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Thanks both of you for your replies.
Pgrundy I'm sorry to hear about your downfall. I see the hard times, I'm still young but I've seen a lot of people who were once doing really well take a fall. Good friends of the family were doing really well. One was the general manager for the biggest car dealership here and the other managed a restaurant for side work. The both work non stop now and lost their home and still have a lot of financial troubles. Some people are doing ok and others the economy turned on them. It's a pretty scary thing for me actually. I'm (I could either say only or already) 24, by the time I was fully out and on my own the economy was already bad and I didn't have a degree (still don't but am working toward it). So the only thing I have seen is the fall really. The things they are doing to "fix" it and the upcoming candidates for this election are not looking too promising in actually fixing out situation but that is a completely different topic. I'm sorry that you have had to go down so much as well because of the fall. I hope that while you were making more that the money was put into 401k and things of that sort. The only job I had that offered that and paid decent considering I was so young.
I was working for the court house just barely 19 and started at 11$ an hour but by the time I left just 6 months later (once my probation ended at 90 days) I was making 16$ an hour. I got offered a job following the county administrator on his campaign while he ran for (I think it was, it was years ago) governor (or something of that sort). I was going to be his assistant because his current assistant had a lot of other work to do and was taking a vacation during a large portion of it. An abusive ex forced me to decline (out of jealousy) and quit the court house. Since then I've been at restaurants (2 of which went out of business) and hotels. The pay work and all is much different. Wish I had stuck that first job out... Lesson learned...
JD, thank you for your reply! I've been that irate customer myself. Very rarely and only on the phone really. But I am a bit of a pushover. But if I do become very angry I will start yelling and not being my normal pleasant self. But I always ask to talk to a manager and always apologize to the person I was talking to. I save the anger for the manager. The deal is, even though they have had a bad trip... Like a couple just recently stayed at the hotel. A older gentleman came to the desk to check in early. Their car had broken down on the way and he had to push it for a long time. They also got stuck in traffic for 2 hours. He came to the desk really upset and wanting to check in. He admitted first thing "This has been a bull sh** day!" and was rolling his eyes and all of that talking loudly and swearing. But I could see that his anger was not directed at me. He looked at me and I could see that he really just wanted to go lay down and relied on ME to get him to that (by checking him in). Basically his eyes were nice even though his words weren't. He even apologized for being so loud.
I gave him the best room in the hotel for his week stay. I also referred him to a friend of mine who was a mechanic to fix the car and made reservations for him and his wife at a good restaurant. I of course checked them in and every time I saw them I would talk to them and keep updated on their stay. They were very happy and from the moment I checked him in and was nice to him back, their entire stay changed and was much better. I even told him "Well you're day's going to be much better now that you're here at the **** ***** inn. We'll take good care of you". He apologized again fbut there was no need. There is a HUGE difference between men like him and others... I remember a man who was so upset... We give out cookies to all of the arriving guests on the weekdays but not on the weekends. Well he was someone who was already at the hotel, he had already gotten his cookie when he checked in. But I guess he wanted some cookies anyways. The girl at the front desk asked the kitchen to make some cookies for the guests because a couple of people had asked for them.
Well they did and put them on the counter for the guests. This guy the next day found out cookies were made and was absolutely furious that the girl at the front desk did not call him in his room to tell him cookies were out. He went off on me about the hotel being run by "incompetent women" and screamed over and over how terrible and stupid and worthless we were and when he found out the general manager was a woman, he lost it even more. He got on the phone (made me call her at home) heard her voice and said "You're a woman too? What the h*** this hotel is worthless." and hung up the phone. We get more people like this man than you would think. Just recently another man was fuming because the batteries had died in the lock in his door and the back to their tv remote was not there. These are 2 things that the girl at the front desk have NO control over. Something that should not make anyone yell at anyone but especially the front desk. When housekeeping doesn't leave towels, I guess the guests expect us to follow each housekeeper and make sure every room is perfect... That's what we have housekeeping managers for, but they do not always do their jobs. They don't very much actually. But that is not the front desks fault. I can't tell you how many times we (at the front desk) get into arguments with managers and employees because they are not doing their jobs and we are the ones getting blamed for it. It's like working at a restaurant. You order food and everyones food is hot but yours, your spaghetti is cold. It's not the servers fault it's cold, it's the cooks. If there is something to be said, it should be said to the cook, not the first person you see. Same at the front desk. If you have an issue with your room (cleanliness etc) you take it out on the person responsible for keeping that up, not someone who has never even been in that room. And then I get a guest... I will never forget her.
