Hotel Front Desk Agent

Me at my desk as a sales associate at the Hampton Inn, Lionville, PA 2000

Yesterday I marked my tenth anniversary as a hotel front desk agent at the hotel where I work part-time in Lewes, Delaware.

Wow, time flies when you're (I'm) having fun.

I began my hotel career as the first job I had when I was discharged from the Army in January of 1963.

My first job was as a night auditor at the Pittsburgh Hilton Hotel in Pittsburgh (of course) Pennsylvania.  I was paid $250 a month, payable on the 15th and the 30th.  I could hardly survive on that pay, which was less than my Army pay of $389.00 a month which was payable once a month. And in the Army I had my housing, food and medical care provided free of charge. 

I only had that job for three months before I quit and moved back to my family home in Downingtown, Pennsylvania.  There I got a job for $80 a week as an accounts payable clerk at a local scrap yard.

I had that job for two years then I got a job at Girard Bank in Philadelphia which I kept for the next twenty-two years.  

Then came the bank mergers.  I left Girard Bank and worked at Fidelity Bank for the next seven years. I left that job because I was tired of working in the city and homophobia on the job.  

I got another job in my hometown of Downingtown for the next four years. However, I ran into homophobia again and was fired from my job when a new boss (the homophobe) took over.  That's when I returned to my hotel roots.  

I applied for a part-time job at the Hampton Inn in Lionville as a night auditor.  That job turned into a full time job as a front desk agent and sales associate.  I had that job for four years also until we sold our house and moved to Delaware.

Me with one of my co-workers at the Hampton Inn, Lionvville, PA - Angelo Vasquez - 2000

After we got settled in Delaware I applied at all the hotels in the area and was very fortunate to get a job at a boutique hotel in historic Lewes, Delaware. And that folks is where I have been working for the last ten years as of yesterday.  

The Hampton Inn, Lionville, PA - where I worked for four years - 2000

A few weeks ago one of my co-workers asked me how long I was going to work at the hotel.  My answer was "As long as I can walk into the hotel and I know what I'm doing."

I enjoy hotel work.  I like to meet people and I enjoy the challenge. 

Me with "Barbara and Bonnie" from NYC - two very difficult customers of the Hampton Inn but who LOVED me! - 2000

I also like working part-time.  I could never work full-time again. I do have do recognize my age limitations after all.  

Some of my co-workers at the Hampton Inn, Lionville, PA 2000

So yesterday, as I was checking in guests last night and taking phone calls for reservations I remembered that I've been at this hotel for the past ten years.  Where DOES the time go?  This means I've been working at hotels for the last nineteen years.  Wow.  

One thing about working at hotels, you'll never get rich.  I make $12.00 an hour.  I started at $9.00 an hour.  Not much increase for nineteen years of hotel front desk agent employment but I make enough to pay for my trips to California and Canada.  

Life is good folks.

Me with my co-worker "Robert" at where I work now - 2015

Don't Let the Airbnb Eat You For Breakfast

Take a good look Pat, because we won't be back. 

Not to beat a dead horse but my friend Lar brought up a good point about Airbnb's.  Where is the "breakfast" part in the Airbnb?  Well folks, there is no breakfast in the Airbnb.  See the below article:

The name "Airbnb" is a misnomer, because there is NO BREAKFAST in the "Airbnb." 

One of the commenters ("Anonymous" as always when someone leaves a negative comment) said:

So this old fart (which I plead guilty to, can hardly get away from that description since I actually AM an Old Fart) won't be staying in any Airbnb's anytime in the near future.  

Pardon me but I prefer clean accommodations and fresh towels and hospitable surroundings.  What I don't is being made to feel like a poor country hick interloper in the neighborhood.  But you know folks, I chalk this whole episode up to experience. A learning experience.  

Entrance to the Hollywood Bed and Breakfast, we WILL be back here where we were welcomed and luxuriated in the hospitality of our hosts and no angry neighbors venting their tirades at us AND we could walk to wherever we wanted to go in Hollywood.

My Canadian Adventure Continues - The Hotel Room

My daily "We're not in Kansas anymore Toto" picture

Well folks, as my regular followers have probably already noticed, I missed a day.  I'm starting to lose track of time.  The days are running together.  So let's bring Ron's Canadian Adventure up to date.

"Stuff that clown car!"

