Whatcho' doin'? Nuttin' chillin' at da Holiday Inn.
April 5th 2007 03:23
I used to work in hotels. Three different Holiday Inns. I got to thinking about those old jobs today, becuase we found out that we're officially moving to Virginia, and THAT is where I last did hotel work. That was also when I said "NEVER ever again" and so far I have stuck with that promise.
I got into to it easily enough. I was 17. I had left my parents home in the middle of the night, my measly belongings stuffed into a trash bag. I snuck out the door, and moved in with this crazy lady named Teri. Teri had a so named Joe, who was Tony's closest childhood friend. Tony and I had broken up at this point, and I could think of NO better revenge than to hone in on his second mother figure (as fucked up as she was, all I'm going to say about Teri is... don't ever eat any vegetables in her crisper. Especially cucumbers. I'll let your imagination take flight now) and fuck his childhood best friend. At the time I was also working at a grocery store, where I met Pam and Sheila. Both worked at a Holiday Inn. Pam forever, and Sheila just recently started. It was FULL TIME! and well, I couldn't work at Price Chopper all my damn life now could i?
At first hotel work was fun!! I was 17 making full time money, and working fairly decent hours. I met a lot of interesting people. I was a cute girl with a permanent scowl on her face. Pam was the first person teach me that a smile can be heard over the phone. That's true you know. Very true and I still use that bit of advice today. I worked there for years, eventually learning the ins and outs of the system, and learning to do all the things I needed to know that is completely useless anywhere else on the planet. See, the thing with hotels, especially in young people, they make you feel important. It's kind of like telling JoJo the Monkey only HE can fullfil the poo flinging quota, when in reality any monkey with a hand and some extra poo can do the very same thing. It wasn't HARD by any means. The hardest part was being nice to mean people, and convincing business men to pay for their porn. Yet, we all lived, breathed and would surely have taken a bullet for that place. Why?Becuase we were dumb that's why.
Hotels attract two kinds of people. People that are slackers (like me). Granted, smart slackers, but slackers none the less, people who didn't have a lot going for them, and who had no one to blame but themselves. These are the kind of people who you see still working hotels, many many years later. The other kind are people who need money, and they don't want to have to do anything lame like fold sweaters, or hand out burgers, they hear from their slacker friend about this AWESOME job and they get hired. The job, like I said was really easy. A lot of it was goofing off. It was like your job AND your social life. My sister was of this other ilk. She worked hotels a few years, and then quit, and got a much, much better job. That's what a little thing called ambition does for you.
When I made the decision to NEVER EVER go back to a hotel, I realized all this a little to late. I was SICK of it. Think of that kid in class you knew back in the day. The one that never quite fit in, maybe they were shy, or a stoner, or a smarty pants. They were usually picked on, maybe shorter than the rest. THOSE people? Those little nothings that got wedgies, and was never important in high school? Some of them, go out make millions and then rub their wealth in your face. The other ones? They work at hotels. Hotels are where you will find more uneducated people in managerial positions. People that work in hotels? They're dumb. Yes, I know I was one of them, and I was dumb too. Especially managers, because only dumbasses would stick around THAT long. They're gluttons for punishment. They usually have bad relationships, and low self esteem.
I've worked with a guy who stole money to fund his drinking. I worked with another that stole to buy coke. i worked with another who stole the HOTEL VAN to SCORE coke. I worked with one whose goal was to rot out her teeth so she could get new fake ones (when I asked her how one went about rotting her teeth out, she was busted. Basically she wasn't brushing them), I worked with several who used fake urine to pass drug tests, I worked with one who had a suite in a fake name, writing off the account and lived there for weeks with her boyfriend, even though they had a house, and when the GM went up there the room was littlered with porn and dildoes, I worked with one that was in love with the woman of the porn and dildoes, and she had a husband and kid. The porn and dildo lady? She dressed like a $2 hooker and was talked to about it, swore she was going to "get back" at the GM by coming in covered from head to toe. She thought by covering her hot body (which was not very hot) she was punishing him. It never occured to her she was doing us all a favor. I worked with a 35 yr old man, who was in a relationship with a 17 yr old girl.
People that work in hotels will always stick around, even going so far as to clock out, and stil work, becuase they just want to BELONG. Their need to feel important and wanted overrides anything else. Near the end of my "career" I was a nuisance because I didn't care anymore. I didn't call at midnight to see if we sold out. I never voluntarily stayed late. I didn't go out socially with any of those people. Sure, I bad mothed a lot of people, and was pretty catty over some shit, but living for that place? Not me. I clocked in late, and clocked out early (I told you, I was a slacker) and did my time and left. Some people would stay 12-14 hours if they could, just to be in teh mix, so they didn't miss out.
