Employee stands up for themselves and quits job after being asked to take a 50% wage cut

Editor's note: This article was originally published on April 16, 2023. It has since been updated.

Don't you love having the upper hand in a situation after an employer tries to take you for a fool and little do they know that you are aware of everything that has transpired while you were gone? If not, a user on Reddit shared a story about when their former workplace called them back on board after “ghosting” them mid-pandemic. Work-life is exhausting, but when your employer tries to act smart and make you work the same job with relatively less pay, you do not have the patience to stick around any longer. We are all trying to make a living here, but hostile work environments and wages that barely get you through the month are something that nobody likes to partake in. 

“Company shocked I won’t take 50% wage cut”- this Reddit user took their story to the famous subreddit r/antiwork, which solely caters to work-related struggles, and told fellow members about how they had to resign from a job they worked at pre-pandemic before they even got the chance to start. The post garnered over 2.5K upvotes, with 172 comments discussing the situation. Their story begins with the user saying they did a side hustle with a well-known home care company, but they ghosted the netizen once the COVID-19 pandemic struck. However, after two weeks, they received a call from the company’s recruiter, who wanted to know if they would like to get back on board and even receive a bonus after completing 40 hours.

Fast forward to this week, the Reddit user found out that this office had a pay rate that was 50% lower than what they got paid for the work they did back in 2019, so they brought up the issue of a "disparity in pay," but the representative denied the discrepancy, adding that the Reddit user cannot comprehend basic math. Moreover, the user said that their front office staff is stacked with interns, which is why they can never get a straight answer to some basic questions, specifically the ones regarding pay. A person from higher authority phoned the Reddit user and explained that they pay an hourly rate for the work, as opposed to the flat rate per job that they used to receive at the other office.

Now, the user tried to handle this issue as professionally as one could, but after realizing that nothing could be done, they quit before they could even start again. Resigning from such an uncooperative and toxic work environment is better than staying and getting paid half of what you used to be paid. The author of the Reddit post had personally experienced the salary drop, so if you ever find yourself in a similar situation or get informed about it from a secondary source, it’s time to play detective and confirm the legitimacy of the information. The key is to work smart and always remember there is no shame in questioning the company about your pay scale if you genuinely put in the work and the effort.

Other online community members shared their thoughts and opinions, with many applauding the user for quitting their job. "There's always a little "snag" somewhere in their profits so they can use it as an excuse not to pay their employees fairly," commented u/Tsabrock. "A lot of employers think their employees cannot do the math. My GF was promised a pay raise of $2.00. Months pass still no $2.00. I keep telling her you need to call their BS and it was not until I did the math she finally saw," shared u/gopeepants. "If there’s one thing Covid did for us that is worth anything, it is the fact that it made us wake up now more than ever to the fact that if they can screw around with us, we can do it right back," added u/TweeKINGKev.