Twenty-two things decide whether a Chennai part-time job is worth your Saturday, and all twenty-two can be settled in one phone call: who is actually calling, the shop's name, the full address, the person you report to on site, the role, the real tasks, the dates, the reporting time, the finishing time and what happens if it overruns, breaks, total pay, how that pay is calculated, extra hours, the payment date, the payment method, any deduction, whether you are an employee or on a per-shift contract, whether anything comes in writing, any cover they claim, the dress code and who pays for the uniform, whether any money is payable by you, which documents to bring and in what form, whether anything of yours is retained, transport at the end, and what happens if either side cancels.
Velai accept panna munadi enna kekkanum? Those. In whichever language is comfortable. Then send every answer back in one message and ask the person to reply confirming it.
That last step is the one people skip, and it is the only one that survives a dispute. A call is a memory. A confirmed message is a record.
This page is only the dialogue: the exact lines, in English, Tanglish and Tamil, and what a straight answer sounds like. The wider pattern-recognition question, how a fake offer is built and what it looks like from the outside, sits in the Chennai part-time scam patterns hub and stays there.
Five asks that decide whether the rest of the call is worth having
If the caller is in a hurry, or you are standing at a bus stop, cut to these:
- Shop peru enna, address full-a sollunga. A name plus an address you can open in a map. Vagueness here predicts vagueness everywhere else.
- Ethanai manikku start, ethanai manikku mudiyum? Not "evening shift". Two clock times.
- Total ethana rupees, adhu hour-a shift-a? The number and the basis, together.
- Panam enna date ku, epdi varum? A date and a method.
- Naan edhaavadhu munnadi kattanuma? If the answer is anything other than a flat no, stop and verify before you go further.
Everything else in this page is detail on top of those five. If those five come back clean and specific, keep going.
The full script, grouped by what each line pins down
Read down the first column to find what you are trying to establish. Say whichever of the other two columns fits the call.
Who is calling, and where you are going
| What you are pinning down | Tanglish you can say | Tamil |
|---|---|---|
| The business name as it appears on the shop | "Kadai peru enna? Advertisement-la irukkura peru thaan-a?" | "கடையின் பெயர் என்ன? விளம்பரத்தில் இருக்கும் பெயர்தானா?" |
| The full address with a landmark | "Full address landmark-oda sollunga, naan map-la paathukkiren." | "முழு முகவரியை அடையாளத்துடன் சொல்லுங்கள், நான் வரைபடத்தில் பார்த்துக்கொள்கிறேன்." |
| Whether the caller is the business or a middleman | "Neenga kadai-la irundhu pesureengala, illa agency-a?" | "நீங்கள் கடையிலிருந்து பேசுகிறீர்களா, அல்லது ஏஜென்சியிலிருந்தா?" |
| The person you report to on site | "Anga poi yaara paakkanum? Avanga peru-um number-um sollunga." | "அங்கு போய் யாரைப் பார்க்க வேண்டும்? அவர்களுடைய பெயரையும் எண்ணையும் சொல்லுங்கள்." |
A listing that names a large brand does not prove that brand is hiring you. Agencies, staffing firms and onboarding partners are legitimate intermediaries and they are also the point at which the paperwork trail usually goes thin, so the third question above is worth asking even when the answer sounds obvious.
