[PurpleFlyingMonkeys]

I HATE my job! With every fiber of my being. I have been here since August 2010 and it's been crap since August 2010. Unfortunately it's a lousy work market out there and in a small town, it's not easy to find a job. I guess I could say I am thankful for having a job...

I work front desk at a hotel. Everyone is terrible. Everyone is nasty, they are rude, they are USELESS and they think it's the end of the world every time the smallest thing does not go their way. I always just want to look at them and say "Are you kidding? Do you not realize that there are REAL problems in the world right now and you're acting more childish than my 3 year old?" But I can't or I will lose my job...

They are always so quick to snap at me. Blame everything on me. Yell at me, cut me down... Just because they are having a bad day. And it's my job to apologize. I've been in and out of therapy for 10 years to learn to deal with my past and learn to not blame myself... But at my job, EVERYTHING is my fault, and I have to take the blame no matter what it is. "I'm so sorry that the power went out in town sir, it's out for a mile in both directions but I'm sorry to have inconvenienced you with it. I'm sorry that this was done and I will do things differently next time" Yeah that happened....

Uuuugh I HATE that people are so terrible. It's bad enough with all the abuse from my childhood, my job just confirms that people from EVERYWHERE, are horrible. They are all greedy selfish people who love to bring others down!!! Why?!?!?! What is the purpose in being as nasty as they are???

I'm having anxiety, severe.... I'm having a lot going on in my mind right now hallucinating and such. I don't know how much longer I can stay at this job... The guests are making things so much worse. But if I quit, something I want to do so badly, I will be even worse off being an unemployed single mom... Idk what to do... Ugh I hate this place!

Not to mention the employees here are terrible, the men like to poke me, no one does their work which in turn makes the guests yell at ME (not them of course) the gm just started joking with another guy about him staring at my butt.., One of the guys that pokes me... I have a strong history of sexual abuse... This does not make me feel comfortable... It's just a bad situation no matter what.... IDK IDK IDK IDK uuuuhhhhggggghhhhhhh I hate this job!!!!!!!!

[Caretaker Leo]

((((PFM))))
That is a lot to deal with when you are working so hard to deal with your own needs.

This probably isn't easy - but could you try to do some self-talk - keeping at the front of your mind that the nastiness from the guests really is not your fault? (Because it isn't)! How they behave is truly their issue/problem. Sometimes the best defense is just to empathize with them. You don't have to apologize - you just let them know that you understand they have been inconvenienced and you will do your best to find solutions or someone who can assist them.

As far as employees who are harassing you - stand up for yourself and in a firm, gentle voice let them know that their behavior is unacceptable. Tell them you expect it to stop and let them know that you will call the police if it continues.

In the meantime, I do hope you are actively looking for different work. At a certain point, our mental health is more important than anything else.

Wishing you the best.

[Rohag]

Hello, PurpleFlyingMonkeys! I'm going to hold my tongue, but I'm with Caretaker Leo.

• Search: "hostile work environment" + harassment
• Search: "constructive discharge"

[missbelle]

Thinking of you.....try to hang in there a little longer. When I was going through a really rough patch....a divorce from an abusive husband, a stay at the psych ward, I went back to my state job which was extremely stressful. I survived 11 more years there by saying when I went to work that I was just going to stay till lunch. After I cried myself thru the lunchhour, I said I was just going to stay till quitting...and I kept that up...I could not even live one day at a time. It was too much then. I had to live in small increments in order to tolerate the whole situation. It worked because I knew I could leave any time I wanted too. By dividing it up I was able to survive!!!

[PurpleFlyingMonkeys]

Thank you for all of your replies, I really appreciate them!!!!

