You guys are missing the point: an unpaid apprenticeship after learning a trade or profession is one thing. He was doing a low-skill job which requires nothing except a bit of politeness. Although I liked the movie "Grand Budapest", I doubt he would have gone up the ranks to General Manager of Raffles... I've never heard of an apprenticeship for a job like that.

Satiated Parrot wrote:

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.

Dude, you wouldn't last a day in some of the classes I've had to teach, with some of the shitty admins for crap pay you'd have to deal with. Your concept of hard work revolves solely around how much one gets paid, but Vegas whores earn more in 10 minutes than you do in a month, and their clients enjoy getting fucked over, yours probably don't.

Your logic is completely and utterly flawed, you are comparing a job as a waiter, with very few chances for promotion in the 5-star hotel system, to a lawyer, where opportunities are far more numerous and far better paid, and there is no limit.

I do know a little about your profession, I studied a few law subjects, a member of my family worked in a law office for over 25 years, I have friends that work for legal Aid both in SA and here, an din private practice in the UK and SA.

Most of them hold carpetbaggers in contempt, just like I do. Your loyalty is obvious, support Scooby and the 7 dwarves whenever they feel threatened, and continuously ignore the qualification I post (I despise only the corrupt/immoral lawyers/bankers etc). Why would a moral/ethical secure person in any of those professions then get riled by that? Mmm

How does it feel not to have the threat of banning/backslapping protecting you here? Frightening? It's called free speech, bro, kind alike a court, where one hears both sides...oh, wait...

Edit: Can't be bothered with this rubbish.

Satiated Parrot wrote:Edit: Can't be bothered with this rubbish.

Yet you posted a reply.

Maybe your buddy who works for goons is the only one who works hard, right? I mean, the only people who work hard must be those that continually tell us about it, right?

This is not about you or me, this is about a shitty deal Samouth got, and you tried to justify it with child-logic.

vladimir wrote:

Satiated Parrot wrote:Edit: Can't be bothered with this rubbish.

Yet you posted a reply.

Maybe your buddy who works for goons is the only one who works hard, right? I mean, the only people who work hard must be those that continually tell us about it, right?

This is not about you or me, this is about a shitty deal Samouth got, and you tried to justify it with child-logic.

Yeah I did post a reply but realised I probably should take the high road and not involve myself in one of your nonsensical rants.

Good decision, better to say 'no more questions' when you've talked yourself into a corner.

The thing is that he could have been paid $5 per month and the same people would be saying it is okay. Empathy is evil. Worker bees must work. Free market, blah blah blah.

There are hundreds of hotels completely ignoring the Labour Law.

NO contract which does not conform to the Labour Law is valid, and saying 'Oh, he didn't have to sign it' is a completely stupid argument.

Comparing a $35/month recent-times job in Cambodia with a legal/photographic internship in Australia/the US 10 or more years ago etc. is completely misleading.

one has almost zero chance of upward mobility, whereas the other has enormous potential for same.

Bitte_Kein_Lexus wrote:

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.

as per highlighted...how anyone can justify this shit is beyond me...

There are two reasonable sides to this; the first is quite correct in saying that pay should be better for trainees (it should be a living wage in any hotel that charges more than $200 a night for a room here). The second is correct that the hotel industry does bring opportunities. 5 Star hotel chains do promote internally. They also send their staff around the world (where earning opportunities are likely to be significantly higher than Cambodia) to work in different parts of the group. I spent about 6 years living in 5 star hotels around the world for my work, you get to know a lot of folks in the hotel industry from that - it's not all doom and gloom but the exploitative processes of Raffles here ($30 a month is taking the piss) are nothing to be celebrated either.