We are Hospitality Workers

Hello! Some of you may have read my previous articles I've written in this column by and about hospitality. This next one is going to be something I wrote while thinking a lot about my job and how I've got here.

I started working at a tiny motel, one that was the joke of the town. I left there after 5 months to work at a property with Choice Hotels. After 19 months there, I applied for and got a job at a 4-diamond inn. I've grown a ton in these past 6 months or so since I've started that new job.

Because of that, I am sitting here, just taking a break from my work, and all of a sudden it hit me - this is it. I am in the bigtime.

Growing up and throughout high school, I refused to flip burgers or make coffee for work. I only really had cash-paying jobs in high school - tutoring, babysitting, umpiring. And yet, I have come so far since then...

I spent over an hour on the phone tonight talking and laughing with one of my good friends here. His name is Ken, and we met while living in staff accomodation. He comes most recently from another high-end property. We were talking about some of our hotels and accomplishments tonight, and it is just starting to sink in.

I am working at a high-end hotel on the ocean. I am living in a beautiful town. I am working with the best people I have ever met in my life. I've been here for under 3 months.

And I never even finished college.

Something we discussed tonight is somewhat of cruel irony to those of us working in the hospitality industry.

Who here would work a job that is long hours, almost every holiday, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year? A job where you definitely don't make money? A job where you can and do come across anything and everything. A job where you meet the lowest of the low, and just when you think you've seen every possible thing humanity has to throw at you, something else comes along. You are required to be anything and everything - a mother, a babysitter, a boss, an accountant, a tour guide, a reservation clerk, and so much more. You are expected to know how to multitask; if you can't, don't even step foot in this job. When offered to work a holiday or have it off, some people will take it off since "I'm getting paid anyways"; others will work it since "I'll get double time and a half for it!".

We are hospitality workers. We have many different names and many different positions. We keep a smile on our faces throughout our normal 8-hour shift, and even into 3, 4, even 8 or 9 hours of overtime. And why? Why do we put ourselves through this, demand it?

We do it because we love it. We do it for the regular guests. For the chance to meet many different people, and for the chance to experience something different every single day of work. By working simply 1 job in the hotels, we inevitable become experienced in every department, even if we are never fully trained. We become grateful for who we are, and we learn about ourselves. We develop a sense of humour. We scream, rant, curse and cry behind closed doors over those idiotic guests that had a bit too much to drink and broke into our pool, or over the traveller that demands everything and more for a cash room. And yet, we also smile and laugh at the traveller that has booked with us and we lost his reservation and he simply says "damn technology! OK, what are my options?". The guests that look at us, smile and (meaningfully) wish us to have a nice day. For the coworkers that become like family; because face it, we spend so much time at work that they become most, if not, of our friends. For the night auditors that visit the other auditor on their night off because they're lonely. For the tight-knit group of coworkers that have breakfast in the restaurant before work, dinner in the lounge after work, drinking and dancing in the club all night, then coming back the next day to do it all over again.

We love what we do; we are definitely not in this for the money. So please, smile and chat with us. We love to talk! Notice us, ask us how everything is, etc. We are here for you, after all; we're not here just for a paycheque.

We are hospitality workers.

Please rate this article:

(2 Votes)

To comment on this article, please visit http://forums.crazyhotelworkers.com/