August 1, 2026 at 7:55 pm

New Employee Says He Wasn’t Given Enough Work—Then He’s Denied A Raise Over His Phone Use

by Jayne Elliott

businessman looking at his phone at work

Shutterstock

Imagine getting hired for a new job, but there’s nobody onsite to train you for the job. What would you do all day?

In this story, one person is in this situation, and they are able to get a little bit of training, but they’re still not exactly sure what’s expected of them or what they’re supposed to do.

Instead of asking someone, the employee decides it must be okay to chill and look at his phone since he sees other employees doing the same thing.

That was a bad idea! While he understands that he messed up, he’s pretty upset about the way management handled the situation.

Keep reading for all the details.

WIBTA if I gave my supervisors a response letter regarding my evaluation?

And let me preface this with I messed up. I know I messed up and it’s my fault. But I feel like the circumstances need to be addressed. Let me explain.

I started a new job this year with the understanding that I would get a raise after 6 months.

The position went unfilled for the 6 months before I got there so there was a lot of backlog that needed to be taken care of and that was my only priority until the backlog was caught up.

I also didn’t have anyone training me on site. I had to depend on a supervisor who was always busy or not in the office.

OP wasn’t sure what to do all day.

The person who was in the position before me was nice enough to train me via zoom two days a week after work but that’s very lacking in on site training and we sometimes went weeks without training due to them not being able to leave in time from their current job.

So since I only really had one task, which turned out to be a very gradual process, I often had down time.

Since I didn’t know what else to do, my boss was always busy, and I didn’t want to bother other people in the office, I just looked at my phone in my down time.

I saw other people doing it and no one complained so I thought it was fine and that the office must just be really laid back.

Uh-oh!

That is apparently not the case.

I had been on my phone more than I realized since at my recent evaluation, where I thought I would get a raise (boy was I wrong), I got reprimanded for being on my phone and was told that I’d be fired if it happens again.

I was given a little bit of grace since they are aware that my supervisor neglected me (their words).

Obviously, I didn’t get my raise.

If only someone had told him earlier!

I feel this is a bit unfair since literally no one said anything to me prior and it could have been dealt with by my direct supervisor instead of it getting to someone much higher up.

They said multiple people complained multiple times but this was the first I had ever heard anything of it.

I understand I did bad but I don’t think it was handled in the right way.

I especially don’t think my pay should be docked for this.

OP is pretty upset by this situation.

If it was such a serious infracture, I should have been told immediately and I would have stopped.

They said to up my productivity and I could be on track to getting a raise.

I feel like this is a slap in the face to the work that I’ve done so far because I worked my butt off to make up for the work that they let get behind. They didn’t even tell me how to fix anything or what they expect from me at any point or in the future.

So WIBTA if I expressed this in a letter to my supervisors? Or should I just take my punishment and work harder?

It doesn’t sound like they exactly docked his pay. They just didn’t give him a raise. He needs someone to train him and tell him what to do though.

Let’s see if Reddit thinks he should write a letter.

This person doesn’t think he should write a letter.

2026 07 31 at 8.00.08 PM New Employee Says He Wasnt Given Enough Work—Then Hes Denied A Raise Over His Phone Use

Another person thinks he should’ve told someone he didn’t have anything to do.

2026 07 31 at 8.00.29 PM New Employee Says He Wasnt Given Enough Work—Then Hes Denied A Raise Over His Phone Use

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a teenager who wants to work, but his mom thinks working past 8pm is too late for high school.

This person thinks multiple people in this story messed up.

2026 07 31 at 8.00.47 PM New Employee Says He Wasnt Given Enough Work—Then Hes Denied A Raise Over His Phone Use

Another person thinks he needs to learn from this and move on.

2026 07 31 at 8.01.08 PM New Employee Says He Wasnt Given Enough Work—Then Hes Denied A Raise Over His Phone Use

He really should’ve told his supervisor he didn’t have anything to do. It clearly looked like he was slacking off, so obviously he couldn’t get a raise. It would’ve been nice if someone had told him earlier that people were complaining that he was on his phone, but it is what it is. Now that he knows, he can try harder and get that raise.

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Jayne Elliott | Contributing Writer, Life & Drama

Jayne Elliott is a contributing writer and editor for TwistedSifter specializing in human interest stories, internet culture, and family dynamics. With over 12 years of editorial experience in digital publishing, Jayne excels at analyzing complex online communities and transforming viral social debates into thoughtful, highly engaging narratives.

Rather than simply aggregating internet drama, Jayne brings a sharp, empathetic editorial eye to everyday dilemmas. She has a unique talent for unpacking the nuances of pop culture and online conflicts, providing readers with relatable, well-researched commentary.

Based in California, Jayne spends her free time outside the newsroom exploring theme parks with her family or beach-combing along the coast.

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