phuketrichard wrote:if it was 4 years ago why post it now?
Nice to have rich parents

fuck i posted i made $25/week and vlad jumped on my cause it was not relevant and i was out of touch LOL

Samouth wrote:Note: i didn't mean to write this thread to defame the hotel, but i was asked by my friends what was my first job and i told them them. They were terrified. That's why i shared it here to see the reaction.

My family is not really rich, but in the middle class, so to support me four years at the university is not a big deal, however i always chased for scholarship as a result, i managed to get 80% scholarship which meant i only paid $90 per year while the majority paid $500.

I agreed with Vlad that your case was out of touch as it was back in 1970s (I was not born yet) and mine was really recent back in 2011. There is a very good article by Phnom Penh Post, talking about the exploitation of staff by Raffels Hotel issued in 2004, Mr LTO shared. I couldn't believe as 7 years later, they still paid shit to their staff.

A signed contract is an agreement between the parties involved. If you don't agree with the terms, don't sign. It's that simple. You were younger then and agreed to something that was unacceptable-a valuable lesson was learned?

Maybe Raffles had it right.

Samouth wrote:

AE86 wrote:Honestly, that sounds like a pretty easy job if you ask me. I've had jobs where the rules were much much more strict and the pay was basically minimum wage.

I should have mentioned that my working time was really flexible as i sometime worked 3 hours in the morning then another 3 hours in afternoon and 2 hours in the evening. i can't have day off on the weekend as well as on public holidays like khmer New Year or Phum Ben. This is not nice at all actaully.

That's not really surprising. Do you expect the hotel to close during Khmer New Year? Standing ir tieing, but I've done tons of jobs like that. It honestly doesn't sound like a difficult job. You sound like a bit of a complainer (as a new employee, I wouldn't question the policies of my new employer). Asking why you can't sit makes you sound really unprofessional. That being said, the $30 trial period is total bullshit. Khmers keep being taken by these weird deals because they often don't know any better (laws) and often don't have a choice, because someone else will be willing to do it if you don't. Either way, it's ridiculous. A trial period is fine, but for peanuts? It's NOT an apprenticeship, no matter what Richard likes to tell himself. I have a khmer friend who kept being promised a higher salary after a trial period for a new job (internally within the company). I noticed all the extra responsibilities she was taking over, and the same old salary... Guess what, after the three months trial, they offered her ANOTHER job, so the cycle continued. She eventually quit the new job and asked to go back to the same old job she originally did. Same pay without all the bullshit. Lying and manipulating employees... And this is from a foreign-owned company. Ridiculous. don't let yourself be walked over. Be thankful you didn't stay a long time.

phuketrichard wrote:ahh now i see;
u thought with zero experience cause it was a big 5 star hotel they would pay you more> LOL

Yet u never even thought about sticking it out long term for the future working in a 5 start hotel would bring?

Yes $30 is fucked BUT it does seem to weed out the ones that have no interest in sticking it out.
as i recall when i spoke with the gm (i used to work for travel magazine in Cambodia) they share tips

Hotels use people thats for sure. Nothing new about that

This is the second time today I have agreed with Richard. In the profession I'm in, one finishes their university degree, then does a traineeship lasting 75 days, then complete further exams, then get admitted to the profession. For those 75 days, I was paid exactly zero, even though I worked 60 hours a week. After I was admitted, for the next 3 months, I was also paid - you guessed it - zero. For the next 3 months after that, I wasn't paid zero, but I was paid minimum wage. I can now say, with confidence, that I don't regret the decision and am comfortable with my pay, even though I'm only in my early thirties.

Be careful when scoffing at those poorly-paid opportunities. They are just that - opportunities.

Satiated Parrot wrote: In the profession I'm in, one finishes their university degree, then does a traineeship lasting 75 days, then complete further exams, then get admitted to the profession. For those 75 days, I was paid exactly zero, even though I worked 60 hours a week. After I was admitted, for the next 3 months, I was also paid - you guessed it - zero. For the next 3 months after that, I wasn't paid zero, but I was paid minimum wage. I can now say, with confidence, that I don't regret the decision and am comfortable with my pay, even though I'm only in my early thirties.

Be careful when scoffing at those poorly-paid opportunities. They are just that - opportunities.

