Complaint Review: Neil Stein

Not a happy camper with this company and owner.  I was hired in as a Graphic Designer as his previous designer left for another job.  I was supposed to work part time 2-3 hours 3x a week.  He constantly thought I was on-call and would call me in a panic every day asking me to come in but didn't want to give me additional hours. 

Neil tried to get me to go a 'salary' basis and when I refused to accept that, he started screaming at me at how his business was going under and he needed a 'competent' designer that could make film for him (which I can do, of course).  He didn't want me touching the cameras or film supplies - he just wanted me to magically come up with concepts for his customers on a freebie basis. 

His sales person got the customers, but could never competently describe what it was that the customer wanted.  When I tried to call customers, I was yelled at that I was to NEVER call the customer.  Yet the customers were severely disappointed when they saw their proofs because it wasn't what they wanted.

After 2 weeks of this, I sat Neil Stein down and told him I couldn't work under these conditions.  There were roaches crawling all over my desk, spills everywhere on the equipment, and a general mess that you would only expect from a greasy, ripoff car mechanic.  At this point, he hadn't paid me for the first week (telling me there was a one-week drag, standard for payroll).  Then he told me he wasn't paying me as an employee, that he was paying me as an independent contractor.

I told him he needed to pay me and find someone else.  After 2 weeks of work and over 50 hours - I still haven't gotten paid - since 2010.  Designers beware!