After leaving Dr. Spo and Someone, Pat and I retreated to our Groupon discounted room at the Howard Johnson hotel (yes, THAT Howard Johnson) a few blocks away from the Marriott Residence Inn in downtown Toronto where Urspo and Someone were ensconced.  Folks, our room at the Howard Johnsons hotel (a misnomer "Hotel" if there ever was one) was . . . . um . . . AWFUL.  Dark, dreary, rundown and with a total view of a brick wall.  

Pat checks out the view from our hotel room at the Howard Johnson's in downtown Toronto "Where's the sky?"

Now before anyone thinks I'm an ingrate, I want to thank Pat for his generous and sincere effort to accommodate me in air conditioned surroundings but this just didn't work.  And to top everything off, we misplaced our overnight bags.  I went down to the front desk to ask for a tooth brush and toothpaste.  Of course the next day we found our toiletry bag in the back of Pat's Fiat on the floor.  Urspo and Someone must of placed it there when we were playing Stuff the Clown Car on the way to the Toronto Exhibition.  

Someone stuffs himself into the clown car on the way to the Toronto Exhibition

Get this folks, the TV in the room was one of those old monster tube TV's.  GAWD.  Then we tried to watch it and we couldn't see it from the footboard at the base of the bed.  We couldn't prop ourselves up on our pillows, if you could call them pillows.  Folks, this was a king sized bed with little itsy bits teeny weeny lumpy pillows.  Sounds like a song title doesn't it.  Believe me, we weren't laughing.  Poor Pat, he was so embarrassed.  And the duvet.  Talk about lumps.  The owner of the hotel where I work in Lewes would have passed out from The Vapors if we put such ratty duvets on our kings sized beds.  

I don't know how we did it but we did.  Upon awakening in the morning and brushing our teeth, we decided to try the breakfast that comes with the room. I was leary, after seeing the room and the accommodations but Pat said "It can't be that bad."  Folks, what do you think?  Seriously, what do you think the breakfast was like?  Go ahead, I'll give you a few moments to ponder this question:



Got an answer?    

Here, I'll give you a choice:

1. Fantastic
2. Good
3. Fair
4. Poor
5. Twilight Zone

One, two, three, four or five folks?  READY?

Here is your answer:

Folks, I don't consider myself a snob. I've always considered myself one of the common folks.  I come from humble origins.  One step up from White Trash. But folks, as we entered this narrow, windowless, room off the lobby and saw those Edge of the Social Fabric folks look at us with that look that said "Don't pity us, this is all we can afford."  I at once felt so guilty for my latent snobbery and yet there was NO WAY I was going to join that Star Wars bar scene for my breakfast. 

Breakfast at the Howard Johnson hotel in downtown Toronto

I know, I know.  I am such an unrepentant snob.  And I admit that I would probably fit right in with this crew with barely a ripple and yet, what little self-esteem I have left in my advanced years I will cling to.

Folks, there is so much to write about my ongoing Canadian Adventure but time grows short.  Pat is at yoga now and I'm trying to catch up on my blog, e-mails and reading other blogs.  By the way, my weight is down to under 160 lbs!  159 to be exact.  I'm eating well. We had Indian takeout

last night and ate at Pat's house and then immersed ourselves into a very competitive game of Scrabble.  I haven't played since I was knee high to a grasshopper (eleven years old).  Of course I was throughly trounced by Pat (355 to 176).  I get a chance to redeem myself tonight.  We'll play before we go out to see a live band play.  We were supposed to do that last night but made the fatal mistake of "taking a nap" before we were to leave at about 10:00 PM, in time for the band setup.  Of course you know happened.  We were dead asleep, gone to this world when we woke up at 10:30 PM.  Too late to venture out into that dark night.  Turn over and go back to sleep, which we did.  

And the Adventure continues:

Someone, Pat and Urspo enter the Toronto Exhibition gates

More Adventures of a Hotel Front Desk Clerk

As regular readers of this fabulous (my opinion of course) blog know I work part-time as a hotel front desk clerk at a small, exclusive (and very expensive) boutique hotel in the first town in the first state.  

I am always reluctant to write about my job lest I get into trouble with my boss (the hotel owner) writing about hotel guests.  Just as my friend and fellow blogger Dr. Spo is reluctant to write about his job as a head shrink, lest he piss off run afoul of his bosses.  But sometimes I just have to share.  Now with no names I will recount last night's experience.

