When I worked for a golf course as a server, there was positive and negative compensations for that line of work. I was motivated to stay at the job as customers left great tips and I loved meeting and talking to new people everyday. But I often worked 12 hour shifts with no breaks and no overtime pay, leading me to be absolutely exhausted at the end of a shift. I left the job as I did not feel I was being correctly compensated for my effort by allowing my “required” breaks and expecting me to stay past my shift or work crazy hours. As discussed in week 8 learning materials, the Fair Labor Standards act of 1938 was set in place to combat these actions, requiring a “set overtime pay at 1.5 times the regular pay rate for all hours over 40 per week” . Unfortunately my job did not listen to this, and being a high schooler I did not know how to stand up for myself in these types of situations yet.

With time I began to find loop holes to take 5 minute breaks to rest my feet, seeing as I would not get it if I asked to take one and would instead be told I was being lazy. I did not like to sneak around like that, hiding in the back pantry of the kitchen for a couple minutes to sit down, but I had to to be able to take a breather and continue with my busy shift as a server. This was one of the reasons I quit working at this establishment, as I became exhausted and felt I wasn’t treated fairly.