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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.