What you will do, and when
| What you are pinning down | Tanglish you can say | Tamil |
|---|---|---|
| The role and the actual tasks | "Vela enna-nu exact-a sollunga. Enna enna panna vendiyirukkum?" | "வேலை என்ன என்று சரியாகச் சொல்லுங்கள். என்னென்ன செய்ய வேண்டியிருக்கும்?" |
| The date, and whether it repeats | "Enna date-ku varanum? Oru naal maddum-a, illa thodarndhu-a?" | "எந்தத் தேதிக்கு வர வேண்டும்? ஒரு நாள் மட்டுமா, அல்லது தொடர்ந்தா?" |
| Reporting time versus paid start time | "Ethanai manikku report panna? Report time-um pay start-um onnu thaana?" | "எத்தனை மணிக்கு வர வேண்டும்? வந்து சேரும் நேரமும் ஊதியம் தொடங்கும் நேரமும் ஒன்றுதானா?" |
| Finishing time, and what overruns | "Ethanai manikku mudiyum? Adhukku appuram niruthina, adhu epdi?" | "எத்தனை மணிக்கு முடியும்? அதற்குப் பிறகு தங்க வேண்டியிருந்தால் என்ன?" |
| Breaks, and whether they are paid | "Idaiyila break irukka? Adhu pay-la serumaa?" | "இடையில் இடைவேளை உண்டா? அது ஊதியத்தில் சேருமா?" |
Reporting time and paid start time being different is not usually a trick. Setup exists in retail, catering and event work. It becomes a problem only when nobody tells you, and you find out at the end of the month that thirty unpaid minutes a day were assumed.
The money
| What you are pinning down | Tanglish you can say | Tamil |
|---|---|---|
| Total pay and its basis | "Total ethana rupees? Adhu per hour-a, per shift-a, illa per piece-a?" | "மொத்தம் எவ்வளவு ரூபாய்? அது மணிக்கணக்கிலா, ஷிப்ட் கணக்கிலா, அல்லது எண்ணிக்கை கணக்கிலா?" |
| Extra hours | "Shift over aana appuram niruthina, adhukku thaniya pay panneengala?" | "நேரம் முடிந்த பிறகும் தங்க வேண்டியிருந்தால், அதற்குத் தனியாக ஊதியம் உண்டா?" |
| Payment date and method | "Panam enna date-ku, epdi varum? Cash-a, bank-a, UPI-a?" | "பணம் எந்தத் தேதியில், எப்படி வரும்? பணமாகவா, வங்கிக் கணக்கிலா, UPI-லா?" |
| Deductions of any kind | "Edhaavadhu pidithram irukka? Uniform, saapadu, late-nu edhaachum cut panneengala?" | "ஏதேனும் பிடித்தம் உண்டா? சீருடை, சாப்பாடு, தாமதம் என்று எதற்காவது கழிப்பீர்களா?" |
Ask the deduction question even when nothing suggests one. It is the question that most often produces a pause, and the pause is the information.
Your status, and the conditions
| What you are pinning down | Tanglish you can say | Tamil |
|---|---|---|
| Employee or per-shift contract | "Idhu employee-a serthukkurathaa, illa per-shift contract basis-aa?" | "இது ஊழியராகச் சேர்ப்பதா, அல்லது ஒவ்வொரு ஷிப்ட் அடிப்படையிலான ஒப்பந்தமா?" |
| Anything in writing | "Appointment letter illa ezhuthula edhaachum kudupeengala?" | "நியமனக் கடிதம் அல்லது எழுத்துப்பூர்வமாக ஏதேனும் தருவீர்களா?" |
| Cover, only if they raise it | "Vela nerathula edhaachum aachina cover irukka? Irundha adhu ezhuthula kaattunga." | "வேலை நேரத்தில் ஏதேனும் நடந்தால் காப்பீடு உண்டா? இருந்தால் அதை எழுத்தில் காட்டுங்கள்." |
| Dress, and who pays for it | "Enna dress-la varanum? Uniform neenga kudupeengala, illa naan vaangikanuma?" | "என்ன உடையில் வர வேண்டும்? சீருடை நீங்கள் தருவீர்களா, நானே வாங்க வேண்டுமா?" |
| Whether any money is payable by you | "Naan munnadi edhaavadhu kattanuma? Registration, deposit, training-nu edhaachum?" | "நான் முன்கூட்டியே ஏதேனும் கட்ட வேண்டுமா? பதிவு, முன்பணம், பயிற்சி என்று ஏதாவது?" |
Do not ask whether the work is insured in a way that invites a reassuring yes. Ask them to state what the cover is and to show it in writing. Silence is a real answer, and a vague "everything is there" is not.
