Working conditions in the hospitality industry are always in the spotlight. Many hours, in some cases more than those agreed in the contract, and low salaries. That is the complaint made by dozens of workers who explain their cases through social networks, a forum to report cases of exploitation or almost slavery.
The last to tell his experience was Unay Ferrer, a young man who was looking for a job in the hospitality industry to complement his salary as an artist, although he did not like working in this sector too much. “My father and my mother come from there. And I know what’s there,” he says on his TikTok account.
Ferrer assures that the interview was strange from the first moment. He was asked some basic questions, such as experience in the sector, whether he had a driving license or training. “Something they could have found out if they had opened my resume,” he thought.
The company was interested and even told him to sign the contract, but the young man urged him to talk about the working conditions: working hours and salary, among other issues.
From there, the contradictions arrived. First, the person in charge told him that they were looking for two people who would work twenty hours a week, but that the second would be hired later. “It already smelled bad to me,” Ferrer continues.
When he asked about the schedule, they were not able to tell them anything firm either. From “only at night for dinners”, to I need you “a while at each meal”. And that did not correspond to the hours stated above.
The person in charge also ruled out paying overtime, because it is “a time that everyone spends.” In the end, after thinking it through and with the advice of her parents, she rejected the job offer.
Other users have also had similar experiences. “They hired me for 20 hours for lunches and on the second day they scolded me because I didn’t go to the dinners,” says one. “They wanted to hire me for two euros an hour and four hours a day, but I was going to work ten,” says another.