Caretaker: Thank you for your reply and your kind words! I do need to stand up for myself at work and I see that I'm just a bit of a coward sometimes. With a history of saying "no" NOT working out in my favor, it's made me afraid to say no. So I just pull away and cover myself and kinda shrink into the background. It does nothing to fix this situation I know, but I am a coward sometimes. I was going to speak to the General Manager about it until she comes walking in, in the middle of a conversation with the SAME guy saying "It's OK to look. I'm gonna tell her what you were saying about her butt..." then they stopped and both looked at me for a minute (they were behind me to the right) and laughed and both walked away. I haven't looked for another job for a couple of reasons. I've been looking but not very hard. My anxiety has gotten worse lately and going into new places often sets off a panic attack. I'm so afraid of having a panic attack that I kind of avoid going places with people daily and avoid going into crowded places because I'm afraid I will have an attack. I'm waiting to be put on anxiety meds... Hopefully that will help. But that aside I don't have a car and my boyfriend and I work strange hours where somehow we aren't together until 6pm and he's my ride everywhere so I haven't had too much time to look for another job when what little time I do have is spent with school paper work, my daughters school, court because of her dad and things like that. I need to find another job before I quit this one but I think I need to get this anxiety under control first.

Thank you for your reply Rohag. I will look into the constructive discharge. They haven't decreased my pay but they are absolutely unprofessional in every way. The general manager makes sex comments all the time (the general manager is a female). When the UPS guy came in to drop off the boxes she starts talking to him about me "tackling him" and getting on top of him... That quickly turned into jokes and laughs about sexual things involving me and the guy. I just sat there... She's the manager of the hotel what am I supposed to do? This kind of thing doesn't happen all the time but her conversations about sexual things are all the time at work, even with some of the guests. They talk badly about everyone who is not in the room. They give me things to do that are not my job... A guy and his girlfriend were caught on tape the night I was working stealing a womans purse. The guy was an employee of ours and on the job at the time. He didn't lose his job. He is the nephew to the housekeeping manager so he got to keep his job. Instead of firing him they took a snapshot of the video of the theif kissing him on the cheek while she had the stolen item in her hands, and they put that picture up on the wall in the employee hallway with a joke on it. That guy is pretty scary, he's been questioned in connection with a murder here as well while at work about a month ago.
I don't really want to be on unemployment, the recession is bad enough, I don't want to feel like I'm making it worse by taking from the government when I can work. As uncomfortable as it is at work, I can force myself to tolerate it for a time... Boy I hope my doc gives me some anxiety meds today lol.

Thank you missbell: I know exactly what you are talking about. I can't live day to day. I have to live minute to minute. If I looked at things in the daily or weekly or monthly term, I'd go bonkers! There's too much. There are too many things going on that cause stress. So if I live day to day or week to week everything unpleasant hits at once but if you live moment to moment, you only have to deal with moments of fear and such... I kind of am at a part in my life where all I am doing is taking it one step at a time. Putting one foot in front of the other. I tell myself all the time.. I only get paid $8 an hour, I can find that anywhere. So I tell myself that and try to convince myself that I can quit at any time it gets to be too much. But I have other plans where I end up not quitting even though it is too much. I'm in school right now in hospitality management and the plan is to once I finish school transfer to another hotel as general manager. I'm great at my job, I just hate my job. My real desire is to go into childhood trauma therapy and lately I've been really considering changing my major. If I do that it would probably make quitting my job a more reachable goal (haha who woulda thought quitting a job would be a goal) and would make those words "I can leave any time I want" more real to me. If I decide to change my major. But it's 2 years of school versus 8 and I have a 3 year old. So another thought has been to get a business degree and use that to get a sales management job at a different hotel and while working sales continue school for therapy. But right now there's too much going on with school I'm only taking that one step at a time too....

Sorry if I rambled or made no sense, my daughter is running around distracting me. If nothing else in this world can make me smile, she always can!

[unaluna]

Hey PFM. All you would need are some guests seeing the GM acting that way with the fedex guy and complaining about it, that they as guests have a right to a non-sexually harassing hotel or something. Sounds like your workplace needs "the training" just to stay competitive - are you part of a larger chain?

