You front desk clerks that I was going to shit can if I became the boss can sigh in relief. The tyranny of my reign has been cut short before it ever even started. I myself am a little relieved that the owners didn’t pick me. In the end it’s probably the better choice. I was told this today after the front desk meeting. The gm was nervous to speak with me I have heard. He was worried that I was going to tear him a new one for not picking me. The gm told me that in a staff meeting the managers voted to pick me. Which is nice to hear.

Of course I can’t help but feel a little disappointed after hearing this news. At the same time I find it pretty damn funny because it just puts another nail into the “we promote from within” coffin that these management types like to spout. And again I’m not complaining mind you. I’m just thinking of the front desk clerks that will be spared getting showed the hatch since I won’t be in charge. Of course this brings me to the next subject.

Your all are still in trouble people. No it can’t be said your even out of the woods yet. The gm (for whatever reason) is damn determined to make me management. And while they did pick the other guy to be the front desk manager it seems I’m to be this guys second in command. I’m of course very hesitant about this new offer. I’m thinking about the new guy. I wouldn’t want to be saddled with a second in command unless I had a part in choosing him. I told the gm to let this guy meet me first, and for me to meet him. Hell we may not be able to work together.

The new front desk manager is slated to start around August 1st or so. It will be interesting to see what happens as this guy takes over. I of course wish him the best of luck. He’s going to need it.

What is it that makes people take something that is very easy and turn it into something very complicated? I really want to understand the thoughts that go through a persons head when this happens. It baffles me of course. What am I talking about you may ask. And it’s my unfortunate burden to once again bring up the sad state of affairs at the hotel.

A guest comes to check in. The idea is the less time they have to wait at the front desk the better. You want to speed them on their way so they can do whatever it is they are at your hotel to do. That makes sense right? So now lets add some difficulty to this check in scenario. The guest comes in and they have a rate they are not supposed to have. Now should you speed them on their way and worry about it after they are away from the front desk? Or should you be a complete pain in the ass and make those guests stand at the desk for far longer than they should while you go into the back office a number of times asking questions that are none of your fucking business?

Because lets be honest those guests should be given the benefit of the doubt. Guests should be innocent until proven guilty. At least thats the way I see it. Check them in and then find out if there is any foul play going on. Only a front desk clerk that wants to be a prick makes a guest wait. There is no other reason for this behavior. The idea is that we are here for the guest right? Or has that changed and I didn’t get the fucking memo?

This happened today. And it pisses me off. It pisses me off for a number of reasons. The desk clerk should never make a guest wait. It’s bad business. The desk clerk should not nose around in something that has nothing to do with them. These guests didn’t do anything to deserve that kind of treatment. It should not matter if they may or may not be friends of mine. Every guest should be treated the same. And I’ll be damned if I’m going to have some desk clerk questioning what I do.

Just so we are all on the same page here. I made a reservation for some really really old friends who came to town. I gave them a really really good rate. A rate that a memo that just came out says no one is to give. The reservation was made before that memo. When I read that memo I asked the Second in Command about it. I was told there was nothing to worry about. So these friends of mine get here and the person that checks them in gives them a song and dance about having to check on something.

My friends were made to wait while this front desk clerk double checked whatever the fuck it was they felt they had to double check. If there was a problem with the rate it would have been changed. The Second in Command didn’t seem to have a problem with the rate so I don’t see why a front desk clerk needs to question whatever it was that they felt they had to question to make guests of our hotel wait to check in.

Shall I from now on inform the lowly front desk staff on everything I do? Because the last time I checked the Auditor out ranks the front desk clerk. It’s a sad shape the front desk is in. I feel sorry for the person that they do dupe into becoming the front desk manager. It’s going to be a tough job getting this bunch whipped into shape. And once more I want to state that front desk clerks that do this shit are in big fucking trouble if by some fucking huge miracle I become the boss. I’ll fire the whole fucking lot of you for pulling this kind of bullshit. And I don’t give a shit what your fucking excuse is. Your lucky I’m not in charge I can tell you that.

This last week the other lady that does night audit had the weekend off. Back when we had a front desk manager I had said that I would work the weekend. Since everything has changed in-between that time and now I decided I was not going to work that weekend. So when the new schedule was put out I of course call the poor lady that is dealing with the front desk stuff and I leave her an angry voice mail about how I was not going to be working and that if that wasn’t ok she could start working the audit in my place. Or something really close to that.

