wtf... are you serious?

A guest just asked me to bring him ice. That's a new one.

thoughts on entitlement.

So I'm greeting a guest on a cold, dark, BUSY night, and he's all like:

YOU'RE GOING TO GIVE ME A ROOM AT THIS PRICE.

Okay, so those weren't actually his words, but that's what he was trying to say.

I'm down to a few rooms this evening thanks to a large group of Thai construction workers who swept me clean of all kings and ground floor rooms at rack rate, PLUS pet fees.

[I love pet fees. They make my average rate so high and pretty.]

Back to Mr Grumpy (yes, that's what we're calling him). Mr Grumpy barely let the last word roll off my lips before he interrupted. Some nonsense about "unethical."

"What you're doing is unethical. You're taking advantage of someone who doesn't have any other options."

And here we encountered the problem.

My dear sir, you DO have other options. You don't like those options, but you DO HAVE THEM.

• You could go to another hotel.
  • They're too expensive? That's none of my concern.
  • You like OUR bathtubs? You get what you pay for.
• You could go to another town.
  • But I want to stay here, that's where all the good bars are. Well, it sounds like you've made up your mind.
  • I don't feel like driving. But you CAN drive, you just don't WANT TO.
• You could be nice.
  • Words like "rude," "unethical," and "smug bitch" will get you NO WHERE with me, especially if you're looking for a discount.
  • Neither will you telling me that you're a "hard worker" and "broke." In the world of business, only money talks.

In a very heated conversation with a very rude person who (UNPROVOKED) berated me for having a "nice cushy job" where I "sit behind a desk and do nothing," I realized the thing that I hated about this man was his sense of entitlement. Ironic, considering he was telling ME that I was "out of touch" with reality with my nice clothes and laptop. Short of sharing my personal financial history, I don't appreciate people making assumptions about my standard of living and spending habits because that information is no one's right.

At the heart of my anger is the [false] idea that people are entitled to certain things. It's true that food, shelter, and running water definitely fall under that category. And I like to believe that America is passing on all three points, but there is a definite line between what people can expect out of life in general and what people expect out of for-profit businesses. I make no excuses for my money grubbing bosses and the way they run their businesses, because at the end of the day that's the American way. Sure, they immigrated from India, but they employ dozens of people, make (sporadic) charitable contributions, and they actually pay taxes. A shit ton of taxes. This is not a charity and it is not advertised as such.

So when a guy tells me I'm fucking him and taking advantage of him, I get a little defensive because hotels are not covered under the blanket statement of "life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness." You are NOT entitled to staying at a hotel. If your job only pays $50 a day and your life expenses are $100 a day, you are not entitled to freebies just because you define yourself as a "hard worker."

Today's currency is money, not whining.

Mr Grumpy informed me that he's a trucker, he's on the road 7 days a week, six of which he spends sleeping in his truck. He says he can only afford to stay in a hotel once a week, except today he was clearly short the money. In which case he cannot afford even the once. He whined and complained and groaned that it wasn't fair that he can't even stay in a hotel once a week.

News flash: very few people in the country have that luxury. AND yes, for the purposes of this conversation, sleeping in a place that is not your home is a luxury.

Even my cushy, out-of-touch self has logged only ten days (count 'em, ten whopping days) in hotels in this calendar year. By December 31, that number will reach eleven, and only by the grace of my boss's generosity. I don't have the money to spend every week in a hotel room, so my options are: don't stay in a hotel.

It really is that simple.

Yet every day at work is person after person coming to me expecting me to give them something just because they asked. Why didn't you tell me you spend all your money on booze and cigarettes! Here's $50 and a free room. How inconsiderate of me.

thoughts on payback and the law.

In case a police report ever results from this, here's my account of the Williamson room.

(I'm kidding about the police report... kind of.)

