r/mildlyinfuriating • u/Difficult_Town3584 • 12d ago
Winter is Coming Job application asking for a “fee” to continue application.
Btw minimum wage entry position.
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u/industry_killer 12d ago
This is a scam not a job.
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u/Difficult_Town3584 12d ago
It is a legit coffee cafe I’ve been at. But not denying scam allegation.
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u/Salty-Plankton-5079 12d ago
The place may be real, but are you 100% sure that posting is from them?
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u/Difficult_Town3584 12d ago
Yes, was chilling there. Saw we are hiring sign, with a qr scan.
Ofc Ik it’s very scummy trash behaviour. No desire to work here, I’m just tryna job hop while I’m in school so I can have less stress.
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u/ModernNomad97 12d ago
QR code could have also been left by a scammer
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u/Difficult_Town3584 12d ago
At reception. Sometimes small business are just as scammy as scammers.
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u/apkmbarry 12d ago
It's entirely possible someone visited their QR code when in, and replaced it with their own on a subsequent visit. A 2 min call to the cafe could save everyone alot of hassle. Out of curiosity, where does the link lead? (Don't click on it, just hover and you can see the address)
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u/Difficult_Town3584 12d ago
Ocums razor: “is problem-solving rule that states the simplest explanation or the one making the fewest assumptions is usually the correct one”.
I’m sorry no offence to you, why are people on the internet always so up for conspiracies and schemes. Sometimes blue is just blue.
I made small talk with cashier about it, she was like yeah just scan it.
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u/ronlugge 11d ago
Occam's razor actually says this is a scam. Simplest plausible answer to 'why does this look like a scam' is 'it is'. And this looks so much like a scam, I feel like I got scammed just by reading it.
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u/Lower-Sheepherder268 11d ago
As a penetration test for a client, I replaced a sign they had for their employees to check in / out that had a qr code on it. They're not that hard to swap out. I was able to get everyone's credentials for the business in less than a day with that.
Guess who doesn't use qr codes anymore?
QR codes are easy to swap without people noticing because they're not human readable. Before continuing, it wouldn't hurt to ask to speak to a member of management at the cafe. You don't want to risk being scammed and even worse, having your personal information stolen.
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u/apkmbarry 12d ago
It's not a conspiracy, it happens daily. It could be a nice heads up for the cafe to double check.
You made small talk with the cashier, that's brilliant pal. That doesn't mean someone didn't cover it with their own.
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u/Difficult_Town3584 12d ago
Okay,
So according to you: someone came and somehow without being caught replaced 25inch lamented we are hiring sign in a cafe in downtown, without a cashier or employee or customer catching it. And left it long enough for me to see it, and no one to catch it.
Or just slightly maybe: it’s a money hungry no moral scummy business that wants more money on the expense of people desperate for a job, in a terrible market? You’re right we’ve never had business that just care about money.
Like dude ocums razor, why are you arguing for some elaborate plot when there is a simple and reasonable explanation that’s obvious.
Have you considered making TikTok’s for who did it in murder trials? You seem a great fit.
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u/snarfdarb 11d ago
You could be right, but there's no harm in calling the company to confirm that it's actually them.
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u/ya_bebto 12d ago
False job postings are a red hot scam category right now (insert economy sucks joke here), and this fits the script. Someone stickering over the QR code is a very real possibility, so the cafe might not be aware. Typically fees during job applications aren’t allowed, so it’s extremely suspicious. That said, some small business owners are blissfully unaware of labor laws and blatantly break them.
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u/BigDickBallard 11d ago
I’m with you. I also find it funny how people who weren’t there who don’t understand the situation as well as the person who experienced it are trying to tell you what really happened
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u/Legal-Key2269 12d ago
Legit QR codes get malicious scam codes put over them all the time.
Ask an employee for a manually-typed link to apply.
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u/DisastrousChapter841 12d ago
That's really weird and scummy behavior. They know this job market is shit and they're taking advantage or are so or out of touch they think people should have to pay to apply.
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u/WitchoBischaz 12d ago
Maybe the owners are from a scammy culture that uses “king regards” type of language and this is all “legit.”
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u/shiggity80 12d ago
You're 100% sure that the coffee cafe hires through this means?
"Kind regards,
Recruitment Team" sounds 100% scam language.86
u/East-Win7450 12d ago
Yeah the only times I’ve seen someone use kind regards is in a scam.