Documents, and the exit
| What you are pinning down | Tanglish you can say | Tamil |
|---|---|---|
| Which documents, and in what form | "Enna document konduvaranum? Original venuma, photocopy podhuma?" | "என்ன ஆவணங்கள் கொண்டுவர வேண்டும்? அசல் வேண்டுமா, நகல் போதுமா?" |
| Whether anything is retained | "Original-a neenga vechukka maateenga la?" | "அசல் ஆவணத்தை நீங்கள் வைத்துக்கொள்ள மாட்டீர்கள் அல்லவா?" |
| Getting home after the finish time | "Mudiyara neram-ku appuram bus illa train kidaikkuma? Drop irukka?" | "வேலை முடியும் நேரத்திற்குப் பிறகு பேருந்து அல்லது ரயில் கிடைக்குமா? வாகன வசதி உண்டா?" |
| Cancellation, both directions | "Kadaisi nerathula cancel aana enna aagum? Naan varamudiyalaina ethana neram munnadi sollanum?" | "கடைசி நேரத்தில் ரத்தானால் என்ன செய்வீர்கள்? என்னால் வர முடியாவிட்டால் எத்தனை மணி நேரம் முன்பு சொல்ல வேண்டும்?" |
How to read the advertisement that got you here
Very little of the list above appears in the advertisement itself, which is the whole reason this page is a script and not a checklist of things to look for. A poster has room for a role, a phone number and sometimes a figure. A listing card on a job app has whatever fields that platform decided to collect. A WhatsApp forward has whatever survived being forwarded. None of those formats has a box for "is the break paid" or "who keeps your original", so the terms live in the call whether anyone intends that or not.
Which items go missing most often in Chennai advertising is a measurable thing, and we have not measured it, so this section does not tell you what to expect. It tells you how to read what is actually in front of you.
Most of the phrases you will meet are doing less work than they appear to. Each one settles something narrow and leaves the expensive part open.
| What the ad says | What it actually settles | What it leaves for you to ask |
|---|---|---|
| "Immediate joining" | That they want someone soon | The date, and two clock times. Urgency is not a schedule |
| "Daily payment" / "daily cash" | A frequency | The payment date, the method, and whether the first shift is treated differently from the rest |
| A pay figure with no unit next to it | A number | Per hour, per shift or per piece. A figure without a basis is not yet a rate |
| "Freshers welcome, no experience" | Who may apply | What the tasks physically are. Eligibility language says nothing about the work |
| "Part-time", "flexible timings" | A category | Reporting time versus paid start, the finishing time, the break, and what happens on an overrun |
| A brand name in the ad | Who the work may be for | Who is hiring you, who pays you, and whether the caller is the shop or an agency |
| A document list | What to carry | Whether copies are enough, and whether anything of yours is retained |
| "Registration", "joining formalities", "refundable deposit" | Nothing yet | Whether any money is payable by you. This is the one phrase on this list that should change what you do next |
Then do the part that takes two minutes and saves the afternoon. Open whatever you are searching on, put the twenty-two items in a note on your phone, and for each listing you are seriously considering, tick the ones the advertisement already answers. Whatever is left unticked is your call agenda, in order, before you dial. You will usually find that the ad has settled the role and the area and almost nothing about money, status or the exit.
One limit is worth holding onto while you do this. An advertisement is evidence of its own displayed language and nothing else. It does not prove that a vacancy is open, that the person who answers the number is who the ad implies, that anyone has actually been hired on those terms, or that anyone has been paid the figure shown. That is not cynicism about advertising. It is just what an advertisement is, and it is why the call exists.
Until you have asked, treat every one of the twenty-two as a line you have to say out loud, rather than assuming the obvious ones were already covered.
A two-minute call, written down
The exchange below is a constructed illustration, not a transcript of a real call, and the shop, the person and the amount are all blank on purpose. Picture a supermarket on the MTH Road side of Avadi, a Saturday, a number off a poster near the bus terminus.
You: Sir, poster paathu call panren. Kadai peru enna, address enna?
Them: [Name of the store], MTH Road, near the signal.
You: Neenga kadai-la irundhu pesureengala, illa agency-a?
Them: Store manager thaan.
You: Vela enna? Enna enna panna vendiyirukkum?
