i really just need to get this off my chest, and see what others have to say about my situation. i'll start at the beginning. i work in healthcare as a housekeeper, it's not the most glamorous job in the world but it fits my needs in a job position. so i started this job in the middle of december, working monday through friday 7 am to 3:30 pm. when i was offered the job, i was also offered a $500 sign on bonus that would be paid out every 3 months.
about two weeks in, i was offered a different position in the same company. i had previous experience doing laundry for healthcare facilities, so my boss asked me to do laundry for two of our healthcare buildings. i agreed, and my schedule changed to 12 pm to 8:30 pm. a week after i began this job, the industrial dryer i use for work broke. i had to lug laundry up and down a hill between buildings every day in every kind of weather. snow, ice, rain, it didn't matter. i did what i was expected to do without complaint, even though my hands would turn red and go numb every night.
this went on for two and a half months before the industrial dryer was fixed. fixed is a generous word for it actually. the dryer turns on and it dries the laundry, but the fans that are supposed to keep the machine cool don't turn on so the machine is burning from the inside out. the laundry room has no air circulation whatsoever, the air conditioning unit broke a long time ago and there's no central cooling. i do my best to keep cool with fans and chugging water. the temperature difference between inside and outside is so drastic that i came down with a cold more than once. even when i was sick, i came in to catch up on my work because there's no one else but me to do this job.
this job has taken a huge toll on my mental and physical wellbeing, and i know for a fact that i'm not the only one who's being affected this way. my boss has been spreading herself so thin that her blood pressure is constantly at a dangerous level. she has needed to be hospitalized for it and continued to work. all of the housekeeping team are being taken advantage of, and berated by coworkers, guests, and residents. the only thing that has kept me with the job was my sign on bonus.
i've been employed there for 3.5 months now, and i just got my paycheck for this period, and there's no bonus. my bank is one of those banks that if you have direct deposit set up, you get your paycheck a day early. i'm really trying to be patient and understanding, and i won't bring it up with my employer until i know for sure that i haven't received my bonus. my hopes are low because a coworker of mine overheard that the hr department had been putting off turning in the paperwork for my bonus, so i doubt i'm going to ever see a penny of that $500. i could wait patiently for my next paycheck, but by then i'd have been there for 4 months which is not the 3 months that i had agreed to. i had plans for this money. if they can't give me the payments they promised me, i can't continue to work for them.