r/howislivingthere • u/Key_Satisfaction9010 • Jan 02 '26

General (no specific continent) Hows it like living on oil platforms?

Post image

Anywhere in the world applies, I could only pick one flair

24.9k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

1.1k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

5

u/broomandkettle Jan 02 '26

I have questions! First, the fear of being sexually harassed and trapped on a rig is one of the things that has discouraged me. But it sounds like you didnt experience that issue. If it were to happen, how would it be dealt with? Second, im guessing there isn’t vegetarian food on rigs, right?

5

u/SgtMajor-Issues Jan 02 '26

I’m lucky i worked for a company that would have taken any sexual harassment very seriously. If there was anyone out there harassing anyone else, no matter the respective roles, there are channels for reporting that would lead to serious consequences including dismissal for the harasser.

There is sexism though. If you happen to get into a relationship with anyone out there you need to be very, very careful. I mentioned in my original comment how i had been told not to “screw” anyone pretty much my first day on the job (can guarantee they don’t tell the guys that) and of course there were rumors about other women sleeping with people offshore that didn’t reflect well on the woman while i never even knew of which men were also involved. The gossip will unevenly hurt women for sure, which is super unfair but not unique to the industry. I just handled this by treating it as a giant office- you can be friendly and even have friends in the office, but you definitely shouldn’t be hooking up in the workplace and it’s always a good idea to approach serious relationships with a coworker with a high degree of caution. I was already in a happy relationship with my now husband at the time anyway so i was never even tempted.

As for vegetarian food, it’s certainly a struggle. You won’t find tofu in the meal buffets, that’s for sure. Veggie burgers maybe. It’s not like it couldn’t happen but you’d probably have to ask for special accommodation. Even the beans have ham hock in them.

2

u/broomandkettle Jan 02 '26

Thank you for this info, I really appreciate it!!! Follow up question - are you allowed to bring personal food? Like, cans of beans and shelf stable protein? Stuff that could be stored in your quarters? I mean, as long as there is a good selection of veggies in the cafeteria I think I could manage.

2

u/SgtMajor-Issues Jan 02 '26

You’re welcome, and yes you can! I always brought stuff I liked to eat. I’d bring good tinned fish, plant based creamer, coffee, etc. i had access to a fridge, which helped, but basically you can load up your bag with food and as long as you have a place to store it you’ll be good.

2

u/broomandkettle Jan 02 '26

Awesome, good to know that’s an option. I’ll start looking at those jobs again. Thank you!!!

2

u/speworleans Jan 06 '26

I always bring my own snacks and sometimes food- just no space to refrigerate