Furious with what happened to DS17 on his last day of work

He has asked you not to say anything. Of course it would be wrong for you to make an issue of it. I don’t understand how this is even a question.

Talk to him about it and help him process it. If he changes his mind then go ahead and say something - although I’m not sure “turning up at the company and giving them a piece of your mind” is the way to go about it, there will be proper complaints procedures. But if he doesn’t change his mind, then leave it.

This should not be happening I don’t care if it’s a tradition, he’s 17 and I bet my bottom dollar it was older colleagues getting their kicks humiliating a young lad.Send an email to their head office these idiots need reigning in.We are not in the 1970s it just should not be happening.They need training on acceptable behaviour in the workplace.Your lad will try to play it down, he probably feels embarrassed mine would be shell shocked.

Trust your son and stay out of it.

I am.baffled by the.posts saying it is a bit of fun. Poor kid.

I think it’s absolutely outrageous- he’s still a minor FGS.

I‘d be having words and would hope they never get to do it to anyone else again. Bunch of weirdos - go paintballing or something but don’t do this to a teenager. Hope you take it further.

WTF! I would have to do.something.

I understand the temptation especially if he was upset by it but I'd just leave it save embarrassing him any further

Still a thing at the school my ds went to.

But it’s organised on the nearby field.

He didn’t get it because he left school Covid year. But that meant he didn’t miss out because they also throw tomato sauce and he’s allergic to it!

I think it’s awful when people behave like this. I thought we’d moved on from the days where we had to laugh at things we didn’t find funny and accept things being done to us that made us feel uncomfortable (my childhood experience)

But if your ds doesn’t want you to speak out I think you have to respect that. I hope it doesn’t make him nervous about future jobs.

We sent the new trainee chef of to the
requisition office to get some Tartan food colouring.

Me too,I was dumped in the pig swill bin on my last day, it's just a bit of fun.

I’ve worked a jobs with similar. At one you got the bumps into the pond on your last day, at another everyone would squirt cream the leaver.

These were both under 25 type jobs, it’s not particularly unusual.

Lol at someone saying go to the police.

I’d be inclined not to say anything for fear of embarrassing him further. But I will also offer another perspective while I’m here:

When I was in my late teens I had a temp job in a call centre office which was supposed to just be for one day but they ended up keeping me on for the summer. On the final day, I was pranked - not with flour, eggs etc, but things like my office chair was tampered with so when I sat down I suddenly plummeted to the floor. My headset had blue tack put in the ear so it blocked the sound, my mouse had the ball removed so it wouldn’t work etc. These were all done while I was being distracted in another room and then when I returned to my desk and the phones were ringing and no one else around to answer them, I had the trio of pranks hit just as I took a call from an angry customer (who was of course another colleague posing as a customer…). The office erupted into laughter at my expense. Was I embarrassed, yes! But also I was quite touched that they had considered me part of the team enough to have bothered to prank me. And once I realised that I found it very funny too. It was their way of saying goodbye and thanks.

Now I appreciate that none of this is like being covered in flour/eggs etc, and that if that came as a total surprise it could feel, well even threatening, perhaps? But I just wonder whether this is a long standing tradition they have, and instead of trying to completely humiliate him, they actually were trying to include him in a last day ritual? One that arguably should probably have died off years ago. But still, perhaps they were trying to make it fun? You said he enjoyed working there, so presumably they enjoyed having him there too.

Or they could of course just be total bellends. Either way, I wouldn’t take it further. Might he not need a reference for any future work? Why risk being remembered for the one who sent his mum down to tell them all off. Hopefully once some time passes he’ll look back and laugh or at least not see it as a bad memory.

Has happened to me at my first job. It was a pain but it was all in good fun and also I’d participated in doing it to other people who left so I couldn’t exactly be pissed. My mum however was fuming and made me clean my clothes and hoover and clean inside of the car. She was more angry about her car than anything though, and she did think it was “fucking silly”.

If it has really upset him he needs to go and sort it out himself. He needs to put in the complaint - he is almost an adult and if he has a problem he needs to deal with it. Mummy coming in fuming won’t help him in the slightest.

It’s assault. Your son is a child. Of course he doesn’t want a fuss, but so do many children bullied and physically attacked. Be a parent. Take action.

So, as he is under 18 then he is still a child. A child who has been physically assaulted and mentally degraded by a group of adults.
to me, this is a safeguarding red flag.
Hiven his age, his employer has a duty of care
Way back in the day there was a very well paying local employer where the girls were rumoured to treat brides to be like this. Even by the standards of those days I thought it was vile.
I thought all of this behaviour had been phased out

Dont go on but I'd report to head office if there is one. Its very childish, do they do it to everyone who leaves.

I have worked in industries/professions where we have had initiation and leaving practices but none of them involved physical contact.

Don't report - nothing to be gained (for DS). What a hideous experience though. Just support him, validate his feelings of shock/shame as he processes what happened and reassure him that this is not a normal workplace thing at all.

Happened on your birthday when I was at school but never seen it in the workplace. I have seen kissograms, shrink wrapped cars, cars with cans tied to the back and shaving foam on the windscreen

@Workcomplaintt I would send a very professional email and tell them that this archaic tradition is not acceptable. Don’t necessarily link it to your DS, they will feel justified to side track and not accept responsibility.

It is childish and passive/aggressive.

I would be mortified if this happened to me.

I send my best wishes to your DS and hopefully his future employers will be of a more considerate nature.

I got egged and floured on my last day in a supermarket 24 years ago. I’d have thought times had changed since then but I wouldn’t complain to the company, especially when your son has asked you not to.

Absolutly right, he has asked you to say nothing. Respect that.

If I were your DS that would have been my worst nightmare. However, it was his first job in the adult world even though he’s not quite an adult himself. He’s asked you to do nothing, so I think you should respect that.

Thankfully it shouldn’t happen at his next job!

This was a “thing” on the last day of secondary school in the early 90s. Slightly shocked it’s happening in a workplace TBH.

I would be raging too but there’s no point in complaining - they won’t be interested (probably dismiss it as just a bit of fun that happens to all leavers) but more importantly it could interfere with the possibility of him getting a decent reference if he ever needs it.

Still a thing? I know someone who worked at a well known fast food brand 25 years ago and this was a thing. I think you were put in the bin while they did it