Worker one-ups employer after they changed salary system and ends up earning more than expected

Earning wages is no child’s play, especially when you have to adhere to the salary systems in place at different organizations and employers. Some employers like to follow an hourly system, while some go for a per-day or weekly basis of payment. Employees often come up with creative and clever ways to play around with such systems and make their due wages. A recent Reddit post shared by u/Different_Scholar548 described a situation where the employee’s expectation of an hourly rate payment was refused for the employer’s per day payment basis. But the worker used this to their advantage, leaving their employer shocked.

The individual shared their story from a few years back when they were home for their summer break from university. They were looking to make some pocket money and keep themselves occupied during the holidays, so they reached out to a local music festival that was looking for people to manage their concerts. During their interaction, they informed them of their hourly rate, to which the employer had no objections at first and in fact asked them to start work at the earliest.

The individual shared, “Since they didn't argue with me about my proposed hourly rate I gathered that they've accepted it. Well, a few days after I started working for them one of the bosses approached me and said they don't exactly do the hourly rate but rather pay a fixed price for a day you worked for them.” They also shared that this sudden information “annoyed” them because it would mean that they would earn way less than their per-hour rate. However, that’s when they figured out the loophole in the system. The individual shared, “I realized, I can just use their own system AGAINST them.” They got creative and realized that the fixed per-day price has no rules about how much work needs to be done for it to qualify as a day. So, they did how much work they wanted to and still got paid for the whole day. 

About their clever plan, they wrote, “Want me to go around and hand out flyers to people for 30 min? Yep, this will be noted as a whole day. Want me to go collect additional chairs and bring them to the venue for 20 minutes? Yep, another day added (you get my system by now).” The individual then described the moment of getting his share of dues as “that sweet sweet moment."

They handed in their calculations to their boss, as per the registered days of work, to which they received a flabbergasted response with “eyes turned wide” and a wave of shock on her face when the realization of what just happened, finally dawned. The worker further shared, “She realized that her system absolutely backfired with me and they played themselves. I ended up earning more than they would have paid me with the hourly system I proposed.” The individual ended their Reddit thread with a witty comment sharing that they never heard back from them after the payment was processed but they would’ve “loved to work with them again."

This brilliant move of playing the salary system ignited great astonishment and impressions in the comments section. u/Different_Scholar548 shared, “I was a bit surprised too, guess they weren't too eager on a big discussion and just wanted to get it over with.” u/Dropthetenors expressed surprise, “I'm sorry. Can you explain again? It sounds like you counted each task as a full day. Or were these tasks only 20-30 min on different days? Regardless always happy to see people beat the system!” This Reddit post has definitely given some "play-the-system" goals where less work but a whole day makes an employee earn more.