Hotel Pacific

Roman, a jobless youth from the countryside, wanders through a midden-littered alley and watches a well-dressed man eject another from a hotel backdoor. He approaches and meets Albin, who hires him on the spot. Roman steps into the hotel's world, starting as a busboy and learning the brutal social rhythm of service life.

Roman is taken inside to serve as a busboy and quickly discovers the pecking order among the kitchen staff. Fryc, a fellow young countryman, bullies and teaches him the unwritten rules. Violence is presented as a casual, daily fact of life for the junior workers.

Fryc is offered a path into the waiting staff on the condition that he trains a replacement for him at the bar. He selects Roman as that replacement, a choice approved by the hotel owner. Albin provides fifty zloty for Roman's uniform but only passes on thirty to the new waiter, sowing early resentment.

Roman proves himself at the bar and is soon transferred to the waiting staff, upsetting Fryc who had hoped to be promoted first. The new arrangement is justified by the employer as needing Fryc to improve his Polish before advancing. The shift intensifies pageantry, pressure, and rivalry in the dining room.

Henek, a veteran waiter with dubious methods, becomes Roman's ally and shows him how to get back at the senior staff by stealing from the till. The two form a rough camaraderie built on exploiting the hotel's weak spots. Roman learns the margins where power and greed intersect in the service hustle.

Upper-class diners pepper Roman with insults and pressure, turning service into a minefield of control and humiliation. Baron Humaniewski, a regular client, makes repeated unwanted sexual advances, testing Roman's tolerance and dignity. The environment underscores the social hierarchies at the hotel.

Fornalski, the head waiter, carelessly leaves part of a sliced lemon on the floor, causing a senior waiter to slip and die. Fryc later tells Roman that it was Fornalski's negligence, not misfortune, that caused the fatal fall. Roman contemplates reporting this to the waiters' union, which would escalate tensions.

Roman refuses to stay quiet about Fornalski's role in the problems and fears reprisals, but the maître d' intervenes, ends the harassment, and helps Roman join the senior waiting staff. The power shift consolidates Roman's growing influence at the hotel. Roman also learns that Pancer betrayed him by snitching on his relationship with Hela.

Roman passes the waiting exam, securing his advancement, while Fryc fails for the third time. On New Year's Eve, Fryc attempts suicide, ends up fired, and disappears from the hotel world. The holiday night marks a painful turning point for both men.

Some time passes, and Roman grows a mustache while beginning a relationship with Hela, a tearoom worker. Pancer forbids romances among employees, and Hela is fired, ending their affair. The couple's dynamic is a core source of tension behind the hotel’s gilded surface.

After seeing Hela off, Fryc—the once-promising waiter—has become a vagrant and meets Roman in the station café. Fryc reveals he has been offered to manage a country inn by an elderly widow, painting a bucolic picture of country life. They drink and reminisce, but depart with hard words and mutual resentment.

The next day, a drunken diner confronts Roman in front of tearoom clients, insisting he take a piece of candy for an apology and tries to force it into his mouth. Roman feels degraded, likening the humiliation to being treated like a horse, and Fornalski delivers a harsh rebuke. The incident reaffirms the merciless social codes of the hotel.

Roman realizes that Fornalski is the embezzler sought by Pancer, but he keeps the information to himself. He learns that Pancer was the one who betrayed his relationship with Hela, which shifts his loyalties. He then enters Pancer's office, and the film closes with him waiting at a train station, ready to depart his old life.