You DO sound like you are good at your job - I l0ved your riff on the power outage! You sound like those tv shows where they have a celeb doing a "regular" job - I am picturing Madonna/PFM giving the hotel guests what-for - oh no, thank YOU, sir!

[Caretaker Leo]

PFM - you mention that Court is taking some of your time due to issues with your child's dad. Do you have a lawyer? Just thinking that if you do, you could also run this situation by him/her and possibly get direction on how you might be able to report the work situation and/or file suit against the GM where you work.

What you are dealing with at work is just so unacceptable!

PFM does your employer know your history with abuse? If you make it known to them, you can then ask for reasonable accomodation. That makes the employer responsible for making it easier for you to do your job.
I know...this economy stinks and we would give anything for a job but you have to take care of YOU. You and your child need you to be at your best. If that job is making you sick, you owe it to yourself to get out. I'll be thinking of you and hoping it works out.

[StrongerMan]

Hi PFM,

I can relate to hating your job. It is a terrible situation to be in. And when you leave at the end of the day, the last thing you want to do is think about trying to find another job. You just want to veg and recharge. Having to put up with all those narcissistic bullies who frequent hotels would be an absolute nightmare. I don't think I'd last 10 minutes before telling someone where to get off. If you are at a larger chain they might have a corporate ombudsman who you could talk to. But it doesn't sound like that's an option. If all else fails, maybe there is another hotel you could work at even if it involved a farther commute.

[Rhiannonsmoon]

((((PFM)))) gentle hugs wow you're really having a rotten time huh. If it were me I'd ask her first not to do that and if that doesn't work, report her for sexual harassment. There are many cases of women being charged with sexual abuse and harassment. They simply can't get away with it. Date and time the instances so that you have a running report of the instances. And in the meantime enjoy the pleasant guests as much as you can. Thinking of you and hoping this resolves satisfactorily for you.

[PurpleFlyingMonkeys]

The job is terrible. I get yelled at by everyone. All of the guests want to swear at me and blame everything on me. I only get paid 8 an hour, I don't get benefits even though I've been here a year and 3 months. The general manager is always angry and blaming people. They hire family, family that's got extensive criminal backgrounds. I hear the employees talking about hiding from the cops and such. The employees also have stolen while at work, from guests. Not to mention they all get drunk while working at night and I'm the one that gets to clean up the mess when I come in the mornings. There are guys that always want to touch me that work here. Either poke, put their arm around me or things like that. I don't like being touched. They make sexual comments towards me, the general manager being in on them all. They have me working hours that I told them I absolutely could not work when I got hired here. Everyone talks terribly about eachother. You have to walk on egg shells because if you say one wrong thing or if you say you don't like one person that works here for one reason or the other, or if you call them out on any of the criminal activity going on here you lose your job. The housekeeping manager has all of his nephews and cousins and such working here and if you talk about any one of them and it's not something he wants to hear, you lose your job. Even if you go to the General manager about it and say "Hey I saw so and so stealing a purse out of the guests car last night" you would be the one to get into trouble. I've already been there and nearly lost my job once but I didn't say he stole it, I just said he was on camera with the other person involved in it during the time and I was the one who got into trouble that night. They put the picture from the camera of him kissing the girl (the other person involved) in the employee hallway with some joke on it. There's also pictures of employees in the general managers office in their underwear. This place is unprofessional and with my extensive abuse history this unprofessionalism isn't really tollerable with me. I get that some people joke by touching and poking and making sexual remarks but I do not find it funny.
And I just got b****ed out for something I did not do that did not warrant such attitude. Let me give the perfect example. We have 50+ housekeepers that work here. I guess I'm supposed to know exactly who every single one of them do and exactly what they do because when I just called one on the radio because her husband is here to see her, the general manager just called me b****ing at me because "she doesn't have a radio she works in the laundry room..." blah blah blah on and on about what her housekeeper does and that I need to do this and this. I tell her I did and she's just like "I'll let her know" so I hung up on the general manager. Right about now I don't care if I lose this job, I'm ready to walk out the door this second. I've gotten yelled at at least 7 times in the 3 hours I have been here and I literally have done nothing wrong, I've actually been doing a really good job today with how busy we are. I'm going to walk out the door and not look back or I'm gonna slap someone and I've never been in a fight, I don't want to hit them but uuuuugggghhhh

