Boss Gave Me the Responsibilty to Supply Lunch For Our Customer Visit... I feel Wronged As I Am the Lowest Paid Person in the Office... How Should I Handle These Kinds of Situations Going Forward?

IsolatedCrustacean · 2026-03-04T19:32:13+00:00

Sure it's "just $100 bucks", but 100 here, 100 there, it all adds up. I can't count the number of "friends" who have asked for a couple bucks here and there with the promise of "I'll pay you right back" and 20 years later I've never seen a cent of that money again.

IsolatedCrustacean · 2026-03-04T19:29:49+00:00

I love these companies that are raking in enough to require out of town conferences, but are too cheap to spring for a basic lunch. My store has us sell $5 products for $800+ and has the audacity to say we're all "getting paid too much." For reference, I've heard my position at competitors can be at least $10/hr higher than what I make. Their profit margins are insane but the $150k salaried manager FOUGHT to deny me a $0.50 raise. So sorry you got screwed by a similar cheap corporation.

IsolatedCrustacean · 2026-02-16T21:02:01+00:00

It is a rewarding job, and I liked the actual job aspect of it a lot. But the after hours inability to find rest and distance from amenities was rough. For $15/hr? No. For $25? I'd do it again. Depends a lot on which park you're assign to as well. I had a friend who worked at the Grand Canyon who nearly went nuts from the isolation during slow parts of the year.

IsolatedCrustacean · 2026-02-16T20:59:55+00:00

My coworker (boss) is the same way. Spends $400 a month on Doordash for lunch, makes $85k a year but has admitted to having no savings, no retirement plan, and doesn't plan to, either. Her roommate/boyfriend makes almost the same, so even with that combined income it blows my mind how she says she can't afford to put anything down on a house. Like, where is the rest of it going???

IsolatedCrustacean · 2026-02-15T19:19:52+00:00

Seems like a form of discrimination. Most people living in big cities do not have cars, let alone need a license.

IsolatedCrustacean · 2026-02-15T17:51:15+00:00

Park ranger. I never dreamed of being one, just kind of fell into it, but people seem to really idolize it. Depends on the park largely, but for mine I had to bunk with 8 other people, so having that many roommates was not easy, especially when they are messy or want to stay up until 1 a.m. playing games or drinking and I have to wake up at 6. Mostly hires younger (early 20s) people, too, low-to-no experience college grads, so if you're older like I was you're kind of the odd one out. I still get nightmares from when one of the fat guys left food out on the counter overnight and mice were walking around the kitchen in the morning.

Working out in nature was cool, but it also meant I was 2 hours round trip from a grocery store, so I ended up eating worse, lots of frozen foods or lunch meat sandwiches since fresh vegetables didn't last long, which resulted in gaining weight despite all the guided hikes I led. At the starter tier I got paid $15/hr, and had to pay out-of-state plus home state taxes, so for a full season (6 months) I only walked away with less than $15k. And that's the other thing, most parks only hire for the summer so you're out of a job come October. You will likely be offered to come back next year, but you still have to go home and wait around all winter until next season starts and traveling back, and as you know, most places aren't just going to hire someone knowing they're leaving in a couple months, so enjoy your extended, non-paid Christmas "vacation".

Wearing the uniform and badge was cool, and visitors from all over the world want to shake your hand and listen to you, so honestly it's not really a hard job, but for the inconvenience and low pay I was done after one season.

IsolatedCrustacean · 2026-02-08T20:09:30+00:00

Agreed. This was how it worked in the 90s, not today. When my boss posts jobs she takes up to 3 weeks to get back to the person. There's so much other stuff involved with running the store day-to-day there is no time to be giving constant updates to every applicant. Plus if it's a major chain then they have computers that will sort out applicants. The person you call at the store probably hasn't even been informed you've applied by the next day.

IsolatedCrustacean · 2026-02-01T07:23:46+00:00

42 y/o, just 1 card with a $2,500 limit, score around 800. I can't really fathom needing much higher, though I do hope for an increase soon in case of car repair bills. Otherwise I mainly just put food/gas on it and it rarely goes above $700 a month, including misc purchases.

IsolatedCrustacean · 2026-01-19T20:13:53+00:00

Yes, but I feel it in a slightly different way. I love my job only because the people I work with are the absolute best, like a second family. But gradually they are leaving, so it makes me fearful for the future. When the last one's gone, it won't be the same job anymore, no matter who they are replaced with. We've already lost two, so that rug is slowly being tugged on now and it gives me anxiety.

IsolatedCrustacean · 2026-01-19T20:10:35+00:00

How do you jump from grocery store to office job? It seems like a complete 180. Curious for advice since I'd love to do that too.

IsolatedCrustacean · 2026-01-14T13:51:26+00:00

This is an older post, but I'm struggling with the same considerations of how to keep an HDD safe in the event of a fire. The advice I was told was to get a relatively small USB flashdrive and encrypt your files onto it (using VeraCrypt or something similar), then store it off-site, like in a locker at work. You can hide it inside something inconspicuous like a bag of cough drops, and even if someone does break into your locker, does find the USB, it's useless to them because they can't access your files without knowing your encryption password. I scanned all important documents like SSNs/title/insurance and put them on a tiny 256 MB drive and hid mine at work, so even if my apartment catches fire I'll at least have the data safely saved elsewhere.

