Advantages

Working at Hotel A and Hotel B does have it's advantages. Despite the fact that the two hotels are only a few miles apart, both owned by the same company and whenever a serious maintenance issue happens at Hotel A, the maintenance man from Hotel B always comes to fix it.
Despite all of this, there is very little communication between both establishments. I know this to be true, because on several occasions I have been on the roster to work at both hotels on the same nights. Now that they've proved that they don't know how to run a hotel, I always leave it until the last minute to point out their mistakes.

Before the other Night Manager at Hotel A left, he told me why both hotels had been involved in a staff swapping party. It started off with Hotel B receiving a member of the restaurant team from Hotel A. Everyone assumed that this was because Hotel B was "short-staffed." Since that initial switch, Hotels A and B have been swapping staff like nobodies business. I am the only person who works at both hotels in general.

Anyway, before the other Night Manager left (a wise move, if ever I saw one), he told me that real reason as to why one member of staff had been shunted to Hotel B was that she had been sleeping with the chef from Hotel A's husband for a year and they had recently been found out. This had led to the chef kicking her husband out and trying to hold down a full-time job and looking after her family, right before Christmas.

Now the chef in question used to come in every morning, give me (or whoever was on) a cheerful "Hello" and ask how the night was. Since this incident, when she comes in now, all I get is a very tired, "Hello" and she always tells me that she didn't sleep very well that night and how tired she is. She was on the verge of telling me, this morning, that in the past year several members of her close family had passed away and how Christmas was going to be a sad time for them all. She was about to tell me all the details, when the Restaurant Supervisor walked in (the one from Hotel A, and he does have a modicum of sense) and she cut her story short.

So, out with the old and in with the new. As I mentioned previously, we have a new Night Manager at Hotel A. Yes, he is a migrant worker and after ten days in the job, he seems to think that it's acceptable to do very little work and spend most of the time surfing websites of his homeland (they're not currently blocked, unlike YouTube and MySpace), drinking endless amounts of coffee and listening to music on his personal CD player. I suppose I can be grateful that I only have to put up with him for one shift every week, but it's going to be a long shift.

At the moment, we have a group in who are renovating a nearby school. They come down every weekday morning at 6.30am for a continental breakfast. I knew they were due, so I went through to the Reception after half of them had walked past me on their way to the table. The chef was standing there talking to the new Night Manager and I asked him if everything was ready as they were in the restaurant waiting. Let's just say he knows the English swear words, but very little else. I swear, every time he went out of the kitchen, he kicked the door so hard, I thought he was going to put his foot through it.

At least he is off now for two days, which means my two shifts will be very peaceful indeed and I can do things my way.

You couldn't make this up.

My original plan was to post two incidents over the weekend, but I somehow forgot about them. So I'll cover one just now and maybe the other incident later.

At Hotel B, the place which haunts the company directors dreams, there was an incident involving a receptionist and a relief F&B Manager. One night, after they had finished their shift and left everything to their capable night manager's hands, they went to the local pub.

At around midnight, I received a call from the F&B Manager asking if I could call them a taxi, so I told them to call back in ten minutes and I'd have an answer. I called both the taxi numbers, and they both were switched off. I waited for the F&B Manager to call back, which she did. An hour and a half later. Before I could tell her that I had tried to obtain a taxi for them, she asked me to call her a taxi and she'd call back in ten minutes. I was sensing Deja Vu here, so I stopped her and told her that I had already tried to call a taxi, with no success. She hung up and I thought no more of it.

At around 2am, the phone rang. It was the Relief General Manager, from one of the sister hotels, who had been here a few weeks previously and started implementing procedures. He informed me that he had just received a call from a rather upset and scared receptionist. Apparently, the F&B Manager had gone off with an unknown male and left the receptionist to make her own way back to the hotel. Alone, drunk, in the dark and with no idea which direction she was heading in. She was lost and frightened. He asked if there was anyone there who could take the staff car out to try and find her. I told him that the only people who were insured to drive it weren't in the hotel. I thought for a moment, and then told him that I'd call the Police. The station is down the road from the hotel, so when they are driving up, they would be able to notice her and take her back.

I searched the entire reception area for the local Police Station's telephone number, but it wasn't written down anywhere. So I called the next town over to ask for the number, which they wouldn't give to me, but they did take my details and informed me that the missing receptionist was on the other line to them.

There was nothing more I could do, except wait. About an hour later, and several phone calls from the other Manager, I decided to do my security checks.

When I went around the back of the building, I noticed the motion-activated light at the Kitchen was on. I thought this was strange, but there are a few causes (cats mainly) which can trigger the detector. I completed the external checks and went back inside and up to the first floor. I had just got to one of the fire exits, when I noticed two persons walking around outside the rear of the building. I made my way back downstairs to the front door and opened it. The two people I had seen wandering suspiciously around the rear of the hotel, were staff. One of whom, was carrying a portable television. He informed me that the Police were outside looking for me.

