and all in the first 10 mins. of me walking in the door.

I get to work, to find a co workers kids all laying on the floor in the lobby.. at first I think she is in a room..NOPE.. she left them up there for another desk clerk to watch (while he is on his shift) and these are not the greatest kids that will just sit and do nothing.. But oh well Im here and they are leaving..

The afternoon desk clerk is finishing up a few things from his shift.. and I hear BANG BANG BANG.. not from the co workers kids,, but from the side door.. (I know what it is but because its 10pm I go make them stop).. "why is this door locked, its not suppose to be locked." a girl that looks all of 15 tells me. Wishing I could tell her to leave me the fuck alone, I explain about night and the doors being locked.. I just get a smug look as if ms 15 year old knows more than me.. fuck her anyway..

she's not alone, she has several other girls about the same age with her.. we have two or three balls teams in house this weekend. which means I lock up things to make sure they don't go in and mess with things like they normally do..

They go into the breakfast area (where guests are allowed to sit and eat even when its not breakfast as long as they are clean and quiet) and I go back up to the desk. to see my co workers kids throwing snow balls at my car.. you would think this is harmless but never knowing with her kids I make them stop. they don't get mad, they are told to stop a lot so that is normal for them.

I walk back in to hear the TV FULL BLAST all the way in the lobby.. I go there to see the girls have moved the table and are sitting on the floor. I walk up and turn the TV down "what are you doing that for, we were watching that?".. I tell her (its a lie but people don't know how to keep the TV down at night in here) that the TV is not turned on after dark because you can hear it up stairs in a room. "What are we suppose too do now?".. "you can sit in here but you have to not make any noise, People are trying to sleep." I can tell they don't care.. but for the time they are there I don't hear anything from them. 

I go back up the desk, the afternoon clerk and the kids are gone..AWW nice and peace full.. NOPE.. the phone rings. "we would like a set of playing card sent up to 205 please.".. I think she thought the "please" would make it come true.

I really want to ask guests where the F*** they think they are??

The other morning I worked (and yes, getting up at 5am sucked because I am normally the afternoon and midnight person, I think my boss is punishing me) a guest called down "I don't have a menu in my room, will I be able to come down and order breakfast and have it sent to my room?" really?? People amaze the piss out of me. 

On a good side I got a tip from a guest on Christmas eve,, 2$ but still was a nice thought. and a guest gave me the gift his wife got but won't use. I know, wasn't for me but I never turn down hand lotion and bubble bath. and full time night girl made fudge.

4 days a week, yep that is all I am getting..

would you like to hear about the place I work at..? 

 One girl is always calling our boss a bitch,, of course never to her face but has many times said it to a guest and the guest has let her know,, NOTHING happen.. One desk clerk got caught by a guest watching porn on his lap top. NOTHING happen to him.. One desk clerk stole money.. NOTHING.. One desk clerk tried to pick up every male guests that checked in.. she became the "whore of the hotel". by other co workers and guests,, NOTHING happen to her.. One desk clerk told everyone she was the manager when she wasn't and than proceeded to tell off any guest that she did not like or had problems with.  our general manager, who is actually in charge.. laughed when she heard this.. NOTHING happen to her.  

time moves on and these people leave but in the meantime I have to work with them.. In a perfect world or a world of normal people you watch porn or steal from work you get fired. NOPE.. not at my job.. you get more hours and a raise.. yes, I said raise..  the porn dude was making 15$ an hour and he had been there for 12 years.. 

I make a crappy 8.50$ an hour and have never been late. called in sick twice,, once my daughter giving birth and once I had food poisoning . I am on call 24 hours and have cut short dates and called off dates and cut short holiday vacations to come in because some one else has messed up.. I have had to work 16/18/20 hours because someone does not want to come in..

but do I get a raise.. FUCK NO!!  I have to beg and plead for full time while the fuck up's get 5 and 6 days a week.. AND raises.. I once asked my boss was I bad employee or was she mad at me.. 'No of course not why, your one of my best workers".. THAN WHY THE FUCKED CAN'T I GET MORE MONEY AND 5 DAYS A WEEK???  she just smiles and giggles at me.. yes, a 45 year old women giggles at me..

so I sit here once again with just 4 days to live off of.. I say I can pay bills but am having a hard time buying food.. "Ha Ha Ha.. well, you did say you wanted to loose weight"..   really.. did you just say that to me..!!

just another day in the loney bin..