Them: Billing counter helper. Rack arrange pannanum, customer-ku help pannanum.
You: Enna date, ethanai manikku, ethanai manikku mudiyum?
Them: Saturday, 10 to 8.
You: Report time 10 thaana, illa 9.45-ku vanthu setup pannanum-a? Idaiyila break?
Them: 9.45 vandhudunga. One hour lunch break.
You: Break pay-la serumaa? Total ethana rupees, adhu hour-a shift-a?
Them: Shift-ku [amount]. Break paid illa.
You: Panam enna date-ku, epdi varum? Edhaachum pidithram irukka?
Them: Monday, UPI. Pidithram edhuvum illa.
You: Anga poi yaara paakkanum? Naan edhaavadhu kattanuma?
Them: Kumar-a paarunga. Kattanum-nu edhuvum illa.
You: Sari sir. Naan ippo ellathaiyum WhatsApp-la anuppuren, neenga confirm pannunga.
Under two minutes, and you have something to write down. Not one of those lines is confrontational; you are asking a shop manager for the details of a shift, which is an ordinary thing to do. Most people answer without blinking. The ones who get annoyed at the fourth question have told you something.
The one message that turns a conversation into a record
Send this immediately after the call, before the details blur. Fill the brackets, delete nothing.
English Thank you for the call. Confirming what we discussed: Business: [name]. Address: [full address]. Date: [date]. Report at [time]. Finish at [time]. Break: [duration], [paid / unpaid]. Work: [tasks]. Pay: ₹[amount] [per hour / per shift / per piece]. Paid on [date] by [cash / bank transfer / UPI]. Deductions: [none / list]. I report to: [name], [number]. No amount is payable by me for this work. Please reply "confirmed" if this is correct.
Tanglish Sir/Madam, call-ku nandri. Naanga pesinathu: Kadai: [peru]. Address: [full address]. Date: [date]. Report [time]. Mudiyum [time]. Break [duration], [paid / unpaid]. Vela: [tasks]. Pay ₹[amount] [per hour / per shift]. [date] anniku [cash / bank / UPI] la. Pidithram: [illai / list]. Naan [name], [number] va paakkanum. Naan edhuvum kattamaatten. Sari-na "confirm" nu reply pannunga.
Tamil அழைப்பிற்கு நன்றி. நாம் பேசியதை உறுதிப்படுத்துகிறேன்: கடை: [பெயர்]. முகவரி: [முழு முகவரி]. தேதி: [தேதி]. வர வேண்டிய நேரம்: [நேரம்]. முடியும் நேரம்: [நேரம்]. இடைவேளை: [நேரம்], [ஊதியத்துடன் / ஊதியம் இல்லாமல்]. வேலை: [பணிகள்]. ஊதியம்: ₹[தொகை] [மணிக்கு / ஷிப்டுக்கு]. [தேதி] அன்று [பணமாக / வங்கி / UPI] மூலம். பிடித்தம்: [இல்லை / விவரம்]. நான் [பெயர்], [எண்] அவர்களைப் பார்க்க வேண்டும். இந்த வேலைக்காக நான் எந்தத் தொகையும் செலுத்த மாட்டேன். சரியென்றால் "confirm" என்று பதில் அனுப்பவும்.
Keep the reply. Screenshot it. If the shift goes fine, you have wasted thirty seconds. If it does not, you have the only version of the agreement that exists outside two people's memories.
What your answers are actually worth in law
This is where the status question earns its place, because the answer to it decides which of the following paragraphs applies to you at all.
The Government made the four labour codes effective from 21 November 2025, rationalising 29 existing central labour laws. One of the changes announced in that release is the move from no mandatory appointment letters to mandatory appointment letters for all workers. In the statute, section 6(1)(f) of the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 requires the employer of an establishment to "issue a letter of appointment to every employee on his appointment in the establishment", and section 6(1)(g) of the same Code says no charge shall be levied on an employee for anything done or provided for maintenance of safety and health at the workplace, including medical examination.
