Boss Cutting Worker's Hours Due to 'Cheap' Vehicle Purchase Slammed

You work hard, you earn money, you buy yourself nice things that make your life easier, and then your boss cuts your hours.

That's exactly what happened to one fast food worker who had his working hours "drastically cut back" after his boss spotted the motorbike he recently purchased.

"When I confronted the manager she told me that I 'obviously don't need the hours based off of the purchases I make'," wrote the original poster, who uses the name Dapper-Pilot1167 on Reddit. "I tried to explain to her that the only other vehicle I have is a car shared between me and my girlfriend and that this motorcycle is my transportation, and that I decided to go with a motorcycle because compared to a car it was cheap. She didn't want to hear it."

The original poster (OP) said they are currently paying $200 a month on their bike and the manager "didn't seem to understand that financially this was a better choice for me."

There are approximately 3,325,050 people working in the fast food industry in the U.S according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The mean hourly wage for workers is $13.53, while the mean annual wage is $28,130.

By comparison, the mean annual wage across all occupations in the U.S is $61,900 according to the agency.

Data from the fintech company SmartAsset, as reported by CNBC, suggests that Americans need an average post-tax income of $68,499 to "live comfortably in the U.S."

Newsweek spoke to Ashley Samson, chief of staff at the financial services firm National Business Capital about this worker's predicament.

"The person the OP is talking about in this post seems ill-suited for a managerial role. A manager should be setting a good example, not handing out punishments based on how employees get to work. Who cares whether someone takes the bus or rides a bike, as long as that person is getting the job done and showing up on time? Performance should matter, not how much money that person has," Samson said.

"If the company isn't considering everyone's transportation options fairly when deciding hours, it's just asking for a discrimination case. Of course, those 'at-will' employment rules might throw a wrench in things, but there are exceptions that could come into play, depending on the situation."

"If I were the employee dealing with this, I'd go over the manager's head and talk to someone higher up. That manager needs a reality check. Depending on how that goes, I'd probably start job hunting for a place that treats its employees better, no matter their financial situation," Samson suggested.

Users in the comments shared their own experiences with bad bosses.

"Had a boss that would say 'I clearly pay you too much' when you got a new toy. The pay was the minimum he could legally pay me," said one user.

"I once went to HR to [ask] for a raise after five years and they simply said I was living above my standard and would have to cut back," shared another user.

"The problem is not everyone knows, and not everyone dares to ask questions. The worst they ever tried was to enforce a time registration with the use of fingerprints, I started asking questions which led me into getting a lot of trouble because I was agitating colleagues against that and I just had to follow their rules and listen," commented a third user.

Newsweek has reached out to Dapper-Pilot1167 via Reddit for comment.

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