A Christmas Meltdown

[Moirae]

I have to agree with that. Most people don't have any idea how hard a job it is to work in housekeeping. I'm a full believer that they never make enough money for what they have to deal with. The thing is, our hotel pays very well for the position. Even the big boxes like the Hilton tend to pay somewhere around $8 an hour in this city. A housekeeper should NEVER make so little money. The stuff I've seen them have to clean up should have them making at least $15 an hour. We pay $10.

I'll tell you, after my experiences with housekeeping, you couldn't pay me enough to do the job. Too many people think that physical labor isn't worth being paid well. Those people are obviously those that have never done it. Hard hard job.

[morgana]

I physically couldn't do that job in my current condition. Difference is, I have sense enough to know it.

[registerrodeo]

I head up housekeeping at an assisted living facility and people think "Oh how hard can it be?" Let me tell you, very.

We have 5 housekeepers, 2 have daily cleaning routes of apartments, 2 split a weekly route and myself and whichever one of the non room cleaner girls is with me do all the trash of all the apartments (4 floors), all the dusting and vacuuming of all common areas, offices, hair salon, media room, carpet cleaning and any emergency calls for overflowed toilets/spills/general messes. The girls who clean the apartments each have 5-6 rooms a day but that is doing the residents laundry (wash, dry, fold/hang, put away) and deep clean their whole apartment (ranging from small to large). It is hard, often disgusting work, and we also have to interact with the residents as many are in their apartments when they go in to clean (not a bad thing). We are always accused of stealing by residents with memory issues who misplace stuff (I am the official finder of all things lost), we have to listen to them bitch and moan about everything from the food to the activities, to the price of tea in China, we hear aaaaaalllll about their medical conditions (TMI TMI TMI!!!!), assure them that yet another shit covered bathroom is no big deal while we are gagging, do some minor maintenance if the maintenance department is not in, and we have to wash dry and fold all the towels and bedding that come thru daily. But we hear from other departments how easy we have it (umm, you never ever see the housekeepers sitting in the breakroom playing on their phones because they are bored) and how they could do our jobs, how hard can it be? But when we were so shorthanded over the summer and needed some help for a day or 2, one person volunteered..and not one of those who claim we have it soooo easy. Housekeeping is NOT a job for someone who cannot be on their feet all day and can't multi task on the fly.

[Marmalady]

Too many people think that physical labor isn't worth being paid well. Those people are obviously those that have never done it. Hard hard job.

Ohh, yes.

I walked out of the motel job because the management couple decided that instead of the laundry being done in-house, they would now have a laundry service pick up and deliver. The CW whose job it had been to wash and iron the linens and towels was asked if she would like to do the cleaning of rooms instead, and she said yes, as long as she could work the same days she did before (Monday and Tuesday, Thursday and Friday) But not Saturday or Sunday because 'I don't work weekends'. What days did I work? Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. So my hours were cut by 80 %. They didn't tell me until I turned up for work on the Monday. I took my tabard off, laid it in front of the manager and walked out.

Fast forward a few months. My son had started at 'proper' school and I was taking him along one morning when I met one of my ex CW's from the motel on her way to work. Apparently the woman who'd been given my hours had only lasted a few weeks - she found that cleaning rooms, carting loads of clean linens etc up stairs (no lifts) and dirty ones down again was a very different thing from sitting in front of a commercial ironer, only getting up to transfer washed linens to the dryer.

My only comment was 'Really made the right choice there then, didn't they?'

[notalwaysright]

Too many people think that physical labor isn't worth being paid well. Those people are obviously those that have never done it. Hard hard job.

Seconded, no, thirded. Well, I agree. We have many super sweet ladies get hired at my work who think working at a fabric and craft store doesn't involve physical labor. I don't mean to compare it to housekeeping or anything, but it's not a walk in the park, either. You're on your feet the whole time, often lifting heavy bolts of fabric like vinyl. On a busy day you might be up and down ladders, hauling large bolts of fleece. New hires are generally surprised at how busy and stressful it is.

And other jobs get this attitude, also. Like roofers. That's a flipping hard job. We'd get people who wanted us to break out cost for materials and labor. We very much disliked doing this, because we'd always get "labor is HOW much!?" Yeah, it's hard work, you go ahead and try it. (I think part of this is the notion of "skilled" vs "unskilled" labor, and that if it's "unskilled" it's not worth anything, but I digress)

[Seshat]

I guess I must want things handed to me. There's no way in hell I could clean 56 rooms in a day. I couldn't clean 28 either. I'd die of exhaustion.

That's called knowing your limits, not wanting things handed to you. You can be perfectly willing to do hard work in some other sphere while not being willing to clean rooms!

