Employee worked for 14 hours for over two years, then discovered shocking secret: 'I was literally working as unpaid....'

An employee got a rude wake-up call when they discovered their unscrupulous manager had assigned them work for her husband’s brand. The employee had worked for 14 hours daily for over two years. They initially believed the work they were given was part of their responsibilities.

The individual, who shared the experience anonymously on Reddit, said the situation caused intense workplace stress and anxiety. They also claimed that despite putting in long hours, they received a poor performance review and no salary increment because they were unable to meet the manager’s expectations for the extra work.

According to the post, the manager started delegating her own responsibilities to the employee within a month of their joining the organisation. Alongside handling their regular duties, the employee said they unknowingly took on a significant amount of additional work, some of which was unrelated to the company.


The employee explained that the manager appeared so confident and authoritative that there was never any reason to question the legitimacy of the assignments. As a result, they routinely worked late into the night, often remaining on the job until 10 or 11 pm to manage the growing workload. Since it was their first professional experience, they assumed such demanding schedules were a normal part of corporate life.

The employee further alleged that their negative appraisal was not linked to their actual office performance but to their inability to execute the manager’s side projects exactly as expected.

The revelation came when they discovered that a project they had considered an official assignment was, in fact, associated with the manager’s husband’s personal brand. The employee said they felt deeply upset upon realising they had effectively spent two years doing unpaid freelance work without their knowledge.

They also alleged that the manager expected the creation of more than 40 pieces of creative content in a single day and frequently rejected leave requests. Recalling one incident, the employee said that when they requested two days off for a trip, they were instructed to carry their laptop and continue working because of an upcoming deadline.