The case:
1) (European) media production company with lots of world travelling. Duration of trips varies (majority is between 5-10 days). Crew size usually 2-4. Occasionally 5-9. Rarely 10+.
2) We are hired as freelancers meaning we have a daily rate which is very low (50-80 euros/per day. The country's minimum wage is 800€)
3) Work hours: always 8+. We get a 25% bonus to our daily rate IF we work more than 10 hours. We don't get paid extra if the trip happens to include a weekend or bank holidays and during long projects we might end up working 10 days straight without any break or weekend.
4) We share rooms and even beds. It's the exception to have your own room and it's only during long projects with a big crew. Lot of the times bad hotel rooms.
5) Food depends on the agreement with the client. In reality that usually means a very average buffet, McDonald's or whatever snacks can be found in the area (sandwiches, crisps etc.). Some people who are picky eaters complain a lot about the food. During our last project (see ex. below) food buffet was unacceptable according to some people and they would only dine out not taking the client's option. In that case we pay with the company's credit card and at the end of the trip we send the invoices with the extra spendings to the client. Occasionally some higher ups complain when we don't take the client's option and spend extra money.
6) Transportation is also arranged by the client which sometimes means using public transport carrying filming equipment.
Example of our latest business trip:
Crew size 17 people. It was 13 days straight (2 days of traveling, 3 days of building the set and setting up the gear and 8 days of filming/editing). The buffet most of the days was bad and full of fried food, we had to use public transport which meant 1:30 hours of trips every day and the working hours (for my team) were 10+ during the whole project but we only got the 25% bonus for the 8 days of the actual shooting. Truth was that there were many dead hours waiting for footage to arrive meaning that the actual work was around 4-5 hours. We couldn't use the waiting time as personal time as we didn't know when we would be needed so we just had to stay at the venue and wait. The only good thing was we had our own rooms this time and the breakfast was good.
Complaining all the time makes me feel like spoiled royalty sometimes and I'm wondering if there is any part of this I am being unfair. Can I have your honest unbiased opinion?
Also can you use some examples of what is and what is not okay? What is or isn't a justified request?