It's the end of an era!! Dun, dun, dun! I know, it's a bit dramatic as a way to start this post, but I am reaching the end of my housekeeping career. I recently accepted a job as a high school English teacher (yay!) where I, hopefully- knock on wood!- will delight teenagers with my incessant ramble on any number of topics, not the least of which is my amazing housekeeping career. As you know, all good things come to an end, and, in this case, some mediocre things also come to an end. I am incredibly excited about my new career, but there are a few small things that I will miss about housekeeping. Allow me to enlighten you.
1. The hours. You can't really get a better schedule than a schedule you have control over. Well, except for a schedule where you actually choose your own hours, like an at-home business or something. But that's neither here nor there. In housekeeping, if I want to get done early, I merely go faster. If I need the hours, I can take my time. Heck, I could spend ten hours/day cleaning at most places before they raise an eyebrow. They might call you slow, but you can chalk it up to any number of things: back pain, allergies to cleaning products (which would lead to you putting on masks and additional equipment for every room, thereby adding up additional minutes of work time), a penchant for thorough and detailed cleaning, asthma, etc. It's usually no big deal if you take your time. And, if you choose to speed, as I usually do, especially when I was a full time student juggling two part time jobs, extra-curriculars and a full homework load, you can bust out of there early, maybe 4 or 5 hours of cleaning a day, maybe even less if you're lucky. Going quick is fairly easy, but it takes practice, and you need to be efficient. You can't be returning to your cart for supplies every two minutes. You need to look at the bathroom once, say, okay, I need 3 bath towels, 2 hand towels, 4 washcloths, a hand soap, a shampoo and a conditioner, one bath soap, one toilet paper, one kleenex, a bath mat, and a new shower curtain liner, and then grab all of that off your cart and place it in the bathroom, like that (snap!). One swift motion, my friends. You can do it! You may or may not need to bulk up; protein shakes, crunches, etc. It all depends on you. Same with the general cleaning. I have perfected the art of dusting while making a bed. I kid you not, it's not that tricky. One hand throws the duvet onto the bed while the other dusts the TV; then the other dusts the end table while you fluff the pillows. Hey, I've been doing this for nearly a decade; I've got mad skills.
2. The coworkers. This one's more serious. There are some incredible, hard working people out there working as housekeepers. I can't stress this enough. Yes, there are slackers, as with any job. I've seen them. I've had my own down days when I felt like a slacker worker. But, for the most part, these are some tough people. It's a hard job. And it's usually a bunch of hard-working, determined mothers who take up this career path. They are incredibly friendly, blunt, funny, and generally awesome. It's a tough job; not for the weak or weak of heart. You're down on your knees, scrubbing floors, scrubbing tubs, picking gross stuff out of corners, cleaning up various messes and bodily fluids and other disturbing things. With that, I return to my usual rant- TIP YOUR HOUSEKEEPERS! Especially if you leave a huge mess, seriously, it's just common sense, it's just basic human compassion. Are you human? If so, you must tip them, you simply must, or I will have to ask you to turn yourself over for scientific research as, contrary to popular belief, you may not in fact be human. I know, it's a heartbreaker, but we would literally have to go there.
3. Free lunch. Although the food does suck, it's free. No further explanation necessary.
4. Epic uniforms. Just kidding. The uniforms are awful. They are seriously dreadful. Just check out any housekeeper the next time you visit a hotel. Well, don't check check them out. Don't be creepy. Just take a non-creepy glance as you say hello. Does the uniform scream sexy Amazon superwoman? Nope, it screams dowdy maid. Trust me on this. I will not miss the uniforms. We're kinda known as the Smurf Patrol. We wear blue on blue. It's pretty much the opposite of aesthetically pleasing.
5. Free toilet paper. And soap. Maybe a cleaning supply or two if your boss is generous; that kind of depends on the place. Seriously, I have never bought toilet paper. NEVER! And now I will have to start; it's depressing on multiple levels, as you can imagine...
6. Your very own cart! (Imagine that being as exciting as a prize on The Price is Right.)
Yes, at most places, you do get to lug around a 300-pound stack of awesome. In some, they even let you personalize it. (Think stickers.) It's a joyous experience. If you're lucky, you might even encounter a situation when your cart defies gravity and starts to tip over but then miraculously rights itself just before it crushes you to a pulp. Your life will actually start to flash before your eyes. It's quite extraordinary.
Well, I guess that's pretty much all as far as things that I'll miss. I was really starting to reminisce on the cart before I realized that I will be upgrading to my own entire room, yippee! That will be a jubilee and a half, I assure you. Unfortunately, with my career change, this blog may be reaching its end. Or not. I haven't decided for sure yet. Certainly, I can still rant about housekeeping even after I leave the profession. Time will tell...
Friday, July 27, 2012
Monday, June 4, 2012
Greed and the modern housekeeper. Kind of.
Some people just think that they deserve more than everyone else. Now, I'm no shrink; I'm not sure how they arrive at this conclusion. I'm not even sure what kind of mind set you would have to be in to think such a ridiculous thing. I know that I have to work incredibly hard, and even then I likely won't get what I want. It is occassionally disappointing, but, hey, it's life. It's kinda like my mother's motto, which is, "Life sucks, and then you die." Obviously, she is an incredibly optimistic woman, but there is some truth to the words in that life is often difficult. Money doesn't grow on trees, and neither does happiness.
I know what you're thinking. This is such a downer blog!! And what in the world does this have to do with housekeeping?!?! Well, my friend, it has everything to do with it. Hang on to your breeches, and I'll give you a slice of the entitled side of things. Just this last month, we had some fancy-pants guests staying at the hotel, the "higher-ups" you might say. They were with "cooperate", we were told, and they were our main concern for probably an entire month before they came. We had to make sure everything was absolutely perfect for them. We were assigned extra cleaning chores, especially dusting...ugh, I really hate dusting. Seriously, how is it that I only need to dust my house, like, twice a year and it's perfectly fine, but at this bloody hotel if you don't dust every single day, there's dust everywhere, suffocating the furniture, it's some sort of curse or something, quite frankly, it's unnatural. But I digress. The main point is, every employee at the hotel had to do all this extra work in anticipation of the arrival of these fancy people, meanwhile ignoring all of the current guests. It seemed a bit, well, rude.
Plus, we do all this work, and what's there to show for it? The guests come, they do whatever they want, including smoke in the guest rooms (um, hello, go outside, get some fresh air while you pollute those lungs, for Pete's sake), and then they leave without a single "thank you, ma'am" amongst the lot of them. Well, excuse me, but it just doesn't seem right. I mean, a few tipped a tiny bit after their extensive day stay, but most didn't tip at all. And most of these people live lavish lives of luxury and travel. They're millionaires. Each one probably spent $40 a day just on the elaborate breakfasts they ordered every morning, but drop a ten-ski for the poor little old maid at the end of the week? Of course not. It's all "me, me, me" in their little world. Not that I'm angry, exactly. I still get paid by the hour regardless of who tips me or not (although it's tragically below what we housekeepers deserve for our hard work!). I guess mostly I am just disappointed. If I was in their overly polished suede shoes, I like to think that I would be generous to my fellow human beings. When did it become acceptable, even praiseworthy, to not share your good fortune? Just something to think about...