If the answer is "employee". The Code on Wages, 2019 does most of the work here. Section 16 says the employer fixes the wage period as daily, weekly, fortnightly or monthly, and no wage period may exceed one month. Section 17(1) sets when the money falls due: daily-basis work at the end of the shift, weekly work on the last working day of the week before the weekly holiday, fortnightly work before the end of the second day after the fortnight, and monthly work before the seventh day of the following month. Section 17(2) covers the ending: if you are removed, dismissed, retrenched or you resign, wages are payable within two working days.
Deductions are not open-ended either. Section 18 permits no deductions except those authorised under the Code, and its Explanation treats "any payment made by an employee to the employer or his agent" as a deduction from wages. Section 18(3) caps total deductions in any wage period at fifty per cent. Under section 19, a fine may only be imposed for acts specified by notice with the previous approval of the appropriate Government, the notice must be exhibited on the premises, you must be given an opportunity to show cause, and the total in one wage period cannot exceed three per cent of your wages for that period. Section 50 requires the employer to display a notice board carrying category-wise wage rates, the wage period, the day or date and time of payment of wages, and the name and address of the Inspector-cum-Facilitator, and to issue wage slips.
Tamil Nadu has its own layer. The Tamil Nadu Shops and Establishments Act, 1947 regulates conditions of work in shops, commercial establishments, restaurants and theatres, and it too fixes a wage period of not more than one month (section 30), requires wages before the expiry of the fifth day after the last day of the wage period (section 32(1)), requires wages on termination before the expiry of the second working day (section 32(2)), requires all payments of wages to be made on a working day (section 32(4)), and entitles a person required to work overtime to wages at twice the ordinary rate (section 31). How the state Act and the new central codes sit together for a particular shop is a question for a labour lawyer, and this page does not answer it.
If the answer is "per-shift contract" or "platform work". Then most of the paragraphs above are not describing your arrangement. The Code on Social Security, 2020 defines a gig worker at section 2(35) as "a person who performs work or participates in a work arrangement and earns from such activities outside of traditional employer-employee relationship", and defines platform work at section 2(60) as a work arrangement outside a traditional employer-employee relationship in which organisations or individuals use an online platform to access others to provide specific services in exchange for payment. The same PIB release describes social security coverage being extended to gig and platform workers under that Code. That is a scheme-based route, and it is a different thing from the wage-timing and deduction rules above.
If you work in the unorganised sector, registration on e-Shram, the National Database of Unorganised Workers, gives a permanent twelve-digit Universal Account Number. The portal's own FAQ defines an unorganised worker as a home-based worker, self-employed worker or wage worker in the unorganised sector who is not a member of ESIC or EPFO.
None of this guarantees you will be paid, and none of it turns a WhatsApp message into a contract on its own. It changes what you can point at when a conversation goes wrong.
Things that never go into a WhatsApp thread
Verifying a job and handing over your identity are two different acts, and the second one should never happen first.
- No OTP. No UPI PIN. No bank PIN. Ever, to anyone, including a person who says they are the employer or the agency. There is no onboarding step in any legitimate arrangement that needs them.
- No original documents left as a deposit. An employer may need to see an ID. Nobody needs to keep yours until the shift ends.
- Prefer a masked Aadhaar copy where an Aadhaar copy is genuinely required. UIDAI describes masked Aadhaar as "replacing of first 8 digits of Aadhaar number with 'xxxx-xxxx' while only last 4 digits of the Aadhaar Number are visible".
- No document at all before the shop, address and reporting person are confirmed. Which documents are reasonable to carry in the first place is covered in the documents guide for Chennai part-time work, and what to share once you are actually on a shift is in the location and data-sharing guide.
- Nothing paid to an individual's personal account. A stated cost is not automatic proof of fraud: some independent-partner models do publish official kit, deposit or commission terms. It is a trigger to check the exact official written term, the amount, whether it is refundable, and who the named recipient is. The specific shapes this takes in Chennai hiring are set out in registration-fee and fake-offer red flags.
If money has already left your account, report it through the Government of India's National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal.
When the answers stop coming
Say you did all of this, worked the shift, and the payment date passed.
