Worker Finds Out The Entire Staff Gets A $3500 Christmas Bonus Except For 'The Blue Collars Like Me'
They're the ones doing most of the work. But of course it goes unnoticed.
gerenme | Getty Images Signature | Canva Pro Christmas bonuses are often one of the best perks of a corporate job, but it's hard to counter the argument that they're not exactly fair. After all, your average fast-food worker probably has a much more difficult day on the job than pretty much anyone sitting at a desk.
That contrast has reared its ugly head in a pretty infuriating way for one blue-collar worker on Reddit, who recently found out just how much their company values — or devalues, as it were — their vital but less prestigious job.
The worker found out the whole company gets a $3500 Christmas bonus—except for their department.
It's one of the most enduring and grossest mindsets in the business world. The people in the cubicles are sophisticated, educated, and important, and everyone else who — gasp! — works with their hands is somehow of a lower echelon. After all, wouldn't THEY be in a cubicle too otherwise?
It's loathsome and classist, but it's also — well, dumb. Without those supposedly lowly "menial" workers, the entire endeavor would grind to a halt, and that's before we even take into account that these jobs often require special training and certification that nobody in a cubicle gets.
This Redditor is a perfect example. They work in the print shop of a major actuary company in the insurance industry, one of the few fields, along with law firms, that still even have a need for something like a print shop due to the enormous volume of documents, promotional materials, and filing involved in the work.
In short, things like large law firms and insurance offices literally cannot operate without a team dedicated to handling all their documents. It's make-or-break work. But this Redditor's job certainly doesn't seem to see it that way.
Despite being vital to the company, the worker's entire department is also among the lowest-paid.
This Redditor wrote in their post that they recently became friends with one of their colleagues, a person that they regularly do huge print jobs for. They went out for drinks together after work one day and found out some infuriating news.
"I learned that the whole entire employment benefits practice [gets] thousands of dollars every December 20th for Christmas as a bonus," to the tune of $3,500.
But for the print shop, "who busts our [behinds] to get all their compliance out on time so we don’t get fined"? Nothing, not even a simple token of appreciation, let alone a $3,500 bonus.
To add insult to injury, they also checked into how much they and their colleagues are paid compared to the rest of the company. "Our little shop is some of the lowest paid people in the practice!" they wrote. "And no Christmas bonus!"
The worker ended up feeling resigned to the situation because they didn't really have any recourse.
The comments on the post were full of similar stories, including those who had family members or acquaintances who got five- or six-figure bonuses every year while they made salaries they couldn't even afford to live on.
"Work your wage, brother/sister," one commenter wrote. "[Eff] em." That was many others' attitude as well, including the Redditor, who said they had made a new vow to never "set my pants on fire for them ever again."
Perhaps saddest of all, they also wrote that they would love to quit their job and look for something better but have had no luck doing so, which is how they ended up in the job they have now. And given the state of the job market, they admitted that they're left feeling like they have no choice but to just be glad they have a job at all.
Unsurprisingly, both the Redditor's post and many commenters' takes referenced the ongoing discourse about class that has been ignited by the Luigi Mangione case. There's been much hand-wringing about the moral whys and wherefores of that case, of course, but the feelings it has inspired in working people should surprise absolutely no one.
As for how to move forward, people had a few ideas for this worker, and they all came down to protesting by rallying together their co-workers and refusing to work under these conditions any longer — in short, going on some kind of strike.
It's drastic, but when those in charge refuse to listen, they leave working people with no choice. Nobody owes it to anyone to simply put up with being abused—and there is no better word for what goes on in all too many American workplaces nowadays.
John Sundholm is a writer, editor, and video personality with 20 years of experience in media and entertainment. He covers culture, mental health, and human interest topics.