Camila Dominguez
The sound of my alarm jolts me awake. Another day begins. I skip breakfast again, as usual, because the thought of being late to work is worse than starting the day on an empty stomach. By 9 a.m., I’m in my uniform, pushing my cleaning cart down the long corridor of the hotel where I've worked for twelve years.
When I arrived in Barcelona, Spain, I was 27, fresh from my studies in the Dominican Republic, full of hope. Moving in with my mother and sister was supposed to be temporary, just until I got on my feet. But things didn’t turn out as I imagined. The hotel job was meant to be a stopgap, a way to earn money while I figured out my next steps. Yet here I am, at 39, still scrubbing toilets and changing sheets.
I clean three rooms an hour, every hour, for up to twelve hours a day. The pressure is relentless. Some days, the rooms are manageable—just some sand from the beach or empty bottles from a night out. But there are days, like last week, where it’s as if a bomb of food exploded in the room. I spent nearly an hour scraping dried spaghetti off the walls and the TV, my back aching more with each stretch.
The summer months are the worst. The hotel is packed with families on vacation and groups of friends partying until dawn. They come to Barcelona to forget their worries, and I’m left to clean up the aftermath. My back pain has become a constant companion, a dull ache that flares into sharp stabs if I twist the wrong way. Even the strongest painkillers barely help.
Two years ago, I finally got my degree recognized here. It was a victory, but it felt hollow. So much time has passed, and the confidence I had when I first arrived is gone, buried under years of routine and exhaustion. The thought of applying for a job in my field is terrifying. What if I’m not good enough anymore? What if I fail?
But then I think of the years ahead, of my body breaking down under the strain of this job, and I wonder how much longer I can keep going. Maybe one day, I'll muster the courage to make a change. But today, I just have to make it through another shift.