I had my first night shift at the hostel tonight. Jimmy the manager told me not to worry: "It's easy." The first few hours were pretty laid back, because there was no one in the house. However, things started picking up around 8 pm. People came back from dinner, new guests were checking in...and they needed tours, someone asked me a really complicated question involving a refund, I was hungry, dishes needed to be put away, people were watching tv, someone turned on loud music, others were cooking, the owners came by and started chatting with guests, people were talking shop about gems, the shower curtains had to be washed, someone needed her lock broken off her locker because she lost her key, one guest couldn't sleep because of another's snoring, and around 11:30 pm - just when I was taking the guest who couldn't sleep across the street to our overflow dorms - a stressed, young French woman came to the hostel looking for a place to stay because she couldn't get a hold of her friends in Phoenix and almost cried because couldn't afford the rate ($35/night).
Yeah. Cakewalk.
There was so much stimulation that it was difficult to do one thing at a time.
However, one thing I enjoy about my job is making guests happy, because I like to make people happy. Going the extra mile to clean someone's dishes or calm them down or find them a better room or make them comfortable is really rewarding when they become relieved or content. Tonight, I definitely did all of that - people were happy (even the stressed French woman, who we charged a lower rate). Believe me, it's not easy...like when someone leaves his dishes in the sink and says, "I have no problem with you washing my dishes if you'd like," and then walks away and doesn't come back. But sometimes that's the way it is. Life isn't always cool, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't be.
All in all, it wasn't bad. In some ways, it was even fun.
No comments:
Post a Comment