I want to tell you a story about wage theft and exploitation, and how it can easily happen to you.

Not long ago I took a job at a small board game store in Boston. I was hired for 40hr weeks; I worked up to 80hrs/week regularly. My salary was $23k/year for the 3 years I worked.

I hold a BA and M.Ed., with years of experience running convention booths and communications skills. I told my employer what I'm worth. He said he could only afford $23k - "We're a small business." He said the job made up for it in opportunities. I needed to pay rent so I agreed.

I was hired to run social media for the store out of the basement. On weekends I worked entertainment events teaching board games at parties, mitzvahs, and weddings. I was expected to work a few retail shifts too. A 40 hour work week with my salary + no insurance = $10-11/week.

Because of my background in education, I was hired to eventually transition into a managerial position designing and running an educational outreach program for the store. I was given approval to (eventually) run an afterschool program and game events for schools. This was a lie.

If running social media, working store shifts, and sometimes spending a day at an event was all I had to do, I would have still left. I wasn't offered insurance. When I learned management didn't have any ability to deliver on my promised trajectory, there wasn't room for growth.

My wide skillset meant I quickly assumed responsibilities beyond my initial contract. The Events Manager, who considers himself co-owner, claimed me as his assistant because he was "overworked." I became an event leader, coordinating staff, managing clients, and writing invoices.

The Events Manager worked fewer hours after this, often from home. When he WAS in the office he regularly had Runescape open, shopped online, told me/retail staff (who he did not manage) we were doing things wrong, and verbally abused employees to their faces/behind their backs.

I didn't have the luxury of working from home, because I was also a de-facto manager (but was never given the title). I knew the most about game trends of anyone in the store (the last "new" game the owner had played was Dominion in 2003), so I also worked regular store shifts.

As the Assistant Events Manager I worked every weekend coordinating entertainment events for 10hrs. I would rent a van, load it with giant (heavy) board games, pick up a team, set up, work a 4hr event, break down, unload at the store, return the van, and drive home.

I worked events all over MA but I would also regularly spend weekends driving to NY and NJ, leaving Friday PM, waking up early to set up on Saturday AM, and either driving back that night or early Sunday AM. These 60 hour work weeks were expected. I was still paid $23k/year.

My education experience also meant I was put in charge of managing the store's "game camp" where we rented a local game cafe (run by a former employee, who was paid in free games) for kids to come play board games on Spring/Summer/Winter Vacation, in addition to my other jobs.

Because I actively kept up with board game trends I also became the assistant buyer and worked closely with the Retail/Store Manager (a reasonable person). I argued frequently with both the Events Manager and the owner to follow trends (we almost passed on carrying Gloomhaven).

I was often given tasks only to have them undermined or go unsupported. For example, I spent weeks reorganizing the store's inventory management for efficiency (at the owner's request), only for the Events Manager (technically my boss still) to change it back without telling me.

I have years of experience running booths and driving sales at conventions, so I was also put in charge of running the store's booth at PAX East, PAX Unplugged, and Gen Con. In practice, I was both booth staff and convention buyer. I had 2 hours to buy product on the last day.

Since the store is "just a small business," we asked for unpaid volunteers as convention staff who had the privilege of borrowing a badge for 1 day of PAX East. We "couldn't afford" to pay extra staff; because I was salaried, I worked all of each con. I was still paid $23k/year.

The weeks before each con, I was responsible for helping decide which products to bring, communicating with the company we represented about new releases and advertising, scheduling flights and hotels for everyone, and packing product, in addition to my other responsibilities.

Each Gen Con I loaded pallets of product from a warehouse onto a truck and drove from MA to IN and back, unloaded product by hand, and built/broke down a booth out of gridwall. Our team (the owner, the Events Manager, and myself) were the last ones out of the hall each day.

I was often asked to perform dangerous or outright unethical tasks. The store flooded twice in my time there from upstairs apartments; first, from a washing machine with bleach, then from a septic backup. Employees cleaned the store and inventory. We had to pay for our own PPE.

Having to clean a store you work at isn't unethical, but I noticed many boxes had been damaged through the plastic wrap during both floods. In both cases I was told to "wipe it off" and shelve or ship games soaked in bleach water or septic water. No warning labels would be given.

To summarize: I was hired to work 40hrs/wk for $23k/year, running social media and retail shifts. By the time I quit I was working 60-80hrs/wk as Asst. Events Manager, Asst. Retail Manager, Retail Buyer, Camp Director, Con Organizer, and Social Media Manager... at $23k/year.

I wasn't the outlier here. Store employees were regularly told to do things that weren't their jobs, with little to no compensation because "that's just small business." In addition, the owner secretly recorded employee conversations (illegal in MA) and verbally abused his staff.

There will always be people who prey on those who they think they can exploit. For people who need the money, these jobs can be traps from which there is no escape. Not every small business is like this, but you must always be vigilant for people who'll happily bleed you dry.

Money in the tabletop games industry is a nightmare that some are fortunate enough to be able to navigate. There ARE people/companies doing work to make sure people are paid fairly for their time and don't burn out. I just hope we'll see even more people changing the scene soon.