[PurpleFlyingMonkeys]

I think my boss needs to be on here, she's got bipolar or something. Her mood changes are giving me whiplash!!! Jeeze! I think this job is making me more crazy than my schizophrenia

[PurpleFlyingMonkeys]

I feel like screaming at every person who works here right now! I'm so sick of this place! I'm sick of them making my job harder. I work front desk and now maintenance is telling me it's my job to plunge toilets.. For 8 an hour I don't think so! Bad enough I have to deal with the feces being forced out of these guests mouths non stop, but now they want me to put up with the crud coming out the other end? I do not think so!

Everyone is screwing up. They cover their own butts but say screw the rest. They over sell us all the time and make us tell the guests that they can not stay here. We have people come from across the country to stay and the manager makes us turn them away late at night when every hotel is booked and they did have a reservation with us but the managers decided their friends or family should stay instead. Then when guests get upset about it, like lets say their rate for the night was supposed to be lower. They come to the desk yelling at me, I go talk to the manager and she says "Well since he's being that way tell him no I wont lower it, in fact I'm going to raise it 20$ a night and he wont get any discount." and I'm the one forced to tell them these things... In turn I'm the one who gets cussed out left and right.

Fudge!!! I don't swear but man do I want to!!!! I want to rip my hair out and kick every person here in the butt and walk out the door. Everything about this place stinks! The things mentioned before, the things mentioned just now... So many more things... Like the nasty sandwhich that a different front desk girl left in the counter for like 4 days... Everything about this place is terrible. Seriously... I feel like I'm working at a roach motel right off the interstate or something. This is supposed to be a 5 star hotel. This place stinks... I just need to vent.... I'm gonna blow a fuse if I don't

[pgrundy]

Hey I hear ya. I live in Michigan, and the jobs that are available here right now are just horrible. I make $7.40 per hour and I have two college degrees--a BA and a Masters--I used to teach college. I didn't end up working for minimum wage because of mental illness--it's the economy. It started falling apart after the 2008 crash and is still getting worse.

In 2007 I was making $18.87 per hour with a good annual bonus and I felt bad about THAT--like, wow, I should be doing better than that at this age. And now that sounds like a fortune.

Right now they are scheduling me middle of the day, 5 hour shifts, every day, even the weekends, but I am part time AND I have sales goals on top of the very hard work I already do. They constantly threaten to fire all of us, and believe it or not I'm not even the lowest paid. A lot of the people make $6 per hour.

It's not you, it's the times. Can you find a way to give some of it back? I mean, sometimes if they are pushing me too hard I make sure to go SLOWER or whatever they DON'T want. Or I just make it really hard for them to talk to me, like as in, act stupid, smile and nod.

Whatever it takes, you know? And as for the sexual harassment, I'd point it out and none to subtly. I doubt seriously that they will fire you if you've put up with their nonsense for over a year. And if they did, would it be so bad?

I'd find a way to be obnoxious or whatever lets them know you aren't a slave just because you get 8 bucks from them for every hour of BS.

Good luck and hang in there. They're just jerks. Just every day run of the mill jerks.

[(JD)]

It sounds so difficult! I can speak from the customer view, though. I've had some really bad trips... and have in the past (not any more) been quite stressed and almost unreasonable when checking in.. in spite of my real intentions to have been nice. It was the person who continue to smile, treat me nicely that helped me calm and realize it's not the end of the world and it certainly wasn't anyone's fault.

If someone responds to me with sarcasm or desperation etc.. that only feeds my sense of their incompetence, unfortunately. I still try to be nice and displace their nastiness.... but when they are still nice in spite of how others are treating them... it makes a world of difference.

