My Racist

****BE WARNED, THIS POST CONTAINS SOME DIRECT QUOTES THAT ARE OFFENSIVE AND GRAPHIC****

A few days ago, I actually managed to meet a man who made me ashamed to be British.

This guy was a member of the armed forces, and over the course of the night had got chatting with some American businessmen - These particular businessmen stay with us for months at a time and as a result the staff of the hotel are very friendly with them and quite informal. I've been out to dinner with them a few times and I can't count how many times we've gone to the pub together.

As the bar was dead, and I had nothing to do for a while, the Americans threw a chair at me and told me to sit down and join the conversation...


This conversation continued till 5am, with the armed forces guy getting more and more drunk until I eventually had to escort him to his room.


However, before the drunken lead-off, I had to listen to him debate immigration, taxes, political correctness, Iraq, and Bush with the Americans - The Americans hate conversations like this as every drunk English guy feels the need to have it with them. Additionally, they end up defending issues they wouldn't back in the US because they think if they don't it means they're not defending their country.


About halfway through the conversation, the English guy comes on to immigration, and says that this country has gone to shit. The reason this country has apparently gone to shit is that we let everyone else in. The country isn't British anymore. We let all these f*ing sp*des and p*kis in, and now we're nothing. All they do is leech off benefits and commit crime.

He went on to say that everyone knows this, even the f*ing government, but we're so f*ing scared of being un-PC, that no one will do anything. The government just looks the other way as these f*ing n*ggers and p*kis get away with it. He summarised this point by saying that Britain is looking for a new motto currently, and despite popular demand the government won't accept "There's no black in the Union Jack!"

He followed up with "If it were up to me, I'd kill the lot of them. Just BANG! Bullet in the head of each of them."

Then charmingly, "Take this guy (pointing at me); an average English guy. He'll agree with me!"

................


Entertainingly, he finished by saying immigrants were the reason he doesn't live in Britain anymore; he has a house in Portugal... So surely, he's an immigrant?


It worries me that this guy is travelling round the world, representing my country, and giving people the impression that we're all a bunch of violent racists...

My Overbooking

You know you're in for a great night when you come on shift and are greeted by the duty receptionist saying:-

'Evening! Welcome to Hell!'

This particular sentiment was brought about through our reservations department accidentally dropping us in it.


The story goes that at 9am when the duty reservationist came in, she loaded up our availability sheets for the day and found that we'd taken a few too many reservations... 7 to be precise. Now, unless we can magically conjure up an additional 7 rooms, we need to get rid of 7 bookings. Throughout the course of the day, they had managed to bring this down to 1, but 1 is still a problem.

When I came on shift we still had 3 arrivals to come, with only 2 rooms available. I had a brief chat with the duty manager, who explained that they'd called another hotel which had 3 rooms available, but the rate was £189. This is a touch expensive, and if we send a guest to them we will have to pay the difference. If we book the room, and a guest doesn't show up, we would have to pay regardless. I decided that, based on the hour, hopefully one of our arrivals would be a no-show and we'd chance it. On average we get about 10 no-shows a week, so this seemed possible...


Irritatingly, they all turned up. Even more annoyingly, when I rang the other hotel to let them know that we would indeed be needing one of their rooms, I was informed that they were full.

This, was a lie.

I know this was a lie because we had spoken to them just an hour before and the hotel is in such a remote location that they aren't going to get 3 walk-ins in that space of time.

To add to my mood, finding out that they were 'full' took me 10 minutes because the night manager at the hotel is apparently French, and her English is awful.

To further my frustration, I called 3 other hotels before I finally found one that wasn't 'full' and by this point had spoken to a French night manager, an Indian, a Spaniard, and possibly a Pole. Don't misunderstand, I have absolutely nothing against foreigners coming to work in this country. However, I find it infuriating when people are in positions that require a high level of English speaking ability, and all I can get out of them is 'Sorry', 'Yes', and 'No'. My guest in the mean time has had to wait half an hour whilst I struggle through these conversations.


Anyway, to cut a long story short I eventually found my guest a room in another hotel, and arranged for the remainder of their stay at our hotel to be in our best suite. This seemed to appease them and they complimented and gave a good review to me when checking-out. The hotel itself got a complaint for causing the problem in the first place, but it could be worse...

For example, one day we were 13 overbooked...

My Nights

I'm curious to see how other people are affected by working night shifts. This is mainly because the head receptionist told me the other day that:-

'You look like a shell of who you were. I've seen nights destroy 4 young men already; you're the 5th.'

A touch bleak, but a lovely sentiment. I'd like to think it's just because I'm tired when she sees me in the morning, combined with the fact that I'm overworked as we're understaffed, and a touch stressed as I've spent most of my night correcting the reception manager's work as she's... well, an idiot.

Anyway, I'd be interested in reading other night worker's blogs if anyone knows any. I've had a brief look and couldn't find any.

The only one I know is 'The Night Warden', but I'd like a range...

