Woman shares how coffee shop asked her to work for free after offering a job: 'I was so happy'

The job market continues to be brutal and cutthroat, pushing individuals to become desperate to land a decent job that allows them to pay the bills. Lohanny—who goes by @lohannysant on TikTok—a woman based in Brooklyn, New York, posted two videos chronicling how she was going around with her resume to somehow get a job. Her hard work paid off and she managed to land a position at a coffee shop, only for her to discover that there was a big catch to it, which she shares in the second video. The first video captioned, "I got tear stains on my resume," has amassed 24.4 million views and 55.2K comments on the social media site.

Lohanny starts by stating how going around asking for jobs was the most humbling experience in her life. She reveals how she had a "stack" of resumes, which she took to different companies and asked them if they were hiring. The woman says, "It's honestly a little bit embarrassing because I'm applying for minimum-wage jobs." Despite this, many companies would tell her that they were not hiring. She sheds a tear as she reveals how she had two degrees, spoke three languages and was struggling to get a job.

People empathized with her situation and one individual, @wesleyandcecilia, shared, "I did that and they said, 'You can apply online.'" Lohanny decided to post the second video replying to this comment and to give out details of the job she got at the coffee shop. Lohanny candidly states that she went to a few coffee shops to look for jobs and even insisted that she get an interview on the spot with most of them. One of the coffee shops agreed and one of the employees pulled her aside to interview her.

She says, "He spoke to me, he asked me questions and he told me about how he's looking for somebody long-term." Lohanny replied that she was also looking for the same thing, at which point the worker asked her if she wanted to get the job. She marketed herself quite well and the man informed her that he would check with his wife before offering her a job. Lohanny continued her job search and got a call a few hours later from the man informing her that he would hire her. Lohanny was overjoyed to hear this, but what the man said next completely upset her.

She says, "I was so happy until he literally told me that I would have to do 18 hours of unpaid labor." The man reasoned that he wanted to properly gauge if she was capable of doing the job. She concluded the video by saying, "I finally get a job but the person wants me to work for free. Like, this is not cool." People offered suggestions in the comments section. @ndgz102489 commented, "Don't work for free. They must pay for your time and experience when you are on the clock. If they want to see if you're worth the time, time is money."