Well as of today, it's been SEVEN YEARS that I've had my job! That's quite a long time. Longer than I ever expected to have the same job, to be honest! lol I've had my ups and downs with this job, but I've stuck with it. How did I do that? I kept telling myself - they'll have to fire me before I'd ever quit! And I guess I must be an okay employee, because I'm STILL here :-)
When I started off, I had just gotten my hair cut short (to my ears), and Tricity was just eight months old. I never thought a hotel would hire me. I was willing to work ANYTHING, including housekeeping. I got applications from all three hotels in town, but when I went into Best Western, I actually knew the girl who was working at the front desk at the time. Her name was Ashley, and I had previously worked with her at WalMart, just a year or two before. We didn't know each other that well, but she thought I was pretty cool, and said she would give me a good reference. Henceforth, I was hired on!
I had a really awesome boss at the time, too. The hotel had three owners, and there was a lady named Jackie who was the manager of the hotel for them. Her, Ashley, and the other girl I worked with named Allison, and I were all like peas in a pod! Everything was laid back and easy... I LOVED my job! The hotel was fully staffed, too. There was a lobby person, a whole housekeeping staff, a maintenance man, and us office workers.
Just three months later, I'd be facing one of the scariest moments of my life, getting robbed and beaten at my job. I wanted to quit! I wanted to never, ever go back... I took the rest of the week off to recover, and I had to have my husband there with me every night that I worked for about two weeks. They got us self defense weapons after that night... My job sent me a vase of flowers, and I had to go to court for about two years over the whole robbery fiasco. Luckily, McDonald's wouldn't hire me, and my mom wouldn't let me quit my job at the hotel unless I got hired on somewhere else first. Why is that lucky? Because I would have lasted only three months, instead of seven years!
The hotel name changed from Best Western to Travelodge. Not long after that, the three owners sold the hotel, and all of my coworkers quit. We had some people from India buying the hotel and taking over, and I guess they didn't want to deal with that? Once again, I really didn't have the option to quit. Besides, I thought it would be neat to work for Indian people. It didn't matter to me where they were from, as long as they were nice.
And they WERE nice! My bosses names were Alex and Pinki. They changed the name to America's Best Value Inn. The only thing I didn't like was that they downsized the staff to just front desk workers and a housekeeping person, which meant I had to fold laundry every night, but I still got to keep my laptop with me, so I just watched movies while I folded. It was a good trade-off. They were very friendly, easy to get along with, and every holiday, they gave me money or presents so I knew they were thinking about me, and appreciated me as an employee. I also got to watch their babies growing up, as they had two babies during their stay there, and I still keep in touch on Facebook with Pinki. She's always been so sweet!
In August of 2011, I had to cut down from my full-time position to working just two days a week. Now I only work Friday and Saturday nights, so that way, someone is always home with Tricity. My husband wakes us up when he leaves for work. I get her ready for school in the mornings, see her off to the bus, and then I'm home when she gets out of school. He comes home after she does, and this way, someone is always at the house. On the weekends, he watches her. They get out late at night to take me to work, and they get up early in the morning to pick me up.
After a couple of years, my Indian bosses, too, decided to sell the hotel the family whom is now in charge. Now I work for my boss Rocky and his wife Priti, another Indian family. When Rocky took over, he renovated the entire hotel, and changed the name to Days Inn. It took a while getting used to the changes. Not the physical changes of the hotel, but the work dynamics. They did things a little different, and I hadn't known their personalities yet. I guess he was stressed a lot... But now I think he's pretty awesome, and I hardly get to see Priti, but she's nice, too.
Anyway, I figured I never really talk about my job, so I thought I would share some things about it since today is my anniversary. The only thing that sucks about it now-a-days, is that I don't get any kind of raise or any kind of reward for being there for so long. As far as I've been told, they only count my employment based on how long THEY have been there, and not how long I have been there. Even the minimum wage is going up, and I used to make fifty cents more than everyone else since I work the midnight shift, but now I'll be making the minimum. Maybe next year I'll get an increase if minimum wage goes up again?
Either way, it's an easy job, and I'm lucky I've been here this long. Growing up, this was my dream job, to be able to be on my computer all night and not have to do much. It still blows my mind that I've spent SEVEN years here! I'm thankful for the wonderful bosses that I've had, who have dealt with the days when I didn't feel like doing my job completely, or who have dealt with my sloppy handwriting, with the mistakes I have made (which I know there have been a lot of), and whom have had patience with me all along the way. I've had terrible bosses before, so I know how patient my bosses here have been! We made it this far. Let's see if we can go for ten! ;-)
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