Recent phenomena like “The Great Resignation” have demonstrated that American workers are no longer as willing to put up with low wages and poor working conditions. Many discussions about worker rights are happening on platforms like TikTok, where users can go to speak out against substandard practices.
In a TikTok with over 46,000 viewers, user Timberly Price (@timberlyprice), who says she works at both Dollar General and Subway, seeks advice after her boss at Dollar General allegedly offered her a 50-cent promotion.
@timberlyprice #jobtips #jobproblems #helpmeplease ♬ original sound – Timberly Price
In the video, Price claims she was offered a keyholder position at her job but that she put off the decision because her boss said she wouldn’t get a big raise. “I asked her what the raise would be, and she said ‘not much,’ so I was expecting maybe a $2, $3 raise because I only make $9,” Price recalls.
She alleges her boss made the decision for her by “bumping her in the system” and that she was told she would get “a 50-cent raise,” to which she objected and reminded her boss she only said “she would think about it.”
According to Price, ever since the objection, she’s been getting bad-mouthed by multiple people at her job, including the boss’ daughter. “They are making me feel so guilty because I will not take $9.50,” she says.
Price alleges her boss told her “she can terminate her on good terms.”
“I never said I wanted to be terminated, why can’t I just stock the floors” Price says.
After the original TikTok garnered attention, with many viewers offering their advice to Price and lauding her for rejecting the offer due to the raise amount in the comments section, Price gave more details to the story in a follow-up TikTok.
In the TikTok, Price reiterates she was allegedly getting pressured by the staff to accept the promotion, alleging “the entire Dollar General crew was talking about her” and that she “felt like she was stuck between a rock and a hard place.” She adds that she told the manager “$9.50 is like a big slap in the face.” The video also included an overlay text with the question: “Is this work harassment?”
Price eventually posted a third TikTok, responding to a comment saying a 50 cents raise “isn’t bad.” In it, she explains the raise simply isn’t worth it considering all the added responsibilities of a keyholder and claims she makes more money at Subway. She also alleges the store isn’t properly run and that she’s the only worker getting things done.
“I bust my fucking ass, and that’s the only reason she wants me to be a keyholder, because, she says that ‘she sees the potential in me,’” Price says. “Well if you see the potential in me, and you want to keep me, I’m sorry, but $9.50 is [nothing] to me.”
“And if that makes me a bad fucking person because I think that my work is worth more than $9.50 an hour, well then, you know what? Terminate me,” she adds.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Price via TikTok comment and to Dollar General via press email.