I would say stay at your job. Let PC members help you find how to not take their problems onto yourself.

You aren't being nice to them "only" for the company (because you're a nice person yourself) but you are there on behalf of the company. When they are complaining, it isn't your fault. What a wonderful position to be in where you can find some fixes for people. (Whether they thank you or not depends upon what kind of people they are. And yes, the world has become quite stressed and nasty.)

Try and let it roll off your back. (quack quack) Maybe even, after their gone and out of ear shot, quietly quack a few times... to help you rant secretly and reinforce the idea of letting it roll...just let it roll.

Keep the job. I think you can change your mindset or find ways to soothe yourself so you can keep it. (But I'd still look for another job in the meantime?)

Can you speak to management? Can you begin giving those other employees who are irking you, some compliments? Get them to appreciate you and like you and they might change... surely you can find something each day... sigh I know it's difficult.

[PurpleFlyingMonkeys]

Thanks both of you for your replies.
Pgrundy I'm sorry to hear about your downfall. I see the hard times, I'm still young but I've seen a lot of people who were once doing really well take a fall. Good friends of the family were doing really well. One was the general manager for the biggest car dealership here and the other managed a restaurant for side work. The both work non stop now and lost their home and still have a lot of financial troubles. Some people are doing ok and others the economy turned on them. It's a pretty scary thing for me actually. I'm (I could either say only or already) 24, by the time I was fully out and on my own the economy was already bad and I didn't have a degree (still don't but am working toward it). So the only thing I have seen is the fall really. The things they are doing to "fix" it and the upcoming candidates for this election are not looking too promising in actually fixing out situation but that is a completely different topic. I'm sorry that you have had to go down so much as well because of the fall. I hope that while you were making more that the money was put into 401k and things of that sort. The only job I had that offered that and paid decent considering I was so young.

I was working for the court house just barely 19 and started at 11$ an hour but by the time I left just 6 months later (once my probation ended at 90 days) I was making 16$ an hour. I got offered a job following the county administrator on his campaign while he ran for (I think it was, it was years ago) governor (or something of that sort). I was going to be his assistant because his current assistant had a lot of other work to do and was taking a vacation during a large portion of it. An abusive ex forced me to decline (out of jealousy) and quit the court house. Since then I've been at restaurants (2 of which went out of business) and hotels. The pay work and all is much different. Wish I had stuck that first job out... Lesson learned...

JD, thank you for your reply! I've been that irate customer myself. Very rarely and only on the phone really. But I am a bit of a pushover. But if I do become very angry I will start yelling and not being my normal pleasant self. But I always ask to talk to a manager and always apologize to the person I was talking to. I save the anger for the manager. The deal is, even though they have had a bad trip... Like a couple just recently stayed at the hotel. A older gentleman came to the desk to check in early. Their car had broken down on the way and he had to push it for a long time. They also got stuck in traffic for 2 hours. He came to the desk really upset and wanting to check in. He admitted first thing "This has been a bull sh** day!" and was rolling his eyes and all of that talking loudly and swearing. But I could see that his anger was not directed at me. He looked at me and I could see that he really just wanted to go lay down and relied on ME to get him to that (by checking him in). Basically his eyes were nice even though his words weren't. He even apologized for being so loud.

I gave him the best room in the hotel for his week stay. I also referred him to a friend of mine who was a mechanic to fix the car and made reservations for him and his wife at a good restaurant. I of course checked them in and every time I saw them I would talk to them and keep updated on their stay. They were very happy and from the moment I checked him in and was nice to him back, their entire stay changed and was much better. I even told him "Well you're day's going to be much better now that you're here at the **** ***** inn. We'll take good care of you". He apologized again fbut there was no need. There is a HUGE difference between men like him and others... I remember a man who was so upset... We give out cookies to all of the arriving guests on the weekdays but not on the weekends. Well he was someone who was already at the hotel, he had already gotten his cookie when he checked in. But I guess he wanted some cookies anyways. The girl at the front desk asked the kitchen to make some cookies for the guests because a couple of people had asked for them.

