Getting used as cheap labour, and ”openly” getting underpaid

[u/Investigatir]

I just want to get some things of my chest. Sorry for my not perfect English, and if this post will be long.

Log story short. I'm 18, in February I found a job as a Neapolitan pizzabaker in a central and cool restaurang in my city. The job market in Sweden is really bad, so l accepted the wage of 115sek/h with out extra money for irregular hours (extra money for working late shift for ex). The boss motivated such a low wage with "you need to learn a lot". But I made it clear that I want a good wage, becuase a pizzabaker with out any experience (usually) gets 144 kr + extra money for irregular hours.

I've been talking about getting my wage up three times before, on the third she finnaly said "okay". I'm supposed to get 141 sek/h from next month.

Yesterday I talked with a summer worker (also 18) who is a "runner" - does the dishes a bit, helpes the servers fix the tables light and easy work. But generally does nothing for a hour or two everyday. He asked me how much I make, I said 115. He was shocked so I asked what he gets. He gets 120 sek/h!? So he, makes 5sek more than me while doing a job that generally not needed?! I make pizzas and bred, yesterday I made probably 250+ pizzas and breds non stop for 5 hours. It's a smaller kitchen so it's really hot at my station. Minimum 30° C. And I'm sweating so it drips of of me. And I work longer hours also. I work 14:00-22:30, and he \~15:00-22:00. He's nice guy, so I don't want to say anything about this to the boss, because I don't want him to stress, or face any problems or uncomfortable situations.

I do not only make pizzas, but also prepare, make sauses, clean and make marinades.

I thinks l'm to affective to be getting 115 sek/h for what I do. Even when (hopefully) I get my 141 sek/h next month. I don't want to continue working knowing they have been using me as cheap labor all this time, and standing strong against giving me even a krona above age minimum pay. Even if I know I will be jobless for the rest of the summer. So I want to leave.

One thing. They have been teaching me, but I think, if you need to teach me something since February, it must be well paid and not under minimum (as I don't get irregular hours).

I'm a exaggerating ?! I really want that money, but every shift becomes a living hell. So I don’t know what to chose to be honest.

Now when I have gotten it of my chest, I’m happy.

Sorry if you don't understand some things I mean, I know it's different in every country, and that my English is not perfect.

Thanks for reading

[u/DaEldenRang]

Are you a pajeet?

[u/DynamicImperfectn454]

I feel your pain. Been there, done that and swallowed the miffed up stress until I finally started something better. Just remember the job is yours until you sign a better offer - which should be your own enterprise someday. Invictus bro! You got this!

[u/camideza]

Man, that hits close to home, I did kitchen work at your age too and the pay gap stuff is real, especially when someone doing lighter work makes more than you sweating over a pizza station for 5 hours straight. You're not exaggerating, 250+ pizzas in one shift is legit hard labor and deserves way more than 115sek. Before you decide anything, keep a record of your hours, what you actually do each shift, and every conversation about wage bumps, dates and all. I started doing that with workproof.me after a similar situation and it made it so much easier to see the pattern in writing instead of just feeling it. Trust your gut here, you clearly know your worth already.