, personally, it was great. We'd chat about pretty much anything other than work, and it was a nice way to build personal relationships with the rest of the team without the stress of some corporate team-building exercise.

I am no socialist but this just highlights the asymmetric relationship between employer and employee. Arguably more so at the lower end of the market.

IME it's worse in the middle - earning enough wages to feel grateful to your employer, and prepared to do "a bit more" to work your way up the ladder.

I'd be spending time now looking for a replacement job, being docked when 1/2 the time was down to the owners chit chat is just a pisstake 😕
I've walked out a few jobs, pretty much like everyone else. Usually the meat trade where it just gets too much when you're supposed to be the staff and end up taking on more and more extra duties.
I did pick up a days work once many moons ago picking potatoes, farmer came to the homeless unit looking for people to hand pick the veg, we all went out to the farm and after 5 minutes I thought **** this and walked the 8 or so miles back to the unit. Sat had a nice day watching TV, lunch and when the rest got back they applauded me for leaving saying their time was hell, muddy, very sore backs and that was before it started raining 😆

Of course the tories these days have made it difficult for people to walk off rubbish jobs by penalizing them with suspended benefits and the like.

I thought **** this and walked the 8 or so miles back to the unit.

Reminded me of a story my mate told me, he works on a gated industrial park in the Aldershot / Farnborough area, and the security guys on the gates are mainly ex forces including a lot of ex Gurkha.

And one day the security manager gets a phone call from one saying that the minibus that collects them from the nearby town/station hadn't arrived.

'Oh, I'm sorry, I'll see if I can get another out to you as soon as possible'

'No no, no trouble, we just wanted to tell you - we're running there now but we might be a few minutes later than usual'

...and then tabbed there in formation (about 3 miles up the A30)

The following is said without knowing anything about you, your girlfriend, or the kind of stuff she is complaining about.

Another perspective could be that, as a person who hasn’t experienced an employer acting illegally and fully expecting to get away with it, she has a better perspective than someone who has been conditioned to expect their employer to cheat them out of pay and conditions?

It’s not something I’d want any of my children to come to expect wherever they end up working.

Interesting point. Personally my experience has made me know not to tolerate such conditions anymore, but that’s only because I now have an amazing employer and a truly inspiring manager (she’s not on here so I say that as a fact and not an attempt to earn points:)). Someone who was not so lucky/motivated and continued between bad/terrible employers may experience what you outline above

Another way of looking at it is that between us me and the mrs are a good lookout for each other by way of seeing stuff through opposite perspectives

For the OP then maybe stick it out a bit but make sure she gets something decent next time so she knows what is and isn’t good?

Sounds crap, she can chalk it up to experience. Do the job while looking for another, in her exit interview she can explain that them doing her out of £2 was the reason, she’ll move on and they wont change.

I agree with this.
It's not worth the hassle and stress to start something over £2.30.
It says a lot about your parenting skills if your young daughter is motivated enough to do such a job; I doubt money is the primary objective of getting the job, and for £2.30 she has learnt a very good lessons in the work place already:
That some battles aren't worth fighting.
That some people are simply not nice.
That some jobs exist to support you getting a better one.

Unbelievable that this employer is taking advantage of your daughter.
As others have said, she should stay until she finds something better, but I feel they need to know its bad practice.

At the age of 17 I started full time work. Not until I walked out at the age of nearly 23 did I realise what a dreadful, money grabbing, mean minded, miserable, slave driving lot my employers were. (2 weeks holiday per year - only bank holiday off over Christmas for nearly 6 years).
Luckily I got another job straight away - with a company car, uniform, double the wage, double the holidays, more trust, more respect and just an all round lovely team to work with. Also a kind, appreciative boss.

My 16 year old is waiting tables in a local pub for minimum wage. I’m not happy about the pay but she’s doing it for the experience and to boost her confidence. I’ve told her that if her bosses or anyone else treats her with anything less than respect then she should tell them it’s unacceptable and walk out there and then. Thankfully it seems like a well run place so no issues yet.