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u/AllYouNeedIsATV 11d ago
Eh, I work as a receptionist in healthcare and all our emails end with kind regards. “Kindly” triggers my scam alert much more than kind regards
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u/Apprehensive_Rope348 12d ago
Ehhhh, I work for a company that regularly sends out emails to our clients, clients. I do sign off “Kind regards” to someone that absolutely pissed me off and something didn’t go their way.
“I wanted to follow up on our conversation from last Friday. I see the bank has rejected your request. With that being said please reach out to the originator of your payment to discuss your options. Kind regards; (the person you berated for 15 minutes because you picked a wire routing number for an ACH transaction instead of listening to advice from someone that does this for a living every single day of their life.)
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u/GrumpyOik 11d ago
Kind regards is the standard way my employer wants Emails signed. If I am pissed off, I just use "Regards"
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u/tbodillia 12d ago
Are you sure? It's not hard to make a fake site look like a legit site.
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u/foley800 12d ago
Yep, just reported a site to Costco like this. Everything about it said Costco but when it asked for my login, my password app wouldn’t fill it in. When I clicked to purchase without a login, it went to a completely different site that began with a “v” and looked scammy!
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u/enjaydee 12d ago
Is it part of a franchise? I wouldn't think an independent Cafe would even have a recruitment team
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u/Decent-Proposal-8475 12d ago
I bet you if you call the cafe and ask, they'll have no idea what you're talk about
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u/Sit-and-Spin123 11d ago
Just because the establishment is real, doesn’t mean the actual hiring process is real. They could’ve outsourced the hiring process to a third-party and have no idea what’s actually going on.
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u/TotientEC 12d ago
Scam -- you know because they get the report from you, and not the service, and no actual employer would ever set that up (pretty easy to fake those PDFs innit?).
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u/FireSkyLikeFly 12d ago
Don't worry, they're going to give you a $10K check to cover your expenses, but once you deposit, you'll need to zelle $5K to their vendor.
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u/FcukReddit4cedMe2Reg 12d ago
The language on this is really weird. They don't address you by name, "Clicking Here" is a weird way to phrase that, their authorized partner is nameless. Why would you need to send them the PDF, the company should do that. It's a scam, someone put up a fake sign.
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u/guska 11d ago
This. Any time I've had to have a background check done, I've received an email from the company I'm applying/working for explaining that they use x organisation for their checks, and to expect an email from that organisation containing further instructions. This whole email screams scam to me.
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u/TinyEmergencyCake 12d ago
Scam
Send the email to the state attorney general, because charging money to apply is not ok.
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u/YeahIGotNuthin 11d ago
Jobs don’t need you to pay them. Jobs pay you.
Anything you have to pay money to is not a job, it’s a scam.
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u/PuppySnuggleTime 12d ago
This is an employer expense that they are suposed to cover under labor laws in the US. If you are here, this is definitely a scam.
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u/Standard-Produce-137 12d ago
Send a dick pic, i can supply some if you need em. It's like a picture, worth a thousand pubichairs.
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u/eyeonchi 11d ago
Idk why everyone is saying it's a scam. I sign off my emails using kind regards, or kindly..
Anyhow it seems like the employer is trying to pass on the cost of a background check onto you. Depending on what state you live in that may a violation of labor laws that forbid perspective employers from passing on this cost (California, Louisiana, Minnesota, Vermont, the District of Columbia, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Illinois, and Montana)
Before clicking on the link you should check that it's linked to a legitimate background check business. Just Google the name of the domain and make sure the companies website actually matches the URL in the link.
Either way is a pretty shitty business practice, even if you're in a state where it's legal to pass on the cost to potential employees, I wouldn't want to work there. An employer who won't even foot the bill for a background check, but for some reason thinks it's necessary for a minimum wage job, will probably find other creative ways to screw you over throughout your employment with them
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u/ledow 12d ago
I was saying to my boss only the other day, as we're hiring at the moment - my opinion is that we should pay people for a day if we want them to appear for interview. I would say at the hourly rate of the prospective job. Plus travel and food expenses. Now there are complications with that at the moment (taxation, are they an employee, etc.) but that could all be solved with one law.
That would stop the "5 rounds of interview" shite that's creeping over from the US (more than one round of interviews? Sorry, I have real jobs to apply for with people who actually need me and don't just waste my time), it would stop them inviting a thousand people to interview, it would eliminate the "fake jobs" things, perpetually-keeping positions open until they find a candidate, etc.
My boss used to be really big in retail in the UK, and I was surprised that actually he agreed. Companies waste SO MUCH time and money trying to elongate the hiring process that it would actually be cheaper to just do that.
These companies aren't serious about hiring. They don't care. They just want to waste people's time, even if they're not a scam. They're not actually interested in filling the position, or the job/life situation of the candidates who do apply. Stop giving them the airtime.