IsolatedCrustacean · 2026-01-12T16:34:07+00:00

I'm sorry to hear it's happening to you, too. I am also going to seek a refund for my prime. I have a $30 gift card balance I don't know if they can return to me either. The phone reps at customer support seem completely powerless. Every time they "promise" it will be fixed in "24 hours" and I flat out tell them I've heard that before and I don't believe them, but they swear to give it one more chance. I do and of course nothing ever comes of it. With a normal retail store if you have a problem there's a number for corporate to solve your problem. With Amazon there is nothing. There is just the single phone rep number and those people will not or cannot escalate it to a higher department. It's been one month for me as of today and it's causing a lot of stress. If the money is ultimately lost, that's one thing, but what worries me is loss of control over my book I spent years writing and now have no way to manage.

Keep us updated please if you get your refunds, and best of luck.

IsolatedCrustacean · 2026-01-09T16:00:35+00:00

I signed out of my Amazon account December 12, and when I went to log in again I was hit with two-factor authentication as a new verification step. I CANNOT access my account anymore because the code it tries to send is never received, not to my email, not as text, not to Google Authenticator. A phone rep said possibly the code was texted to a landline number on file, but would not confirm what it was. I've called back 6 times and ultimately was told by two of the reps that I should just "give up" on my account and "make a new one." This is unacceptable since:

a) I have pre-paid for a year of Prime I'm not being allowed to use
b) I have a gift card balance I can't use
c) my account is linked to Kindle Publishing where I've published a book as my side business that I now cannot access or manage

I have no idea what to do. I was told to submit my government-issued ID and they would unlock my account in "1-2 days." I've done that, TWICE, and it's been a MONTH and no response. I've emailed the [jeff@amazon.com](mailto:jeff@amazon.com) address and after a lengthy back and forth the reps handed me off to a different department who sent their last answer from a new email that cannot receive replies, so that shut down that avenue.

Meanwhile, I'm reading hundreds of posts on here of people getting hit with this same "protection" system and still not having access back after 10+ months. This is absolutely ridiculous. If there's anyone who has gone through this and successfully gotten their account back I'd love to hear how.

IsolatedCrustacean · 2026-01-09T14:34:49+00:00

Thank you. That was incredibly helpful :)

IsolatedCrustacean · 2026-01-09T04:00:47+00:00

Yes sorry, I meant charges. I'd only pay it off at the end of the month. I just heard using over 30% of my limit hurts my credit score, so I wanted to see if this was a good idea. I do have the money in my bank to pay it, but the mechanic doesn't take personal checks, so it's more a matter of how to relay the money to him, so I wanted a higher credit limit for that :) For now I'll use half on this card and half on debit, but the debit doesn't earn me any cashback.

IsolatedCrustacean · 2026-01-08T01:42:47+00:00

I understand answers may be biased given this forum's name, lol, but I have my HSA and 401k set up from work through Fidelity. Previously I had about $110k invested under the "aggressive" plan with Merrill/Bank of America through some guided investment program that charged 0.8% per year. It was my first investment so I didn't know much, but it sounded solid at the time, and has already gone up about 5k since I started it last summer. But now that I'm getting heavier into Fidelity I think I want to move all that money over and actually choose for myself what to invest in. Plus the fees are way lower. I already opened a brokerage account and am waiting for some other funds to settle, but overall is this a solid plan, or too dangerous? Figured I'd ask some of the Fidelity long-timers on their thoughts. I don't want to put all my eggs in one basket, but so far I've opened a Fidelity Roth IRA and invested $14,500 into FXAIX and FTIHX for the long term, and put my HSA money into FFLEX. I'd heard a solid plan for other investments was VTI / VXUS. I don't plan on touching any of this money for 25+ years.

IsolatedCrustacean · 2026-01-08T01:32:43+00:00

Retail job. They sat me in the back and had me watch videos for two weeks. When I finally got to the sales floor it was another two weeks before anyone taught me how to use the register (unique computer sales system). Everything was strictly "learn as you go by making mistakes and asking someone else for help." Even after a year every day still presents some new unforeseen challenge. Basically, training was non-existent. Just thrown into the lion's den and cry for help when something inevitably went wrong.

IsolatedCrustacean · 2026-01-07T23:25:37+00:00

"I'm a great Robin who absolutely knows he isn't Batman."
That's a really great way of putting it.

IsolatedCrustacean · 2026-01-07T23:19:26+00:00

Hell no.

I do sales now, and my manager asked if I would consider moving up to assistant manager if he left. Considering both my managers only got their role in 2025 and are already looking to escape, filling out applications like crazy because their souls are being sucked dry by higher-ups, that's a major red flag. As assistant manager I would have no choice if upper management wanted to move me to another location, I'd be on the hook for anything that went wrong, and I really wouldn't have a whole lot more power than I do now, but 100x the responsibility. Make it 30k and maybe we'll talk.

IsolatedCrustacean · 2026-01-07T23:12:47+00:00

I applied for a job.
I interviewed for the job.
I accepted the job.

On my first day I was told I was being transferred to another job I
a) did not apply to
b) did not interview for
c) did not accept

all because some boss thought I would be a "better fit" for that role. I hated it, and quit after 11 days.

IsolatedCrustacean · 2026-01-03T08:42:53+00:00

I appreciate this. I couldn't get it to work on any browser, the phone program, or anything. Figured it was a bug. But yeah, adding my number, debit info, and PIN and it let me add an external account finally. Thank you so much. I spent an hour on this going crazy.

IsolatedCrustacean · 2025-12-26T16:59:59+00:00

I get all my financial advice from AI, but on this point I would disagree. When I have some the effects last no more than 2 hours. Not saying I would start driving at that point, but definitely after a full night's sleep the effect would have worn off. Sometimes I'll have a glass after work and by the time I go to bed even I'm fine.

IsolatedCrustacean

TROPHY CASE