Hi, everyone. Sorry if this is not the community to post this in. I think this is actually my first Reddit post 🙂 So, please delete if this is the wrong place.
I work for a major retailer. My corporate building/warehouse (yes, where many of your orders are packaged and shipped. Yes, I have received customer complaints about roaches being INSIDE their products) has a roach and cricket infestation on all 3 floors, water-damaged ceilings that are rotting out, sewage gas leaks in some bathrooms, toilets that hang half-off the walls, broken toilets and sinks, and I honestly wouldn't be surprised if there were a bunch of mold spores. We have no windows. My department's floor reeks of a fishy smell almost every day (though my suspicion is this smell originates from certain “shower-phobic” coworkers). When these issues are reported to management and maintenance, they're brushed off, nothing gets fixed. Last time I reported the roaches, I was told “oh, they sprayed last week. They're just crawling out to run away.” But it's been several weeks later and I've still seen roaches, both “waterbugs” and what I believe to be German roaches (small and light brown). This infestation has been going on since last summer as far as I'm aware. I do live in a hot, southern state where roaches are found everywhere it seems, but it doesn't seem right or safe for this to go unchecked.
I'm not the only one who has reported feeling sick at work, headaches and allergy symptoms (likely due to mold/dust/who knows what else). The fact that they have let go of our third-party cleaning service this week says a lot. Now they want us to “clean up after ourselves” and take out our own trash (to where, I don't know. There are no dumpsters that I've seen. With what cleaning chemicals, I don't know. Are we supposed to buy our own?). You think the majority of the staff will do that when most don't even have the common sense/courtesy to SHOWER? There are so many other common issues (underpayment, disrespect, toxicity, etc.) here, but I'm not even going to get into them right now.
I can't get another job, the market is terrible, and I've had no luck after applying to the career field I actually want to work in for over a year now (I've been actively applying, but it's a competitive field, and I don't have a lot of experience yet). I also can't risk being unemployed because my apartment costs way too much for my partner to afford alone, so I can't just quit.
Does anyone else working in a corporate office have these conditions? Is this normal? If not, who do I go to that will actually resolve this? Are these conditions legal?