$75 for a 14 hour day?
 

OK, so I work part time at "Bill's Motel," a mom and pop type outfit. Carmen is the manager and my immedient boss. I've never met Bill, the owner, but apparently he's an older guy who likes to drink and chase the ladies. Whatever.

The motel is open form 8am - 10pm, 24/7, 365 days a year. Someone needs to be at the front desk the entire time the motel is open - 14 hours every day. I'm one of two front desk clerks besides Carmen. We get paid minimum wage. However, Carmen lives at the motel. Her compensation is $75.00/day, a free 2 bedroom apartment, and free utilities, cable, etc. Carmen gets no sick leave, paid or otherwise. Her only benefit is one week paid vacation a year. Whatever else Bill may be, "generous" is not one of his attributes.

About a month ago, Carmen became very ill and was in the hospital for a week, Me and the other gal, Judy, filled in for her and were paid our usual minimum wage with no overtime, although we both worked more than 40 hours that week. Carmen took her hospital stay as her "vacation."

Now, the local doctors are telling Carmen that she is going to have to go see a specialist for a complicated surgical procedure. Not only is Carmen suffering from narrowing of the arteries, but she may have cancer. It is possible she could have a stroke on the operating table and die right there. No fun at all. She has to go to a branch of the Mayo Clinic down in Scottsdale, Arizona for the procedure.

Needless to say, Judy and I will be filling in for her and working 14 hour days. Carmen only wants to pay us $75.00/day - what she would normally get. Only Judy and I both go home at the end of the day and no one foots OUR rent and utilities. After taxes, we'll be lucky to bring home $60.00/day or $4.40/hour!

I like Carmen quite a bit. She has a very kind heart and is incredibly patient when I make a mistake, and I made a lot when I was learning the job. I really want to help her out, but this is ridiculous! Carmen says Bill won't want to pay all that extra on the motel payroll while she is out. I think Carmen is worried that she might lose her job to someone younger and healthier and I can certainly sympathize with her.

But not Bill.

So he'd have to put out $200 extra dollars a week for a week or two. If that's going to tip him over the edge, he's going down, anyway. And if he really wanted to save money, he could stop his practice of allowing our Navajo "guests" to trade cheap jewelry for a room. We have tons of jewelry we've gotten that way, and are lucky to sell one or two items a month for maybe 15 bucks. If Bill was really hurting, he'd stop people from getting 3 nights ($120.00) for a $10.00 bracelet.

Should I talk to Bill in private (go behind Carmen's back) and request that we at least be paid minimum wage for the days we have to fill in? Should I say nothing and work for nothing?

Jobs are scarcer than hen's teeth right now in Cortez, and small though it is, I really need my paycheck. But this has me pissed off big time.

off topic, but are you in cortez, colorado? i've been looking at that area for when i retire.

You have a third choice. Say no, and let them figure out another way to staff the desk.

If it were me, I would say that I'm happy to work extra hours at my normal rate, but that I won't take on more hours with a pay cut.

"No" is a very powerful word. It is against the law for them to pay less than minimum wage unless you have a very specific situation like you are a waitress or get room and board. In your state, it may also be against the law for them to not pay you time and a half for more than 40 hours in a week. Not sure what your state laws are. If you take on extra overtime hours, they should be increasing your hourly rate, not decreasing it. That's fucked up.

In negotiations, if you've let the first mention of something pass, without having a visceral reaction, then it is now believed that there is some chance that you will be "okay" with this. Coming back later and saying "I've thought it over and I disagree with this" just doesn't have the same impact.

I agree with glatt.

I agree with merc.

I agree with Shawnee.

Sam, do they kick people out between 10 pm and 8 am, when it's closed? What the heck kind of hotel is that?

Oh, the front desk is closed? Gotcha. I think.

Anyway, no...these guys are right. See if he can find someone else willing to do it. Bill might turn on a dime. (pun intended.)

Better watch that. With high unemployment, there might be somebody just waiting to get a prime job like that.

Like, an illegal?

Or a former PA state employee. There'll be 1,500 of them fighting for her job.

Funny how no one bitched about unions when GM was paying 70 bucks an hour for guys to play cards, which brought down more than one city into poverty through its own damn fault, but it's all the rage to carp on public employees. Why is it so "cool" to badger public employees, do you think? Buncha bandwagoners. Oh yeah, and 'cause of the pubes.

BTW, (and no I'm not in a union) our pres said in his Town Hall meeting that PA got totally blindsided by the cuts (he was speaking of education cuts but I'm sure more than that were blindsided.)

yeah, this goes prolly in another thread but I'm hoping the sniffing rat-sheep bandwagon-jumping morons don't find it here.

They will.

:D

Yeah, I know. But I know Sam won't mind.

Expecting it in 5, 4, 3, 2...

You mean those ding-dong ass-fuck tit-grabbing dog-raping baby-punching who also have bad breath probably and donkey excrement where their brain should be fiddle-faddle shenanigan-causing dimwit halfwit NO-wit snide snarky sneaky sycophant psychopath types?