Last night was the first night of my five day marathon work schedule.  My normal schedule is two nights a week (Wednesday and Thursday).  However, this week I'm filling in for one of vacationing employees so I will be working this weekend, perhaps the busiest of the summer.  Pray for me.

You know folks, as long as I've been in the hotel business (eleven years now), I never cease to be amazed at the new requests that are made of me.  

Last night I get a request from a guest.  He called and said "Could you send up a new mattress? The one we have now is BROKE"  

Um . . . . . I answer "No" with my mouth agape.  What?  The guest thinks I have mattresses stored in the back with extra towels and pillows?

I asked what the problem was.  He said his wife said the mattress had a "dip" in the center.  I told him I couldn't replace his mattress.  I was the only hotel employee on that night which surprised him. He thought I had someone from "housekeeping" who could supply him with a new mattress.  

That's it folks.  There was a lot more to the story (even more bizarro, he wanted to switch mattresses with another room) but this was the gist lest I get into trouble with the hotel for even telling this much.  Yep, "send up a new mattress." 

Right away sir!

You know, I have a sneaky suspicion I was punked last night. 

Throwback Thursday

Me at the Hampton Inn 1999

The year is 1999. The place is The Hampton Inn, Lionville, Pennsylvania.  The job is hotel front desk clerk.

After 37 years in the banking industry (trust operations), I decided to take a part-time job at The Hampton Inn as a weekend night auditor.

Me with my co-worker Angelo Vasquez at the Hampton Inn, Lionville, PA 1999

The first job I had when I got out of the Army in January of 1963 was as a night auditor at the Pittsburgh Hilton Hotel at the Golden Triangle in Pittsburgh, PA.  

I had no experience for that job.  It was the first place the employment agency sent me for a job interview.  The Pittsburgh Hilton Hotel hired me at $250 a month, less taxes, payable on the 15th and 31st.  I had to pay the employment agency a fee of $250 for the job, money which I borrowed from my brother Isaac (I paid him back).

Back then a night auditor's job was a lot different than it was at the Hampton Inn. There were six of us.  Each one of us had to audit (check the math) of each one of the hotel's six restaurants. Then we had the head auditor who would settle our figures which we entered on a columnar pad.  

Being a night auditor back in those days was an easy job.  We went in at 11 PM and left when we settled our restaurants, which was never past 1 PM.  With the exception of my friend Fred Hunt (who was also an Army veteran), all the other guys were daytime students earning a little extra money.  Very little by the way because after taxes, $250 a month didn't go too far.

I worked a very short time at the Marriott Residence Inn in Lionville, PA in 2006 - before I moved to Delaware

I lived in a furnished one room apartment in an old Victorian house in Shadyside, Pittsburgh.  My rent was $8.00 a week.  I had to share a bathroom with 
four other apartments in this old mansion.  THAT was a problem because there was usually someone in the bathroom when needed to use it or when I was in the bathroom someone was knocking on the door asking "Will you be long?"  Not a great question to ask when one is on the hopper (need to concentrate).  

I only had the hotel job in Pittsburgh for three months before I quit.  I was lonely.  I went to Pittsburgh after I got out of the Army because I planned to come out as a gay man (which I did) and a friend from my Ft. Meade days (he was in the Air Force) lived in nearby Elizabeth, PA.  I thought Pittsburgh would be my nirvana but it didn't quite work out that way.  Like I said I was very lonely.  Not that I lacked for attention when I came out but I got too much attention, the wrong kind.  But that's another blog entry that I won't go descend to those depths here.

I quit, went home to Downingtown, and after a two year detour of working as an accounts payable clerk at Lipsett Steel Products in Coatesville, PA; I met Bill, moved in with him and got a job at Girard Bank in Philadelphia.

Thirty-seven years later, and four banks later, I was out of a job.  I saw an ad for "Weekend night auditor" in the local paper.  I applied for it and got it.  Guess what?  The night auditor job was now a LOT different.  First, I had to stay there from 11 PM to 7 AM (try that).  And . . . . I had to work the front desk, something which I didn't have to do at the Pittsburgh Hilton.  We all worked in the basement of the hotel, never saw the front desk.  I did see Milton Berle once, bumped into him as I was going in the elevator and he coming out.  One of my (very) infrequent brushes with celebrity during my lifetime.

