The Crazy Week

That really sums up last week rather nicely.  Sunday snowballed into a real mess by Wednesday in regards to rooms to clean vs housekeepers on staff on any given day.  Wednesday was definitely the worst of it.  By the time my shift was over at 3pm, I saw a total of three rooms ready for the more than three guests we had scheduled to show up.  Maybe it shouldn't be in my place to worry over such a thing - I know some people would say that at least.  But this how I see it:  I am the front line of the hotel and the provider of rooms.  If I don't have the rooms or have people waiting, it looks bad and puts people in a bad mood.  Luckily, by Thursday, things looked like they were better in regards to our room issue.

I was talking with the night auditor yesterday and it turned out he had a bit of a wild weekend....well...our guests did at least... that included two naked women streaking through our lobby in some sort of drunken state.  By the sounds of it, there was a lot of that going on - drunken states, I mean.  Considering some of the characters I have to deal with, I'm really quite glad I don't have to deal with what goes on around here at night *laughs*

Speaking of characters, I have three to share with you guys this morning.  To be honest, I think this must have have all happened on Wednesday.  It was as if the powers that be looked down upon me having this sweet moment with a puppy and smote me by tainting the rest of the day.  Btw, it really was a cute moment! 

So victim number one called to confirm rooms that she'd apparently cancelled (in a drunken haze, perhaps?) back in the beginning of the month.  She had no recollection of it despite the tracking back to her calling the 800 number and confirmation numbers to the effect that she had, indeed, cancelled these rooms.  I don't know why, but over the course of the conversation, she admitted to calling them half a dozen times about these rooms so it sounds quite plausible, that she lost her mind and cancelled.  Unfortunately, so close to the reservation dates, I couldn't reinstate the reservations - we were booked!  I really felt for her....even if she did start crying about how I ruined her life and weekend.

Wow, now that I look up at that first caller, victim seems to be wrong....tormentor, perhaps?  Goof?  Even better!  Subject number two has a reservation- great! They are part of a group checking on on Xday and rather casually mentioned they were going to check in on Yday.  Uh...hello - your reservation is for Xday, if you want to show up on Yday, you need to make a reservation for that day - and you know...pay the price for that night.  *eyeroll* 

And finally, we have the person who checked in knowing he could have his room for four days but wanted it for five.  Everyday he came in checking to see if there was a cancellation that would let him keep his room for the extra day - a smart move!  However aggressively suggesting I "bump" someone so he could keep his room was a bit selfish, if you ask me.  Regardless, I wasn't authorized to make that sort of move and in the end, it looks like he got what he wanted.  Saving grace, I suppose, is the drunken women who were so belligerent at 6am about losing their room (and being given a different type of room), were downright chirpy hours later when they checked out.  Eh, go figure.

As you can all maybe see, it was another full week for me, which makes me grateful that I'm back to my regular schedule this week and gods know I need that with E actually having his CT scan this week.  Though you know what I didn't touch on?  My anniversary.  It was also on Thursday.  *laughs*

Friday, Interrupted

All I wanted last night was a moment of dark quiet to help abate my headache before drifting off to sleep.  While sometimes the best laid plans go awry, really badly made ones are a miracle if they go right.  So I was out of luck but thank goodness I generally am fast to fall asleep. And up 6 hours later forcing myself to get more sleep cause I went to bed too early, it seems.  Silly me...

Routines are a big thing for me, more than I care to admit cause I think it makes me look more a rigid person when I like to think that I'm really a go with the flow personality.  But let's break down yesterday because while I was simmered under light and noise, the final thought before drifting off to dream was a pondering of what my day looks like on paper.  A terrifying undertaking in the blistering light of day because my not so secret fear is that I'm going to show myself to be things people insist I'm not.

5am marks the start of my day and already it's good since I managed to get out of bed without stepping on Freya who tends to sleep by my side.  With work at 7, I get plenty of time to get ready for it and have my quiet time.  Can a person meditate over skinning?  I think so.  My mind clears as I hack and slash my way through creatures, part of the mantra of peeling and walking off to the next kill.  It's not as methodical as mining or flower picking but the peace is there, setting the pace for a calm start.

