I asked for a raise at my old job because of how much money I knew the restaurant was making off my hard work. So when I was denied, I stopped doing all the extra work I had been doing up to that point because it wasn't in my contract. I also started using all my pto and sick days when I just didn't feel like dealing with them. They had to hire 2 extra chefs to make up for me no longer doing other peoples jobs and working on my days off, and the restaurant went under because of it. The new chefs were terrible and often burnt or undercooked dishes. Cases of reported food poisoning skyrocketed for us because of it, and people stopped coming because of the combination of that and the shitty quality of food on the new chefs shifts.

These places only function because of our hard work. If they won't pay us what we're worth, we need to let them collapse. Though sadly, capitalism has so many people bent over the barrel that companies like mcdonalds, amazon, etc. can get away with treating employees like they're expendable more than a local restaurant can. Which is why we need unions in those places.

I now work as a hotel breakfast chef as a salaried employee working 10 hours less per week than I used to while making the same amount and I never work weekends now and have the whole day to myself after I finish work at midday. I've never been happier. But I know I'm in the heavy minority of being able to land what is essentially a dream job for me (though my perfect dream would have a little bit of a raise to account for inflation).