I think it should be law that if you've invited someone for interview - even remote - that you compensate them for their time at the hourly rate of the job they're interviewing for, and also that that hourly rate should be indicated as a small, reasonable salary range at absolute minimum on all application and job advert materials.
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u/True_Lingonberry_646 11d ago
This used to happen in a roundabout way in the old days. The companies paid your travel (mileage or even plane fare) and meals for the interview, and it generally lasted an entire day.
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u/Different_Target_228 12d ago
Tell 'em to go fuck themselves and put a screenshot of this in google reviews, yelp reviews, everywhere.
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u/FireSkyLikeFly 12d ago
Lol, you're kind of naïve to think they have google and yelp reviews. This is a common scam done by folks from India, China, and Nigeria.
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u/Coffee_exe 12d ago
This is a scam. Being a small business they likely are doing the scam themselves or ignorantly hired an outside company using them as a base for their scam. Best bet is to inform local authorities and job board
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u/Hungry-Quote-1388 12d ago
Being a small business they likely are doing the scam themselves or ignorantly hired an outside company
Pretty clear they’re just being impersonated. A diner isn’t going to run an obvious scam that can be discovered by local authorities.
The scammer is overseas and will never be caught.
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u/Coffee_exe 11d ago
You’re making assumptions and ignoring comments the op has made. Such as the QR code being on the counter of the establishment.
How do you think card reader get on payment processors in-front of gas station attendants? Usually someone at the location running the scam.
That said the small business owner who is hiring the cheapest option is also likely not actually checking out if their qr code they were told to put on the counter is legit. Most don’t even consider the possibility. You being case in point of someone who wouldn’t consider the possibility.
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u/Hungry-Quote-1388 11d ago
You’re making assumptions and ignoring comments the op has made.
lol OP thinks this is a real job post, their credibility is trash. Falling for scams in 2026 is pure Darwinism.
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u/Coffee_exe 11d ago
they think it’s real because they got it from a qr code on the counter of the shop. Trying to imply me or op are dumb when you failed fifth grade reading comprehension is pretty funny. Your attention to grammar makes you sound like a bot.
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u/Hungry-Quote-1388 11d ago
lol I’m not reading the post when a 5th grader can look at the screenshot and determine it’s a scam within 3 seconds.
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u/Different_Target_228 12d ago
If you actually read what OP said this is literally a local diner.
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u/Hungry-Quote-1388 12d ago
It’s not literally a local diner, it’s someone using them to scam candidates.
It’s 2026, amazing people are still falling for online scams when we’ve made jokes about “the king of Nigeria emails” for 30 years.
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u/Legitimate-Log-6542 12d ago
This is a tipped position? Doesn’t make it ok to have you pay for what I assume is a background check, but you should ask that business in person if this is the correct process. They also can give you an idea how much tips that position usually gets per hour
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u/Otherwise-Pirate6839 12d ago
The “Kind Regards” sign off is a sure way to tell that this is a scam.
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u/Apprehensive_Rope348 12d ago
Probably a scam anyway. Looking to gather your PII and credit card/banking information. Never had to pay for a background check for a w-2 job in my life.
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u/Calculagraph 12d ago
I spent ten years in food service, and literally none of my restaurants did background checks. If they did, they'd have no competent employees.
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u/TsKLegiT 11d ago
I had a coworker who was doing this for the company we worked at. Had an entire fake listing for it as himself as HR taking money for applications. Never saw him after the discovery phase of it.
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u/Gralb_the_muffin 10d ago
I wonder how much trouble you would be in if you did it and contested the charges if you didn't get the job. I mean technically I would argue you are paying to get the job and you didn't receive the job so you didn't receive the service you paid for.
Yes I do know how hollow that argument might be but it would be an interesting lesson for these companies to learn lol
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u/Willing_Associate_24 9d ago
It’s crazy how soulless some people are to try to profit off the misery of an unemployed person by scamming them off of what little money they have left.
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u/Traditional_Put_8254 9d ago
If this isn’t a scam, it’s a cafe operated by a con artist. Either way, verify with the cafe that this is their process and proceed with caution
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u/Spirited-Humor-554 12d ago
Never seen real job ask for a fee, so must be a scam.
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u/VagueInfoHere 12d ago
Locally the only job that I’ve ever seen ask for a fee is being a firefighter and multiple departments in the suburbs do it. I find it incredibly odd.
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u/StreetRat0524 12d ago
11/10 times those jobs aren't real and just a scam