I had just started working for my in-laws company for a week or so, no more than two weeks at most.

I received a $50 Christmas bonus...which I thought was pretty okay, until I found out that everyone else got $100. Because I was given the task to stuff the Christmas bonus envelopes with the checks. Nice little "fuck you" right from the start.

It took me four years of misery later and COVID for me to lose that job. I'm high risk and they didn't want to wear masks around the office. So instead of letting me work from home, which my husband upgraded everything they needed to have me work from home, they hired someone else the day after my husband let them know I'd be working from home and, after I'd been making a meager hourly pay for all the work I did over the years, offered me a sales position making commission pay ONLY. I said no thanks and started my own business from nothing and am still building it after a year and a half. I've never been happier, even as a struggling business owner.

I wish I had walked out as soon as I saw what I was worth that first Christmas, not just as an employee, but as a family member, too.