A job hunter on TikTok posted a viral video saying she finally got offered a job. What she didn’t expect was 18 hours of unpaid training.
Lohanny Santos (@lohannysant) previously went viral for walking into minimum-wage jobs with physical resumes in hand in hopes of securing a position despite having multiple degrees. Her plight shed light on the difficulty of finding a job in the current economic landscape.
After receiving over 21 million views and 3 million likes on her original video, Santos kept her audience updated with results.
Santos has reached over 566,000 views and 33,000 likes on her update video. She responded to a comment that said, “I did that and they said you can apply online,” in reference to dropping off physical resumes in person.
Santos begins by saying she went into multiple coffee shops and other small stores to turn in her resume the previous day.
“I asked to speak to the manager, and I was like, ‘Hey, can I get an interview?’” she says. She adds that she did her best to get interviews on the spot at each location.
Santos says the manager at one coffee shop told her he was looking for someone “long term” to fill a position.
“Yeah, I wanna do this,” Santos reportedly responded. “Like, coffee is my life.”
“I was literally like vouching for myself,” she adds. Santos says she emphasized to the manager that she speaks three languages and is a very diligent worker.
Next, he reportedly told her he would need to speak to his wife and get back to her.
“A few hours later, I’m at a different coffee shop,” Santos says. “And he called me and said, ‘OK, I’ve spoken to my wife, and we’ve decided we can offer you a job.’”
She says she was also offered to start working the next day.
“I was so happy,” she adds. “Until he literally told me that I would have to do 18 hours of unpaid labor, of unpaid training.”
@lohannysant Replying to @Cecilia :) like is this normal?!? 😭#nyc #coffeeshop #unemployed ♬ original sound – Lohanny
Santos says when she asked the manager to clarify, he responded, “Yeah, we just need to see if you’re worth the time and if you’re qualified for this position because we are a very serious business.”
“Then I felt so down again. Like, are you kidding?” Santos says. “I finally get a job, but the person wants me to work for free? Like, this is not cool.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Santos via email.
A viewer in the comments section told Santos, “When they see you ‘desperate’ they take advantage of you.”
Another said, “I can comprehend a single unpaid day of training/assessment but 18 hours seems…excessive.”
One viewer pointed out, “Don’t they legally have to pay for training???” Another responded, “Yes, but too many people don’t report them at their local Labor Department.”
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, a federal law that establishes minimum wage, “employee training time must be paid unless the training meets all of the following criteria,” per Berger Montague law firm’s website.
“The training takes place outside of the employee’s normal work hours, the training is optional, the training is not directly related to the employee’s job, and the employee is unable to work productively during the training,” the site continues.
