u/Standard_Economics42

I’ve been living in Montreal for just over a year now and despite making a consistent daily effort to improve my french it’s still really holding me back job wise.

I’ve got myself up to a B1, I can have simple conversations but I’m still not anywhere close to the fluency requirement I keep hitting on my job search.

I recently discovered workaway and since I’m discontented with my current job anyway and I have an ok amount of money saved up, I thought maybe it’d be a fun way to finally breakthrough linguistically if I just disappeared to France for 4 months and got immersed in the language working at a hostel.

The ideal place would have a built in social group with other work awayers (preferably around my age group, early 20s to mid 30s), and have the dominant language being French obviously. I don’t want to have the easy way out of switching to English.

Just wondering if anyone has done something similar before and if you’d have some advice for me about unexpected costs, how to maximize my learning while there and red flags to look out for when choosing my host.

Appreciate the help!

This post is just a rant.

I’ve been barbacking at the same dive/club bar for over a year now. From day one I made it clear I wanted to move up to bartender. I got passed over twice while watching people who started after me get premoted. This bothered me obviously but since I’m new to a predominantly french canadian city and my french isn’t super strong I accepted it as a language thing and kept on working on it.

Finally, after the manager promoted his friend who’d only been barbacking for weeks I had a direct conversation with him asking if I would ever be considered. He said yes. Spent the next 4 months hearing “your next, just waiting for an open spot”. I was even encouraged by one of the owners to push for the position around this time.

Finally the spot opens and my manager gets cold feet. Every time I would ask if I’m being promoted he would say yes and then I’d hear from co workers that he’s talking behind my back still unsure. Then weeks go by of me getting on his ass and him saying “but your such a good barback I don’t want to lose that” I eventually said “your going to lose me either way if you don’t promote me. During this time every single co worker vouched for me as well.

He finally did. I got one training shift. A weekday open where 2 people showed up. Then the following weekend he tells me that the owner with the most shares said he doesn’t want me to bartend and will take it upon himself to find someone else. Said I was too shy. The best part? Said owner has probably had one conversation with me. Takes 0 interest in the day to day of the bar but somehow felt the need to insert himself between me and my promotion.

Obviously I’m looking for another job but I’m beyond furious. Things won’t be easy. My french is still weak which is a massive block and on top of that I have no bartending experience to put on the resumer and I don’t have the stomach to play the please promote me game again after this experience.

That’s it. Just very unfortunate I love my manager my co workers and the regulars. The moneys fantastic and the management is probably the most loose you’ll ever get in this industry. But I got screwed in the most nonsensical and unforgivable way.

Left a bar last night and there was a guy hanging around outside. Seemed coherent, friendly, easy to talk to. Ended up chatting and he told me it was his 3rd day on the street and he’d tried crack for the first time a few days ago.

He was 28. Still totally present, still himself. That’s what got me.

I already had an Uber going to the same neighbourhood he’s parents were at, and I was staying at with my parents. I just said come with me. He asked if he could sleep at mine. I said no but I’ll get you an Uber to your parents after. He said it was too complicated with them.

I stalled, told him just walk with me for a bit. Turns out we went to the same high school. We talked about teachers, the neighbourhood, all of it.

Then my Uber pulled up. I gave it one last shot. He wouldn’t take it.

I don’t really have a point. Just that he’s not lost yet and I couldn’t get him to take the one step that might have changed everything. Stings.