There are a shocking number of employers in this country that go out of their way not to treat their employees fairly.
Or maybe it’s not shocking, but we should still do something about it.
OP is an immigrant working at a car wash.
I’m a Mexican immigrant. I moved to the US a few months ago and have been working at a hand carwash since.
The carwash I work at is staffed with fellow Mexicans. Most of us have limited English and this interferes with our integration into American society.
His boss only pays them while they’re actively washing cars.
Our boss is very cheap. He will clock us off when it’s quiet and clock us on when it’s busy.
Sometimes we’ll work 25 minutes, then wait 15 minutes unpaid in the staff room.
We still have to stay on-site the whole day though.
So, they make sure to take as much time as possible to wash the cars that are there.
What did we start to do? We simply started to work slowly and perfectly when it’s quiet.
We’ll work at half speed.
We’ll wipe down all the windows and tires, even if they are clean.
We’ll wash the underbody and engine bay.
We’ll wash the brake pads.
We’ll wash the door jambs with a sponge.
We’ll clay treat all the cars.
We’ll apply armor all on all surfaces, even non-visible ones like the engine bay.
We’ll even vacuum the spare tire bay.
All in all, we’ll work very thoroughly when it’s quiet.
Beforehand — I would have to stay at the carwash from 8 to 4 and would only usually be clocked on for 3.5 hours.
Since we’ve all started to ‘adaptively work’. We can net about 6 hours easily.
The top comment says this is one reason car washes are so profitable.
So the boss is just greedy and cheap.
At least people are getting really clean cars.
Lots of people want to help.
They’re pretty sure OP will figure it out.
This honestly really makes me mad.
I wish they would take their case to the state.
Now that you’ve read that story, check out this one about a delivery driver who took a $400 grocery order back because she wasn’t given a tip.