6:15 am and were off and running - with the girls out of town, I'm responsible for feeding the pets.  Scooping kitty kibble into Odin's bowl reminds me to snag a granola bar to tuck in my purse with my carrots. With E up and ready, I get a ride into  work so that he can run an errand this morning. 

7am is the official start of my shift and it always starts with counting out my drawer and matching up the in house list to the registration list.  Between checking out guests and taking calls, I look over the incoming list of housekeeping staff vs how many rooms.

I've been doing really well with my habit of taking sips of water every time I get up.  I'm always jumping up to do something so I'm always taking sips.  A serving of nuts marks my breakfast taken till about 10am.

By noon everybody who's checking out is gone, FedEx has paid me a visit and I've gone through a round of marking dirty rooms as cleaned.  It's been a steady stream of reservations being made, changed and cancelled coupled with a check in or two.

Afternoon's passing with relative peace as I read between nibbles on my carrots.  I lament over a piece of poetry I've started a bit before tidying up the desk.  I like to hit up frequently touched areas with disinfectant once a week and have to run the vacuum every day.  Nicely tidied up, I tuck into more reading for the last hour of my shift.

2pm and a frantic call comes in from my relief.  In the end my shift extends for an additional hour to hour and a half.  Between the phone going crazy and people checking in, I think towards the end I think cracks were beginning to show in my smile.

430pm found me on the way home to my ecstatic puppy.  Too ecstatic as she barely let me get changed out of my work clothes before giving me hugs and kisses.  She finally let me collapse on the couch after I played with her.

6ish?  Ish!?!  Heh...we'll see who amoung you figures that one out.  I dealt with dishes, started laundry and did some picking up while fixing dinner.

740pm and my Friday's interrupted before it even gets to start.  *sighs*

It's the Fourth....Tra-la-la

What's a real shame is what today really means to people.  Before I left for Germany back in 2004, I was listening to a program where someone was going around asking people about the significance of today and the answers were shocking.  It's not about the weekend long sales, the fireworks display, the picnics and bbqs.  It's about celebrating the birth of this nation!

Of course...I'm sure I had some sort of speech that would have had me standing up before my keyboard, heart filled with pride and awe for the nation's history and all that jazz but dear gods...I'm just too tired to try to recreate the feeling I had hours ago. 

"Krieger-San, my cherry blossoms are wilting!"  Yeah...I just had to softball a lil Archer in here...Wilting indeed, only I'm the blossoms. Bloody hell, it's just barely past noon and already I cannot WAIT to get my ass home, nearly naked and just...dead on the couch. 

How is it today was harder than yesterday - there were more checks outs then than today and yet...ugh...people today have just left me downright knackered.  Let's see if we can count the ways...

People who come in at peek checkout hour wanting to see a room.  They're part of a group that's going to be staying with us and yet was not entirely clear (to themselves) what name(s) the group was under.  Bless their hearts, I was running my arse off and they remained quite patient about it. 

I'm still not sure partially eaten tin of Danish butter cookies is peace offering enough after yelling at me cause prices aren't what you expected.  Or that infernal tapping while I frantically tried to sort the problem out while dealing with the phone. 

When checking out of multiple rooms...seriously...you should make sure that EVERYBODY in those rooms is AWAKE and LEAVING!  Saves the maid having a heart attack when she goes to clean a checked out room only to find bodies still on the floor. 

I don't get how someone can call here, speak really good English and want to talk to someone who's Spanish speaking.  Dude, if you know enough to understand ask, perfectly about rooms, it's not much more than that to make a bloody reservation.  However, since you do want assistance, accept that you're going to be on hold with our reservation line - they will help you!  Stop hanging up on them and calling me in hopes that I've magically learned enough Spanish to be fluent enough to help you!!

Oh and the worst of the bunch....my boss was being a regular Dante Hicks. I think I would have burst out laughing when he told me he wasn't supposed to be here today but since he was growling all pissed off about it, I instead was on edge and just waiting for him to sprout a second head and bite mein off.  Wait, I mean him biting my only head, not that I have a second one for him to bite off.  Ironically enough, he was damn chipper after leaving when he called to ask me to check on something....bugger.

ugh...so this post has just turned into one great big bitchfest...I feel a bit better though...getting all that crap off my chest.  What do you guys thing....am i being a bitchy fae, a bad worker fae or just...a fae who managed to smile sweetly, greet enthusiastically and be overall cheerful despite the stressful morning.  Ugh...prolly a combo of all three....