I know what you're thinking. This is such a downer blog!! And what in the world does this have to do with housekeeping?!?! Well, my friend, it has everything to do with it. Hang on to your breeches, and I'll give you a slice of the entitled side of things. Just this last month, we had some fancy-pants guests staying at the hotel, the "higher-ups" you might say. They were with "cooperate", we were told, and they were our main concern for probably an entire month before they came. We had to make sure everything was absolutely perfect for them. We were assigned extra cleaning chores, especially dusting...ugh, I really hate dusting. Seriously, how is it that I only need to dust my house, like, twice a year and it's perfectly fine, but at this bloody hotel if you don't dust every single day, there's dust everywhere, suffocating the furniture, it's some sort of curse or something, quite frankly, it's unnatural. But I digress. The main point is, every employee at the hotel had to do all this extra work in anticipation of the arrival of these fancy people, meanwhile ignoring all of the current guests. It seemed a bit, well, rude.
Plus, we do all this work, and what's there to show for it? The guests come, they do whatever they want, including smoke in the guest rooms (um, hello, go outside, get some fresh air while you pollute those lungs, for Pete's sake), and then they leave without a single "thank you, ma'am" amongst the lot of them. Well, excuse me, but it just doesn't seem right. I mean, a few tipped a tiny bit after their extensive day stay, but most didn't tip at all. And most of these people live lavish lives of luxury and travel. They're millionaires. Each one probably spent $40 a day just on the elaborate breakfasts they ordered every morning, but drop a ten-ski for the poor little old maid at the end of the week? Of course not. It's all "me, me, me" in their little world. Not that I'm angry, exactly. I still get paid by the hour regardless of who tips me or not (although it's tragically below what we housekeepers deserve for our hard work!). I guess mostly I am just disappointed. If I was in their overly polished suede shoes, I like to think that I would be generous to my fellow human beings. When did it become acceptable, even praiseworthy, to not share your good fortune? Just something to think about...
Monday, April 30, 2012
I've been applying for a lot of teaching jobs recently. I know, I know, I'm not going to be a housekeeper forever. It is slightly disappointing. But, on the bright side, there's always something that needs cleaning.
When I do leave my current position, though, I think I will try to make some changes for my fellow housekeepers. You know, leave my imprint. And not just through the vacuum marks on the carpet. No, on a serious note I actually do wonder if I could make the hotel a better place for all those ladies who are in it for the long run. The career housekeepers, if you will. I'm not quite sure how it will go down, but I do want something rather epic to happen on my last day. I'm still in the planning phase. Have to get back to you on that one.
But first I just thought I 'd run some ideas by you. Well, not so much ideas as a rant, and not so much a rant as it is advice. It's advice that I can offer you to be good guests so that the career housekeepers don't have to suffer as much. Because, in all honesty, some days are brutal. There's always the totally trashed/destroyed room that makes you want to run out of the building screaming. Fortunately, that usually only happens maybe once or twice a month. Unless it's a bad month. Or maybe just a hotel that attracts the wrong clientele. If, for instance, you're working at a hotel/motel where the guests are paying by the hour...you might be in the wrong type of housekeeping job. Maybe you should quit. Or not. Whatever floats your boat. Whatever roasts your beans. Whatever flips your pancakes. Whatever...
Anyways, onto my much-anticipated advice. I can tell you're on the edge of your seat. For today, however, I am offering you just one healthy chunk of advice that I dearly hope you'll follow, and it goes as such: Please, please TIP YOUR HOUSEKEEPERS!!!!
If you're scoffing at that, hear me out. Think of all the people you already tip. Do you tip your bartenders? Think about that. The guy literally just pulled a beer from a fridge, popped the top and handed it to you...does that really deserve a dollar? Now, I have nothing against bartenders. Actually, one of my sisters is currently a bartender, and I know that she's works hard. When she mixes me a complicated drink, of course I tip her; I'm not evil. She's my sister, for Pete's sake. But if she pours me a beer, I might not tip her because it's just so simple. Even though I love her dearly, for one lousy beer, yeah...I'm not going to tip her. Sorry if that makes me a bad person, but I think it's understandable. Now, how many of you tip one of those guys that open a door for you? You know, at one of those fancy-pants restaurants or hotels or something? He literally just opened a door. People do that for free all the time. Or the people who carry your luggage around for you at a fancy hotel? Maybe if it's full of rocks, literal rocks, otherwise I will carry my own luggage, gosh. Do you tip baristas at coffee shops? They always have those little tip cups. Here I return to the bartender arguement- if it's a complicated triple nonfat double frappe super latte or some such nonsense, please tip the poor person. They deserve it. If it's one cup of joe, I don't tip, sorry. And I think everyone tips their hairdressers, even though they're already setting their own prices at most places, so it's technically like double pay for them. A manicurist? A masseuse? They both get tips, too. And of course, how many of you tip your waiter/waitress? Yes, yes, I do tip my waitstaff. Like I said; I'm not evil. And waitressing is hard, man, trust me. I've been there, done that. But, if you forgive my criticism, technically, they still don't do as much as housekeepers. They technically only greet you, bring you drinks and food and a check. They sometimes have to do refills, special orders and other weird stuff like that. And I'm not saying you shouldn't tip all of these people as well as all of the other jobs that I've missed. Do tip; people work hard and most of the time are underpaid. Tipping is good. I'm just saying that, consider what you're tipping for. How much work are the people you tip actually doing for you. If you use this very logical system, you will realize how drastically undertipped housekeepers are. And hopefully, you will tip accordingly.
As housekeepers, there's quite a lot that we do for you. First off, we change the sheets so that you're not sleeping in some disgusting hairy dude's armpit sweat. You're welcome. We dust like mad. We scrub, scrub, scrub the shower, toilet, sink, and bathroom floor until there's not a germ or hair in sight. Yes, we scrubs toilets. That alone deserves a tip, if you're tipping people for simply handing you a beer. We leave towels in your room. Then, when you ask for more, we leave more. Then, when we ask for still more, we again replenish the blasted towels! We leave you water bottles, coffee, tea, cups, mints, toiletries, and more. We vacuum. We wipe down light switches and remotes so that you don't catch whatever the last guy had. And we do all that every day of your stay. Over and over until you leave. So if you stay for three or four days and you don't tip us, how can you possibly live with yourself?! You're the meanest person ever. Look up "meanie" in the dictionary, and it's a picture of your face. No offense, but it's there.
I'll say it again: please tip your housekeepers. In terms of the amount of hard physical work and effort put into helping make things nice and easy for you, no worker does more and is yet so unrecognized and underappreciated. Techinically, if you tip most people 15-20% of your bill, I think you should do the same with housekeepers. It's only logical. Okay, I'm counting on you now. Please don't let me down.
When I do leave my current position, though, I think I will try to make some changes for my fellow housekeepers. You know, leave my imprint. And not just through the vacuum marks on the carpet. No, on a serious note I actually do wonder if I could make the hotel a better place for all those ladies who are in it for the long run. The career housekeepers, if you will. I'm not quite sure how it will go down, but I do want something rather epic to happen on my last day. I'm still in the planning phase. Have to get back to you on that one.
But first I just thought I 'd run some ideas by you. Well, not so much ideas as a rant, and not so much a rant as it is advice. It's advice that I can offer you to be good guests so that the career housekeepers don't have to suffer as much. Because, in all honesty, some days are brutal. There's always the totally trashed/destroyed room that makes you want to run out of the building screaming. Fortunately, that usually only happens maybe once or twice a month. Unless it's a bad month. Or maybe just a hotel that attracts the wrong clientele. If, for instance, you're working at a hotel/motel where the guests are paying by the hour...you might be in the wrong type of housekeeping job. Maybe you should quit. Or not. Whatever floats your boat. Whatever roasts your beans. Whatever flips your pancakes. Whatever...