The truth be told is that I don’t care if I work weekends now and then. The other Auditor had some business to take care of out of town so I would have worked anyway if they would have tried to tell her she could have her days off. But as it turns out my bluff wasn’t taken as a bluff. They gave me my normal days off and talked the head desk clerk into working. Now he’s just about the only one who knows how to do the audit besides me and the other lady. He was nice enough to agree to work even though he had some things he could have done on the weekend.

The weekend comes and on Saturday night around 12:30 at night I get a call from the hotel. I didn’t answer the phone because I was asleep. I would have answered it if I was up. As it turns out the head desk clerk didn’t show up at 11:00 to work. Whoever was on till 11:00 called the lady running things at the desk. And once the poor lady running things got to the hotel she started making phone calls. She calls the head desk clerk and she calls me as I had previously stated. As it turns out the head desk clerk simply over slept. Understandable really as the third shift is not his normal shift. He finally got into work around 2 o’clock in the morning.

Now as it turns out the people in charge at the hotel wrote up the head front desk clerk for being late on Saturday. Which I think is a mistake on their part. He was helping out working a shift he doesn’t do normally. He was doing the hotel a favor and this is how they repay him? Now I have given the guy my advice on what he needs to do from now on. The next time they ask him to fill in on a shift he doesn’t work normally he should tell them to go fuck themselves.

I hope they realize what they are doing. I will not work unless it’s the days I’m scheduled to work. You see they get what they pay for. All they need to do is look and see the last time I got a raise to understand my unwillingness to work shifts other than what I’m scheduled for. Which is why I say writing him up is a bad idea. He is a nice guy and is willing to fill in. And then theres me who is not willing at all to help out.

It’s been more than a few weeks now since I was supposed to get told just whether or not I am going to be the front desk manager. This whole thing is now starting to get to me. I’m starting to get pissed offed to be honest with you. I’ve been worrying about just what happens if I do get the job. It’s really starting to get to me.

So I’ve asked myself countless times since this shit began what would you do if you were in charge? The short answer is that I would fire everyone not doing their job. That’s important to me. I don’t give a shit if you break rules. I love breaking rules. Do your job and break all the rules you want I don’t care. Just as long as the rules you break don’t interfere with others doing their job. Very simple right?

Then why is it I’ve already fired not one, not two, but possibly three people already in my head? That’s right because they don’t do their job. That also means I’m working more than I would want to be. And this is all just in the beginning. God fucking forbid I actually survive a month or two. The hotel front desk would end up being staffed by three people. And I don’t want to work every day.

Which is what would happen as the other employees I have left would be doing the audit. Working everyday multiple shifts is what I have to look forward to if I become front desk manager. Which right about now the odds of this happening are pretty fucking slim. I’m very confident in saying that I think I no longer want the job. I’m not certain why exactly this temp gm is taking so long in getting someone in the position. But he can now take all the time in the world. I just hope to see him once more so I can get another chance to laugh in his face.

The internet is down here at work. It’s down at least on the computers behind the front desk. So my only chance to get on the net sits in the still vacant front desk managers office. Of course I’m going to pop in there every now and then to check email and see how the site make over is going. I still don’t know if I’m keeping this new look and the system that powers it. I’ll decide later on.

First thing I do is take a look at the condition of the computer. The thing runs like shit. It is obviously full of spy-ware and viruses. I try to download AVG to clean it up. Except I can’t download shit. Some security warning pop up appears every time I try to download a file. So I run the piece of shit McAffe Virus scan. Below is the results:

What good is an anti virus program if it doesn’t get rid of viruses? What good is it I ask? This is software that these idiots here at work have payed for. I expect a product to work if I’m going to buy it. And why use something I have to pay for when I can use something that works even better for free? Not that I really give a shit, it’s not my computer.

I guess it’s just the idea of how stupid people can be. 7 goddamn viruses and countless number of spy-ware was turned up by the virus scan. How ignorant can people really be when it comes to the internet? I guess I take for granted what knowledge I have about these matters and I expect everyone to know this information.