Habitual Habits

This is something that has been bothering me for quite some time - of how hard it is to get into a good habit, how easy it is to break and how VERY easy it is to start back up with bad habits. 

This time last year I'd managed to to start a very good habit of writing just a little bit everyday.  Well, by everyday, I mean four or so times a week.  Sometimes I'd eke out the time during quiet moments at work and sometimes, I'd get that 15 minutes of quiet that would manage to stretch to 30 or 40 minutes.  It was just blissful for me - such an accomplishment.  Until we realize that when I write, I do so on pen and paper instead of at my computer which has left me with partial notebooks filled with script that goes from relatively neat to downright illegible and littered with lil doodles.  Gods bless my friends for their encouragement - to get me back into the writing bug but it's really been slow going. I think the fact that I'm sitting here right now, doing just that, writing here is a start but I really think the habit I also need to form is getting the typing down. 

Looking over things, I think I have to admit, I can be a bit OCD about some things and not just about how i load and unload my grocery cart (thus being a bit picky about how i put the bags back in and load them into the truck for the ride home) -I like to have some aspects of my day scheduled out.  That's why I'm up at 5am nearly every morning.  I don't like a bit rush to work so getting up early allows me to indulge in the quiet of  taking care of Meister Penguin! or farming.  Much like how I like to do a load of laundry a day (hard to do with no kids around lol) or my lists of things to do that i make out nearly every day. It's a bit of rigidity in my free flowing way. 

My irritation at getting some actual typing done has lately increased because I've found myself really working on proper hydration.  Specifically at work, I've found that every time I get up, I stop to sip my water.  I was doing that this morning and couldn't help but berate myself.  Why this and not that? 

I think I need to stop beating myself up about it.  I work, in what some circles consider, a full time job.  I do most the housekeeping, all the laundry, nearly all the cooking and take care of my family.  If I'm a lil tired after all that, then maybe I shouldn't stress over yet another thing.

And of course, try to get some of that damn typing up tomorrow....my day off.  lol

Outrage and Opportunity

A while ago E's neurosurgeon made an appointment for a CT scan with a contrast to better determine how they're going to fix the loose lead to his implant and of course time passed and then boom!  Green Lantern came out and we bought our tickets....for the same bloody day...yargh!  Fandango is great but you really need to keep an eye out because just when you think there's not going to be any offerings for a non 3D movie - they come out with the listing of them about five minutes after you've grudgingly purchased for a 3D showing.  Another issue is apparently when you make your own huge scheduling conflict and need to exchange the tickets (that you haven't picked up yet) for a different showing.  Now, I would be going on about how this process worked but alas, this is where we get to the opportunity part of my outrage.

The Fandango situation isn't actually the source of my outrage, though they really should be able to work something out when you order tickets and need to make changes before you even go to the theater. My source of ire comes most from the imaging clinic.

 Let's count the ways - two doctors who know E's current drug regimen missed this and I'm more willing to give them a pass because they might not be completely versed on the intricacies of the procedure.  The nurse who called to explain the procedure was told about medications and made to to tell E no less than five times that he could not have anything in his mouth so many hours before the procedure.  Arriving at the clinic, the nurse there, was told again what medications he's on and then while preparing for the scan, the attendant once again got a drug history.  It wasn't until the doctor came in to do the procedure that he looked over the E's history and found out that, yes, of course he's been taking his meds as directed by his physician.  Two of which have possible interactions with the dye that could cause severe seizures. 

You could insert screaming here...they had to cancel the appointment and we can't reschedule until his doctor figures out substitutions for something like three days prior and one day post procedure to keep him from scaring us to death.  Is it wrong of me to expect people to actually pay attention to the answers they get to the questions they ask?  I happen to think not cause this experience has really left a bad taste in my mouth.  My confidence in this group is a bit flagging now.

Despite the above, there was a bright side! The bright side being that because he didn't have the procedure, we got to go see Green Lantern!

