The job market is a dog-eat-dog world, and many young workers learn this lesson the hard way.

After looking for quick local work, one teen found himself face-to-face with a toxic manager who saw exploitation as a business mode. But instead of walking out, he decided to play along just to waste her time.

Read on for the full story!

Want to pay half of minimum wage, I will make two other employees quit along with me

Seven years ago, I needed cash for a new graphics card. I was just a teenager back then.

I had worked with my aunt before, but her place was about 40 minutes away, so I decided to look for something local.

Soon, he found something that looked promising.

Then I found a job posting just a couple blocks from my house: night shift clerk at a convenience store.

It paid a few bucks above minimum wage. I applied, got a text back, and went in for an interview.

The interview went well—until the end.

But it soon became clear that this wouldn’t be a good place to work.

The manager said she wanted to be clear because a lot of people had quit over pay misunderstandings.

Then she hit me with this: for the first month, I’d be paid half of minimum wage. After that, I’d get minimum wage for another two months, and then I’d finally get the rate from the job listing.

But instead of walking out, he decided to let this play out a little longer.

I was stunned and abhorred. But I played it cool and acted like I was totally fine with it.

She was so happy, going on about how young people these days don’t want to work, but I was “different.”

And yeah, I was different, alright.

So he moved forward with the hiring process and found himself infiltrating the business.

A few days later, they told me I got the job. I was added to the KakaoTalk group chat with all the clerks and the manager. They made a schedule to cover the 24-hour shifts.

Then the boss dropped another bombshell.

Then the manager sent a message saying my first 4 hours wouldn’t be paid because it was “training.”

At this point, I wasn’t even mad anymore. I was just amazed at how malpractice this whole thing was.

Finally, it was time to act.

So when the day came, I just didn’t show up. One minute before my shift, I left the group chat and blocked everyone.

About 20 minutes later, I got a call from what I assume was the manager’s husband, asking if I was coming in.

He knew exactly what he wanted to say next.

I told him something along the lines of, “Nah, I’m not interested in working for half pay. Good luck though. You guys gonna need it.”

She was livid. Screaming on the phone, yelling about how people like me make her hate youngs.

I’m guessing someone had to cover my shift, unfortunately.

He ended up causing somewhat of a domino effect.

But I guess that was the final straw, because later that same week I saw both the morning and graveyard shifts posted again on the same job site, for that same business.

So yeah, I didn’t even have to do anything big. Just dipped.

And it made people quit. It exposed a manager who refused to pay fair, legal wages.

This place sounded like a red flag wrapped in another red flag.

This one’s sure to get redditors up in arms.

This user thinks this mistreated employees should have gone right to the top with their complaints!

This commenter would have played the long game.

No employee should have to tolerate this treatment.

This toxic manager deserved way more of an earful than she ended up getting.

Turns out, this employee didn’t need a grand gesture to make his point.

With a single message, he let this toxic workplace clean up the mess they’d created for themselves.

If you liked that story, read this one about grandparents who set up a college fund for their grandkid because his parents won’t, but then his parents want to use the money to cover sibling’s medical expenses.