When Hugh Honey was taken on last week as an apprentice on minimum wage, he thought he’d learn the ropes starting off with concrete mixing and brick laying. Within two hours, he was on the phone calling families asking them to transfer $200,000 if they want their home completed. 

As mass layoffs sweep through Australia’s construction industry amid the current raw materials crisis, building companies are turning to apprentices to fill the boots of more experienced staff that have been let go in an effort to reduce operating expenses. 

For Honey, it’s been baptism by abuse where people who thought they were going to be first time homeowners, have been unloading on him.

“There seems to be a fair bit of heat from customers at the moment but when I applied for an apprenticeship, I was told by everyone it would entail a few hard yards that would help build my character,” said Honey. 

“On my first day, I think I ruined the dreams of about 50 families, and I think there’s 30 lawsuits that are going to be filed against me if everyone follows through with their threats.

“I can’t really afford a lawyer and don’t really know why everyone is blaming me but my boss seems stoked with the amount of calls I’m getting through. Once I finish the list, I’ve just got to call Brazil to negotiate a better price on timber. None of this was on the job description but I suppose we gotta just lift extra weight to avoid being fired.” 

After knocking off at 3am that following morning, Honey was pleasantly surprised to see he had $600k in his bank account. No one told him he was meant to give customers the Company’s account details. 

He has not been heard from in three weeks.