Anyways, onto my much-anticipated advice. I can tell you're on the edge of your seat. For today, however, I am offering you just one healthy chunk of advice that I dearly hope you'll follow, and it goes as such: Please, please TIP YOUR HOUSEKEEPERS!!!!
If you're scoffing at that, hear me out. Think of all the people you already tip. Do you tip your bartenders? Think about that. The guy literally just pulled a beer from a fridge, popped the top and handed it to you...does that really deserve a dollar? Now, I have nothing against bartenders. Actually, one of my sisters is currently a bartender, and I know that she's works hard. When she mixes me a complicated drink, of course I tip her; I'm not evil. She's my sister, for Pete's sake. But if she pours me a beer, I might not tip her because it's just so simple. Even though I love her dearly, for one lousy beer, yeah...I'm not going to tip her. Sorry if that makes me a bad person, but I think it's understandable. Now, how many of you tip one of those guys that open a door for you? You know, at one of those fancy-pants restaurants or hotels or something? He literally just opened a door. People do that for free all the time. Or the people who carry your luggage around for you at a fancy hotel? Maybe if it's full of rocks, literal rocks, otherwise I will carry my own luggage, gosh. Do you tip baristas at coffee shops? They always have those little tip cups. Here I return to the bartender arguement- if it's a complicated triple nonfat double frappe super latte or some such nonsense, please tip the poor person. They deserve it. If it's one cup of joe, I don't tip, sorry. And I think everyone tips their hairdressers, even though they're already setting their own prices at most places, so it's technically like double pay for them. A manicurist? A masseuse? They both get tips, too. And of course, how many of you tip your waiter/waitress? Yes, yes, I do tip my waitstaff. Like I said; I'm not evil. And waitressing is hard, man, trust me. I've been there, done that. But, if you forgive my criticism, technically, they still don't do as much as housekeepers. They technically only greet you, bring you drinks and food and a check. They sometimes have to do refills, special orders and other weird stuff like that. And I'm not saying you shouldn't tip all of these people as well as all of the other jobs that I've missed. Do tip; people work hard and most of the time are underpaid. Tipping is good. I'm just saying that, consider what you're tipping for. How much work are the people you tip actually doing for you. If you use this very logical system, you will realize how drastically undertipped housekeepers are. And hopefully, you will tip accordingly.
As housekeepers, there's quite a lot that we do for you. First off, we change the sheets so that you're not sleeping in some disgusting hairy dude's armpit sweat. You're welcome. We dust like mad. We scrub, scrub, scrub the shower, toilet, sink, and bathroom floor until there's not a germ or hair in sight. Yes, we scrubs toilets. That alone deserves a tip, if you're tipping people for simply handing you a beer. We leave towels in your room. Then, when you ask for more, we leave more. Then, when we ask for still more, we again replenish the blasted towels! We leave you water bottles, coffee, tea, cups, mints, toiletries, and more. We vacuum. We wipe down light switches and remotes so that you don't catch whatever the last guy had. And we do all that every day of your stay. Over and over until you leave. So if you stay for three or four days and you don't tip us, how can you possibly live with yourself?! You're the meanest person ever. Look up "meanie" in the dictionary, and it's a picture of your face. No offense, but it's there.
I'll say it again: please tip your housekeepers. In terms of the amount of hard physical work and effort put into helping make things nice and easy for you, no worker does more and is yet so unrecognized and underappreciated. Techinically, if you tip most people 15-20% of your bill, I think you should do the same with housekeepers. It's only logical. Okay, I'm counting on you now. Please don't let me down.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
I have a few questions about the behaviors of hotel guests, and I was wondering if you could help answer them. Of course, I have had my own share of hotel stays, but I would have to say I'm a relatively pleasant guest. I leave things clean because I know first-hand about cleaing up messes. I don't stay too late, and I don't try to check in ridiculously early. I'm a good guest :) But there are those guests who forever leave me pondering. If you know anyone who does any of the following, or if you yourself are a fellow culprit, please put my curiosity to rest: why do hotel guests do these following things (all of which are perpetually annoying to housekeepers)?
1. Rejecting the Privacy signs. Here they are, in your room. They are just waiting to be placed on your door handle. Please use them if you need them. Many guests do; good job! Far too many, however, don't use them. Then they yell all sorts of complaints if we knock on their doors at 9am. (I guess that's early for some people? I wouldn't know...) It can also lead to problematic walk-ins in which we come upon people who are sleeping, in the bathroom, or in other situations where you'd really want privacy. Of course, that means I typically run out of the room wildly embarrased. That embarrassment could have so easily been prevented by the placement of one little sign. Please, tell me why you don't use that Privacy sign. I don't understand!
2. Ignoring knocks. This one goes right along with #1. If someone knocks and calls "housekeeping", why not answer? Why not just call back and let us know you're in there? We do it twice, to allow plenty of time for you to respond. We don't just throw the door open haphazardly. This question also follows up with my last post, involving the naked man incident. These situations are so easily avoided by merely responding to the knock and call. We do yell and knock quite loudly. We are required to do so. The only people exempt from this questioning are the hearing impaired, but as for the rest of you, even those with somewhat poor hearing, you have no excuse: please tell me, what's the deal with this one?
3. Tissue stuffers. Lately, I've been noticing an increasing amount of facial tissue stuffed in the door peep holes. Guests have been stuffing it in those tiny door viewers and then just leaving it there when they leave. I don't understand; it's about a centimeter wide; I'm not sure what the purpose of this is. Can you shed any light on this one?
4. Towels on the shower bottoms. Certainly, plenty of people pile their dirty towels in the showers or on the floors when they check out. That's fine by me; it saves me the time of collecting them, and I appreciate it. The habit that's been bugging me is the people who have trouble regarding where to place a bath mat. Rather than placing the bath mat on the floor in front of the tub where it belongs, they have been putting the mat on the bottom of the tub during their shower, soaking it to oblivion, and leaving me to wring out this disgusting towel covered with their hair and dirty bathwater afterward. Seriously, what is the deal, dude? You don't put bath mats in the shower! I'm completely bewildered by this behavior. Do they think the shower floor is dirty? It's been scrubbed with much more bleach than your home shower, I can guarantee that. Do they think that it's too slippery? Um, it's a shower...I don't know how it could ever not be slippery. I just don't know what to think. I've pondered with one but come up blank.
5. Kid Chaos. This is for the guests that grace us with their children's presence. Now, I love kids. Obviously. I'm a teacher as well as a housekeeper. And most kids are great; friendly, fun, eager to learn; not to mention hilarious. Other kids are trouble; nobody can deny that. Even parents tend to admit when they have difficult children. However, it's the parents who don't even attempt to parent that bother me. I see this in my other job, too. Parents who pretend to themselves that their kids can do no wrong and then ignore when their kid punches another child in the face, or parents who assume it's someone else's fault when their kid doesn't do any homework and starts failing school. These are the anti-responsibility parents, who don't completely ignore their kids but don't take an active role in their lives either. The kids are kind of just there, tagging along. Now, in the hotel business, this leads to ultimate room destruction! Dun, dun, dun. The parents go off to do whatever it is they want to do, leaving the kids in the room to throw garbage around, wipe dirty hands on bedspreads and mirrors, break the occasional lamp, hide the TV remote, rip the curtains, etc., etc. I'm not sure what goes down at the actual homes of these families, but the destruction left behind in the hotel rooms in rather embarrassing. A general rule to follow is to treat the hotel room as you would your own home. Follow that rule, and, for the most part, the rooms won't be as trashed. Although, I guess I should take into account that maybe some of these people don't take good care of their own homes; that's fine, it's their own choice, obviously. But please, please, teach the kids a basic sense of responsibility and respect. Too many children are running around nowadays blaming everything on others and ignoring whatever doesn't personally and immediately impact them. Whoa, this is getting a little intense. It may in fact be evolving into a moral issue, but I really just want people to make sure that their kids don't trash the hotel room.
