Is this the worst boss ever?
A furious employee has threatened to quit her job after finding out her boss tried to get away with underpaying her.
The situation came to light in a video made by a British digital-agency entrepreneur, Ben Askins, who routinely posts stories online about terrible bosses.
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Askins read out a submission from an office worker, named Christina, whose boss, Elliot, appeared to be justifying why she was on a lower salary than some other employees.
Christina discovered through other workers that she was the lowest paid in the office, even though she says she was one of the most senior employees.
She decided to text her boss about the issue.
“Hi Elliot, just found out I am the lowest paid in the whole team. That is despite the fact I have been here the longest and (am) also one of the most senior,” she wrote.
Her boss responded with a text: “Hi Christina, who told you that?”
In his video, Askins then piped in and said: “It’s weird how often they come out with that, it’s such a confirmation of guilt.”
Christina then responded to Elliot, saying in a text: “It doesn’t matter who told me. Is it true?”
Elliot said: “It absolutely does matter. This is not an appropriate topic of discussion for the workplace”.
Askins was disgusted with the boss’ reply to his employee, saying it was “completely legal to discuss pay with your colleagues”.
“Never let a company tell you otherwise, and genuinely if a company’s trying to hide it, or be dodgy in any way, it’s almost certainly because they are clipping pay,” the career expert said in the video.
Christina said: “I just want to understand if it’s true.”
Elliot responded with: “I don’t know what you want me to say. They just got lucky we hired them when we were struggling to find people, and so we were forced to pay a bit more”.
A shocked Christina texted him back: “And you didn’t think that the fair thing would be to include me in that?”
Elliot then said: “Why would we? Your salary was decided, at a different time and and you never asked”.
Askins said the boss was being “idiotic” — and overlooking the fact that, should Christina resign, it would cost the company more, given that it would need to replace her.
“You’re just being an idiot because how expensive do you think it is going to be when she quits because she finds out she’s being underpaid,” Askins said.
Christina told Elliot she had no idea until that point that she was “being undervalued”, and wanted to “formally request my pay to be increased to reflect the role and my seniority in the company”.
Elliot retorted with: “I will see what I can do, but as you know budget reasons might make this pretty tricky right now”.
Askins labelled Elliot’s ‘cry poor’ response as ridiculous.
“Don’t do this whole sort of like, ‘Oh you never asked’ and then, when you do ask, then sort of completely go, ‘Oh well, you know, it’s a little bit tight’,“ Askins said.
When Christina threatened to quit unless she was paid more, Elliot shot back: “Surely you wouldn’t leave over something like this?”
Askins was once again shocked at the boss’ response, and said in his video: “Something like this, I mean it’s a huge trust-shattering incident, so god, he’s getting this wrong”.
Christina then said: “I absolutely would.”
Elliot finally conceded, replying: “Ok no need for that. I will find the money, consider it done.”
Ending his video, Askins said: “What a waste of everyone’s time. Now what was this person playing at, I’ve just got no idea.”
The career expert’s video has received more than 33,000 videos, with many people in disbelief.
“This boss is so full of it,” said one.
Another added: “Managers like this give me job security as a recruiter.”
“Take the raise and then quit with no notice,” said a third.
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