Originally Posted by
indyfabz
....
The HI Hostel at Lake Itasca was closed during the day. We had to wait outside in the rain until the hosts showed up. They were two miserable guys. They were like two drill Sergeants. In the morning they assigned us cleaning assignment and hounded us until we completed them...
I have never been asked to perform any work when I was at a hostel, other than clean up after myself. I was expected to strip off the bedding for laundry before I left. And leave the kitchen as clean as it was when I started.
That reminded me, I went to a small non-HI hostel in Iceland, steady rain, they were closed for several more hours, I decided instead to go to the campground and set up my tent in the rain.
A small HI hostel in Iceland, when I got there they were closed, but the door was open and there was a sign with a phone number to call inside.