Indentured Servitude
The Ol’, “Bait and Switch”
Two Steps:
Step #: 1. Bait:
“We love the work you’ve done for us! We will pay you $650.00 a week on a 1099 basis; and housing is included with the job.”
Step #: 2. Switch:
“If you want to continue working for us, you need to become, ‘full-time;’ and we are going to start paying you $575.00 a week, start charging you $1,000.00 a month for rent; and you are forced to purchase health insurance at $700.00 per month!
If you do not agree to purchase the health insurance, you are fired immediately.”
Explanation:
We are going to pretend to be offering you free health insurance and free rent, (on paper;) however, you will be earning much less than originally agreed to. We profit from your labor, pretending that you are a liability to the business, even though you are an asset to the business!
Here is how the scam works:
Week One:
You start working for them on a, “trial basis.” After your first day of work, they take you to the apartment, show you around and ask, “Isn’t it lovely?” Then, they tell you that the apartment is included with the job. You agree to that. The employers confirms, “Yes, we can do that. You’ll have to get in touch with the bookkeeper; she will explain how the process works.”
Week Four:
Four weeks go by. The employer is very, very happy with your work and commends you in front of your coworkers! When the employer hands you your check that week, they inform you that this is the last time they can pay you the amount previously agreed upon and that you cannot be a 1099 employee anymore; that the apartment is valued at $1,000.00 per month and that you are now forced to agree to a $700.00 per month health insurance plan! If you do not agree to all three of these new parameters, you cannot work for us at all, and we deem you as ungrateful for all the wonderful things we are offering you, (which we perceive as being, “charity offerings,” to you!
They tell you that being a 1099 employee is, “illegal,” however, they had already just paid you as a 1099 employee, therefore breaking the law (as they suggest)!
How Can You Have it Both Ways?
I wonder: If you want a nice, leather handbag, but you only pay for a cheap handbag, are you going to receive high quality bag or a low quality bag? If you were to expect anything less, what would that make you?
“You get what you pay for.”
Unknown, … all of us
Definitions:
“Liability”: something which subtracts from the overall value
“Asset”: something which adds to the overall value
The Cheap-Ass END