I spent 9 hours behind the desk calling restaurants and businesses to find out their hours and if they were open on Christmas. I called like 50% of the businesses in town and mapped and typed it all up including directions to each place. She had requested me to do this. I could have said no, I believe the manager just told me to recommend her to our restaurant. It's not our job any more according to our hotel policy to recommend places to go out let alone type something like that up. They want us to only send them to our restaurant. She checked into the hotel and was terrible from the get go. Walks up to the counter and I greet her with a smile. She grunts and puts her head on the counter. I ask "Is everything alright ma'am?" (we are in the south after all) and she lifts her head and gives me the most disgusted look you could imagine. She went off on me because I called her ma'am. Said she took offense to it. Then went off about the fact that she had to pay so much for a cab to the hotel (the closest airport is 45 minutes) and insisted that I pay her the money back. I nicely refused (this was before I lost my patience at this place) and she demanded to speak to the manager. She went off on me all the way up until she could no longer see me as I walked out to get the manager. The manager of course took 5 minutes to come out so I got to sit there for 5 more minutes with her yelling at me. She was terrible and if a guest approaches me like that now, I do not respond so nicely.
No one else at the front does so I stopped. If they want to come at me yelling AT me (not yelling to me, there's a difference in there) I don't kill them with kindness. I put them in one of our not as nice (but they are all still nice in all honesty) and I don't say much. I will just not my head, do the work to get them out of my hair tell them their room number and go back to my work. The guests who approach in a normal manner or nicely I am my 100% front desk helpful person recommending places, calling places, telling them all about the hotel, telling them all about town and what they are about to do etc. Basically I feel like if there is anger, it needs to be directed at the right person and not just the person in the front. Some really hurtful things have been said to the people on the front line. I can tolerate people who get frustrated and such, it's the angry people who you can tell want to rip you to shreds..
The people who want you to lose your job, knowing the economy is the way it is and not caring if you're a single parent or if you're taking care of your sick mom with that job, just because they are not happy with themselves. Those kind of people really make me sick to my stomach. I literally am kept awake some nights thinking about this. It really saddens me the lack of conscience people have nowa days. I wish I could change them... I wish I could change the world... But I can not "kill them with kindness" when they attack my character or come at me in a threatening way any more. It takes its toll on me, I can feel their darkness getting in my cracks and when I continue to be nice to them and they continue to rip me apart, it makes me want to give up on people, but I don't want to do that.
I will keep the job for now but the way I look at it... If I get fired oh well. It's only 8 an hour and I do crap work. I'd probably be happier back in a restaurant maybe even in the kitchen now since I've been really liking to cook. But I will likely look for a desk job, I have a pretty impressive resume. The idea that I CAN walk out at any minute and that if I get fired it wouldn't be the end of the world, and that I might actually be relieved, that makes the job easier. But for now I will keep it, I'm just not trying to keep it. I do my work, and all of it. But that's it. I don't go the extra mile at all. It's funny actually. When I started there, for the first year I did go the extra mile. When I started our hotel scores were average at 76%. Just 3 months after working there we averaged over 90% and were ranked 3rd worldwide for our brand hotel. I got employee of the month and everyone loved me. I did put forth the extra effort. All until the day the guest said to another front desk girl while I was there, in a fit of anger, "That phone costs more than you make in a week you dumb bi***" that moment changed me. Now we are back to 76% and I don't put forth any effort at all really. Unless the guest is nice to me, than I will go the extra mile and then some.
Sorry to post so much... I tend to do that lol Thanks again for the replies!
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I'd lock my hands behind my head, I'd cover my heart and hit the deck, I'd brace myself for the impact if I were you.
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