6. Staying over free-for-all. I guess this goes along with the previous one. Some people, while staying over at the hotel for a day or two, toss their stuff all over the place, leaving it nearly impossible to clean. For those of you who know people who do this, remind them to please, at least pick the stuff up off the bed so that we can make it, and try to clear off places we need to clean, like countertops, etc. Unless, of course, they don't mind us lifting your stuff to clean underneath it.
Well, that's a wrap/rant for now. I'll probably have more to complain about later. Please let me know it you have any explanation for some of these odd behaviors. And thanks for listening.
1. Rejecting the Privacy signs. Here they are, in your room. They are just waiting to be placed on your door handle. Please use them if you need them. Many guests do; good job! Far too many, however, don't use them. Then they yell all sorts of complaints if we knock on their doors at 9am. (I guess that's early for some people? I wouldn't know...) It can also lead to problematic walk-ins in which we come upon people who are sleeping, in the bathroom, or in other situations where you'd really want privacy. Of course, that means I typically run out of the room wildly embarrased. That embarrassment could have so easily been prevented by the placement of one little sign. Please, tell me why you don't use that Privacy sign. I don't understand!
2. Ignoring knocks. This one goes right along with #1. If someone knocks and calls "housekeeping", why not answer? Why not just call back and let us know you're in there? We do it twice, to allow plenty of time for you to respond. We don't just throw the door open haphazardly. This question also follows up with my last post, involving the naked man incident. These situations are so easily avoided by merely responding to the knock and call. We do yell and knock quite loudly. We are required to do so. The only people exempt from this questioning are the hearing impaired, but as for the rest of you, even those with somewhat poor hearing, you have no excuse: please tell me, what's the deal with this one?
3. Tissue stuffers. Lately, I've been noticing an increasing amount of facial tissue stuffed in the door peep holes. Guests have been stuffing it in those tiny door viewers and then just leaving it there when they leave. I don't understand; it's about a centimeter wide; I'm not sure what the purpose of this is. Can you shed any light on this one?
4. Towels on the shower bottoms. Certainly, plenty of people pile their dirty towels in the showers or on the floors when they check out. That's fine by me; it saves me the time of collecting them, and I appreciate it. The habit that's been bugging me is the people who have trouble regarding where to place a bath mat. Rather than placing the bath mat on the floor in front of the tub where it belongs, they have been putting the mat on the bottom of the tub during their shower, soaking it to oblivion, and leaving me to wring out this disgusting towel covered with their hair and dirty bathwater afterward. Seriously, what is the deal, dude? You don't put bath mats in the shower! I'm completely bewildered by this behavior. Do they think the shower floor is dirty? It's been scrubbed with much more bleach than your home shower, I can guarantee that. Do they think that it's too slippery? Um, it's a shower...I don't know how it could ever not be slippery. I just don't know what to think. I've pondered with one but come up blank.
5. Kid Chaos. This is for the guests that grace us with their children's presence. Now, I love kids. Obviously. I'm a teacher as well as a housekeeper. And most kids are great; friendly, fun, eager to learn; not to mention hilarious. Other kids are trouble; nobody can deny that. Even parents tend to admit when they have difficult children. However, it's the parents who don't even attempt to parent that bother me. I see this in my other job, too. Parents who pretend to themselves that their kids can do no wrong and then ignore when their kid punches another child in the face, or parents who assume it's someone else's fault when their kid doesn't do any homework and starts failing school. These are the anti-responsibility parents, who don't completely ignore their kids but don't take an active role in their lives either. The kids are kind of just there, tagging along. Now, in the hotel business, this leads to ultimate room destruction! Dun, dun, dun. The parents go off to do whatever it is they want to do, leaving the kids in the room to throw garbage around, wipe dirty hands on bedspreads and mirrors, break the occasional lamp, hide the TV remote, rip the curtains, etc., etc. I'm not sure what goes down at the actual homes of these families, but the destruction left behind in the hotel rooms in rather embarrassing. A general rule to follow is to treat the hotel room as you would your own home. Follow that rule, and, for the most part, the rooms won't be as trashed. Although, I guess I should take into account that maybe some of these people don't take good care of their own homes; that's fine, it's their own choice, obviously. But please, please, teach the kids a basic sense of responsibility and respect. Too many children are running around nowadays blaming everything on others and ignoring whatever doesn't personally and immediately impact them. Whoa, this is getting a little intense. It may in fact be evolving into a moral issue, but I really just want people to make sure that their kids don't trash the hotel room.
6. Staying over free-for-all. I guess this goes along with the previous one. Some people, while staying over at the hotel for a day or two, toss their stuff all over the place, leaving it nearly impossible to clean. For those of you who know people who do this, remind them to please, at least pick the stuff up off the bed so that we can make it, and try to clear off places we need to clean, like countertops, etc. Unless, of course, they don't mind us lifting your stuff to clean underneath it.
Well, that's a wrap/rant for now. I'll probably have more to complain about later. Please let me know it you have any explanation for some of these odd behaviors. And thanks for listening.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Wacky
The weather today is amazing. Just thought I'd start with that. It's actually been ridiculously warm lately, for Wisconsin, at least. Highs in the upper sixties, and nice and sunny. Not a cloud in the sky. Gorgeous. Not that we had a real winter to recover from anyway, but still lovely to be outside in this type of weather. Especially when you're not expecting it for another month or two.
The negative side to this amazing weather, however, is that it makes housekeeping somewhat dreadful. Here I am, making beds, dusting dressers, scrubbing toilets...and all the while, the sunlight is beckoning me to come outside. So, I approach the window, open it, and hope that this will help me prevail. But, sure enough, in the park below the window, people are running, families are walking their dogs, children are laughing, teenagers are throwing frisbees, etc. Yes, yes, I am jealous.
Of course, despite the problems with my job, I do count my blessings. Many people don't have windows in their place of work, yet here I am with some fresh air and a view. In a way, I am lucky.
But then, as I continue cleaning, a couple walks by and pops in to say something to me:
"Oh, can you please clean our room next? We're heading out to go boating in this beautiful weather and not sure when we'll return."
Me: "Sure. No problem." What I'm really thinking is, Seriously? Just throw it in my face, why don't ya.
And also, Why do you want me to clean your room next if you're going out boating? It takes me like ten minutes to clean a stay-over room, and you are not seriously going to be back in ten minutes; that's ridiculous; I'll clean it when I get to it. For Pete's sake.
The negative side to this amazing weather, however, is that it makes housekeeping somewhat dreadful. Here I am, making beds, dusting dressers, scrubbing toilets...and all the while, the sunlight is beckoning me to come outside. So, I approach the window, open it, and hope that this will help me prevail. But, sure enough, in the park below the window, people are running, families are walking their dogs, children are laughing, teenagers are throwing frisbees, etc. Yes, yes, I am jealous.
