My $0 Paycheck

Today I received the above paycheck. That’s right, $0! It was a long story, but I would make it short.

When filling out my 401(k) form, I checked the box to have 100% of the maximum allowed amount or something like that deducted from my paycheck. Since the legal amount was $15,500 per year, 100% meant $15,500 / 24 = $650. Having $650 deducted from each paycheck, I figured, was bearable.

Well, at least that was how it worked at all the companies I had worked for in the past.

After I turned in my 401(k) form, I got several urgent emails from the HR department questioning my decision, “Because you have elected to have 100% of your salary to be deducted for 401(k) [...], I need you to confirm that this is exactly your intentions.“

I continued being oblivious and reading it the way I wanted and replied them with a firm “Yes”. Meanwhile, I was wondering which part of “Yes” the HR department didn’t understand.

Until I got the above paycheck, then everything was illuminated.

So they didn’t mean “100% of the maximum allowed amount per paycheck”, but “100% of the paycheck”!

And I had thought that McDonald’s paid nothing!