I see it as a positive step forward that I no longer work in a hotel.
I got into to it easily enough. I was 17. I had left my parents home in the middle of the night, my measly belongings stuffed into a trash bag. I snuck out the door, and moved in with this crazy lady named Teri. Teri had a so named Joe, who was Tony's closest childhood friend. Tony and I had broken up at this point, and I could think of NO better revenge than to hone in on his second mother figure (as fucked up as she was, all I'm going to say about Teri is... don't ever eat any vegetables in her crisper. Especially cucumbers. I'll let your imagination take flight now) and fuck his childhood best friend. At the time I was also working at a grocery store, where I met Pam and Sheila. Both worked at a Holiday Inn. Pam forever, and Sheila just recently started. It was FULL TIME! and well, I couldn't work at Price Chopper all my damn life now could i?
At first hotel work was fun!! I was 17 making full time money, and working fairly decent hours. I met a lot of interesting people. I was a cute girl with a permanent scowl on her face. Pam was the first person teach me that a smile can be heard over the phone. That's true you know. Very true and I still use that bit of advice today. I worked there for years, eventually learning the ins and outs of the system, and learning to do all the things I needed to know that is completely useless anywhere else on the planet. See, the thing with hotels, especially in young people, they make you feel important. It's kind of like telling JoJo the Monkey only HE can fullfil the poo flinging quota, when in reality any monkey with a hand and some extra poo can do the very same thing. It wasn't HARD by any means. The hardest part was being nice to mean people, and convincing business men to pay for their porn. Yet, we all lived, breathed and would surely have taken a bullet for that place. Why?Becuase we were dumb that's why.
Hotels attract two kinds of people. People that are slackers (like me). Granted, smart slackers, but slackers none the less, people who didn't have a lot going for them, and who had no one to blame but themselves. These are the kind of people who you see still working hotels, many many years later. The other kind are people who need money, and they don't want to have to do anything lame like fold sweaters, or hand out burgers, they hear from their slacker friend about this AWESOME job and they get hired. The job, like I said was really easy. A lot of it was goofing off. It was like your job AND your social life. My sister was of this other ilk. She worked hotels a few years, and then quit, and got a much, much better job. That's what a little thing called ambition does for you.
When I made the decision to NEVER EVER go back to a hotel, I realized all this a little to late. I was SICK of it. Think of that kid in class you knew back in the day. The one that never quite fit in, maybe they were shy, or a stoner, or a smarty pants. They were usually picked on, maybe shorter than the rest. THOSE people? Those little nothings that got wedgies, and was never important in high school? Some of them, go out make millions and then rub their wealth in your face. The other ones? They work at hotels. Hotels are where you will find more uneducated people in managerial positions. People that work in hotels? They're dumb. Yes, I know I was one of them, and I was dumb too. Especially managers, because only dumbasses would stick around THAT long. They're gluttons for punishment. They usually have bad relationships, and low self esteem.
I've worked with a guy who stole money to fund his drinking. I worked with another that stole to buy coke. i worked with another who stole the HOTEL VAN to SCORE coke. I worked with one whose goal was to rot out her teeth so she could get new fake ones (when I asked her how one went about rotting her teeth out, she was busted. Basically she wasn't brushing them), I worked with several who used fake urine to pass drug tests, I worked with one who had a suite in a fake name, writing off the account and lived there for weeks with her boyfriend, even though they had a house, and when the GM went up there the room was littlered with porn and dildoes, I worked with one that was in love with the woman of the porn and dildoes, and she had a husband and kid. The porn and dildo lady? She dressed like a $2 hooker and was talked to about it, swore she was going to "get back" at the GM by coming in covered from head to toe. She thought by covering her hot body (which was not very hot) she was punishing him. It never occured to her she was doing us all a favor. I worked with a 35 yr old man, who was in a relationship with a 17 yr old girl.
People that work in hotels will always stick around, even going so far as to clock out, and stil work, becuase they just want to BELONG. Their need to feel important and wanted overrides anything else. Near the end of my "career" I was a nuisance because I didn't care anymore. I didn't call at midnight to see if we sold out. I never voluntarily stayed late. I didn't go out socially with any of those people. Sure, I bad mothed a lot of people, and was pretty catty over some shit, but living for that place? Not me. I clocked in late, and clocked out early (I told you, I was a slacker) and did my time and left. Some people would stay 12-14 hours if they could, just to be in teh mix, so they didn't miss out.
I see it as a positive step forward that I no longer work in a hotel.
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Summer Banks
Romance Writers