Yesterday morning this woman comes in really fucking early to complain about her room. Not the room itself, but the rate she paid. She claims she was overcharged and she wanted me to confirm what the standard rate is. I told her, and it happened to be exactly the same amount she paid. She said something about the tax being wrong, but I assured her that tax charges don't get posted manually, that's something our computer calculates based on the state mandated rates. There is no human error in the tax, like, ever.

She stood in the doorway and said, "So what, you're just going to let me walk out without a receipt?" I asked if she wanted a copy and she said "yes, duh." I printed her a copy, asked if there was anything else I could do for her, and she walked out the door without a word.

Later that day, close to 3pm I received a call from someone inquiring about room rates. I gave a quote at which point the man on the line started screaming at me. He said he had multiple receipts from our establishment and he was going to call the BBB and the cops and then... AND THEN... he threatened me. Word for word: "I'll bust yo' ass."

I barely got a word in during the almost five minute conversation, it was just bits and pieces along the lines of "you fucked my sister on the rate, you took her money, you're charging too much tax." This piece of shit was under the impression that tax is only 7% and we were fraudulently charging more and lining our pockets. This, I took issue with. I clearly told him that tax is 6% local and 6% is a hotel tax that goes to the state, for the total of 12%. He called me a liar, said he was going to make me lose my job, and closed out his threats with "fucking bitch."

I have a low tolerance for two things: ignorant people, and being called a bitch. Thankfully, this ignorant dick bag hung up the line before I had a chance to do something I would regret, because I was seriously on the verge taking action.

I typed out an incident report, red flagged the woman who had rented the room, called my manager, and faxed a copy of her information to all our partner hotels. I'm used to dealing with angry people, but I don't tolerate threats and I don't play nice when people cross the line.

Just now, the lady in question came back to rent a room. Even before she asked for a room I decided that I would not hold back. I told her about the incident with her "brother" who she admitted later wasn't her brother at all, I think she said "close friend" which I'm going to assume is either a fuck friend or baby daddy. I plainly and clearly told her that he threatened me and if I had his information there would definitely be a restraining order against him. On top of that, I told the lady that she was no longer welcome and she walked out the door muttering, "That's some bullshit, fucking bitch."

Again with the fucking bitch thing.

arithmetic.

Always a fun day when someone shits the bed.

Reason #142308 why I don't work weekends.

Power outage at home.

First time I've ever been happy to be at work.

Can't decide if that adds up to be a plus or minus. Or neutral. For the record... it's probably still a minus.

collect on delivery.

I just had a 26 year old (her own admission) cry on the phone...

Because she left her bear behind.

#ShitIcanAppreciate.

She kept saying, "I know I'm crazy, I know, I know..." She was crying so hard thinking that she may have lost her bear. She begged me to help her (not that it took much), and it wasn't until I shared a deep dark not-so-secret secret that she calmed down:

I am 25 years old, and I sleep with a bear. He's a panda. His name is Brutus. He is the third love of my life and I would be devastated if I lost him.

I get to spend the day kickin' it with Pooh Bear until I can get to the post office to mail him back home. Oh, Brutus will be so jealous.

I only wish that if I were to ever lose Brutus, a stranger might do the same for me.

this 'n that

The stress of this is almost too much to handle.

On the one hand, I feel like a giant brat having been mostly sheltered from the economic crisis that's swept the country over the last few years. I've been consistently employed, given flexibility that most jobs could never provide, there are small perks that make this job even better than it should be, my paycheck is enough to pay my bills and live a nice enough life style for the time being.

I've had it good.

And then there's the other side: the frustration, the hopelessness, the dread, the deep-seeded hatred I have for everything my job represents. I hate my job. Before long, I'm afraid that sentence will read "I hate my life."

I'm concerned that I may have misrepresented myself on my newest job application, but I thought, "Hey, at least there's that other job to fall back on." Until I got this email:

Thank you again for giving us the opportunity to consider you for our position Catering Sales Executive (NE) at Marriott International. After careful consideration of the candidates for this position, we are currently considering other candidates whose background and skills more closely fit our needs at this time.

Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck. Fuck me. FUCK.

I hate the feeling of having all my eggs in one basket. I'm a security nut, I need to know that I have something to fall back on. My security blanket was just peed on, torched, and the ashes shipped to Afghanistan. Cue the panic attack.

In preparation for tomorrow morning's phone interview, I have read everything I could possibly find about my potential future employers (all the good and the bad), I submitted my two assessment tests for Excel and customer service (87% and 97% respectively), and I even went so far as to purchase a book to brush up on my Spanish skills (or lack thereof).

But as long as we're being honest... I'm terrified. Either things are going to change VERY quickly, or I'm in for more of the same. I'm not exactly sure which scenario scares me more.

at your service.

Thank You Thank you for sending us your online job application. If your employment profile matches the job requirements, a member of our Recruiting department will contact you. We invite you to click Job Search or View All Jobs to continue reviewing current job openings. Having a complete and current Employment Profile makes it easier to find future job openings that match your interests. Click Access my profile to create or update your Employment Profile.

I just submitted my application for the catering job at the Marriott. My hands shook the entire time. Especially at the part where I had to specify my desired salary.

I actually feel REALLY good about my accomplishments. I updated my résumé thinking, "Damn, I'm impressive." Plussss... I got to the part where I had to identify my ethnicity and suddenly I remembered I have the grand fortune of being a fluent, well educated, qualified minority that any company would kill to have on their staff for the purposes of diversification.

Catering Sales Executive (NE)-12000BH5

https://marriott.taleo.net/careersection/2/jobdetail.ftl

The Catering Sales Executive is responsible for handling social and local corporate catering opportunities that are above the sales office parameters and come directly to the hotel (i.e., 150 covers and above). The incumbent is responsible for contracting and closing local catering and social business and ensure that business is turned over properly and in a timely fashion for quality service delivery. The position is responsible for achieving catering revenue goals by actively up-selling each business opportunity to maximize revenue. The incumbent implements the brand's service strategy and applicable brand initiatives in all aspects of the sales process and drives customer loyalty by delivering service excellence throughout each customer experience.



I. CAN. DO. THIS.

I took a lot of laughs a few years back when I grew a pair and admitted to those around me that I had an interest in running a bar. Perhaps I wasn't appropriately articulate in describing what I hoped to do with my life that gave everyone the impression that I just wanted to work with booze. I gave up on that idea in favor of a more respectable one, that I would follow a management career in hospitality. In reality, I love what I do but it's the other sides of the hospitality industry that catch my attention. I never would have guessed catering for myself, but thinking of having this position as my own makes me more excited than I've been in a very long time.

I can totally do this.

on training and taking applications.

So my very genius boss has decided that training new people for a new property would be best done at a different, unrelated property on a different, unrelated computer system.

Epic fail.

Not only that, but my assigned trainee is suffering through an almost insurmountable language barrier. She's a genius -- an engineer in her home country -- but can't communicate much beyond "yes", "no", and "okay". Alright, I might be exaggerating on that last part, but her actual use of English is minimal. Her comprehension is excellent. Go figure.

Yesterday my trainee showed up unannounced, waltzed in past 11am like it was no big deal. She said she would be staying 4 hours, but we got to 1:30 before we were both begging for reprieve. I thought I was doing her a favor by letting her off the hook, but I guess she got another impression.

Today my boss comes in with an obviously well-prepared speech about how employees should act nicely to each other so that we have "friends" to "return favors." That was an obvious nod to my extensive vacations and frequent requests for four-day weekends. Blah blah blah, five minutes later he gets to the meat of the conversation: trainee feels that her presence is unwanted during my working hours.

True story: trainee was assigned to work with me from 9am to 1pm. Four hours. Instead, she admitted to me that she preferred sleeping in thus pushing her work hours back to span from 11am until 3pm.