Well they did and put them on the counter for the guests. This guy the next day found out cookies were made and was absolutely furious that the girl at the front desk did not call him in his room to tell him cookies were out. He went off on me about the hotel being run by "incompetent women" and screamed over and over how terrible and stupid and worthless we were and when he found out the general manager was a woman, he lost it even more. He got on the phone (made me call her at home) heard her voice and said "You're a woman too? What the h*** this hotel is worthless." and hung up the phone. We get more people like this man than you would think. Just recently another man was fuming because the batteries had died in the lock in his door and the back to their tv remote was not there. These are 2 things that the girl at the front desk have NO control over. Something that should not make anyone yell at anyone but especially the front desk. When housekeeping doesn't leave towels, I guess the guests expect us to follow each housekeeper and make sure every room is perfect... That's what we have housekeeping managers for, but they do not always do their jobs. They don't very much actually. But that is not the front desks fault. I can't tell you how many times we (at the front desk) get into arguments with managers and employees because they are not doing their jobs and we are the ones getting blamed for it. It's like working at a restaurant. You order food and everyones food is hot but yours, your spaghetti is cold. It's not the servers fault it's cold, it's the cooks. If there is something to be said, it should be said to the cook, not the first person you see. Same at the front desk. If you have an issue with your room (cleanliness etc) you take it out on the person responsible for keeping that up, not someone who has never even been in that room. And then I get a guest... I will never forget her.

I spent 9 hours behind the desk calling restaurants and businesses to find out their hours and if they were open on Christmas. I called like 50% of the businesses in town and mapped and typed it all up including directions to each place. She had requested me to do this. I could have said no, I believe the manager just told me to recommend her to our restaurant. It's not our job any more according to our hotel policy to recommend places to go out let alone type something like that up. They want us to only send them to our restaurant. She checked into the hotel and was terrible from the get go. Walks up to the counter and I greet her with a smile. She grunts and puts her head on the counter. I ask "Is everything alright ma'am?" (we are in the south after all) and she lifts her head and gives me the most disgusted look you could imagine. She went off on me because I called her ma'am. Said she took offense to it. Then went off about the fact that she had to pay so much for a cab to the hotel (the closest airport is 45 minutes) and insisted that I pay her the money back. I nicely refused (this was before I lost my patience at this place) and she demanded to speak to the manager. She went off on me all the way up until she could no longer see me as I walked out to get the manager. The manager of course took 5 minutes to come out so I got to sit there for 5 more minutes with her yelling at me. She was terrible and if a guest approaches me like that now, I do not respond so nicely.

No one else at the front does so I stopped. If they want to come at me yelling AT me (not yelling to me, there's a difference in there) I don't kill them with kindness. I put them in one of our not as nice (but they are all still nice in all honesty) and I don't say much. I will just not my head, do the work to get them out of my hair tell them their room number and go back to my work. The guests who approach in a normal manner or nicely I am my 100% front desk helpful person recommending places, calling places, telling them all about the hotel, telling them all about town and what they are about to do etc. Basically I feel like if there is anger, it needs to be directed at the right person and not just the person in the front. Some really hurtful things have been said to the people on the front line. I can tolerate people who get frustrated and such, it's the angry people who you can tell want to rip you to shreds..

The people who want you to lose your job, knowing the economy is the way it is and not caring if you're a single parent or if you're taking care of your sick mom with that job, just because they are not happy with themselves. Those kind of people really make me sick to my stomach. I literally am kept awake some nights thinking about this. It really saddens me the lack of conscience people have nowa days. I wish I could change them... I wish I could change the world... But I can not "kill them with kindness" when they attack my character or come at me in a threatening way any more. It takes its toll on me, I can feel their darkness getting in my cracks and when I continue to be nice to them and they continue to rip me apart, it makes me want to give up on people, but I don't want to do that.

