For the young who take their first steps in the world of Work it can be difficult to understand how it works, what it is legal, lawful or generally accepted. You can leave within the times defined by contract or is viewed negatively by boss? It’s okay to do one break when do you feel particularly stressed even if other employees don’t seem to need it? If on the one hand there is the need to adapt to an environment that has its own rules (written or not), on the other hand there is the desire to fight against it exploitation and the injusticesthe will to put your own well being always first place.
A boy, Alex, found himself dealing with a situation of this type: a nine-hour shift, his first day of work in a restaurantwithout pausesnot even to eat. At the end of the day, exhausted, he asks himself: “I mean, is this legal?”
The hellish work shift
After the first day on the job I learned a lot about the food industry – says Alex in a video posted on his TikTok account – and I need someone to tell me if all this is legal. Then, the boy goes on to explain what the problematic elements were: «First of all, they don’t give us breaks or anything to eat. My shifts are 8 hours and, well, I actually did 9 hours today, from 3pm to midnight, and I never stopped. They don’t even allow us to eat or bring food from outside.”
Alex says that at his previous job, in a department store, he was told that every four hours he was entitled to a 15-minute break, which becomes 30 minutes in the case of an 8-hour shift. When he found himself particularly busy and delayed his break, his superiors forced him to take the necessary time “so he doesn’t report us.”
Furthermore, Alex always has to take care of the closing: «The boss approaches me and says: Yes, sorry, but in restaurant language the evening shift means that you have to stay until you have finished cleaning the kitchen, the floors, the trays, the blackboards and everything a cleaner would do and for which you certainly didn’t sign the $8.40 an hour contract.”
Among other things, a colleague informed him of the even worse situation for the two weeks following the opening, with shifts from 9am to 9pm: «It’s 12 hours, torture, why does it seem like slavery? It’s a job, not a prison.” Several users sympathized with Alex’s condition, stating that they find themselves in similar conditions: «I make $2.13 an hour plus tips, and I work double shifts. I sneak something to eat… it’s not legal but it’s the standard in many places I’ve worked. If the situation was calm, then we could take a few breaks.”
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Read the full article at
The morning