My Bomb Threat

During the nights, I basically have the hotel to myself. This gives me time to raid the kitchen, watch a DVD, play on my PSP, or even take a quick nap. It also gives me time to poke around reception and see what random things are there - Conveniently, this is how I now own a PSP. I found it in the night team's desk, so I assume it was one of the previous night manager's. I put it back each night just in case someone comes to collect it, but I'm fairly sure it's now mine.

This is also how I found the 'Bomb Threat Action File'...


The 'Bomb Threat Action File' basically tells me exactly what to do if someone calls in a bomb threat. Encouragingly, this file was caked in dust, the paper inside is yellowing, and it looks like it was typed up on a typewriter. The pages look like they were photocopied on a very poor machine, and some are so dark/fuzzy that I can barely read them.


Anyway, from reading the 'Bomb Threat Action File', I have drawn out what I feel to be the most important points:-

a) Do not hang up on the caller

b) Call the police as soon as the caller disconnects

c) When evacuating guests, do not mention the word 'Bomb'

d) Stay calm


Thank God I have the file! Otherwise I may hang up on someone trying to tell me about a bomb they've left in the building, not bother calling the police, tell all the guests there's a bomb, and then whilst they're running around panicking, panic as well!


This must be the idiot's guide to handling bomb threats. That said, if I ever get one (highly unlikely) I'm sure I'll be glad I have it...

My New Challenge

I've been thinking about the biggest difference between my old job as Late Shift Barman, and my new job as Night Manager.

Really, everything has changed. I rarely have to go behind the bar now, I work almost completely behind reception. My duties no longer revolve around drinks, instead focusing much more heavily on accounts, revenue, arrivals, and guest services. Guest services encompasses tasks such as arranging taxis, making sandwiches, and handling any complaints that arise over the course of the evening.


However, I think the biggest difference is accountability...

On the bar, I was safe in the knowledge that as long as I did my job and ensured guests obeyed the rules of the hotel, I was covered. If a guest complained that it was unreasonable for me to ask them not to dance on a table, I could refer them to the senior manager on shift.

Now, I AM the senior manager on shift. This means that whatever I decide is what is acceptable... at least until the morning when if the guest wants to complain they can speak to another manager.


This has the benefit that when guests speak to me they know that, at least for the time being, there is no one above me and what I decide is the final word. Pleasantly, this means that guests argue with me less than they used to.

I say less, because I still get drunk/jerk guests who demand to see my manager - I've been asked at 4am to get the General Manager as the guest doesn't like my answer... I'm not going to wake up the General Manager and call him in to work at 4am for anything short of a bomb threat, and even then I probably wouldn't bother - Sounds harsh/lazy, but what exactly is he going to do that I'm not?


However, on the downside, I am now much more accountable for my mistakes. Anything I do wrong, in terms of handling guest complaints, can't really be rectified until the morning... At which point I get it in the neck.

I think the phrase, With responsibility comes empowerment, but also fear, sums it up in a round-a-bout sort of way...


Anyway, apologies for the somewhat dull post, but I think it's necessary to mention this point as it's the most important aspect of my new job...

My Conundrum

It seems to be that I start all my posts recently by apologising for the lack of posts.

In keeping with that tradition, 'I apologise for the lack of posts recently'. Now for the why:-

The hotel is currently circling the drain. We've lost so many managers that the few that remain are each covering 3 other departments. The complete lack of leadership and monitoring of staff has meant that a large percentage of the serving staff have become fed up and left as well. We are now basically running on a skeleton crew, though relief workers from agencies and other hotels are expected in the next few days.


You might ask why this post is titled 'My Conundrum' and how that relates to the current staffing problems.

Essentially, with so few managers' positions being filled, someone decided that I was needed elsewhere and promoted me to management. I'm now the 'Assistant Night Manager' for the hotel.

I'm quite happy with this as although the hours are obscene, at least they're set and I don't stand around for hours wondering when I'll be able to leave (as was the case with working on the bar). Additionally, I get more pay, more responsibility, and do less work. The work itself is harder, but I can get it all done in 4 hours leaving me the remainder of my 8 hour shift to spend however I so choose - Personally, I like to either sleep, finish up some of my uni work, or watch a film (Whoever decided it would be a good idea to order reception a PC with a DVD player deserves a medal).


Again, you might ask where the 'conundrum' in this is.

When I started this blog, I was writing as a barman. My 'brief' is written as such, and even my template and profile are designed around this theme. However, I'm not a barman anymore, which kind of goes against the point of the blog. The question therefore lies with, should I continue it?


I think I need to look at why I started the blog. In my case, on occasion it gives me a place to vent, and I think some of the happenings at the hotel are quite interesting. Additionally, it gives people a behind the scenes look at an organisation they may not have seen before.

With this in mind, I think I will continue posting. Hopefully I should become more regular again soon when the relief staff arrive.


I think my template and design of the blog itself will have to change though. My profile clearly needs an update...