Overtime
The week of the Greater New York Trade Show I worked 62 hours. That is twenty-two overtime hours. The week before that I worked, 55 hours. That is fifteen extra hours. All that extra work in order to cover holes, fix mistakes, and have print materials, promotional pieces, and 3 infomercials ready for the show. It was a very stressful couple of weeks.
Three weeks later, after the company not being able to pay anybody for weeks, I get my pay checks… but not before the company tried to not pay me for all my hours, and threw in some offensive remarks.
The Trade Show was not as successful as they wanted it to be. I pointed out to them that they wanted to do way too much in very little time. The space we had was larger than necessary, and there were a lot of unnecessary expenses. I could blame the lack of direction from the ever-absent bosses.
Now that the pay time comes, The Bosses send the message (because they cannot be bothered talk to me face to face) that I should not be paid all the hours I racked up.
-“The trade show was not what we wanted”, “ It was actually a disaster”, and “Our idea of manipulating the crowds with the infomercials did not work”.
I protested when I was informed that I would not be paid for all my work.
-“Well, would you charge a client for work they did not like? Would you feel comfortable taking money knowing that what you produced was not good? “
What?
I replied:
-“ I will NOT take responsibility for the failure of the company, when there was so much to do, so little time, so much slacking, so much neglect from The Bosses, so much lack of interest from other coworkers”. Also, You are NOT my client. WE are a company. Tell me then, should I have just stop working when my 40 hours were up? What would have been worse? Have something that you call bad or have nothing?”
I thought we were a team, but based on previous experiences while I have been here, I noticed that when something goes right, it is a team effort, even if it was the hard work and interest of just one person (My dearest friend Nancy works her fingers to the bone) but when something goes bad, the bosses are the first ones to point fingers, deflecting attention from them; finding someone to blame. I am sorry but I will not be that person.
Then another comment that got me so upset, that I was just about to get up and walk out the door:
- “We know that you are a professional, but they think that you want to get paid WAY more than what your experience is worth. I mean, you are just starting”
What makes me upset the most is that all this was being said to me by the company’s executive assistant; my dearest, closest friend Nancy. What a low blow from The Bosses.
- “Tell me Nancy, as a friend, Should I be looking for another job? I am already spending $500+ a month in commute alone. We are all enduring not getting paid, and now the company does not want to pay me for me work?”
She didn’t reply.
I got my checks at the end of the day. All the extra hours were listed. But none of the extra hours were paid as overtime. Apparently, unless The Bosses ask you to work overtime, any overtime hours you accumulate, if they get acknowledged, are paid as regular time.