I walked outside and noticed the Police car parked up opposite the hotel with it's spotlight pointed at the entrance of the hotel. I walked over and had a few words with the officer, who told me that he was returning my receptionist safe and well.

With that news, I went back inside and called the RGM and he was happy that she was back and asked me to tell her to call him as soon as possible. I said I'd pass on the message, when the Police and the receptionist walked in.

One person did stop and offer her a lift, but she declined his offer and he turned the car around and drove back in the direction he had just come from. Makes you wonder sometimes.

There was another incident which happened that weekend, but I'll save that for another time.

The Apology

Here it is, in all it's grammatically-incorrect and misspelt glory. Please note that the letter appears as I received it, with no further editing done. Enjoy!

"I write to you this few words in intent to apologize considering the events that occurred on the night of Friday December 30 2007.

What I said was inconsiderate and foolish. I was not allowed to go to you and tell you these words while you were on duty.

I hope you will forgive me for having such a boiling temper.

With all my respect, "

Expect a big blog explosion this weekend, I have a number of stories to tell, one of which involves my old friends from my previous employment, the Police.

Oh, and the reason why he wasn't disciplined/sacked? He leaves the company next week.

UPDATE!

Remind me never to ask for time off, because I can always be assured that I won't get it. I asked for two days extra off this week, nobody called to confirm that it was OK and I could have them, instead I had to work.

Anyway, the main reason for this post is regarding the last entry in this blog. If you remember, I was subjected to a verbal torrent of racism and was assaulted (it was minor, but is still classed as an assault.) I e-mailed the HR Manager to question what had happened regarding the incident and whether I needed to submit any further reports and this is the reply I received:

"I have received and acted upon your report regarding *name deleted* – he has left a letter of apology for your attention in your pigeonhole."

Although I was very much expecting this kind of response, i.e. he has apologised and nothing more will be done, I am still surprised that the company can run an establishment in this manner.

As I have mentioned previously, I am looking for another job and I hope to find one soon. Very soon indeed.

A Very Thin Line

OK, I'm sure you're all dying to know what results were achieved after I submitted the reports? Well, I can only tell you what I have been told and that is, "One of them has been dealt with and we're dealing with the other." That was the exact phrase I received from the HR Manager when I asked. I don't know which was resolved and which issue remains open.

I did, briefly, meet the new manager at Hotel B the other morning, and I have to say that he looks very professional and seems to know what he's doing. We also have someone from head office covering the recently vacated F&B Manager position. I'm pretty sure it was a massive shock for them coming from head office to our hotel. Everyone has been told to be on their best behaviour while they are here. There has also been a large increase in the amount of paperwork and the rules which we now have to follow.

But I'm pretty certain you don't want to know about all the boring parts, you want to read about the interesting things that happen. Well, at Hotel B, there is always something happening.

On Friday morning, I was carrying out one of the tasks detailed in the new "Night Manager's Checklist" when I heard a noise at the front door. So I downed tools and went to investigate. I didn't manage to get to the door, as I noticed the Barman standing at the window, I gestured for him to go to the door and I would open it for him. As I was doing so, he promptly opened the window from the outside and climbed in. The conversation which followed, annoyed me.

"Why is the back door locked?"
"Because all external doors to the hotel are locked at night."
"That door needs to stay open at night so any f**kin' one can get in."
"Well, I was asked to ensure that door was locked by the Head Chef several weeks ago."
"Don't listen to *name deleted*, he's a f**king Nazi."
"If you need to gain access to the hotel, the front door is always open."
"That back door shouldn't be locked, man. Don't listen to the f**kin' Nazi's, man."

I was taken aback at these comments, but decided to leave it be. I don't tolerate racism, directly or indirectly, in the workplace, so I made a note of all the times and what was said in order to pass on the details to the manager in the morning. But I forgot to inform the manager.

The next night, the majority of the staff finished their shift and disappeared off to the pub. I asked one of them when they'd be back and they told me that the pub closed at one, so they would be back a short while after that.

At around ten past one, I was sitting in the lounge awaiting their return, when I heard loud footsteps coming down the corridor. I walked out of the lounge and noticed the Barman coming towards me, not looking too happy.

"You didn't f**kin' listen, did you?"
"Sorry?"
"I told you last night that the back door stays OPEN so any f**king one can come in."
"Well, the Manager hasn't told me any different..."
"I spoke to everyone today, the Manager, HR, f**kin' everyone and they all said that the back door should stay open."
"Well they haven't told me that this is the case."

He then used the back of his hand and struck it aggressively off my right shoulder.

"You need to learn to f**kin' listen, man."

Up until that point, I was quite happy for the racial slurs to go unnoticed, but not now. Now I had a report (and a blog entry) to write. The report, detailing both incidents, was typed up and left for the Manager and the HR Manager. But, as with most 'disciplinary' proceedings within this hotel/company, he'll say sorry and say that he was drunk and nothing more will be said.

Again, you'll have to wait a week for any updates on this.