Short hours

[PenforPrez]

Ah, the downside of part-time work rears its ugly head.

I just got called not to work for the fourth or fifth time in the last two weeks. I'll probably not be able to make bills on my next paycheck, so now I'm really worrying. But they told me to expect shorter hours in the winter; possibly as low as 20 hours. Thing is, I have to maintain the 35+ hours a week I started at to keep bills down.

My parents are already voicing plenty of complaints, and that's the last thing I need to hear right now. :cry: Getting another PT job won't work in this siutation because I don't know when I'll be working or not, except on my scheduled days off.

Besides, I'm worried that this crap work is sucking my intelligence out of my head. Maybe a bit Kafkaesque, but I worry about these things. I don't want to rely on my writing work right now; I need something a little more steady.

Paul

[AG_47]

That sounds just like me!! Three weeks ago my company started cutting my hours. At first, they cut one or two days a week. Then it was three days and last week I only had one day of work. I wasn't able to pay all my bills with last week's paycheck so I'm already behind. I only recieved two hours worth of work yesterday and I didn't recieve any work today. They told me that November and December are the slow times of the year but I didn't expect it to be THIS slow. It's so depressing thinking about having to find a new job, and how I'm going to pay my bills. I don't think I'll have enough money to buy Christmas gifts this year. I also live with my parents and they have been bugging me about this job since I got it. My dad doesn't think that it's a "real" job and my mom thinks I should be doing something with my degree. Lately, they've been helping me pay my bills and I get told everyday that I should get a job that pays better. I already owe them so much and I feel so bad borrowing more money from them. They can barely pay their own bills. I've been thinking that it's about time for me to find a new job. I've been using this time off to read books on finding a new career. I've also started exercising again and I've been working on some projects that I haven't had time to do until now. I've been trying to remain positive and try not to worry too much.

[WorkInProgress]

Question: why can't you look for a PT job during the hours when you never work, like say, second shift?

[tina1979]

or look for another part time job that would be more steady and you could quit the one you have

[AG_47]

I've had this job for just over a year now and I expect my hours to increase back to full time in January (last year it was slow in December and picked up in January and I was doing overtime by May). Why would I start a new (part time) job only to quit in a month?:rolleyes:

[PenforPrez]

So I've been called not to work the last two days again. If this lasts all winter, this is not going to work. Besides that, I hope to be called in every day so I can't go anyway. That's not a good way to be.

I'm thinking I should just look for a full-time job. With my depression over my home situation, I'm thinking that's a better idea. I spend most of my surprise days off sleeping, which is a mistake, because it only fuels this exhaustion I always suffer from. Just nothing to do on a day you didn't expect to have off.

Paul

[wordsmith]

Having eased into the workforce with a part time job, I think it will possibly be easier now for you to get something full time than it was previously.

[wordsmith]

By the way just read your initial post more carefully, and menial work, while obviosly minimally fun and fulfilling, is assuredly NOT sucking your intelligence. Your smarts don't atrophy from making beds. Let's not be melodramatic.

My sister is in her first post-college job, in a good position applicable to what she wants to do long-term, but that was cut from full-time to part time for budgetary reasons around the time she was hired. It's also in hospitality, it's management of a civic center/reception hall/conference center. They told her the same thing (expect fewer hours in the winter, outside of a run on Christmas parties that will keep things hopping for a couple of weeks). That's occurred, and now she has my dad on her ass (she's living at home), because "She's not working enough." That IS frustrating. What are you supposed to do, demand that they invent reasons to pay you to be there if there are none?

[asm198]

Are you still doing the housekeeping thing that the hotel? Have you talked to your boss about maybe working part time at the desk as well?

[PenforPrez]

Are you still doing the housekeeping thing that the hotel? Have you talked to your boss about maybe working part time at the desk as well?

Yep, that's the job that's calling me not to work. They said they'll let me serve bar (beer and wine) a couple nights a week if my housekeeping shows improvement, but I have a month to go with that yet.

Paul

[asm198]

It sucks that you have to wait another month. I always noticed around this time of the year that housekeepers would get their hours cut. Less people are traveling, so there are less rooms to clean, and it generally goes by seniority. I always felt lucky working the desk because there was no way they would cut my hours because someone needed to be there at all times.

The only thing I can suggest is talking to your supervisors and asking if there is anything else you can do to get the hours. One place I worked at was owned by a man who also owned two other hotels in the city. Occasionally, we'd swap workers if a place was short staffed.