I’m back!! I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted. Life has a way of stepping in and ruining all the fun.
The worst part is, I have had so many things I’ve wanted to talk about. But what I have in terms of inspiration is constantly being thwarted by my lack of desire to actually type it all up for others to read. Perhaps another time I will type up the blog that includes everything I’ve wanted to type about.
However, we are not here for what I may do, we are here to discuss the hotel business. Yes, I am proud to announce that I have finally managed to land myself a job, and I’m nearly finished with my third week. It is quite exciting, and challenging. As an introvert, I face a few struggles that an extroverted person wouldn’t. In my journey, I have picked up quite a bit of useful knowledge that I shall now share with you. I am typing this on my phone so forgive me any mistakes I may make.
1). Customer service is everything: When a person walks into a hotel, they are looking for a nice, professional person to hand all of their information to. You have to look the part, and act the part, even if you really don’t want to. This is, obviously, the same in every business from food to cars.
2). Multitasking is a bitch!: I’ve always been a pretty good multitasker, but I had to really step up my game. Often times I’ll have phones ringing, and people trying to get a room. You’re typing in credit card numbers in the machines, and giving quotes to the next person in line. I am horribly number dyslexic, so I struggle a bit with it. But I’m getting better.
3). Assholes exist here too: I’d been working for all of six days, and a self entitled asshole gentleman walks in. He starts spouting off all these questions that I don’t have the answers to, and gets angry with me when I explained I was new and didn’t know how to help. He slammed his hands on the counter and walked out, calling me an ignorant ass as he went. I also get people who get angry at me for the price. If it were up to me, I’d lower of. Which brings me to my next lesson…
4). Sympathy has no place here: I think this was the hardest lesson I had to learn (other than keeping up with math). During horrible weather, or so late st night they are falling asleep at the wheel, drivers are often shoved off the interstate and forced to get a room. The first few days I was here, I felt awful and would charge the lowest rate we offered. And that was a no no. After I sewed up the new asshole I’d been given by my bosses, I realized I was going to have to harden my heart. What is even worse than that is when you get people who are here for really sad reasons. I had a woman who hadn’t slept in days because her daughter was in the hospital having her fourth open heart surgery. She’d been forced to leave but didn’t want to go home, and chose my hotel instead. I hated. Hated. Charging her full price. But. This is a business, and businesses are here to make money. Sympathy, unfortunately, doesn’t make money.
5). You will become emotionally invested: I see a lot of truckers, a lot of travlers, and because I sit and chat with them, I tend to learn about where they are heading and where they came from. The incredibly nice ones I often find myself wondering if they made it to their destination safely. It’s a sad thought to realize that some of the people I see won’t make it. This leads into my next point.
6). Your sense of responsibility triples: Along with becoming emotionally invested, you take on a sense of responsibility for them, and their belongings. We have security cameras covering every inch of this place, and it is my job to keep an eye on the screens to make sure nothing gets stolen.
7). Your job doesn’t stop at the front desk: If you’re working in a small hotel in a small town, there may not be enough staff on hand to do all the jobs that need to be done at any given moment. When I first started working, I simply worked the front desk. On my second day, I was doing laundry. Fourth day I was fixing a computer. Fifth day I was typing up documents for my boss. Tenth day I was stripping down rooms, and delivering things up to people. When people ask what I do, I usually tell them I’m a personal front desk maintenance maid assistant.
8). Being a female in the hotel business sucks sometimes: I’ve only had this happen once, thankfully, but a guy took my niceness as flirting, and then started trying to have sex with me. Since I work in a hotel, it must also mean I can um…assist them in other ways.
9). You quickly learn your surroundings: Before working here, I knew the bare minimum of my town, and neighboring towns. Now I know every restaurant, gas station, etc in town, how far it is to the next towns, which towns would provide the better rates, and so forth.
10). Entertaining yourself is a must: On Mondays and Fridays, I’m always busy. During thr rest of the week, later into my shift, it gets very boring and very quiet. I was bored to tears during my first week, to the point that I started cleaning just so I had something to do. The lobby has a great shine to it now, though. This doesn’t stop at the slow days. You have to find a way to make this fun for yourself. I like to learn about people. So I make this fun by talking to them.
11). It’s like a family: I can’t speak for all hotel chains, only for the own I’m in at the moment. My boss told me they treat everyone like family, especially their employees. At first, I didn’t believe her. But it’s true! Her husband told me if I have problems with a person, tell him and they will kick them out, because “my life is more valuable than their money”. I’m sorry, I just don’t know a lot of businesses that would say that, and mean it. I don’t get mad and bitch about not wanting to come to work. Instead, I show up hoping to make them proud. I have value here, and I’m shown that often.
I feel very blessed. This job fell into my lap unexpectedly, and I love it.
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