My lease ran out and I was unable to get a new place for me and my then partner (who was otherwise completely unable to support themselves, very long story) to stay while I was the only employee working under the table and basically running a hookah bar. We stayed in a hotel for three or four weeks, but that was running me about €1800/month, and I couldn’t keep up for long. My boss offered us the couches in the hookah bar, which was an absolute godsend. I only stayed there for a couple of months, but but it kept me from sleeping rough.

Later I realized that if I hadn’t been working under the table (which was my boss’s choice, I had legal work allowance), I would have been entitled to much more… traditional aid (and the air quality in my residence would definitely have been at least closer to safe levels), so I’m a little more conflicted. He definitely stepped in when he didn’t have to, but in return he got to keep his only employee and there was no investigation of my finances that would have been necessary for government services and would probably have ended up with him paying some hefty fines. I’m very much still grateful, just a little jaded.