I was reluctant to work the front desk but I was assured there was "very little to do at that time."  Of course that wasn't true but guess what?  I LOVED THE JOB.  I liked the challenge of working the front desk.  It was fun.  And here I am today, still working the front desk.  

The hotel where I work now doesn't have a night auditor who works from 11 PM to 7 AM. We're too small.  However, I do run the daily night audit before I get off my shift at 11 PM.  

Tomorrow I am working the next three days at the hotel.  Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 3 PM to 11 PM.  Monday and Tuesday, day shift from 7 AM to 3 PM.  Working as a hotel front desk clerk (or "agent" as we're now called - la de la da) can be challenging and sometimes frustrating but I can honestly say I love the job.  I am now working my eleventh year as the person you see when you walk into the hotel who says "Are you checking in?"

By the way, I have NO pictures of my Pittsburgh Adventure.  I have thousands of pictures of my life history but for some inexplicable reason I never thought to take photos (or even a camera) during those three months I was in Pittsburgh.  For one thing I didn't have ANY money and another, I was way too caught up in the coming out as a gay man and fending off of my unsuitable suitors.  

So this is this week's edition of "Throwback Thursday."  I didn't mean for it to get this wordy but you know me.

Where I work now, a small, exclusive boutique hotel in Lewes DE - "checking in?"

Mexican Jumping Beans and Baby Ruths

I love this time of year. Nice weather, long days, fresh veggies.

Last night I finished my second day of work at the hotel.  Of course we're quite busy at the hotel with the summertime crowd.  Usually the guests at the hotel are quiet and sedate (we get the older crowd) but sometimes we get the moms with the Mexican Jumping Jack kids.  That was last night. 

A mom with her two boys, who were both about seven or eight years old.  I saw them in the parking lot, both boys jumping up and down like Mexican Jumping Beans (or Mexican "Yumping" Beans) and squealing like little girls, always wanted that attention, attention, attention.  Oh boy, "I would be in for it tonight" I thought.  And I wasn't wrong.

Not to bore you with all the incidences but the one that really sticks with me (no pun intended either figuratively or metaphorically) was when "Mom" came to the front desk and said in her broken English ("Mom" was Asian, the boys mixed race), "De toilet.  De toilet. Overflow!"  Oh great.  

I was on the phone when she shot that missile at me, not totally unexpected by the way.  I cradled the phone on my shoulder and said "I'll take care of it."  She said again "Toilet, toilet. Overflow."  Again I said, with probably a world weary expression on my face, "I.Will.Take.Care.Of.It." 

She left, I'm sure not quite understanding what I said but she.did.leave.  

After I got off the phone I ambled over to the bathroom and saw the damage.  Yup.  The water in the toilet was up to the very rim and I mean VERY RIM.  Must have been a whole role of toilet paper in that water plus……are you eating?  If so, come back to this missive later.  PLUS…….one big "Baby Ruth" on top of the toilet paper.  

Thank you Mom.

How that "much" could come out of one little boy stretches my imagination but there it was, deadly.

OKAY.

Thank goodness I knew where the plunger was.  Folks, this is probably the ONE THING I hate about working in hotels……PLUNGE TIME.

Oh the stories I could tell.  Yes, I have experience with this emergency.  And you know, these toilet paper, water to the rim (and sometimes over and on the floor) emergencies have almost always involved children, specifically young boys.  What is THAT all about anyway?

Returning to the bathroom with my plunger I ever so delicately sink the plunger into the fouled, toilet paper infused water and…….pray.  

YES!  I did it.  I got the toilet to flush without any overflow to the floor below.  Thank you to the Power above.  My luck runneth over.  

Of course the bathroom now had that dank, baby poop smell (that was a big specimen after all, he must have felt great after he expelled that torpedo).  I HAD to get rid of that smell because all it was doing was reminding me of the near disaster I averted thanks to my quick thinking and experience with previous mishaps of this ilk. 

I do bring my own neutralizer spray with me which I aimed a few squirts in the direction of my most recent adventure.  

Life in the fast lane folks or shall I say "life at a small boutique hotel in the first town in the first state".  One just never knows when one is called to perform and avert a nasty situation. The hotel got its money's worth from me last night folks.  I think I'll ask for a raise.  

