He infiltrates the family business with 10-hour shifts and discovers the reality of the job: “You’re the new guy, you handle it”
In a viral Reddit post, the son of the owners of a waste management company has recalled his his experience of life working at the bottom of the firm.
At 22 years old, with a college degree freshly under his arm, the individual at the center of this story thought his next step would be to prepare his resume and look for a job like the rest of his classmates.
But his parents, owners of a multimillion-dollar waste management company, had other plans: “[They] sat me down and made it clear: I wouldn’t be job hunting. I’d be working for them.”
If he wanted to lead the company someday, he needed to understand it from the ground up, he was told. Thus began his experience, collecting trash in the rain, handling recyclable materials, and working 10-hour shifts alongside the rest of the staff, without revealing his identity.
“I never told anyone who I was”
“I never told anyone who I was. I wore the same uniform, followed the same schedule, and showed up like every other new guy,” he explains. For weeks, he worked in silence, taking on physical tasks and absorbing the company’s culture from the lowest step of the ladder.
Initially, the experience was “humbling” in the best sense, he confesses. It helped him understand and appreciate the effort of those who keep the daily operations of the company running. “They’re tough. They work hard,” he says.
“I was doing more and more of the grunt work”
However, over time, the atmosphere changed. “I was doing more and more of the grunt work while others kicked back,” he says. “I was told to straighten out the bins, clean up after others, do the ‘new guy’ stuff constantly.” The informal hierarchy became evident, with those who had been there longer delegating the worst tasks to those who couldn’t complain.
He chose to remain humble and consider it part of the job, until an incident with a coworker proved a turning point.
“I was done letting people pile on”
After a sleepless night, drenched by the rain and exhausted, a veteran coworker ordered him to take on the rest of his tasks so he could leave early. “You’re the new guy, you handle it,” he was told. It was then that, for the first time, he decided not to let it slide. “Politely, but firmly, I told him no I wasn’t doing his work. I was done letting people pile on just because they outranked me.”
The coworker threatened to talk to management about his attitude if he refused, and the young man’s reply was immediate: “Then let’s go to management right now.” The coworker said nothing more and simply left.
That gesture was more than a one-time defense. For this young man, it meant setting a boundary without resorting to his surname. “That was the first time I’ve ever stood up for myself like that at work,” he says. “I didn’t play the ‘I’m the owner’s son’ card. I still haven’t.”
“I’m here to learn not to be everyone’s personal doormat”
What began as a requirement from his parents to understand the business has turned into a school of life and leadership: “Being the boss’s kid doesn’t mean I have to accept being walked over to prove I’m humble. I’m here to learn not to be everyone’s personal doormat.”
The account, shared on the social-media site Reddit, has generated thousands of reactions for its honesty and exposure of a common reality in many work environments: the exploitation of newcomers.
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