I only lasted a month in job from hell – it paid under £8 an hour, now I make triple with the skills I learned
A MUM has revealed how she earned less than £8-an-hour doing one of the world’s worst jobs - but admits it helped set her up for life.
Nicola Rodriguez, better known as cleaning influencer Essex House Dolly, took on the role in 2018 and quit just a month later.
She reckons being a chambermaid is nothing like hotel lovers would expect.
The decluttering expert said: “I became a hotel chambermaid in July 2018 when I desperately needed an income due to my personal life being turned upside down.
“I was a single mum to my two children and had to put food on the table and pay the bills, so I did it for a month until I then started my 'Dollying' as a business.
“I loved learning new hacks of how to make beds and spot checking rooms but I hated the pressure I was under to clean so many rooms within a time frame and the pay was horrendous.
“I earn nearly triple an hour now to their rate of pay.
“I also hated how guests would leave their rooms too.
“I experienced faeces in the bath, to used condoms and used sanitary products on the floor and what would be left for me on the bed sheet was another story.
“I would have a block of eight to 10 rooms to do which would include bed and towel change, dusting, bathroom clean and hoover in a four to five hour timeframe.
“When I got my first month’s wages, I quit immediately as couldn’t believe how bad the pay was and I had been highly taxed too.”
The interior design guru adds: “I would say the sheer graft that goes into the job and the hours you work is definitely not recognised or appreciated.
“It is also a as I called it ‘conveyor belt’ job and everyday was like groundhog day.
“How the company I worked for taught us to clean I found astonishing.
“I thought on my first day I would be equipped with a cleaning caddy - which is what I use when doing housekeeping jobs - stocked with a variety of cloths, products and tools. How wrong I was.
“All I was given was a can of furniture spray and an air freshener. To keep costs down, I had to use pillowcases for dusting with the furniture spray and the remaining pillowcases to clean the bathroom floor and surfaces in the bathroom.
“Hot water was to be used when cleaning the bathroom. After the room had been hoovered, the air freshener was then used.
“This is a very clever hack to give the illusion that the room has been thoroughly cleaned as when you walk in, the smell immediately hits you.”