I will keep the job for now but the way I look at it... If I get fired oh well. It's only 8 an hour and I do crap work. I'd probably be happier back in a restaurant maybe even in the kitchen now since I've been really liking to cook. But I will likely look for a desk job, I have a pretty impressive resume. The idea that I CAN walk out at any minute and that if I get fired it wouldn't be the end of the world, and that I might actually be relieved, that makes the job easier. But for now I will keep it, I'm just not trying to keep it. I do my work, and all of it. But that's it. I don't go the extra mile at all. It's funny actually. When I started there, for the first year I did go the extra mile. When I started our hotel scores were average at 76%. Just 3 months after working there we averaged over 90% and were ranked 3rd worldwide for our brand hotel. I got employee of the month and everyone loved me. I did put forth the extra effort. All until the day the guest said to another front desk girl while I was there, in a fit of anger, "That phone costs more than you make in a week you dumb bi***" that moment changed me. Now we are back to 76% and I don't put forth any effort at all really. Unless the guest is nice to me, than I will go the extra mile and then some.

Sorry to post so much... I tend to do that lol Thanks again for the replies!

[(JD)]

Oh those cookies were good!

You know, there will be people who misbehave no matter where you go. The problem is not the job, it's people.

[PurpleFlyingMonkeys]

Haha they are good cookies! I love them, I miss working the night shift now that I'm on days I don't get as many but yeah some people sink. It's being the front man to those stinky people that stinks. I think I need to get away from customer service.

[pgrundy]

The loss of pay wouldn't be so bad if I at least felt like my job was secure and I was valued at work, but it's like there's no hope of anything getting better and constant threats of getting fired (they threaten all of us, not just me). After awhile it gets to a person, this feeling that 'this is all there is--in fact, it could get much worse than this'.

I have to try to find ways to cheer myself up and not take it personally, but it's hard. I don't feel good about just swallowing abuse from management just to stay poorly employed, but that's how it is. My therapist is always aghast and wanting me to assert myself and set limits and so forth, and they just ignore all of it and threaten. She doesn't 'get it' and I end up feeling like I can't please anyone.

I've seen so many people burn out in just a year. Well over a dozen I'd say. Maybe a couple of dozen. New employees realize really fast that you can't win and they either quit or get fired before they're even there six months.

In a better economy I'd quit but we need the money. We're not starving, band we still have our house, but we both have medical conditions--me with the psych meds, him with a chronic illness. So I drag my butt in there but it's very discouraging. I feel like I worked my way through college for nothing, because I did, apparently.

[pgrundy]

BTW, I found out recently by accident that about half my coworkers and at least one manager are on psych meds! I mean, lots of meds--not just low dose zoloft or something. I take four--two psych, two high BP.

It tells you something about the American workplace and what it does to people, I think.

[lad007]

I can't believe the customers are so nasty! Goes to show you people with money who stay at 5 stars are not happy, money can't buy happiness. These people are just plain rude, and you can't take it personally, you are just the scapegoat.
Why can't you say-I am a human being and deserve to be treated with respect. I will do my best to solve your problem, but I do not have to take your abuse. I will assist you when you have calmed down. I've seen hotel personnel do that. I don't see how management can allow you to be abused like that.

[RomanSunburn]

My opinion is that you should quit rather than be fired. Leaving voluntarily looks a lot better than being fired. That's just something to keep in mind...

Also, because this is a national chain hotel, there should be phone numbers posted someplace that you can call to report sexual harassment and things being stolen anonymously. I would also investigate contacting the BBB because of some of the things that are happening to the customers (such as things being stolen and no action being taken).

I agree with someone else that mentioned if you have a lawyer for your custody case, perhaps you can talk to them about what you are putting up with at work.

Perhaps you and your boyfriend can request a day off from work so that you could spend the day going places to get applications or dropping off resumes or something. I really believe you need to get out of the work environment. Horrible customers is one thing -- horrible management is something entirely different that you should not have to put up with under any circumstances.