Pay day. The day every worker waits for in anticipation, and for Y/n it's been a long time coming.
Getting to work at 5:00am is rough. Y/n massively feels that the previous night's party wasn't worth it. What was meant to be a fun wind down, turned into her adding fuel to the dumpster fire that's her life.
Not only does she have a killer hangover, less than five hours of sleep, and the mess she'll have to go through for talking back to Stephanie. To top it all off the alcohol only heightened her frustrations, and Y/n fought with Jungkook.
So the money that should soon be hitting her bank account today couldn't have come at a better time. All the overtime that's been running her ragged should give her a hefty bonus, Y/n might even have enough spare to buy Jungkook an apology present.
Depressed just thinking about him Y/n has to push down any negative thoughts, wanting to just soldier through today, and worry later.
And so Y/n focuses all her attention on mopping the gallon of milk spilled in the dairy section.
"Excuse me young lady," an old voice calls out to her.
Pulled out of her milky trance she looks up to see a sweet looking old lady, holding a birthday cake. Putting on her best customer service smile, stepping away from the milk, Y/n responds, "yes how may I help you today ma'am?"
"You see, this cake has been reduced but the sticker is so faded, and I didn't bring my glasses. Could you please read it for me, I want to buy it for my granddaughter's birthday," the old lady slowly explains.
Taking the cake box Y/n can tell why she struggled, even she had to lean in close to read the text, "I believe it's been reduced from £12.99 to £8.88 ma'am."
Handing it back to the old lady she gently thanks Y/n with that classic old lady charm, "ahh I think I'll buy it then, thank you for your help dear, I hope you have the day you deserve." Patting the back of Y/n's hand, and then she's off on her way. Y/n returns to her mopping duties before Eddy checks the security cameras and sees her dawdling, giving her an earful.
Break time comes at 10:00 am, entering the break room Y/n sees none of the chairs are open, which isn't unusual on a Sunday. Going to her locker Y/n fishes out her phone, her pay check normally hits her bank from 0:00-7:00.
Excitedly Y/n opens her banking app, but her face drops when she sees her money. She's missing some.
"No that can't be right," Y/n mumbles to herself, thinking she's going crazy. Did she buy something she can't recall? She definitely calculated how much she should be getting and what her balance should look like, yet she's missing over £100 of her money.
Going through and counting the hours she worked this month, she's definitely missing about a day's worth of her pay. She worked 184 hours this month, but she was only paid under 160.
Thinking there's some kind of mix up Y/n nervously wipes her sweaty hands on her jeans, taking a deep breath she goes and knocks on Eddys office.
"Come in," he impatiently but still somewhat politely calls from the other end of the door.
Entering Y/n sees Eddy sitting at his cheap desk, computer angled towards him showcasing the security camera footage. By the door is a small rubbish bin, with a bunch of paper balls scattered around it on the floor, one of which Y/n accidentally kicks with her foot on her way in.
Closing the door behind her, she bravely strides right up to Eddys desk.
Y/n can see the stains on his shirt from some kind of sauce, and the rings of mugs imprinting on his desk. The stubble on his chin, and the dandruff in his hair. Each wrinkle on his shirt and blazer, as well as the pins he keeps on them, one saying manager in the store's colours, another's a silver feather, and one for a charity they're currently supporting in the store. A charity that Eddy would curse and rant about to staff members in the break room.
Seeing who it is, all niceties are thrown out the window, "oh it's you, shouldn't you be working?" He spits harshly at Y/n.
"I'm on break," Y/n defends herself before getting to what she wants to talk about, "I'm here because there's something wrong with my pay."
Raising an eyebrow Eddy retorts condescendingly, "oh? And what would that be?"
Shifting uncomfortably under his gaze and mocking tone, Y/n slightly caves in on herself, saying quietly, "I worked 184 hours this month but was only paid 160. I think there might've been a mix up."
Sighing Eddy rolls his eyes and checks on his computer, the clacking of his keyboard fills the silent room as Y/n holds her breath in hopes that this is all just a misunderstanding. That's shattered when he hears Eddy say a plain, unbothered, "nope, it's correct. On the system it says you only worked 160 hours."
Shocked and exasperated Y/n says in a panic, "but you know I worked more than that, there must be something wrong with the system! Did it count the days when I stood in for someone else's shift?"
Annoyed at this yapping dog in his office Eddy cuts Y/n's incessant babbling off, "The computer is not wrong, cause I put that you only worked 160 hours."
"Why would you do that? I worked so hard, that's My money," Confused and dejected she asks quietly, still afraid to raise her voice.
Knowing there's no working cameras in his office, and that the door is closed, Eddy smiles a haughty grin, wanting to kick the little puppy while it's down, "it's simple really, labour laws state that those under 18 can only work up to 40 hours a week. You're lucky I'm paying you for the 160 hours, if it were up to me I'd be paying a nuisance like you much less."
Y/n says dumbfounded, "why? Why would you do this to me? Why didn't you tell me? What did I ever do to you?"
Leaning back in his chair Eddy rolls his eyes and announces casually, "hey it's nothing against you. And it's not my fault you didn't read up on the rules for underage workers. I'm just teaching you how to work like an adult. No one in your generation knows a thing about true hard work. So I'm being a good boss and teaching you an important lesson."
He pauses before continuing, "In the adult world you make sacrifices for the company you work for, it's called being a team player. These past few months we've had the lowest hiring rate and highest quitting rate we've had in years. Do I complain? No. These extra hours you did is you doing your part to help the store. Are you so selfish that you don't want to help your coworkers? Are you so lazy that you can't handle a few extra hours for the greater good of your workplace? If we shut down, who will hire you, huh? Because I sure as hell won't give a good reference to such a lazy incompetent worker."
