How Am I Happy Working on Thanksgiving

What’s up? What’s up??

First things first… Happy Turkey day!

I’m at work during this game of thanks, watching the Cowboys lose to Miami (but it’s only the first quarter so I could be eating those words  by the time you read this, or even by the time I’m done writing this)

I know you’re thinking “it must suck to work on Thanksgiving”, but to be honest- I don’t mind it at all

Having a job with a varying schedule really erases the connotations of each day that a normal work week produces by erasing the significance of the day’s name.

Holidays are just days we do discounts. Weekends are sometimes on Wednesday, and Mondays aren’t the symbolic beginning of another week of unwanted labor.

Today just feels like a normal day, but I’m making pay-and-a-half,  I’m actually…dare I say…..

Happy to be here? (51% positive)

I was looking at our arrival list and one guest requested a “first floor room if there is no elevator”, this is a pretty common request made by one-of-three type of people, they are either;

1) Fat and/or Extremely lazy – Usually these two go hand-in-hand. I mean, who can blame them? Who wants to walk the extra 35 feet and willingly put themselves through those physical demands? Think of all the energy you would be using… I mean… picking up one leg and moving it forward is one thing; but two legs AND balancing… who do we expect them to be? The Million Dollar Man?

…..ridiculous

2) They are handicapped- Which is completely understandable for a wheel chair bound person to request a room a short distance from the door. But they didn’t book a handicapped room, and there were not notes in the “request” box… Usually this is the first question a person like this would have, so chances are this guest isn’t handicapped.

3)They are REALLY old- This is perfectly fine with me. These people have put in their work and rationally it’s worn down their bones over the years. They could have spent their life’s energy holding a scalpel, a fire hose,  a sniper rifle or even a socket wrench.

Anyways the reason I was provoked to spend so much time thinking and writing about this request came as I was looking at the arrival list and their requests so I could prepare for any possible reason for the guests to bitch at me. I came across the one requesting ’1st floor if no elevator’, and, well we have an elevator so their assigned room of 323 (every thing weird seems to happen in this room) fit their request, rationally… but it is literary the furthest spot in our hotel…. furthest from the elevators, front desk, and main entrance they will inevitably use as they take advantage of the electric door.

I found this hilarious.

I mean, these people’s requests were rationally met, we did what they asked, yet…. they still had to do the very same thing they requested to avoid, (walking  to their room)

the irony.

As I write this I’ve come to realize the fundamental difference between me and my manager.

To me, the situation was obvious.. (I switched them next door to the elevator) but that thought didn’t even cross her mind… She is completely rational “left brain” in her decisions, or parameters… “I met their requirements so what’s the problem?”… She follows the rules (being the GM they are mostly her rules anyways) because they are effective, productive, and the most trusted judgement from years of different experiments like data points on a line graph.  Things are done a certain way, “don’t think about it” she always says.. and other then the occasional human error on a sick day or after a night when her baby kept her awake more then asleep.. she doesn’t make mistakes.

I on the other hand mess up all the time.

My mind is computing all these abstract “what if’s” as I’m chatting with the guest, observing his energy, his posture, his eye contact…. trying to understand what this man or woman will want…. Does he look down at the floor and run his fingers through his hair, answer every question with a decrasindo like he’s struggling to gather the energy to finish the statement.”would you like a room on the 3rd floor opposite of the hi-way and elevators? It’s the top floor, nice and quiet”. Or did he pull up in his truck with a shiny candy apple 1968 flat-back mustang hitched on a flat bed trailer, “Would you like a room that faces your car, park in the back right, the cameras’ will be looking right at it”… or even the smell of a cigarette i’ll ask “since this is a non-smoking hotel, would you like a door by and exit?”

But doing all this I exhaust my focus and skip over the basic, mundane, routine things I do 20 times a shift, 5 shifts a week, forgetting a signature, making the wrong key, forgetting a wake up call, things that I should have down.

I can’t really determine if one way better or the other, both have good and bad qualities, almost forming a perfect employee if you combine the good ones…I guess what I’m saying is

Remember then….

appreciate the now….

anticipate the possible…



Mike