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Ridiculous! Do you have to pay a deposit before taking up a job during the summer vacation in a cafe?!

Published: 2026-05-16 Author:

Last Updated: 2026/05/16, ▲ Click to pay attention| Daily Boutique Coffee Culture Magazine Coffee Workshop recently reported by Guangdong Today that 14 students of different ages went to a local coffee shop in Meicheng, Meizhou to apply for summer jobs. As a result, they were charged a deposit by the owner before they could go to work to earn pocket money. Students told reporters that they were in social affairs

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Recently, Guangdong reported that 14 students of different ages in Meicheng, Meizhou, applied for summer jobs in a local coffee shop. As a result, they did not go to work to earn pocket money, but were first charged by the shopkeeper for a deposit.

The students told reporters that they saw a job advertisement for a coffee shop in Jiangbei, Meicheng, on a social platform. The copywriter mentioned that the working environment and pay in the coffee shop were not bad, and were willing to recruit short-term workers, so the students contacted the coffee shop owner through Wechat, hoping to get the job.

Xiao Chen, a sophomore who first applied for the job, said that after further communication with her boss, she learned that the store offered two different jobs: a shop assistant and a life assistant. After applying for the job as a shop assistant, Xiao Chen and others did not come with the work arrangement, but the rigid conditions that the boss sent him to pay a deposit.

Xiao Chen said that at first, the boss said that the deposit for short-term workers was different from that for long-term workers, which was 300 yuan and 500 yuan respectively, so she said she paid a deposit of 300 yuan first, and the other party agreed at first, but then many people wanted the job opportunity. If Xiao Chen can't pay a deposit of 500 yuan, she can't come to work. In the end, she paid a total of 1500 yuan.

Several other students who recently applied for jobs in coffee shops said they were required to pay a deposit of varying amounts, ranging from 500 yuan to 1500 yuan, before taking up the job. Because they don't want to lose their suitable jobs, the students all pay according to the requirements of the boss. Unexpectedly, only 3 of the 14 students worked for a short period of two or three days, and most of them did not even attend a day's work.

Later, when the students learned the negative news about the coffee shop on the online platform, they contacted the boss and asked them to return the deposit they had paid. However, judging from their chat records and feedback with the boss, the other side did not say directly that they would not return it, but put off for various reasons and repeatedly delayed the refund of the deposit.

Students who did not have a job and paid in advance, who felt that their rights and interests of cooperation were damaged, chose to call the police for help and went to the comprehensive law enforcement brigade of labor security supervision in Meijiang District for help. The reporter who reported the incident visited what the students called the coffee shop. Although the door was open, the shop was empty and the items were disorderly.

The reporter tried to dial the phone number of the boss provided by the students, but did not get through. Later, the reporter asked the other side through the information about the details of the refund of the deposit, and the reply from the other party was being processed.

Subsequently, the reporter learned from the law enforcement brigade that as of the morning of July 11, more than 40 people had come to register deposits in arrears, with amounts ranging from a few hundred yuan to thousands of yuan. Among these people are junior high school students, senior high school students and college students, as well as social youth who have just graduated.

After the incident, the law enforcement brigade contacted the person in charge of the cafe, asked someone to coordinate at the police station, and educated the person, asking her to return the deposit to the applicant in the near future.

Staff remind that whether it is students looking for summer jobs or social workers looking for jobs, it is illegal for employers to collect job deposits. As long as they encounter this kind of behavior, candidates can just leave. Candidates are also advised to look for jobs through formal channels and not to trust recruitment information on social platforms.

Picture from: Internet

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