True fact: I consider the hours between noon and the time I get off work (3pm) to be personal time, because it is at this point in my day that almost all of my work is completed and there is literally NOTHING else for me to do. NO THING.

During "training" yesterday I expressed my remorse to trainee for yet another disastrous waste of time (this is now the third time we've encountered this problem), she smiled sweetly and said she would see me again soon. You can imagine my surprise when I was informed this morning that she had used the words "disrespected" and "treated badly" in reference to the time we spent together.

Umm, what?

Naturally, I got defensive. I couldn't understand how my bestest attempts at accommodating a REALLY WEIRD situation would end in accusations of bad treatment. I told my boss that if this situation was going to be rectified, I would need to know in advance when to expect trainee to arrive. He said, "what do you mean? She comes in every day at 9am."

Say what, bossman? 9am?... no. You've got that all wrong. That's almost word for word what my reaction was to my boss, so now not only does trainee think I'm disrespectful, I'm pretty sure I just ratted her out for not showing up on time. It's not even a matter of being a few minutes late, she deliberately ignored orders and showed up on her on whims.

Oh mon dieu.



Meanwhile...

I've been taking applications all week thanks to strategically placed ads on Craigslist and the local newspaper. Today I got to meet a new hire (hipster college student with Miu Miu eyeware [ps I like her already]), and three potential applicants: the first, a young, pretty local with hospitality experience who happens to be sperminated; the second, an older, possibly retired woman looking for part-time hours with open availability; and a third, sassy energetic black woman in her mid 30s in great physical shape.

To me: great candidates, I would be happy to take all three.
To my boss: too pregnant, too old, too black.

If Vegas had odds on their applications, I would bet my life savings my boss would turn them all down. True story.

five things for friday.

1. I read an article a while back about a hotel chain trying a new method of conflict resolution: allowing guests to decide the appropriate course of action. I deal with asshats, so naturally I think that would be a horrible idea.

Today I got to put that theory to test when a lovely young couple complained that they found cigarette butts in their non-smoking room. I was horrified (and angry at my stupid housekeepers for this unnecessary oversight). Off the bat, I offered them a discount on their room. They weren't interested. Instead, the lady asked that I give her parents a discount on a future stay because they will be making many trips for her mother's chemotherapy.

What a novel fucking concept! Normally I like to take care of discounts on the spot because it gives a sense of good will on the business's part, but I was more than willing to jump on this offer because 1) it was exactly what the guest wanted to rectify the situation and 2) I pretty much guaranteed their future business. Victory.

2. Some people are way too giving with personal information. I had one guy tell me all about how he keeps track of his finances, and another lady shared the details of her period cramps with me. Neither of these conversations were initiated on my part.

3. I love being the good news fairy when it comes to things like tax exemption refunds, and for the first time this year (HOLLER AT YA, 2012) I got to be the good news fairy! I put my accounting skills to use, shuffled around a few numbers, and I surprised a guest with a $92 bill (note: she was expecting to have to pay close to $260). It's always a blast when I get to see people's reactions to my explanation of the tax exempt law, but this one blew me away.

I have had everything from entitlement, tears, people falling to their knees while praising the "DEAR LORD JEEEEZUSS" (seriously, that happened) during my tax exempt speech; needless to say, I thought I had seen it all. The lady I dealt with today was calm and polite, but did nothing out of the ordinary until she was halfway out of the lobby. Before she left, she stopped to ask me if I would like anything from the gas station. She suggested chips or flavored coffee, she wanted to get me a treat for "helping her out." It was so sweet and sincere I almost gagged.

4. This chick skipped into the lobby (seriously, she was fuckin skipping) SANS SHOES. I dig the barefoot movement, but even with my nerve damaged feet I wouldn't go shoeless in this weather. Turns out, she lost her shoes... she asked if I had any extra laying around that she could have. Seriously.

5. It's 10:41. I am officially over 50% done with this day.