If you were engaged as an employee, the Code on Wages provides a claims route. Section 45 lets the appropriate Government appoint authorities to hear and determine claims under the Code. An application may be filed by the employee, by a registered trade union of which the employee is a member, or by the Inspector-cum-Facilitator. It may be filed within three years of the date the claim arises, the authority may order compensation of up to ten times the claim determined, and the authority is to endeavour to decide the claim within three months. That is the section number worth writing down before you need it.
The other thing worth knowing is that section 50's notice board is real. A shop covered by the Code is supposed to have the wage rates, the wage period and the day and time of payment displayed on the premises. If you are standing in the shop and being told something different from what is on that board, you are not imagining the gap.
An aside that will not help everyone: the single most useful minute in this whole process is often the walk past the shop the day before. Half the addresses that sound fine on a call resolve themselves the moment you see the shutter.
Where Hustl sits while you are doing this
Hustl publishes this page, which makes us an interested party. Read the script as a script, not as an argument for us.
Hustl is live in public beta in Chennai, with activity concentrated in Avadi and Velachery. We are not claiming that the specific roles or shift types described on this page are currently available on Hustl. Availability varies, and the only honest answer about what is open near you on a given day is whatever the app shows at the time.
What is worth saying here is what happens to the twenty-two items on a marketplace, because it changes the act without changing the list. Most of them stop being questions you ask and become fields you read before you commit. The app shows the pay, the timing, the location and the tasks before you book, which covers the money, the schedule and the role. Worker and business signup are open to anyone aged 18 and above in India, and the Hustl team verifies every account and its documents manually before it goes live, which is a real review by a person rather than an outside provider or an automatic check. Verified Partners post real shifts, and during the beta they post using free beta credits.
The attendance and payment items work like this. You check in by scanning the Partner's rotating QR code, with location recorded when your phone supplies it, and you check out with the Partner's rotating six-digit OTP. Partner and admin overrides exist as fallbacks, and they are recorded separately and carry different evidence. When the shift is complete and you have submitted your shift rating, you are paid to your linked UPI ID within minutes.* Hustl is a technology marketplace and intermediary, Hustlers are independent contractors, and the web apps are the current surfaces, with native iOS and Android apps arriving with our first stable release.
Two of the twenty-two do not get easier on any platform. Nobody can read the exit or the cancellation terms for you, and the rule about never sending an OTP or a PIN to anyone in a chat does not change at all. If you are weighing up an app you have not used before, the separate question of how to check whether a gig app is legitimate is worth working through first.
Questions people actually ask before their first shift
Velai accept panna munadi enna kekkanum? The twenty-two items at the top of this page, in that order, ending with the confirmation message. If the call is short, the five in the second section.
Can I ask for an appointment letter for a part-time shift? You can ask. Section 6(1)(f) of the OSH Code, 2020 requires the employer of an establishment to issue a letter of appointment to every employee, and the four labour codes were made effective from 21 November 2025. Whether the arrangement in front of you makes you an employee is what the status question is for.
Payment date epdi confirm panrathu? Ask for the date and the method together, then write both into the confirmation message. If you are an employee, the Code on Wages fixes when wages fall due by wage period: end of shift for daily work, the last working day before the weekly holiday for weekly work, the second day after the fortnight for fortnightly work, and the seventh of the following month for monthly work.
Should I send my Aadhaar copy on WhatsApp before the shift? No document goes anywhere before you have confirmed the shop, the address and the reporting person. Where a copy is genuinely required, use the masked version UIDAI describes, and never send an OTP or a PIN to anyone.
What if they refuse to put anything in writing? You are asking someone to repeat what they already said out loud. A refusal is information. You can still turn up, but you go in knowing that nothing about pay, timing or deductions exists anywhere except in your memory. If this is your first part-time search in the city, the wider Tanglish walkthrough is in the part time velai student guide.
* Hustl is in public beta and the payment gateway is not integrated yet, so each payout is released by our team rather than automatically. It is usually under 2 minutes, typically 2-5 minutes, and no more than 10 minutes after you complete your shift and submit your rating.