Yeah, I can just see a waiter earning what a lawyer in Singapore does after 5 years or so. I hope you use better logic in court. You got paid zero because the legal system is full of thieves. You decided to join. Don't act so surprised, first they want to see how much you can steal. LOL. Never mind, one day you might aspire to work with scooby-dooby-doo in the world's top destination for lawyers.

vladimir wrote:

Satiated Parrot wrote: In the profession I'm in, one finishes their university degree, then does a traineeship lasting 75 days, then complete further exams, then get admitted to the profession. For those 75 days, I was paid exactly zero, even though I worked 60 hours a week. After I was admitted, for the next 3 months, I was also paid - you guessed it - zero. For the next 3 months after that, I wasn't paid zero, but I was paid minimum wage. I can now say, with confidence, that I don't regret the decision and am comfortable with my pay, even though I'm only in my early thirties.

Be careful when scoffing at those poorly-paid opportunities. They are just that - opportunities.

Yeah, I can just see a waiter earning what a lawyer in Singapore does after 5 years or so. I hope you use better logic in court. You got paid zero because the legal system is full of thieves. You decided to join. Don't act so surprised, first they want to see how much you can steal. LOL. Never mind, one day you might aspire to work with scooby-dooby-doo in the world's top destination for lawyers.

Do you anything at all about my profession? The fact that I'm now relatively well-paid suggests that they do give credit for hard work. success always comes with years of hard work, not that you'd know anything about either of those two things.

As most major hotels lease their dining facilities to local businesses, it's entirely possible that the OP was hired as an employee by a subcontractor. It's all about the money-wages, taxes, insurance-it makes sense, especially in the hospitality industry which has an extremely high turnover rate. In this situation it seems reasonable to expect a waiter to be on his feet, smiling, and speaking English with guests-not sitting down or wandering around the hotel.

To the OP-how were you exploited?

PBR STREETGANG wrote:A signed contract is an agreement between the parties involved. If you don't agree with the terms, don't sign. It's that simple. You were younger then and agreed to something that was unacceptable-a valuable lesson was learned?

Maybe Raffles had it right.

In the agreement didn't state about my working condition, it didn't realize it could be that hard until i started my first day working. As i said, at that time i was really happy to get job, So i actually signed it unconditionally.

PBR STREETGANG wrote:As most major hotels lease their dining facilities to local businesses, it's entirely possible that the OP was hired as an employee by a subcontractor. It's all about the money-wages, taxes, insurance-it makes sense, especially in the hospitality industry which has an extremely high turnover rate. In this situation it seems reasonable to expect a waiter to be on his feet, smiling, and speaking English with guests-not sitting down or wandering around the hotel.

To the OP-how were you exploited?

I am sure that this never happen to Raffel le Royale hotel. I was actually hired by that hotel no the subcontractor.

Why can't you just sit a little bit when there is no guest. I am not a robot to be able to stand all the time.

$30 per month.

I really don't mind for you guys to call me complainer or whatever. As i said, even though the Hotel didn't fire me, i would still resign less than a week. i couldn't work in that such condition. I always believed that there is always a way if you seek for. Fortunately just a few months later i got a job as a translator where i was paid 9 times more. Note, at that time i also didn't have working experience as a translator and not even finish school.

rubberbaron wrote:Chalk it up to experience. It's not worth dwelling on any longer. Just go and look for another job. Of course, the hospitality business is a service business where wages are traditionally very low. As a hotel owner (a small hotel in SHV) I can tell you that the normal trainee salary is $50 without any experience, $80 with some experience and sufficient English. Our probationary period is 3 months but if we see the person is shaping up really well after a month we raise the wages to $100 to $110 plus $1 lunch money per working day. We also give 1 day of paid vacation time per month after 6 months of work. The better boutique hotels in Phnom Penh pay even better (I am loosely associated with 2 of them). This is the way the industry works in Cambodia. There is a long way to go before higher rates can be charged and higher wages be paid. The luxury hotels exploit natives everywhere; they lack the personal touch in their employee relations.
In comparison minimum wage in the U.S. depending on the state averages about $5.70/hr but wait staff usually get less anyway as they rely heavily on tips.

The federal minum wage is $7.25. Some states have lower or no minimum on the books, but they are not allowed to go below the federal so the laws are void. Wait staff have a minimum wage of $2.13 per hour, however if they do not earn the equivalent of $7.25 per hour with tips, the employer must make up the difference.

Also, I do not think many hotel workers in the US make minimum wage. Motels and hostels, sure, but when I worked in hospitality, I made between $11 and $14 per hour for 2 star places. I never saw any adverts for anything less than a $1 or $2 over minimum wage. I did make minimum wage when I started at a hostel though and it sucked and was hard to live on. I agree the wages are low, but they are not that low.

And even you say that you pay $50 for trainees, so why can't one of the nicest hotels in cambodia afford more than $30?

If their goal is really to weed out the crappy employees, it isn't working - Samouth is a smart dude who seems very hard working. He just knew he was worth more than that. It seems to me their strategy is more likely to attract the desperate with no other options.