Now the reviews I read were absolutely dreadful - this movie has been called something like the Battlefield Earth of 2011, that being said, I thought i was pretty good.  The story didn't drag as I expected it to, there were even some funny parts (though I did seem to laugh at inappropriate moments). I was amazed at how nice they made Blake Lively look...it really didn't look like her at all to me.  Which, I suppose, could be a bad thing.  I don't know, don't really care.  I think if the reviews are stopping you from seeing the movie, maybe discount them some cause I found the ones I read, were very harsh.

My apologies if this posting is a bit disjointed....I'm here at work and mein gott...it's been a busy one.

I'm a lil cupcake....

Short and stout?  Ok, not really but it seemed fitting since I am going to be talking about them. My day off was Thursday and rather than run off doing errands, E and I had a lazy day home till he got craving for his favourite cheesesteak so off we went, hitting the "back way" route to our favourite Philly place.  Going through out town...ahem...sorry, city, I couldn't help but spy on a what must be newish bakery - oh goodie!  A lil sweet talking and ride home later, we stopped in so I could see what there was to see. 

On the plus sides, the owners seemed really nice.  There was quite a selection of pastries and even things claiming to be bagels.  I would say that the selection is heavy on Mexican delights but in all honesty, I would need to research that...maybe after I post this.  *lol!* From what I can gugue, prices weren't too bad - I bought three palmier, a strange coconut covered cake thingie and slab o' bread pud for 5 bucks.

The downsides to this place? Nothing's labeled or priced!  That drives me freaking insane!  Don't get me wrong, the gentleman behind the counter was super friendly and nice about answering my questions but I would have rather look and know for myself than feel like a bit of a nuisance.  I also know it's on me, not asking about prices but...ehh....call it an oddity of mine. 

And then...there were cupcakes.  Mini-cupcakes, actually.  The presentation was absolutely adorable, three to a cellophane bag, pretty ribbon and a cute label that could be filled out.  The flowers were hand formed from fondant and the frosting was a white chocolate. I was really excited about this...till I found out this was setting me back another FIVE BUCKS!  Holyshit...they better be the best cupcakes I've EVER eaten. 

Needless to say...and I really hate to admit this, they were not heaven to taste.  The cake was likely Pillsbury's Funfetti cake mix and kinda dry.  The frosting and fondant wasn't too bad though...but seriously, the cake was a real let down.  All in all, it was a good trip to a new bakery and it left me inspired.  Perhaps not to make my own palmier (which I've done before) but I totally want to make mini cupcakes, decorate them and give them as gifts.  The Elfling and I were texting about it the other day and thought they'd be great for party favours or even on her birthday to share with friends. When she's back home, we're planning on playing.  So see, the good outweighs the bad! 

I'm So Lonely

Sunday marked a week that the girls have been gone and part of me is really lonely.  Not to say that E isn't good company cause he is and that my darling pets aren't like small children in need of attention cause...wait... Ok, Freya is.  But still...I miss cuddling with one or both of my kids, hearing what they have to say, seeing what havoc they've brought upon my computer while I'm away. Despite the distance, technology keeps us close as she very easily texts me at all hours of the day.  Here's a sampling of topics:

Gypsies.  This turned into a discussion of UK gypsies and their extravagant weddings.  The Elfling declared the caravans and big, trashy, poofy dresses as not a part of culture...*sighs* I know - not ours.

Oompa Loompas.  She's apparently turned into a tall one.  After seeing a picture, she has gotten a lot of sun...too much on her cheeks.  They're slightly sun burnt but she does not look like a wrestler.

Kosher Cakes.  Ok, so I only guessed that this means the cake doesn't have dairy in it.  And of course no gelatin.  Everybody should know about the infamous Sandra Lee Hanuka cake she made...with marshmallows....ugh...

Anyhow...she may be a texting maven, but I can appreciate it cause i'm on her "must text" list...or some shit like that.  Blogging here from work means I stop to actually get things done...and unfortunately, sometimes loose my train of thought.  Based on how today's going, I think it's more that I've just lost my mind so I'm going to end it here while I'm still keeping all cursing to myself, in my mind. 

ok, so a quick postscript...she bloody sent me a picture of how much fat she kept the family from eating while cooking last night...ewww!  Mind you...I totally drain grease too when i cook ground beef so I know where she got it.