In January of this year, I started working at a national auto parts chain. It was basically a good place to work. The store crew was, for the most part, fun and easy to work with. I was friends with one of them going in, and he helped me get the job. Unfortunately, I ended up in what I felt was an ethics conflict with the district manager. He had been with the chain 20+ years and wasn’t going to change his ways, so I left after eight months. My departure was not one of my more impressive moments.
“Untitled” courtesy of Harold Hollingsworth on Flickr CC BY-SA 2.0
Tomorrow, I start work at a brand new limited-service, mid-priced hotel property. It should be a fun experience for me. I’ve never worked directly in the hospitality industry, although the funeral industry has some crossover, as does food service. I’ll be working the front desk as a night auditor, a very public face for the company.
I’ll confess to some nervousness. The software is simple enough, and well-designed. The processes will be a little intimidating, since I couldn’t learn most of them during my training this week. The training computers weren’t connected to a live system, so we couldn’t run the night audit. But I was able to learn most of the other processes, like check-in/out, reservations, and posting and correcting charges. There are five of us working the front desk, and I’m the only guy there, and one of two without direct experience. The property manager has been in the business for years, and my other three coworkers have about 20 years experience, so we should be in good shape.
It’s a brand new property. We go live tomorrow afternoon, and we’re still doing some final cleaning tomorrow morning. The construction dust will be settling for weeks, if not months, I’m sure. I’ve never opened a new business location, but I’m sure we’ll all work through the opening hiccups easily enough.
Bet I get some great stories out of this gig though.
Share your thoughts!