Of course, despite the problems with my job, I do count my blessings. Many people don't have windows in their place of work, yet here I am with some fresh air and a view. In a way, I am lucky.
But then, as I continue cleaning, a couple walks by and pops in to say something to me:
"Oh, can you please clean our room next? We're heading out to go boating in this beautiful weather and not sure when we'll return."
Me: "Sure. No problem." What I'm really thinking is, Seriously? Just throw it in my face, why don't ya.
And also, Why do you want me to clean your room next if you're going out boating? It takes me like ten minutes to clean a stay-over room, and you are not seriously going to be back in ten minutes; that's ridiculous; I'll clean it when I get to it. For Pete's sake.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Knock, Call, Repeat
One of the crazy and interesting parts of my housekeeping job is that I never know what I'll find when I open the door to a hotel room. Sometimes, it can be something neat, like a tip or snack the guest left behind for me; other times, it can be something awkward or downright terrifying. Today, a friend at work, let's just call her Em, came across something more on that latter side of possibilities.
Now before I jump in, I'm going to give you a mini lesson from the housekeeper's survival guide. The most important thing to do before you walk into a room is to knock and announce "Housekeeping!" You know what's weird? People who aren't housekeepers do this all the time! I'm serious! I can't begin to tell you how many times I have been at the hotel cleaning away and have seen people knock on doors of friends and family and then say in a goofy voice "Housekeeping!" Then they burst out laughing. Wow. Hey-larious. How original. As if that hasn't been done a gazillion, kabillion, trillion, traquajillion times. Seriously, at least once a day someone does this to a friend or relative; I'm not even exaggerating, though I kinda wish I was.
But either way, regardless of who's doing the knocking and calling out, the typical reaction is to open the door. Sure, some people call out, "Come back later!" or "No thanks!" or "We're fine!" Something to that extent. But people say something or open the door, or at least make some noise...something...
If you're unfamiliar with the experience, think of it this way: It's kind of like you're at a public restroom with one stall and no lock on the door. Someone knocks. You're probably going to call out or say "Just a minute" or something similar. It's highly unlikely that you're not going to say something in an attempt to prevent them from opening that door.
For some odd reason that's not always the case in the housekeeping world. Take Em's story today. She knocks. She calls out. She repeats. (Yep, we're required to repeat the knock-call routine now as one of the hotel rules.) Silence on the other side of the door. So she inserts the key card and pushes the door open only to encounter...an old naked man. Just wandering about his room, you know, reading the paper, drinking coffee, the usual morning routine. Only naked. She stammers an apology and runs out, then refuses to return to 3rd floor for several minutes.
Awkward! Now, there is a moral to this short story, and it goes like this: Please, people, please, answer the knock! I sincerely guarantee that we don't want to see your naked bums in the morning. Or at night. Or any time. Thank you very much.
Now before I jump in, I'm going to give you a mini lesson from the housekeeper's survival guide. The most important thing to do before you walk into a room is to knock and announce "Housekeeping!" You know what's weird? People who aren't housekeepers do this all the time! I'm serious! I can't begin to tell you how many times I have been at the hotel cleaning away and have seen people knock on doors of friends and family and then say in a goofy voice "Housekeeping!" Then they burst out laughing. Wow. Hey-larious. How original. As if that hasn't been done a gazillion, kabillion, trillion, traquajillion times. Seriously, at least once a day someone does this to a friend or relative; I'm not even exaggerating, though I kinda wish I was.
But either way, regardless of who's doing the knocking and calling out, the typical reaction is to open the door. Sure, some people call out, "Come back later!" or "No thanks!" or "We're fine!" Something to that extent. But people say something or open the door, or at least make some noise...something...
If you're unfamiliar with the experience, think of it this way: It's kind of like you're at a public restroom with one stall and no lock on the door. Someone knocks. You're probably going to call out or say "Just a minute" or something similar. It's highly unlikely that you're not going to say something in an attempt to prevent them from opening that door.
For some odd reason that's not always the case in the housekeeping world. Take Em's story today. She knocks. She calls out. She repeats. (Yep, we're required to repeat the knock-call routine now as one of the hotel rules.) Silence on the other side of the door. So she inserts the key card and pushes the door open only to encounter...an old naked man. Just wandering about his room, you know, reading the paper, drinking coffee, the usual morning routine. Only naked. She stammers an apology and runs out, then refuses to return to 3rd floor for several minutes.
Awkward! Now, there is a moral to this short story, and it goes like this: Please, people, please, answer the knock! I sincerely guarantee that we don't want to see your naked bums in the morning. Or at night. Or any time. Thank you very much.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
The Monster Boss Story
Do you have a favorite boss? I was thinking about this question at work the other day. The funny thing is, if you watch TV sitcoms, it seems that everyone has a cranky, crazy boss. But is that the reality? It's not exactly true at my housekeeping job. I have so many "bosses", per say, that it gets a bit ridiculous. I mean, there's the housekeeping managers, then my "boss" who is actually in charge of both the maintenance and housekeeping departments...but after that, there's layers of bosses going higher and higher up the company and pay scale, and so it goes. I guess you could say I'm at the absolute bottom of the hotel hierarchy. Usually, it doesn't bother me. Fortunately, I don't have one of those raging sitcom TV bosses, with the blazing red faces, spittle flying from their mouths as they holler insults your way. And I don't have a workaholic boss who snaps at you the second you take a break. Although I honestly have experienced both of these types over the years, today I can proudly say that I am evil boss-free. The only "boss" that I directly report to every day is a manager, and there's three different ones; not one is especially intimidating. All of them are middle-aged women, usually willing to compromise on scheduling, availability, and your attendance at meetings. One of them is particularly anxiety-ridden, and she can occasionally fly off the coop when it comes to heavy attendance at the hotel or employees not cleaning things "just so". But that's understandable; I know I'll be more than set in my ways when I'm older. I'm already a stubborn, crazy redhead. No, I've definitely had worse bosses.
There was the one who never paid me all the money he owed because his business was in the process of going bankrupt when they hired me (wish they'd told me!) or the one who made poor little 15 year old me cry because I didn't exactly know what bussers were supposed to do when there was only two tables at the restaurant (how did I know you weren't supposed to just walk around looking busy?). The one I remember most distinctly is from my first housekeeping job. I started out at this resort with my best friend, Thea. We liked cleaning, and this was a great gig. The pay rate was higher than I have yet to see again as a housekeeper (even though this was nearly 10 years ago), and the boss was super flexible and welcoming. In the morning we arrived at a little building I called the "Housekeeping Lodge", where we hung out for maybe half an hour at the start of the day (all the while on the clock, of course). We cleaned in teams, carrying little buckets of cleaning supplies and bags of rags around to the various resort buildings. They had a unique set-up at this place, fairly old school and small town in style. It went like this: the "Housekeeping Lodge" would get a call from the front desk the moment a guest checked out. Then the boss would assign a group to go to that room (or suite or cabin). The other groups would wait for the next call. I'm not even sure if the place had a computer when I started there, even though this was 2003. One other nice thing about this hotel is that we had people called "runners" who would race from building to building on little golf carts to remove the soiled towels and linens for us and to leave clean ones for us to arrange, which made our job so much easier.
