Remember how shit part-time jobs were when you were a teenager? In no world is scraping chewing gum off the floor, lugging heavy stock around and standing on your feet so long your very soul aches fun, but at least you get paid, right?
Not in poor Jay-El Leboudy’s case. The 15-year-old from Coventry worked in his local Londis two days before and after school for 10 weeks in the hope of saving some cash for Christmas pressies, only to be told that he was, in fact, on an unpaid internship.
You can take a moment to let that sink in.
Jay’s mum, Zoe Brucknell, is understandably fuming. ‘Jay worked nearly every day during half-term. He always made the effort to be there on time and worked way past 9pm, which was the time we agreed.’
The boss of the shop, who (shockingly) wishes to remain anonymous, claims he does not have to pay Jay, because he was allowed free hot drinks.
Well Jay, you may have missed out on 10 weeks of wages, but at least you’ve got unlimited brews – payment in itself, some might say.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.