Yes this sign means what it says..

How many times have you come up to the desk and seen the "I have stepped away from the desk and will return shortly, thank you"..

Under normal circumstance you stand there polity and wait for the desk clerk to come back.. BUT not where I have worked..Nope. most guests will start POUNDING ON THE COUNTER.."HELLO, ANYONE HERE, SOMEONE WANTS TO CHECK IN"..  As if that sign was a joke or the desk clerk really didn't mean she was away, she is just hiding in the back laughing..

I have come to realize that most guests either can't read or just think the signs are suggestion.. Employees only, do not enter, doors close at 10 pm. Pool is open at 10 am.  signs like these seem to confuse most guests.

we have an employee's only sign for our back office, I have walked away from the desk and come back to guests standing there jerking on the door as if to try and open it. "Oh there you".. I laugh it off because my boss won't let me punch them.  

Or the employee's only sign for our kitchen, most guests seem to think this means 'come in and mess with my stuff.' I have had to make sure this door was always  locked because I will walk in there to do breakfast and one or more guests are in there helping themselves to what ever.. "we figured we could.".. "what do you  mean we can't come in here?'. as if I am the bad person for making them leave, you can't just walk into the kitchen of a restaurant can you, why do people think it is OK for a hotel?  

the signs that are for closed or 'locked' signs are the ones that seem to piss people off the most.  Our pool closes at 10 pm.  Nope.. I will go out there and notice people have jumped our fence. "we thought we could come in because we are guests.."  the gate being locked means nothing to them.  "we figured the sign was for people under 18?"  as if we wouldn't have put under 18 on it..we figured they would just know it.!

some day I will actually read  a sign at my hotel and believe it. 

Sold out nights are fun!!

Ever so luck to have a sold out night at the hotel. We like these days.. or at least our owner/manager does.. we at the desk could take it or leave it.  I have moment when I am glad we have sold out days and days I wish these people would leave me the hell alone..

Tonight is one of those days I wish people would have stayed home. The first guest demanded I remove someone from a room they had already checked into because they, the guest, wanted/needed/demanded a first floor room.. "well I need a first floor room and you are going to just have to figure out a way to get me one". I explain as nice as I can with out jumping over the counter at them that they were the last guest checking in and that everyone was already checked in and I had no more first floor rooms. I am sorry."

"well, sorry is not good enough, It is midnight and I am not walking up a whole flight of stairs" mind you this was not because they were disabled or had heath problems.. they were just LAZY..  They even stood at the desk thinking I was going to call someone at midnight and tell them they had to move so I could give another guests their room.. 

The second guests actually called our cable company and asked them to come out and 'fix' our cable.  It works but does not get every channel that guests would like.. we have HBO and a few movie channels but some guests want stations we just don't have and because of the hotel (and our owner) a few channels that we are suppose to have we don't.. Because of where we are at the cable company called me to tell me that an in house guest called to ask them to come out.  This has happened more times then you would think.. Because of a storm our power went out, as if in a hotel that is never suppose to happen.. several guests called our electric company to tell them our power was out.  As if they didn't know or we weren't going to tell them.  

then there was the guests that demanded I put breakfast out at 3 am because he had a flight.. I said breakfast did not start until 6 am but I would gladly get him a few things from the kitchen if he liked.."you don't expect me to go into YOUR kitchen and get things do you, Like I was at home. What am I paying you people for.?

Thank goodness we are usually only sold out on the week end.. I don't think I could take this every day of the week.  

Funny thing happen on the way to the Mall..