Once given a destination, we'd wander over there, crank some tunes on the radio, and dance our way through the cleaning. When we finished, we'd call up the Lodge for our next assignment. Usually, they hurried us over to the next place, but often there wouldn't be another check-out yet and we'd have some time to kill. We could watch TV, lounge around, chat, etc. Like I said, we had it good. But, for the most part, this didn't discourage hard work. Because we knew it was a relaxed atmosphere, we took the time to clean and clean well. We enjoyed working for the hotel, and so we treasured our jobs and worked hard. We always received compliments from guests about our great rooms, and people who stayed once always returned. It continued this way for at least two years. My best friend and I (along with a few other friends and acquaintances who came to work with us over the years) worked there in the summers mostly, and occasionally during weekends in the school year. We were only high schoolers, so we didn't need a ton of hours, but we were saving up for our own cars, so work was somewhat of a priority.
Unfortunately, one year the worst possible thing happened. A new owner took the resort over, kicking out most of the previous hierarchy, including our beloved boss. Within a matter of weeks, our hours were cut, our wages were reduced by about $3/hr, and we were no longer allowed to work in teams. Several workers from all areas of the hotel either quit or were kicked out. The relaxed work style of our previous management was, strangely, blamed specifically on the members of the housekeeping team who had been around the longest, which included myself and several friends. Being the young and the lacking in power, we were the easy target. As a result, quite a few of my high school-aged co-workers quit, including by best friend. I was grimly determined to stick it out through the end of the summer, not thinking I would be able to find another job at this point. I wasn't happy about my decision; I only did it out of necessity to save up for college. But the new owner was nasty! The schedule was completely out of whack, with a strange scattered arrangement as far as start times went for employees. Constantly, the schedule called for the freshly-hired middle-aged housekeepers to come in earlier and get more of an advantage as far as hours went. I, as a younger, apparently more dangerous employee, was forced to come in later, although I left at the same time as everyone else, earning only half of my usual hours at a third less pay. It was blatant discrimination against the younger employees, although I didn't know how to put it into words at the time, and all I felt was distressed. One day I dared to come in an hour earlier in protest, and, man, that nasty woman tore me a new one! It was awful! She almost made me cry, too, but by this point I was a high school grad and too proud to cry in public. I just couldn't believe how we were being treated. Every priviledge was being taken away. We used to have free access to the hotel fitness room and pool; now merely asking about the anemities led to our boss glaring down at us in disgust. The new hires didn't understand, but I knew how things used to be, how much happier everyone had been, how much friendlier the atmosphere had been. Even the guests could sense the change; families who used to leave with a smile and a "thank you!" call to us as they drove away now sped off in their SUVs without a second look. And it was all caused by a change in management.
Incredible the kind of impact a boss can have on a place, despite the feelings of the majority of workers below him or her. I guess the hardest thing about this story is that even now I don't know what I should have done differently back then. Should I have quit immediately and risked not finding a replacement job mid-summer? Should I have tried to go higher up? I don't think I could have; this boss was the boss and hotel owner's wife, if my memory serves me correctly. Maybe I should've gathered a gang of housekeepers to protest and we could have walked around waving signs. But they likely would've fired us and hired replacements. I don't know. It doesn't bother me much anymore, but to this day I still feel bad when I think of the more pleasant memories associated with my first two summers at that job paled by the harsh contrast of my final summer there. I hope that if you ever get the chance to be someone's boss, you become a much more positive influence on the place you take over. You'd be surprised by the kind of impact you can make.
There was the one who never paid me all the money he owed because his business was in the process of going bankrupt when they hired me (wish they'd told me!) or the one who made poor little 15 year old me cry because I didn't exactly know what bussers were supposed to do when there was only two tables at the restaurant (how did I know you weren't supposed to just walk around looking busy?). The one I remember most distinctly is from my first housekeeping job. I started out at this resort with my best friend, Thea. We liked cleaning, and this was a great gig. The pay rate was higher than I have yet to see again as a housekeeper (even though this was nearly 10 years ago), and the boss was super flexible and welcoming. In the morning we arrived at a little building I called the "Housekeeping Lodge", where we hung out for maybe half an hour at the start of the day (all the while on the clock, of course). We cleaned in teams, carrying little buckets of cleaning supplies and bags of rags around to the various resort buildings. They had a unique set-up at this place, fairly old school and small town in style. It went like this: the "Housekeeping Lodge" would get a call from the front desk the moment a guest checked out. Then the boss would assign a group to go to that room (or suite or cabin). The other groups would wait for the next call. I'm not even sure if the place had a computer when I started there, even though this was 2003. One other nice thing about this hotel is that we had people called "runners" who would race from building to building on little golf carts to remove the soiled towels and linens for us and to leave clean ones for us to arrange, which made our job so much easier.
Once given a destination, we'd wander over there, crank some tunes on the radio, and dance our way through the cleaning. When we finished, we'd call up the Lodge for our next assignment. Usually, they hurried us over to the next place, but often there wouldn't be another check-out yet and we'd have some time to kill. We could watch TV, lounge around, chat, etc. Like I said, we had it good. But, for the most part, this didn't discourage hard work. Because we knew it was a relaxed atmosphere, we took the time to clean and clean well. We enjoyed working for the hotel, and so we treasured our jobs and worked hard. We always received compliments from guests about our great rooms, and people who stayed once always returned. It continued this way for at least two years. My best friend and I (along with a few other friends and acquaintances who came to work with us over the years) worked there in the summers mostly, and occasionally during weekends in the school year. We were only high schoolers, so we didn't need a ton of hours, but we were saving up for our own cars, so work was somewhat of a priority.
Unfortunately, one year the worst possible thing happened. A new owner took the resort over, kicking out most of the previous hierarchy, including our beloved boss. Within a matter of weeks, our hours were cut, our wages were reduced by about $3/hr, and we were no longer allowed to work in teams. Several workers from all areas of the hotel either quit or were kicked out. The relaxed work style of our previous management was, strangely, blamed specifically on the members of the housekeeping team who had been around the longest, which included myself and several friends. Being the young and the lacking in power, we were the easy target. As a result, quite a few of my high school-aged co-workers quit, including by best friend. I was grimly determined to stick it out through the end of the summer, not thinking I would be able to find another job at this point. I wasn't happy about my decision; I only did it out of necessity to save up for college. But the new owner was nasty! The schedule was completely out of whack, with a strange scattered arrangement as far as start times went for employees. Constantly, the schedule called for the freshly-hired middle-aged housekeepers to come in earlier and get more of an advantage as far as hours went. I, as a younger, apparently more dangerous employee, was forced to come in later, although I left at the same time as everyone else, earning only half of my usual hours at a third less pay. It was blatant discrimination against the younger employees, although I didn't know how to put it into words at the time, and all I felt was distressed. One day I dared to come in an hour earlier in protest, and, man, that nasty woman tore me a new one! It was awful! She almost made me cry, too, but by this point I was a high school grad and too proud to cry in public. I just couldn't believe how we were being treated. Every priviledge was being taken away. We used to have free access to the hotel fitness room and pool; now merely asking about the anemities led to our boss glaring down at us in disgust. The new hires didn't understand, but I knew how things used to be, how much happier everyone had been, how much friendlier the atmosphere had been. Even the guests could sense the change; families who used to leave with a smile and a "thank you!" call to us as they drove away now sped off in their SUVs without a second look. And it was all caused by a change in management.
