UK. Tldr at the end.
For context, it's an independent hotel. I've begun as a receptionist, but they want me trained in the restaurant and bar too, which was never mentioned in my interview or job description. This is my 5th hotel in 12 years – 7th hospitality gig in 20 as I worked housekeeping before. Biggest hotel was 300+ rooms, smallest was 24. This one has 40. I know my shit. But I also am only taking this job for extra pennies as I earn enough freelancing to cover living costs. I'm getting married next year so hubs & I want to have a little nest egg money for a nice honeymoon etc. The hotel don't know this, but I genuinely could leave any time with no difficulty.
I knew from the interview that it was gonna be a shit show. The owner was very open about post-covid struggles. He also revealed to me that about 2 months ago a long term manager just up and left for another position taking about 50% of the staff with him. Now, I don't know about you, but I'm pretty certain that long-serving professionals don't 'just' up and leave their workplaces without notice on a whim. There's a big buildup of bullshit before that comes to pass.
To drive the point home, I randomly got chatting to a cashier in a completely unrelated shop on Tuesday (the day before I was due to begin) and I mentioned I was beginning a new job the next day. She responded that she wishes me luck, and it can't be as bad as a job she walked out on her first day recently because it was so bad. Me: oh where was that? Her: [Hotel name]. Me: that's where I begin tomorrow. Her: (mortified) you're joking. Alas. I was not.
So, I thought I had a pretty accurate expectation of how bad it was gonna be. And oh boy they didn't disappoint. For brevity, I'm going to just list here the things I've witnessed which are merely health and safety or legal issues, and not what I've experienced personality-clash and management style-wise.
- the ice machine hasn't been deep cleaned since Feb. There's a sign off sheet which displays this on the front of the machine.
- a staff member sitting on the food prep counter while resting her shoes on the lowest rung of the clean cutlery trolley, while clean cutlery was underneath her shoes.
- leaving cutlery and cups that 'didn't look used' on tables while clearing tables to be used by the next group.
- scraping leftover jam from the pots back into the jam tub.
- likewise pouring leftover milk from where they've given tiny jugs with coffee/tea and the customer hasn't used all of it, back into the milk bottle.
- leaving milk out (in this weather in a non-AC room) for an hour before an event was supposed to begin – and then the guests were an hour late too. So the milk just sat in jugs on the tables unrefrigerated for 2 hours before it was used.
- multiple times picking up cutlery by their business end and not the handle to give to guests
- I pointed out the ice machine thing to a manager, and he told me about how once (within the last month) he caught the bar staff taking bottles of champagne and other alcohol from where they are stored on the dirty cellar floor, and then put them directly into the ice machine to cool down. Not only a bacteria issue with contaminated ice, but also a concern with glass chips from the bottles potentially now in the ice which is being served into drinks.
- housekeeping 'cleaning' sticky room cups with blue roll and water & giving them back to the guests rather than replacing them with freshly washed ones.
- multiple times where card details have been written on scraps of paper and left laying around the reception, or stapled into the event books, or written directly into it. Which is then kept open & in full view & easy reach on the front desk.
- multiple times where full card details were left on the screen from booking.com, because there's no screen time-out. This isn't in 'easy' view of the guests, but there's times when the computer is left unattended and it's not difficult for someone to just stick their head around the corner.
- I was expected to go from counting cash (and leaving it all out on the back counter) to serving food when they had a small rush. If you've ever worked with cash, you know how dirty it is. I wasn't asked to wash my hands before I took plates to tables, and when I asked to do it I was assured it was okay because it was only for a second.
Please be aware – this is been 2 days. I worked yesterday and today and I've witnessed all these. Plus some other bits which are 100% personality problems, or having 4 managers working, but only 3 employees leading to some interesting 'who is my boss rn?' situations.
On one hand, they need me and my expertise. It's dire how much they need me. On the other, I don't need them at all. We have enough money to get by, and I can find another shit paying job with less responsibility in 2 seconds for the extra pennies we want. However, my conundrum is this. If I left, I'd feel obligated to report all the issues I've witnessed to the food hygiene people and to data protection. There's enough on the surface that they'd get slapped with fines in the least, and I'm guessing enough that I haven't seen that could get them shut down entirely. But this just feels mean somehow. Like I'm not even giving them a chance.
They've suffered through covid, then crippled by the manager leaving them flat (though I'm very aware it isn't likely to be 100% his doing). Now they're limping along like a suffering animal. It'd be a death blow. Also, I love this kind of work. I love meeting people on their holidays because it's always fascinating to meet them. It's the kind of atmosphere if I stick it out, I can make the job what I want it to be. But until then, I'm complicit in the above.
Anyways. I'm conflicted. What are your thoughts?
Tl;Dr: took a job at a struggling hotel. Its much worse than even I was expecting. I don't know whether to cut and run or help them get to a place that's not so disgusting and illegal.