Use to work with this lovely girl.. use to as in just the other day.. but as of this monday, she is no longer an employee here at our lovely front desk..  Seems she decided to go shopping at the mall and got arrested.. some might think she had been shop lifting,, Nope.. she was so high and drunk that she was scaring the other shoppers and someone called the cops on her.. when the cops arrived they tried talking to her but she was so out of it, she could barley speak, when asked where she thought she was she gave a totally different city than she was in at the moment.. 

Well, off to jail she went.. We at the desk did not find out until several days later. two of which were shifts she was suppose to work, that part is nothing new at the desk,, clerks have come and gone so much that we that are here to stay are use to being called in to work a shift when another does not show up. 

We did not find out what happen, we thought she had just decided to not come to work any more,, it happens.. but her mom called to talk to our boss to see if she could still keep her job.. so sorry my daughter didn't show up for work but she was in lock up for public stupidity.. sorry mom.. nope.. getting arrest is one thing.. some things we can over look but the SO drunk and on drugs part.. can't let that go.. 

another day at the crazy farm.. 

Ongoing List of hotel Guest Etiquette Rules..

Last night I Actually had a guests YELL at me cause he said I spoke to fast.. Mind you, yes, I do.. I do NOT do it to be mean, and I making a point of trying very hard to not speak fast.. It is a bad flaw of mine that is a day to day struggle..

So understandably I can see how a guests can get upset with it.. BUT!!!! I feel this guest took it way over the top.. 

My first (in a long line of guest rules)  "do NOT yell at the desk clerk because you don't like the way they are speaking.."

I had checked this guest in and was telling him about the pool and breakfast and our internet.  Seems he didn't like the speed of voice..

"Hold the fuck up, You really need to slow the fuck down, I can't understand you".  again,, I understand that I talk fast, BUT his need to tell me to 'slow the fuck down'?? was that really needed.

I apologize to the guest saying that I am sorry and I do talk fast sometime "Im working on it" ha ha ha,, trying to lighten the mood.

"oh yeah sure, I bet your fucking sorry, does you manager know you talk this bad? I just might have to have a talk with them about this"? 

 This, if you did not know it, was a threat,, "Im gonna talk to you boss and get you fired" in so many words, in the years I have been working the front desk, I see this often.. the guest feeling they have the power to just 'talk to you boss' and your outta here, attitude.  (don't get me wrong, I have seen guests really talk to a boss/manager/owner and such and explain what a desk clerk did and they really did get fired.. Like the desk clerk that was passed out at the desk or the one that was watching porn. (yes, those really happened)  BUT did this guest really think he was gonna get me in trouble for speaking fast??!!

Even after I start all over again to the guest what I was saying,, the pool and breakfast and internet, he still doesn't like my speed.. "if your gonna keep talking that fast don't fucking bother" and took his room key and left..

Again, yes, I know I speak fast but his need to curse at me because of it was totally out of line.. and he never  spoke to my boss about it either.. 

Dumb reasons co workers tell me they are going to be late.

Very few and far between do I get an good excuse as to why someone is late. The why's only matter to me because they are my relief and after 8 to 9 to sometimes 12 hours, I really want to go home, I love it here but I sometimes would rather be sleeping and I have other things to do outside of work that I want to do at a normal hour.

Today I get the adult excuse of "my alarm does not work when my phone does not have minutes".  This I have to say is a first for me.. I can't say anything other than "OK, I will see you when you get here".  Thinking all the while, WHAT? ARE YOU KIDDING?  

The other 'excuses I have gotten are "I was up all night looking for a gerbil, and didn't get any sleep".  "I having an argument with my husband and I don't want to leave until I win"

I really do not want my co workers to come up with better excuses I just want them to get their butts to work. There is a girl that I have worked with for several years that re-leaves me in the morning.. She told me she finds any excuse to come in late, "that hour in the morning is so hard to do," I really want to scream at her "than why do you have that shift". where I work you can switch shift all the time, if you don't like the am there is always someone that will change with you and you can start working afternoons or midnight's,, its that easy..

I wish I was sleeping right now.