Incredible the kind of impact a boss can have on a place, despite the feelings of the majority of workers below him or her. I guess the hardest thing about this story is that even now I don't know what I should have done differently back then. Should I have quit immediately and risked not finding a replacement job mid-summer? Should I have tried to go higher up? I don't think I could have; this boss was the boss and hotel owner's wife, if my memory serves me correctly. Maybe I should've gathered a gang of housekeepers to protest and we could have walked around waving signs. But they likely would've fired us and hired replacements. I don't know. It doesn't bother me much anymore, but to this day I still feel bad when I think of the more pleasant memories associated with my first two summers at that job paled by the harsh contrast of my final summer there. I hope that if you ever get the chance to be someone's boss, you become a much more positive influence on the place you take over. You'd be surprised by the kind of impact you can make.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Work It
I think, no matter who you are or where you come from, that everyone should work at some type of menial job, preferably while in high school or college, but certainly later if you miss out on the possibility sooner. Ideally, it would be a menial job involving physical labor and a low wage, but if one or the other isn't possible, that's okay, too. I definitely think that it makes you a better person if you have to get through some sort of tedious, low-paying job to make end's meet for awhile. I'd bet that the most personable millionaires in the world are those who have worked their way up, starting at the bottom. That's why, despite the rough days, I as the ever-intrepid professional housekeeper persevere in my work in the hope of becoming a better person.
Unfortunately, some days I run into the type of people who apparently don't share my work ethic. Take today, for instance. I was cleaning along, minding my own business, when what should I stumble across but a rude note. Ah, yes. Why is it that when people have something nice to say, they so often say it directly to your face, but when they want to be harsh, they have to write it down so that it seems engraved in stone and plastered to your mind's eye for hours, if not days, maybe years? In my line of work, I leave notes for the hotel guests, welcoming them, asking if they need anything, you know, the usual maid niceties. As a result, I occasionally get back friendly comments from passing guests in the halls or in the form of notes - "Oh, thank you for that lovely note!", "You're so sweet!", "We appreciate the extra coffee!", etc. But some days, duh duh duh, I get the rude note. The one today actually wasn't half bad as far as rude notes go. Actually, this one was more silly than rude. A bit embarrassing for the guest, I might add. First, I want to point out that this note was found by a tip. Yep. Probably not what you're thinking, though. This tip was precisely 13 cents. Aw, you shouldn't have. No, really, you really shouldn't have; it's awkward for the both of us.
Before I continue I should also point out that people do typically leave notes with tips. I love those friendly notes with little "thanks" or "great job" in the corner alongside a crisp $5 or $10 bill. Those are my personal favorites, just saying. But some people leave little awkward tips like this 13 cent one, and then the notes they leave act as some sort of sad excuse for why they are not leaving any more than that. Usually these notes just make me sigh and shake my head, because their reasons fall flat or have nothing to do with me. For example, one note read "Room too expensive" alongside a beautiful penny. Uh, thanks...? I'm sorry that I didn't run downstairs upon your arrival to remind you that this is one of the most expensive hotels in town and that you passed about twelve of the city's economy motels, hotels and lodges on your way to this spot. I might be mistaken, but I'm fairly certain that when you reserve a hotel, they tell you the room price. Maybe they've changed that since I've last checked. Maybe there's now something called "Mystery Reserve" where you aren't told the price until check-out and then it's like, BAM! Surprise: $5,000! Yay!
And you're like, AH! $5,000! Dude-what!?!
That would be kind of cool, but mostly inconvenient. Anyway, I am getting off topic. Today's note was interesting. One of my favorites so far, and I've seen some trophy notes over the years, not to brag, of course. This one read, "The fan was way too loud so I can't sleep. I can't get it to turn off and it made the room too hot." Interesting. I know what you're thinking. Actually, I don't; I can't vouch for that. But I'm guessing some of you may be thinking how on earth a fan makes a room too hot. I honestly don't know.
So there are two things that could qualify as "fans" in the hotel rooms that I clean. The first is just the common air vent in the bathroom, which helps with ventilation during showers, etc. Nothing out of the ordinary. The second is part of the heating and cooling system, also nothing abnormal. We are required to set this system to 72 degrees with the fan on during the winter. I wasn't precisely certain which one the note referred to. I doubt it was the one in the bathroom, since that one is turned off and on by your typical American-style light switch (strangely enough, the light switch is different all around the world - who'd-a-thunk?). Obviously, this fan is not at all difficult to adjust. But then again, the heating and cooling system has a big blue button on it that says "fan". With one push to the "fan" button, it is turned off. With one push to the "power" button, it is also turned off. Those are, in fact, the only two buttons besides the up and down heat control button. I'm not sure which fan the guest couldn't turn off. Maybe he was unfamiliar with the typical light switch controlling the fan in the bathroom. Perhaps he was foreign and didn't recognize our fancy pants American light switches. Or maybe he wasn't sure if the "fan" button on the heating system did in fact mean "fan" and was too nervous to touch it. Either way, I hope that the 13 cents he left me was worth the hard time I am currently giving him.
Unfortunately, some days I run into the type of people who apparently don't share my work ethic. Take today, for instance. I was cleaning along, minding my own business, when what should I stumble across but a rude note. Ah, yes. Why is it that when people have something nice to say, they so often say it directly to your face, but when they want to be harsh, they have to write it down so that it seems engraved in stone and plastered to your mind's eye for hours, if not days, maybe years? In my line of work, I leave notes for the hotel guests, welcoming them, asking if they need anything, you know, the usual maid niceties. As a result, I occasionally get back friendly comments from passing guests in the halls or in the form of notes - "Oh, thank you for that lovely note!", "You're so sweet!", "We appreciate the extra coffee!", etc. But some days, duh duh duh, I get the rude note. The one today actually wasn't half bad as far as rude notes go. Actually, this one was more silly than rude. A bit embarrassing for the guest, I might add. First, I want to point out that this note was found by a tip. Yep. Probably not what you're thinking, though. This tip was precisely 13 cents. Aw, you shouldn't have. No, really, you really shouldn't have; it's awkward for the both of us.
Before I continue I should also point out that people do typically leave notes with tips. I love those friendly notes with little "thanks" or "great job" in the corner alongside a crisp $5 or $10 bill. Those are my personal favorites, just saying. But some people leave little awkward tips like this 13 cent one, and then the notes they leave act as some sort of sad excuse for why they are not leaving any more than that. Usually these notes just make me sigh and shake my head, because their reasons fall flat or have nothing to do with me. For example, one note read "Room too expensive" alongside a beautiful penny. Uh, thanks...? I'm sorry that I didn't run downstairs upon your arrival to remind you that this is one of the most expensive hotels in town and that you passed about twelve of the city's economy motels, hotels and lodges on your way to this spot. I might be mistaken, but I'm fairly certain that when you reserve a hotel, they tell you the room price. Maybe they've changed that since I've last checked. Maybe there's now something called "Mystery Reserve" where you aren't told the price until check-out and then it's like, BAM! Surprise: $5,000! Yay!
And you're like, AH! $5,000! Dude-what!?!
That would be kind of cool, but mostly inconvenient. Anyway, I am getting off topic. Today's note was interesting. One of my favorites so far, and I've seen some trophy notes over the years, not to brag, of course. This one read, "The fan was way too loud so I can't sleep. I can't get it to turn off and it made the room too hot." Interesting. I know what you're thinking. Actually, I don't; I can't vouch for that. But I'm guessing some of you may be thinking how on earth a fan makes a room too hot. I honestly don't know.