I have to let this kind of thing stop surprising me. In fact I would wager every computer in this hotel has viruses and spy-ware. Well every computer except for the one I use. I only really worry about that one I use. I’ll purge some spy-ware now and then when it gets bad. But for the most part the only pc at work I will use is the one at the desk that I have made sure that these fucking heathens here do not contaminate.

Every time I use another one I feel like washing my hands. I’m developing a phobia maybe regarding all this virus/spy-ware shit. All I know is I hate having to use another pc here at work. In fact this post here I wrote in notepad on the only clean pc in the hotel. I’ve typed it all out and saved it to a floppy disk and only briefly fouled myself to get this posted on my site. I’ll be glad when the net is back up and running here at work. Man what a long night it will be.

After hearing of how certain individuals where after the job of front desk manager I decided to once again take the plunge into management. Well I’ve agreed to be one of two names that the gm is going to pitch to the owner. So nothing is concrete yet. But the job is mine if I’m picked. And I don’t know what the hell I’m thinking giving up the easy life of the audit.

Everything will change. I’m going to have to get used to working mornings. Which won’t be the tallest hurdle I’ll face as a front desk manager. Mostly it will be getting along with the other managers. Well and people in general, because honestly I’m not sure I’m a people person. Which makes me wonder what the fuck I’m thinking all the more.

My biggest problem as I see it are the front desk employees. The last time I did this manager thing I tried my best to be that nice manager and in the process failed miserably. So the nice guy shit is out. I don’t really know how I’ll handle it, but I do have some ideas. Well I don’t really have any ideas that won’t get me sued. What I want is for stuff to be done my way. If it’s not being done my way well then it time for the highway.

I also can tell you that there will be no bus and there will be no points. Either do your job or don’t. No need to get on or off of some hypothetical bus. You don’t do your job, your fired. Pretty simple and it seemed to have worked for me in the past. And to me there is no need for any kind of incentive program such as the points system. I’ve always felt that my only incentive was that I got paid for doing my job. Again pretty simple. I don’t see the need to have to bribe someone to do what their supposed to be doing anyway.

Which leads me to the actual front desk clerks. Man I can’t even begin to start to tell you all what I think about the current batch of desk employees. Instead let me tell you about what happened just tonight.

A guy comes in and wants to check in. He says that he has reservations for two rooms that are right next to each other. Now this could just be a guest lying, which happens all the time. But the guy goes on to tell me he even was told what room numbers he was going to have. The way I was taught is that first you never guarantee the guest anything like specific locations of the rooms. And secondly your not supposed to tell them what room number they will have when you make the reservation.

But this guy was told all of that. And this kind of shit happens way to often. So I’ll have my hands full trying to un-train the front desk of the bad habits they have picked up. But for now I’m not going to think about it. This decision of who becomes front desk manager won’t happen till next week. Until then I’m going to enjoy what could be my last week as a night auditor.

I swear that one of these days I will write about the new Star Wars movie. Until that day I must burden you with more bullshit from the hotel. When I last wrote I had been given a half assed offer of becoming the front desk manager. Now I guess it was expected that I go running in to see these assholes to accept their so generous offer of which no details were given to me about. If you mistook me for someone who’s going to just jump through hoops because of your obviously desperate need to fill the position?

No you will find that kind of person I’m sure. And that kind of person I’ve talked about before. What kind of person am I referring to? Well lets see. I’m talking about the kind of young foolish inexperienced person that’s going to accept this job they are offering for a salary that is just not worth the 50 hours they demand a manager works. I’m talking about the kind of ambitious fool who just doesn’t have the god damn common sense to know to stay away from this sinking ship.

You also have to honestly look at how they have slowly dropped their expectations of the quality of the person to fill the position. They couldn’t even afford to pay someone who has worked in the hotel business for more than a decade and been the fdm of the hotel before. So what do you honestly think they will pay someone who has next to no experience in this kind of job? The biggest thing to keep in mind about this job offer is this promise of bigger and better in 90 days. I hope you can get that in writing.

I guess what I’m trying to say is I feel sorry for the poor fool they dupe into taking the job. Whomever takes the job has a rough time ahead of them. But I guess sometimes the only way a person can learn is by the hard way. I know they have a hard time ahead of them because they won’t find any help in me. I don’t train the person that is supposed to be my manager. Call it a silly thing. I expect the manager to know what they need to know when they take the job. That’s why they are the manager. And me I’ll continue to just be an auditor.