How would you like to work 7 on and have 5 off….months that is?
This is the standard hospitality sector roster in Croatia. Work like a demon over the busy summer tourist season 7 days a week for 7 months solid. But hold on, we are not talking a soft 8 hour shift a day like at home so you get reasonable down time at the end of the day to unwind before you start again next morning.
No, no. no each day is 17 hours, 7 days a week for 7 months straight. Then you can have 5 months off until the next tourist season starts. Rosie guesses the labor laws are pretty lax here.
Rosie has been pondering the pros and cons of this. The biggest pro is 5 months off, hey, who wouldn’t want that, awesome down time! There are so many things you could do and places to travel to in 5 months. Nearly half a year of not working, that sounds awesome!
Then you weigh up the cons….imagine working at your favorite cafe, if you dont already have a hospo job. That cafe is now open from 0700am till 2300 and you are one of the waiters. You work 17 hours, from opening till closing serving mainly foreigners coffees, meals and drinks every single day of the week for 7 months.
That is already starting to sound like one of the seven circles of hell. It is akin to a punishment, a jail sentence even. Rosie has spent many many hours sitting in cafes on her own listening to the rudeness of some customers, the lofty expectations of some customers and the downright crazy demands of other customers and knows…..these shifts, continual shifts would not be good for ones mental health and sanity.
Talking to the waiters where Rosie has become a regular they are not unhappy with their lot, it is just the way it is.
All seem to have worked at their particular establishments long term, 17 years, 8 years and know there is a job there for them every season. They know no different, this has always been their working life and that is how it is.
They cannot believe we only get four weeks holiday a year…but we only work 8 hours a day and have two days off every week! They think that is crazy.
The loyalty, naivety, or acceptance of these hourly rate workers amazes me because they then say…we couldn’t have 2 days off because we are busy every day of the summer….
Rosie – Let the tourists go somewhere else if you shut for two days.
Waiter – No, this is how we make our money for the winter, we cannot shut.
Rosie – Stay open and hire part timers to cover your two days off.
Waiter – (He thinks I am crazy). No one works part time here, you either work or you don’t. The more people that work here means less money for me….if I have two days off I do not get paid. I need the money over the winter when I don’t get paid.
Rosie – How do you cope with working such a long stretch in such a demanding job at times?
Waiter – (Shrugs), we just do because that’s the way it is.
So remember next time when you are in a European Cafe away from the Big Cities, in October, ask if they close for the season. If they say they do then you know that they are at the end of working 7 months straight and realise this is why you get kind of nonchalant, slow, bare minimum service. Rosie is not condoning it, just understanding it.
So what would you choose if you had the choice?