Gritting her teeth Y/n forced out as calmly as she could, "and these sacrifices, everyone does them?"
"Yes, everyone's done them," Eddy replies offhandedly.
Staring him in the eyes, slightly skeptical, Y/n asks, "then what sacrifices have you made?"
Eddy has no words, nothing to refute or retort, cheeks flushing red with rage and embarrassment.
"WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE TO QUESTION ME!? YOU CAN'T EVEN FATHOM HALF OF THE WORK I PUT INTO THIS STORE! YOU'RE JUST A USELESS LITTLE BRAT WHO KNOWS NOTHING ABOUT HARD WORK!" Slamming his hands on his desk, spit flying out of his mouth, a grubby finger pointing in Y/n's face.
Y/n looks at this man with disdain, "no one stays because you're human garbage. I allow you to berate me, treat me like shit, work at your beck and call. I cover for your little favourites, and help with their screw ups. Your screw ups. Unload trucks and lorries with barely any help because we're understaffed, fill in when there's a scheduling mix up. You stick me on jobs I was never trained to do, and also helped with night shifts. I do this while still going to school, getting good grades, and doing most of the chores in my house. And the only thing I want is to be paid for the time I work, how is that wrong?"
Her hand clenched into a fist, mind red with frustration and anger. Realising that many of the frustrations she said are what Jungkook mentioned the previous night. Her nails dig even deeper into her palm.
Peeved at her little speech Eddy scoffs, "and everyone else here comes into work with no complaints, maybe you don't care enough about keeping this job. You don't see me complaining about every little thing that needs to get done."
Sniggering Y/n holds an angry laugh, "I don't care about this job? Yeah right. And you don't complain? You complain all the time, even when all you do is stay in your office all day, watching the security cameras, there's still something you manage to moan about. And still you go home on time, back to mommy's basement, where she probably does all the cooking and cleaning for you too."
"You say I know nothing about hard work, when you're a lazy slob. A waste of a human who's achieved nothing. Eddy the guy who forces teenagers to work for him for free, all so he can sit idle on his ass and do jack shit. You're Pathetic," Y/n let's out everything she's always wanted to say to him, like a broken dam all her pent up anger, exhaustion, pain and fear crashing through her mouth like a tidal wave.
She doesn't care anymore, she held on for the sake of this paycheck.
Got nosebleeds from lack of sleep for this paycheck.
Got behind on school work for this paycheck.
And worst of all she argued with someone who genuinely cared for her because of this paycheck.
And for what? All for this fucker to scam her out of her much deserved money. To use her for the sake of "sacrificing one for the team" when the team never did that for her.
She's done.
Fuck Eddy and fuck this store.
Face redder than a baboon's bum, Eddy feels like he's about to burst a blood vessel he's so mad. Mouth mechanically opening and closing like a nut cracker, mind's so mad not one word can be forced out.
Eddy's breathing heavily, miming words Y/n glad she's not hearing. In too deep to go back now she pushes him further, "yOu. YoU. and. And. aNd. What! Spit it out! You Waste of a man!"
With one loud boom that rattles and shakes the entire room, Eddy bellows rocket launchingly loud, "GET OUT NOW. YOU'RE FIRED. AND DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT COMING TO ME FOR A REFERENCE! OR BETTER YET DO! THEN I CAN TELL EVERY JOB YOU APPLY FOR WHAT A DISRESPECTFUL, LAZY, WORTHLESS INGRATE YOU ARE. SO NO ONE IN THIS TOWN WILL EVER, AND I MEAN EVER HIRE YOU AGAIN!"
Psychological tears well up in Y/n's eyes from the pure volume, she refuses to let them fall, glaring at the huffing man hatefully, "fine."
Turning to leave she kicks over his bin on the way out, grabbing her stuff from her locker.
All her coworkers stare at her in shock, not expecting someone so silent to get the biggest reaction from Eddy they've seen in a while. Y/n looks at them all saying one last thing, "be careful with your paychecks, make sure they match your hours, because the overtime Eddy forces you to work, he might not pay you for that."
And with that she leaves not looking back. It's only when she's completely left that she breaks down into tearful sobs, sitting at the bus stop crying harder and harder.
Not caring about the people who pass her by with strange looks, Y/n lets it all out her system.
Going home and getting another earful doesn't sound too good right now. She needs to think. To be alone. So Y/n looks up on her phone and goes to a small park near her house.
Sitting on a bench while the wind rustles through the trees, the breeze ruffling her hair, Y/n starts to question why she was so obsessed with keeping that job.
Why was the money the thing that pushed her over the edge?
Because being treated badly is a normal thing, as long as she got paid at the end of the day it didn't matter what she went through. When that money was touched, and all that effort denied, the single reason for her endurance became unreliable.
Why was she so unwilling to quit?
It took too long to find that job, and she needs money to pay her bills. What if the next job doesn't come at all?
Why does she need to pay her bills?
Because with that money Aunt Gretta can't afford to keep her in their house.
Why does she even want to stay in that house?
Because she has nowhere to go, and no one else to rely on.
Doesn't she have Bts?
They're only bound by a contract, once that contract is over she'll be on her own again.
Y/n widens her eyes at this revelation, delving deeper into her feelings.
They won't stay with her forever.
One day once the contract is over, they'll leave her too, so she shouldn't get spoiled and rely on people who aren't gonna stick around.
She's never seen them as permanent parts of her life.
She's always treated them like they'll one day leave.
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Wow!
Two updates?
So close together?!
Who would've thought? Not me that's for sure.
I hope you had fun reading xxx
(Ps Be on the lookout)