Woman stands up for herself and refuses job offer after she was baited to accept lower offer

Editor's note: This article was originally published on February 10, 2023. It has since been updated.

The job hunt is a tedious process that we do not want to go through until it is absolutely necessary. Apart from the low demand for jobs available in most markets, it is very draining and confusing to deal with job recruiters who sometimes trick candidates into accepting offers with a decrease in pay and other hidden charges. The Reddit user u/AviajaApache shared a friend's story on Reddit after a recruiter tried to entice her with a significant wage cut. 

They shared, "My friend got invited in for an interview after one over the phone. She was told she would get the ‘$X’ amount but when she was signing the paperwork to start, the rate was $3.15 lower than agreed. When she questioned it, the interviewer said ‘Well, you’re here now, may as well take it’. The rest is history." They then sent the recruiter a screenshot of their friend's discussion, in which it was discovered that their friend had left the company's office after pretending to need to use the restroom. 

When the recruiter finally took notice, they texted her, “When you asked to use the bathroom I assumed it was the one here at this location.” Their friend replied with a laughing emoji and a message that reads, "Yeah you got me to listen I don’t want the job y’all can keep that sh*t." The recruiter simply replied "Ok." Several people in comments noted the audacity of the recruiter to expect the candidate to accept such a huge pay cut. A person @PaulRaulSaul said, "It’s only $6552 less per year but who’s counting? May as well take it."

Another person @Remarkable_Quit_3545 said, "Employers pulling shit like this should be illegal. Of course, the one thing that they seem to be good at is not putting suspicious things in writing." Some people even relayed their personal experiences with one user @cannotskipcutscene saying, "That happened to me too, remote, but the employer said 'Oh by the way you will need to be here two times a week.' I ended the interview in the middle of it, saying I wouldn't have agreed to an interview if I knew it was hybrid-remote, what else are they going to spring up on me?"

A few users even highlighted that recruiters do this because they know people are desperately looking for jobs and don't have the luxury of saying no. One user @Oni_Imports said, "A lot of people don’t have the luxury of saying no, if they’re signing hiring paperwork they likely either don’t have a job or have put in a notice at their job already, and most of America doesn’t have to f**k all in their savings account these days so it turns into a debate of 'accept the lying sack of shits lowball or prove a point and don’t have rent money on the first.' these companies do it because it works." 

Incidents like these prove the exploitative nature of most job positions in the country and try to force desperate candidates to accept job offers that are well below the money they deserve. While most don't have the option of saying no, the response of this person gives us a way to get out of situations like these.