Advanced Hotelling 1on1

Being a Night Manager, dedicated that is, means my job is pretty safe. I am a rare breed. The kind who deliberately asks for a night manager job. Usually people only take the night jobs to get access to the day jobs, so when I guy comes along, with good references, and wants the graveyard, a hotel would be stupid in saying no. This also means, that they are reluctant to let people like me and my two colleagues go. Now, none of us are taking advantage of this, because that would be lame. But it gives us peace of mind in times like this, when the economy is blaah blah blah, you know... recession and what have we. I'm sure you've watched the news over the last 9 months. Hard to miss.

This is why I'm amazed when people quit their jobs just like that, and over things where I'm just thinking they should suck it up. And it makes me ponder why a place of business lets things grow out of proportions like they have with our Food and Beverage dep. For those who haven't followed this blog, know me or know of hotelling, Food and Beverage (F&B) is the department, that deals with all restaurant outlets, as well as the banqueting and events department. In the case of this hotel, one restaurant, one banquet floor, one room service department, one bar and the breakfast part of our gourmet restaurant.

Now, recently, a new Operations Manager was hired. Her task was pretty much to deal with all the F&B stuff around this hotel. She had no previous experience with this, since her previous jobs were a receptionist (at a hotel where I also happened to work (with her, yes)), and as a banquet waiter. I've been a banquet waiter as well. So basically, she and I have the exact same qualifications. Why the fuck she was hired for this position, I'll probably never know. She has no skills, no experience and no talent for any of it. And I'm not just saying this because I've a grudge or wanted her job or whatever. I couldn't care less about it. I just observe from the outside, and think things are going out of hand.

The other day, a guy saw the restaurant supervisor light a cigarette just outside of the hotel, in the parking lot. He was in his own clothes, since he was on his way home. The parking lot is technically hotel property. The guy reported this (he works at the hotel too) to this Operations Manager, who chose to give the supervisor a written warning for smoking on hotel property. If you're sitting back in your chair wondering if what you just read is in fact true, you'll be right. And it is. I was pretty dumbstruck when I heard the story. It's such a small technicality, that it's not even worth thinking twice about. But personal opinions play a huge part in inter-office intrigues like this. So he got a warning, and subsequently made that the last drop. He quit. I understand him.

Following this incident, 3 other people working under her, quit their jobs, quoting her as the direct reason. To her face. Several of them had been complaining to Human Resources, about the lack of structure, the lack of skills and the lack of understanding she possessed. But, I'm guessing, she's cheap and covers a lot of ground for not a whole lot of cash. And other people are around to clean up her mess. Or cover for her lack of knowledge. It's just not right.

It all reminds me of an old hotel I worked at. Another large prominent hotel in town. People were backstabbing left and right then. And getting warnings for all kinds of small pointless things. Technicalities. It was a war zone, and I hated every goddamn second of it. When you constantly have to be wary of your actions, however pointless, and make sure you aren't caught off guard, life at work goes from bad to worse. When I started working at this hotel, I found that this mentality was not present. It was cool. I liked it. Now, when it comes to my particular department, we're only really 3 people, with 2 subs. The night team. We're part of the front office, of course, but we're pretty much just ourselves normally. Makes it easy to stay friendly with everybody. And since we're alone in the hotel during the nights, we can do pretty much what we want, without having others breathing down our necks. But the restaurant here... it's just like everybody are constantly fighting and bitching and eying each other suspiciously.

Makes me happy that I'm not working there. Both having to wait on guests, and argue with them, while simultaneously have your co-workers waiting for a misstep, before they report your ass! It's dog eat dog in the hotel business.