I can’t say where it is because I’m still working here but I’m just so depressed. I work as a work camper which means I live in a RV and work at different camp grounds and parks for a set period of time. My husband and I were tired of the constant rain in the PNW so we accepted a job in the Rocky Mountains area. This job would be paying $13 an hour and my husband and I would be working 32 hours a week each and get our spot at the rv park for free.
I spent around $2000 to get here due to gas and replacement of the tires on my rv. We get here and I find out that due to my adult son who is autistic and doesn’t work lives with us, we will be paying $400 a month for him. I know that’s not much but we weren’t expecting that. Due to the dry conditions and the elevations, my asthma has had me in the Er, Urgent Care, and doctor’s office around 5 times in a month. My blood pressure is now high and I have to use a nebulizer 4 times a day due to my asthma being out of control. I needed to go to somewhere that wouldn’t be so taxing on my health but was going to wait until the season ended in October but this past week we all found out that our hours were being cut from 32 to 24.
We don’t have as many reservations as last year due to a couple of things. The cost of gas and diesel has priced many out of traveling far, the devastating from the Yellowstone flooding causing travel plans to change, and the owner’s policies in which I believe have angered so many people that most of our negative reviews reflect that. There’s no refunds, ever. If people arrive 10 minutes before check in and want to check in, there’s a charge. If they want to change their reservation, there’s a charge. If they have more than 2 people with them, there’s a charge.
Despite all of this, we are starting to pick up in business. Sometimes it’d be so busy that the 3 of us working in the office couldn’t keep up with the volume of calls. We are getting busy and now our hours are being cut but the volume isn’t.
I was ok at first with my hours being cut because I suspected this was going to happen but my husband and everyone else was so devastated because it is just so wrong. All motivation is gone now. We are all trying to figure out what to do because working 24 hours a week means I might break even and if I wanted that I could’ve stayed where I was and saved my money.
Now I’m in a scramble trying to find another job that either I can work with my education or another rv job but my main problem is that my rv is a early 2000’s model and many rv parks won’t accept them. I can’t afford to pay for any apartments because the prices are out of reach for me. Hopefully after I finish grad school this won’t be as much as a problem for me but until then I’m living in my rv.
After working as a work camper for years and seeing how much work is expected out of generally older and retired people expand while pay has not increased enough, I firmly believe this won’t change until there is a union for us. Until that happens, this and worse is going to happen.
This post is basically a vent post because I’m still reeling over this. I’ve had 2 days to really feel it and I’m just getting angrier by the hour. I appreciate your reading this.