I am currently working a hospitality job in a hotel with shared spaces in a foreign country.
My “colleagues” and I found the job through a work exchange platform but we still have a (meager) salary and a contract. We live on the premises and we're all on a working holiday visa.
“Manager” is between quotation marks because they're not technically but they handle the recruiting of new slaves workers through the work exchange platform.
For the past month and a half I've been there, I have been treated quite poorly. Because I also struggle with finishing the cleaning on time (and the work distribution doesn't help), the “manager” and the actual one have made it very clear that they consider me a failure. I believe I have a very visible difference that also played a part but no proof about that.
My roommate has recently officialized their departure date. It seems like, as I would be staying a month longer than said roommate, the “manager” is now trying to befriend me. (My roommate told me they did the same thing with them a month prior.)
Just a week ago, “manager” wouldn't even look at me or address me, but now they gift me food and sit at the table I am seating at. They still look like being close to me disgusts them though. But, I am quite sensitive (specifically to people not liking me because of various traumatic things) and it makes my stomach churn to be close to them when they act this way.
I've managed to avoid them every time they tried to stay close to me, which kinda feels like payback though I never do it on purpose. Yet, somehow, I feel a bit guilty when I do.
The thing is, I will also be leaving a few days after my roommate does but management doesn't know it yet. I still have a few days left before I'm contractually obligated to tell them.
I plan(ned) on making an airtight exit plan before I do (date of departure, dates in the next place, date of my plane back home etc), because I know they're going to be upset with me (though they should be happy they will have one less month to pay me, the useless worker) and most likely try to guilt-trip me into staying and I feel guilty very easily.
But at this point, I might tell them earlier so the “manager” goes back to treating me like the dirt under their feet. Trying to avoid them and not feeling like I can just exist anywhere in the hotel is stressing me out.
To be fair, “manager” did say they stopped studying at university because “they didn't like working in group settings” so it's not surprising they exhibit such antisocial behavior (also includes talking behind some workers' backs to other workers).
This whole behavioral issue from the “manager” is only one of the several shitty things happening here, the biggest one being that the hotel only runs on short term cheap labor for the cleaning. It has no fixed cleaning staff.
We have a room on the 3rd floor I could go to but they took away the AC remote because some of my coworkers sometimes left it on during the night. Instead of talking to us, they just made the room unusable (insulation is non existent in that country, it's as cold inside as outside).
They also turned off the hot water when the hotel was closed for a few days (in the middle of winter), despite us living here and paying to do so. Our living space is disgusting, we only have one shower for 4 to 6 people and no private toilets. Everything is shared with the guests.
Speaking of the guests, they treat them like royalty while not trusting any of us. They let the guests inside the lobby hours before check-in time while we are cleaning it. And recently, they threatened to revoke our access to the shared kitchen because guests leave their dishes to dry, piling them up. “It looks bad,” management says, and simply assumes it's us doing it instead of the guests.
I personally believe this whole thing will eventually bite them in the ass (and hope for it (and I'm pretty sure my mom is also praying for it)). But it might already be starting, since they seem to have trouble finding fresh meat – they already asked two of the workers to stay longer as it would only be me (ah!) and another person for a whole month.
I don't think there's anything anyone can do but I just needed to vent it out. I've been feeling very uncomfortable since I noticed that behavior and I'm getting really anxious about announcing I'm leaving. (But I'm planning a lot of fun stuff for my last months and it kinda helps.)