An appeal for help

[Andrew]

Dear Budapest Bardroom Friends,

 

Many of you have enjoyed our Bardroom events, and I’m glad. We are working to bring you a great line-up in the months to come, and will announce a next event soon. Today, however, I am writing with an urgent personal appeal for help.

 

Please excuse me if this is repeated for you. I was able to reach a very limited subset of Bardroom friends on Facebook, and am now making a wide appeal.

 

Kálmán and I run the Bardroom at our own expense; the modest cover charge we ask goes entirely to the house, nominally to compensate Laci for his kindness in opening his teahouse often just for our events.

 

This is a personal appeal, seeking any suitable work and support.

My Hungarian employer has plunged me into an untenable situation; from one day to the next they have simply stopped scheduling me. They will not formally fire me, they are withholding pay for work done and work they are required to schedule, will not give a legally supportable reason for this, indeed refuse even to acknowledge the situation, will not give the required 30-days’ notice, nor respect the basics of our contract or Hungarian law. I have consulted with labour law experts, including a head of the United Nations office on labour law in Hungary, and a head of a main Hungarian labour union. All support me and urge me to formal action to recover pay.

 

I am days away from not even being able to afford food; my rent is about to be two months’ overdue.

 

Any donations of food and other necessities to get me through this time are most gratefully welcome.

 

Meanwhile I am urgently seeking suitable work. In addition to my work in literature over the years, as a writer, university instructor, translator, and editor, and as a cultural journalist and public speaker, I have over 20 years’ experience in English-language editing, proofreading, teaching, and coaching for business, document development for presentations, proposals, theses and reports, advanced communication training, and preparation help for meetings, job interviews and conferences. Of course I’m open to other work: tour guiding, advising visitors, or other creative tasks requiring expertise. Temporary or one-off jobs are certainly welcome.

 

Friends are invited to write me privately, at asin...@gmail.com. Thanks in advance for any help or leads.

 

Wishing you a fine weekend and an early spring.

 

Andrew