Mastodawn

Cory Doctorow Oct 9, 2023

"Corporate crime" is an oxymoron in America. While it's true that the most consequential and profligate theft in America is #WageTheft, its mechanisms are so obscure and, well, *dull* that it's easy to sell us on the false impression that the real problem is shoplifting:

https://newrepublic.com/post/175343/wage-theft-versus-shoplifting-crime

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/09/working-the-refs/#but-id-have-to-kill-you

The Real Crime Isn’t Shoplifting—It’s Wage Theft

Why has the media gone all in on small time scofflaws when organized financial crime is robbing people straight from their paychecks?

The New Republic

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Nicklas Johnson 🏳️‍🌈Oct 10, 2023

@pluralistic
It was 30 years ago now, but I still remember like it was yesterday how my minimum-wage-paying employer stole an hour's wage from me because they unilaterally decided it shouldn't have taken me and one other worker as long as it did to close up shop one night. So they just didn't pay either of us for that last hour that we worked cleaning up.

And what were we going to do about it? Hire a lawyer with our $4.25/hr pay? Complain to the state and get fired for it in a town where jobs for people our age were already scarce?

They were scumbags taking advantage of people at a disadvantage who had little or no recourse, and nothing more. And I'm sure we weren't the only employees they did it to.

That $4.25 meant a lot more to me than it did to them. For me, that was a day's lunch.

@shyduroff

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Matt Oct 11, 2023

@spatula @pluralistic @shyduroff What an arsehole. I hope you spent the rest of your time working there getting that $4.25 back!

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Nicklas Johnson 🏳️‍🌈

@matt
I didn't, but I spent the majority of my career doing better than them and treating others with more respect and decency than they'd shown me, which to me is the sweetest revenge.

And to this day, when someone is delivering pizza to my house (my job back then), I calculate an already generous tip, and add another dollar on top of it. It's not a lot, but I choose to spread kindness and generosity, especially to anyone who has to work that onerous job.