I live in a state with virtually no worker rights protection laws so every job i've had i'm always taken advantage of and theres basically nothing i can do about it. And today I just got the tip that i'm going to be forced to do extra work for basically nothing.
I work at a resort as a housekeeper and i am being forced to live off of 14 an hour for labor intensive work. Bit of a tangent, but i was paid 13 for almost the whole year because my old boss screwed me over. She hired me at 14 but the system was only paying me 13. So imagine my shock (which i really shouldnt have been surprised) when i got my first pay stub… And i was being paid a dollar less than i was promised. And yeah, i could have made a fuss about it, and i tried. I just didn't scream loud enough. Because when i confronted her about it she straight up didn't change anything and told me “well, i guess that's what you're getting.” And being raised as a doormat i just bit my tongue and dealt with it. It eventually was fixed though by my new boss, albeit begrudgingly.
Anyway…
This isnt just a hotel. Its boujie “cabins” that are bigger than my parents house (plus a smaller building with suites). We are understaffed, disrespected, and horrifically underpaid for the bullcrap that we have to put up with. I've tried to quit but the job market in my area is abhorrent. So for the past year i've basically had to choose between taking a job that pays way less and a job that pays me slightly more. Rich people will have weddings here because its a scenic place and EVERY TIME property is destroyed and things are always absolutely trashed. Fellow housekeepers, i guarentee, can relate when i say that you see the worst sides of people whenever you have to clean up after them.
We also do our own laundry, theres no staff specifically for laundry. So on top of all the crap we have to repair (bc the repair people dont do shit and we housekeepers get yelled at if things are unsightly) and clean we also have to wash linnens (and by the way, we have a shortage and the big boss is a stingy asshole who wont let us buy more.) the linnens issue and the repairing is a whole other can of worms. But yeah, the work load is intense. And for cabins that are not within walking distance we have to use our own personal vehicles to get there to clean them (and my commute to work is already 45 minutes one way. The work location is rural.) even though the company has a work truck they REFUSE to let us use it. And no, we don't get reimbursed for driving all over the place.
So for a little more context, this place is surrounded by rich people who own properties and boujie cabins and sometimes they'll commission my workplace to rent out their houses in the winter and us housekeepers have to maintain them. (I should mention there are only three of us.) One of these people is this woman who's friends with the resort owner. And last winter she and her husband went to their property in Georgia and had the resort rent out and manage their big house. Then, this spring, they came back and took it off the board so we're no longer responsible for maintaining it or renting it. So it's considered an independent property now.
This woman goes to the owner and offers 150 dollars a month for us housekeepers to clean her cabin regularly and thats not 150 per person, its 150 total that then gets split 3 ways. Its not like its once a month.. its several times a month. For like 25 dollars per person per month. for 3 extra hours like once a week, and we can't be clocked in to do it since its “independant.” And i'm debating on refusing to do it since it's going to get super busy soon and we literally wont have time to deal with it unless it's before or after work hours. It takes 3 hours for 3 people to clean that house. I've had to clean it on my own before and it takes like 3/4 of a work day. And she is only going to pay 150 a MONTH and somehow big boss man sees no problem with it.
I've had bad experiences with past jobs and i am afraid to stand up for myself. I am a doormat, i am seriously trying to break out of that funk, but it's hard because i don't want to get fired (even though i hate my job) because if i do i will have to take a worse job that pays less, i'll have to move out of my apartment and back with my parents or get a roommate or two. I've been fired from places for less… Thats also a whole other thing that i shouldnt get into in this post. Im just stuck and angry. And i have been building up the backbone to ask for a raise but i'm almost certain they'll deny me since my pay just got fixed recently.
I just wanted to put this here because it's absurd in my opinion. If she wants to pay us to clean her house, we should put it on our board and treat it like a resort property and get paid (albeit badly but better than what shes offering) for it.
Im not going to spend 12 to 15 hours a month extra to clean a big house for 25 dollars total. No way…