The summer before my senior year at UGA, I worked at Petland in Athens for one day.
I was already working at the apartment complex where I lived (my compensation for that was mostly free rent for my share of a 4-bedroom apartment), and I needed another job to fund my trips to away games across the SEC. I had some retail experience in high school, and I knew my way around pet stuff -- you name it, I probably had it as a pet growing up -- so I figured the then-new pet store on the west side of town would be a reasonable choice.
During my interview, they pitched me on the commission system on the floor and told me I might get to sell kittens and puppies, or maybe they'd stick me in exotics or aquariums, since I knew that stuff pretty well. Either way, I was satisfied; I knew I could sell pets and pet supplies as well as anybody possibly could.
I show up for training, and they sit me in front of a TV/VCR combo to watch some standard OSHA and sexual harassment videos. Meh, whatever, par for the course. They told me I wouldn't be paid for watching the training videos, but they were required before I could get out onto the sales floor. (I didn't know any better, so I acknowledged this instruction and kept watching the videos for free. For three days.)
Finally, it was time for my official first day. They told me to wear a button-up shirt and khakis, as they were waiting on a new shipment of uniforms to come in. I wore one of my nicer shirts and a pair of pressed khaki pants. I was really excited to find out, finally, in which department I'd be working.
I showed up for my first shift ten minutes early, and the manager on duty said "Okay, ready for a day in the kennel?" and handed me a spray bottle. I was NOT being put to work on the sales floor -- I was consigned to an eight-hour shift of kennel duty, which meant running from cage to cage and cleaning up the CONSTANT barrage of excrement from a total of about 40 puppies. It was grueling. I ruined my nice shirt.
I showed up the next day, assuming that had been a one-time thing, only to be greeted with the spray bottle again. I quit on the spot.
They never paid me.
-- 00 Dawg