Not programming, but in the same vein, A Trek Bicycle store manager asked me in an interview if I would be willing to work a trial shift the next day building bicycles. Unpaid, of course. Just to see if I was a good fit.

Of course, since I was used to building 50 a day, I would have gotten all of them done in a single shift whereas they were needing to call in stores from surrounding areas to come help in a few days.

I laughed and said if they needed help tomorrow I would be happy to work for my usual fee of $20/bike.

Oddly, I did not get the job

[–] SatouKazuma@programming.dev 2 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Was this in the US? How the fuck is that legal?

[–] chuckleslord@lemmy.world 5 points 3 months ago

The largest category of us theft is wage theft. So, ya know, gonna guess it's not legal

[–] SARGE@startrek.website 3 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

It was.

In Ohio? I'm almost positive it isn't legal. It's definitely illegal in states like California. But they're banking on nobody recording their interview audio (which I will now be doing as Ohio is single-party state) and nobody complaining if asked.

I doubt it's a company policy, but I did send an email to their company offices to complain about it, for all the good it will do.

[–] roofuskit@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago

Notice the "cook" in username. Unpaid labor is a common practice in the restaurant industry. They call it a "stag". It's supposed to be an unpaid working interview, but restaurants will schedule stages with people even when they aren't hiring.