Woman Quits Job on First Day After Not Being Allowed to Take Breaks During Shift — "They're Trying to Rip Me Off"

TikTok user @croissantwoman went viral on the popular social media platform after sharing a "story time" about an awful job she took on that had so many red flags she felt she had no choice but to quit after a single day of work.

She says in the video: "Today I quit my job the same day that I started it. I start off this job I'm a sales associate I get paid minimum wage which is really not a lot of money but it's minimum wage and it's a job. So I go in this lady who's training me, she was very nice, she goes to open the door for me and she starts explaining how to open up the store, how to turn off the alarm, she starts counting the till telling me that this is my job to count the till, check emails, send packages online, do a bunch of things."

The TikToker, continues to talk uncomfortably close into the camera, "Be able to work an entire system as a sales associate return, exchanges, all of it which, and like if you have worked as a sales associate before you know that's not your job a key holder is a person who does all this and I said those are all key holder roles...are you sure I'm just being a sales associate?"

@croissantwoman went on, saying that the person training her was adamant that this was part of her job responsibilities, "Yeah no sales associates do this this what you're supposed to be doing. I'm like key holder is the name, you're giving me a set of keys for like five of these stores in this area so I can open the store, count the till, and be alone taking care of the store, that is a key holder position."

She further explained to the woman that there's nothing about the position, as she was being instructed, that suggested she was performing the actions of a sales associate, doubling down that it was indeed a key holder position. "It's part of management, if you want me to do these things, it's really not a problem but you're paying me minimum wage when I should be getting paid like at least one or two dollars more per hour for doing this."

"So even with all of this I'm still like you know what it's a job a job is a job and I already know how to do all these things so it's not a big deal but like they're trying to rip me off I know that. What got me was no breaks. That means I work eight hour shifts and because I'm the only one in the store, the entire shift I get no breaks and it's not just today it's for everybody."

The TikToker went on to say that this policy extended to all employees of the company. "We don't get breaks, I didn't eat lunch today because then you need to warm up the food and eat it at the till. On the floor. Like, it just blows my mind like how people just like work like this so I was just like you know what it's OK, it's OK and I'm just going through my day and I get in the car and I told myself give it a week."

The TikToker's attempts at reasoning with herself ultimately failed as she couldn't justify staying at the job, "You can't just quit on the first day I hate quitting I'm not a quitter. I just got in the car and I was like I never wanna come back and it's no hate to this company the company is nice I guess everybody I met today very nice but how can you expect this out of me. Come on."

She went on to say that the red flags were just too glaring for her to stay on the job: "It was just how do these things even happen? How do these things always happen to me? It was just so much I get paid minimum wage, minimum wage!" She then sips a juice box after whisper screaming.

Many TikTokers pointed out the fact that not giving employees breaks is "100% illegal" however the US Department of Labor states that "Federal law does not require lunch or coffee breaks."

The key word here, however is "Federal Law" and individual labor laws when it comes to break and rest periods do vary from state by state, however. And if you're a part of a labor union, this also changes the nature of one's workplace rules.

Paycor has broken down laws pertaining to breaks by each individual state in the US, noting that Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Arkansas, Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina, Missouri, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, along with D.C..

Many other states don't even stipulate that adults are required to be given breaks, just folks under the age of 18 who work a certain number of consecutive hours.