One of the lovely ladies who helps with my care has had to give up house-cleaning types of work due to injury; but there's no way you could say she doesn't work hard. She just does different sorts of carer work now.

[fireheart]

I head up housekeeping at an assisted living facility and people think "Oh how hard can it be?" Let me tell you, very.
.

I would imagine that it is double the workload given the residents you look after too.

(I think part of this is the notion of "skilled" vs "unskilled" labor, and that if it's "unskilled" it's not worth anything, but I digress)

that sounds about right. There's a big shitstorm in the media at the moment in my hometown over penalty rates and how 15-year-olds shouldn't be getting paid $35/hour on public holidays simply to wash glasses*. This ignores the fact that those same 15-year-olds are often doing more than just that. Retail and hospitality do in fact require some degree of skill, even if you don't have a piece of paper for it.

I've encountered the occasional work experience kid and the occasional trial worker who seem to believe that childcare is just getting paid to play with kids (and is thus "unskilled"). Uh no-that's another thread entirely.

*-Australian minimum wage law depends on the age of the worker. Kids who are 15 will get paid around $8/hour while an adult will get paid around $16-$17/hour. If you're casual, there's a 20% loading in exchange for no leave and less notice is required to terminate.
For reference, childcare starts at around $17/hour for unqualified individuals (this will change) and can go up to $31/hour.

[Shalom]

And other jobs get this attitude, also. Like roofers. That's a flipping hard job. We'd get people who wanted us to break out cost for materials and labor. We very much disliked doing this, because we'd always get "labor is HOW much!?" Yeah, it's hard work, you go ahead and try it.

There is not enough gold in Fort Knox to pay me to go out on someone's roof. Even my own. When I have the gutter cleaning guys in, I pay what they ask without arguing, and I tip them also.

[Racket_Man]

MANY people think that delivering pizzas is a cushy no hard work job. Maybe decades ago it was but the reality of the modern corp. pizza place is radically different from that bygone era.

Back then labor budgets were a LOT better and drivers did nothing but deliver and fold boxes

Most large corp. type pizza places the drivers (at some places) make pizza, cut pizza, bag order, delivery pizzas.

SO what do you do when there are no deliveries???? WELL
do dishes
clean
do food prep
do more dishes
do more cleaning
do more dishes
sweep and mop
do more dishes

when some see HOW MUCH in dishes we have to do AND I inform a trainee that the dish area/machine will be their second home AND they are EXPECTED to do said dishes.........

On a busy night it can take up to 2 hours to do dishes IF business slows down enough or as I call it "a QUIET hour" with no sound but the continuous rumblings of the dishmachine constantly running otherwise we are they 2 hours after close if no one can get to the mounds of dishes and even the managers can't get to them.

[Seshat]

MANY people think that delivering pizzas is a cushy no hard work job. Maybe decades ago it was but the reality of the modern corp. pizza place is radically different from that bygone era.

Back then labor budgets were a LOT better and drivers did nothing but deliver and fold boxes

That certainly wasn't the case in the '80s when I was delivering.

[Racket_Man]

That certainly wasn't the case in the '80s when I was delivering.

You are in Aussie land so your mileage may have varied.

I have talked to drivers who drove in the US in the 1980's and some who currently work at my store who have been there literally 20 years say that mostly the job did consist of delivering, folding boxes and nothing else. You also have to remember that the competition was a LOT less back in the 80's and 90's. Basically you had PH, Dominos, maybe Papa Johns and NOT much of anything else except maybe Asian/Chinese.

Now there are upwards of 20 - 25+ places that deliver (and not just pizza/Chinese anymore) just in my smallish sized upper Mid-western town (now with 5 suburbs that mostly did not exist 25 - 30 years ago)

[dawnfire]

Too many people think that physical labor isn't worth being paid well. Those people are obviously those that have never done it. Hard hard job.

Housekeeping is hard. I did for a few weeks about 10 years ago. 20 people started with me half didn't come back the second day. by the end of the first week there was only 3 (including me).

[Catwoman2965]

I've encountered the same thing in my PT job. It's retail; women's clothing. We've had a number of customers who come to work for us, thinking it will be all sunshine and roses, and fun, helping customers put outfits together, seeing the new merchandise, and getting the awesome discount.

FF to them realizing, esp if they are PT and mostly close, we not only have to do the fun stuff, but take hangers in the back, vacuum and dust the store, and all other cleaning (we don't have any cleaning service) which includes the bathrooms, both ours and the customer, which is sometimes downright nasty. I flat out refuse to clean the bathrooms. But I'll do anything else they ask of me.

Also includes folding and straightening every blessed item in the store, spacing the hangers, emptying the trash, what have you. Many haven't lasted long once they realize they actually have to WORK.