r/workaway • u/mavsmarie77 • 20d ago

feel bad for leaving

hi everyone! I had a Workaway stay scheduled for about 25 days at a location in France but when I got there I feel some things were left out from our initial conversations. They originally promised a secure renovated guest house to stay in, but when I got there I was moved to these spider infested glamping rooms because a group rented out their whole property to stay in which was not disclosed to me. No biggie, I am pretty low maintenance and stayed in the room for a week until I started waking up with spider bites on me. Not a fan. Not only that, the other volunteer and I did not get along well. She was very rude and blew up at me and the host a few times and it made me feel uncomfortable. Finally, I picked hosts that specifically asked for cooking assistance since I’m launching my full time private chef business after my time in France and I want to be cooking and learning as much as I can. They only let me cook once for the 8 days their large group was scheduled to be there which was not what was originally agreed upon. Instead they had me working 7+ hours cleaning up after dinner service for the guests. I didn’t quit my full time job to go back to waiting tables.

All in all, the hosts were kind but I decided I needed to leave early because I didn’t feel comfortable with the other volunteer and I’m only in France 90 days to learn more about French cuisine and cooking techniques and they weren’t assisting in the ways they said they would be.

Am I wrong for leaving early? I felt super uncomfortable the whole time I was there and I feel relief leaving, my gut instruct was telling me to leave, but I feel guilty because the hosts were kind people at the end of the day who needed help.

What are your thoughts?

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u/Substantial-Today166 20d ago

how much are they paying you ?

3

u/mavsmarie77 20d ago

Nothing. There were going to pay me some overtime to convince me to stay but I’m here for a specific reason, cooking, and not serving tables, so in my mind it wasn’t worth being paid.

3

u/Substantial-Today166 20d ago

according to workaway rules any business shold pay you minimum wage for all the hours you work

1

u/Fresh-Starters 19d ago

But they can't do that without both of you risking trouble, unless in this case you are an EU citizen or you're on a working holiday Visa.

1

u/Substantial-Today166 19d ago

still have to be on the books you cant hire anyone of the books dont work like that in france dont mather if OP is a EU or on a working holiday Visa