@dazh

I sort of agree, but valuable life lessons:

1/ life's often unfair, in your case some customers - some people - are just pricks and knowing and to an extent accepting that will get you a long way rather than railing against every injustice.

2/ Pick your battles; someone's a bit rude, develop the thick skin to deal with it. But absolutely there are boundaries which are different for different people and if your boundaries are crossed then learn to deal - appropriately - with that. Which isn't necessarily walking out.

My daughter is lucky - she's been nearly a year now at the posh people's supermarket in a nice town and they pay staff the going rate irrespective of age so as a checkout and general duties staffer she's on the same as her 40 year old colleague give or take. Doesn't mean that some well to do people from the nice town aren't nobs though, in fact they're just a different type of self entitled nob. I've posted a few times about her experiences doing the door in Covid times and she's done so well standing up to people where needed; rolling with the blows when they give her a bit of attitude, and also calling a manager when needed who then have always taken their staff's side.

She's a way more capable 17yo as a result, compared to what I was like at that age.

To the OP the life lesson you should be teaching your daughter is to stand up for herself rationally and calmly, or she'll spend the rest of her life getting the piss taken out of her.

"I think that your 2:30 assessment is unfair. I was here and available to work on time, for a 3 hour shift. What you do with my time whilst I'm here is up to you - but I was on time, and am due the 3 hours' pay. I was waiting for you and training is part of any job".

Realities of the world mean that he might be a ****t and take advantage - but right now she needs to be learning to stand up for herself. So that conversation needs to be had so the next time it happens she's not so scared or timid to not be able to stand up to an employer.

If he tells her "no" then the next lesson she needs to learn is to start looking for another job with a better employer as soon as possible. There are other people out there. She should not argue with him (other than say "I think that's unfair, but it's your business"), but keep schtum after that.

Then when she walks out of the door she needs to calmly and rationally say "Thank you for employing me, but I'm leaving for a different job because I feel you take advantage of your staff a bit too much". Not rage and rant and show her arse. Just move on.

Life lessons learned.

Eldest, 16, just started a Saturday job at a local Café, 7 hr shift. Took home £40, @ £5 an hour plus £5 of tips. Owner seems a genuinely good type. Hope it will give her some real life communication skills/dealing with people.
As a comparison I got £35 a week when I started working and had to had over £15 into the family pot, oh how times have changed.

At the age of 17 I started full time work. Not until I walked out at the age of nearly 23 did I realise what a dreadful, money grabbing, mean minded, miserable, slave driving lot my employers were.

Sounds familiar, though I was fresh out of Uni aged 20. The problem is, in your first job, you have no baseline and just assume that's what working life is like.

I've walked out of jobs in a fit of pique... at least twice, and as someone else said I still derive satisfaction from that. The first was a part-time job whilst I was a student, working in a bowling alley. Two incidents that prompted my departure from there. The first was the surprise having my wages docked for a till short; I can count, I don't have till shorts and I hadn't signed off on that. So I broke into the management office, opened the safe and found that night's closing paperwork - they'd forged my signature. The second was someone had scribbled on the wall behind one of the counters. The manager concluded that it was either staff or, if a customer then staff negligence, so the cost of repainting the entire room would be split across all the staff who'd been on shift over the last couple of days. I handed my notice that day, the duty manager said to me "you know what [store manager] Steve is going to do with that don't you?" and I replied "roll it tightly and grease it lightly I hope."

The second one was a bait-and switch. I'd gone for a webdev role, they offered me a tech support position and I declined, I was trying to get out of support. They offered a compromise, I could have the dev role if I agreed to help out in support occasionally. Long story short, it turned out to be the other way around, and it came to a head a few months down the line when my chasing the company car I'd been promised in the interview was met with "support staff don't get company cars." That, the fact that precisely no-one had taken any interest in the dev work I'd done, and the woman on the adjacent desk was a crackpot, it was a pisstake too far and I told them to shove it. Ironically, one of the directors later did finally come to me for an update, I showed him what I'd created and he was bowled over. "That's great, can we do this and this and this?" I took immense pleasure in telling him that yes I absolutely could except it's my last day tomorrow.