So there are two things that could qualify as "fans" in the hotel rooms that I clean. The first is just the common air vent in the bathroom, which helps with ventilation during showers, etc. Nothing out of the ordinary. The second is part of the heating and cooling system, also nothing abnormal. We are required to set this system to 72 degrees with the fan on during the winter. I wasn't precisely certain which one the note referred to. I doubt it was the one in the bathroom, since that one is turned off and on by your typical American-style light switch (strangely enough, the light switch is different all around the world - who'd-a-thunk?). Obviously, this fan is not at all difficult to adjust. But then again, the heating and cooling system has a big blue button on it that says "fan". With one push to the "fan" button, it is turned off. With one push to the "power" button, it is also turned off. Those are, in fact, the only two buttons besides the up and down heat control button. I'm not sure which fan the guest couldn't turn off. Maybe he was unfamiliar with the typical light switch controlling the fan in the bathroom. Perhaps he was foreign and didn't recognize our fancy pants American light switches. Or maybe he wasn't sure if the "fan" button on the heating system did in fact mean "fan" and was too nervous to touch it. Either way, I hope that the 13 cents he left me was worth the hard time I am currently giving him.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Housekeeper's Resume
Like I said, I've got those ten valuable years of back-breaking cleaning experience. I've been at this most current position for about 2.5 years, and all of my other years of experience come from no less than four hotels and resorts from my hometown of Minocqua, Wisconsin; population: unincorporated. Don't you just love that when you see that on the sign of a small town you're cruising through at 65mph? (Even though the speed limit says 45, it doesn't look like anyone's watching...) It probably brings to mind an image of a few abandoned, ghost-town-esque store fronts slowly collapsing onto a chipped sidewalk accompanied by those old pick-up trucks that make you wonder if they work or not but sure enough, there's an elderly fellow pealing out at the next driveway in one of them, maxing that puppy out to 54mph. Well, that's what I picture, because I've traveled my way around basically every fine corner of this beautiful state of Wisconsin and I've seen those small towns. Strangely, Minocqua's not one of those types of small towns. For whatever reason, back in some epic chronicle of Wisconsin history, somebody labeled our town as tourist capital of the north, and so, come summer, the town's packed, no lie. In the summer, our population swells to 40,000 or something similarly ridiculous. (Okay, that might be a slight exaggeration, but it's got to be close to 20,000. And that says a lot when I would guestimate our winter population to be about 2,000, not counting the even smaller towns that surround us, which might bring us up to 5,000 if we're lucky.)
Anyway, that's what led to my accidental career in housekeeping. When you grow up in the tourist capital of the north, your summer jobs are mainly limited to cheesy slogan t-shirt seller, ice cream/fudge/candy store employee, overworked/underpaid waitress, or resort/hotel worker. Honestly, I've done most of the above during my summers in my hometown, but housekeeper is the one that stuck. I'm not exactly sure what it is about the job. I have always liked that it's a job where I get to move around instead of being stuck in one place all day. I also, brace yourself, like cleaning! (Ah! I know- I must be insane.) Plus, this might sound strange, but I like the suspense that comes with the job. You don't know what could be behind that door when you open it. It's kind of like being on a perpetual game show, you know, one of those old school ones where people open doors and there's all kinds of exciting prizes behind them like cars and boats and new furniture! Only, on those game shoes, people usually don't find leftover food, spare change, and old toys behind those doors, which are probably the three most common things I come across in my line of work. But it's still suspsenseful enough for me. It's the little things, really.
So that's how I came to be a professional housekeeper. It provides just enough suspense, physical activity, and intrigue for me to avoid boredom. Plus, it pays a little more than the typical summer job, and sometimes people leave you tips. When I started, I didn't think it would last this long, but it's led to some fairly crazy stories, which I'm more than willing to share here. Let me know what you'd like to hear. Or not. Either way, I'll continue to ramble semi-coherent sentences about the triumphs and failures of my day job, so you might as well get a word in.
Anyway, that's what led to my accidental career in housekeeping. When you grow up in the tourist capital of the north, your summer jobs are mainly limited to cheesy slogan t-shirt seller, ice cream/fudge/candy store employee, overworked/underpaid waitress, or resort/hotel worker. Honestly, I've done most of the above during my summers in my hometown, but housekeeper is the one that stuck. I'm not exactly sure what it is about the job. I have always liked that it's a job where I get to move around instead of being stuck in one place all day. I also, brace yourself, like cleaning! (Ah! I know- I must be insane.) Plus, this might sound strange, but I like the suspense that comes with the job. You don't know what could be behind that door when you open it. It's kind of like being on a perpetual game show, you know, one of those old school ones where people open doors and there's all kinds of exciting prizes behind them like cars and boats and new furniture! Only, on those game shoes, people usually don't find leftover food, spare change, and old toys behind those doors, which are probably the three most common things I come across in my line of work. But it's still suspsenseful enough for me. It's the little things, really.
So that's how I came to be a professional housekeeper. It provides just enough suspense, physical activity, and intrigue for me to avoid boredom. Plus, it pays a little more than the typical summer job, and sometimes people leave you tips. When I started, I didn't think it would last this long, but it's led to some fairly crazy stories, which I'm more than willing to share here. Let me know what you'd like to hear. Or not. Either way, I'll continue to ramble semi-coherent sentences about the triumphs and failures of my day job, so you might as well get a word in.
My Pseudo-Career
I'm not exactly sure how much you're allowed to say on one of these things, so let's just say I work at "Z" Hotel in La Crosse. It's a chain hotel, and I've been there for over two years now; it'll be three years in September (that's if I'm still there - cross your fingers that I'm not!) And it's not my first hotel, either. I've actually been working as a housekeeper at hotels for ten years now, since I was 14 years old and my dad announced, "Well, looks like it's time for you to get a job."
I guess you could say I'm a professional housekeeper.
Now I'm fairly certain most people would consider a job more of a "career" once they've been working at it for ten years. But the funny thing is I'm just now getting started on my real career after all this time. I've recently graduated from college and am now bound and determined to succeed in my true, ideal career, which is teaching English. Unfortunately, I am still stuck at Z Hotel, mostly because December is an awkward time of the year to graduate when you want to be a teacher.
So here I am, housekeeping it up. You can call me a maid if you want to; I don't get offended. Some housekeepers do, and then you better watch your back if you drop the "m" bomb in their direction. They might forget to change your garbage. Or, more disturbingly, your sheets. But I'm not writing this blog to scare you out of traveling; I just thought I might get a few things straight about housekeepers and our "art" while I'm still one of them.
I guess you could say I'm a professional housekeeper.
Now I'm fairly certain most people would consider a job more of a "career" once they've been working at it for ten years. But the funny thing is I'm just now getting started on my real career after all this time. I've recently graduated from college and am now bound and determined to succeed in my true, ideal career, which is teaching English. Unfortunately, I am still stuck at Z Hotel, mostly because December is an awkward time of the year to graduate when you want to be a teacher.
So here I am, housekeeping it up. You can call me a maid if you want to; I don't get offended. Some housekeepers do, and then you better watch your back if you drop the "m" bomb in their direction. They might forget to change your garbage. Or, more disturbingly, your sheets. But I'm not writing this blog to scare you out of traveling; I just thought I might get a few things straight about housekeepers and our "art" while I'm still one of them.
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