Back to the Regular Routine (or something like it)

Well folks, we're home and I'm trying to slip back into my regular routine.  Of course there is that "small item" that I have to get through this Thursday, my prostate "procedure" (seed implants).  Have to get through THAT folks before I can resume anything like a regular life.  I just hope there are no complications.

Yesterday I spent hours on the phone trying to straighten out a double billing (and over billing) by a faux reservation company called "Hotels.com".  When I made reservations for our hotel rooms at the Hampton Inn in Marion, North Carolina I thought I was calling the central reservations desk of the Hampton Inn.  When I checked in the Hampton Inn in Marion the front desk clerk told me my reservations were made by "one of those sites that looks like our site."  Uh huh.  Me, the longtime hotel front desk clerk, savvy guy, got snookered by one of those fake reservation scams.  Not to bore you with the details but when I got home I found two charges for $251.00 each on my Discover Card and one charge for $199.87.  So much for the "guaranteed best price" that the fake reservation site promised me.  After an hour or so of trying to straighten this out I found that the Hampton Inn had charged my credit card for one room two night for $199.87.  The phony Hampton Inn reservation site had paid for my other room (Bill's) also $199.87 but charged my credit card $251.00.  Nice little mark-up wouldn't you say for the "guaranteed best price"?  So here's what I did folks, I told Discover card only to pay them the $199.87 for the one room they did reimburse the Hampton Inn for.  I'm not paying anything else to "Hotels.com" or whatever there name is.  I called them yesterday, trying to resolve this situation but they gave me the run around and finally hung up on me.  That's what they do folks.  Be forewarned when you make any future hotel reservations.  Make sure you call the hotel directly because this is the new scam.  I am embarrassed that I got caught up in it.

Since I've been home I've been sleeping like a hibernating bear.  Man oh man, am I knocked out at night.  Last night I worked at the hotel.  I was fairly busy, mainly with TV issues.  We have Comcast and you all know how difficult they are.  By the way, Comcast monitors anything said about them so I will probably get an e-mail from one of their customer representatives.  Hey Comcast, here's the problem - your remote controls are too complicated.  They're not user friendly.  They confuse our hotel guests with what button to push. Is it the "All On" button for the "TV" button or the "Power" button?  Comcast, take some lessons from Apple, make it simple and USER FRIENDLY.

Well folks, as you can tell by reading this posting I'm sort of in a bitchy mood today.  To counter my negativity I'm posting another short video from our fabulous visit to Tallulah Gorge and Falls last week.  Enjoy!

Me with some wall art in Helen, Georgia last week

Ron and Bill's Excellent Adventure Day Six

Bill enjoying a laugh with "Jack."

Tonight we are staying at the South Hill, Virginia Hampton Inn.  This is without a doubt the worst Hampton Inn we have stayed at.  From the time I walked into the lobby and saw the worn and dirty rug, the antiseptic smell in the air and the slovenly front desk clerk I had forebodings.

About two hours earlier, when we on I-85 headed north towards Emporia, Virginia I called and made reservations at that Hampton Inn because that is where we planned to lay our heads tonight.  However, when we turned off of Exit 12-A of I-85 and saw a Hampton Inn here and a Cracker Barrel nearby, I suggested to Bill that we stay here tonight before we take the last leg of our trip tomorrow. Bill was tired from driving all day and agreed that we could stay here.

Even though I had forebodings about this hotel that needs to be updated badly, I decided to stay here anyway because Bill was so tired from driving.  When the front desk clerk told me my rate would be $75.00 a night after my AARP discount, I knew for sure I would stay here.  I called the Emporia Hampton Inn and asked them to cancel my reservation, which they did.

I went out to our van where Bill was waiting for me and told him that we were staying here for the night.

We unloaded our luggage and sundries from the van and went to our rooms.  As I suspect, the rooms were also worn and outdated.  The bathroom counter top is one of those low ones (28 inches) they were standard for all bathrooms in the Fifties.  I like a higher bathroom counter, at least 32 inches high.  The room is "sticky".  Oh well, it won't kill me to stay here.  Bill doesn't care.  He's not as picky as I am.

Our day started out with a bad breakfast at our previous Hampton Inn in Anderson, South Carolina.  While the rooms were great, the breakfast lobby setup and hostess were not the usual quality Hampton Inn.  The layout was all wrong.  Also, the breakfast hostess didn't want to be there.  She had tight white jeans on and was more concerned with showing everyone her ass than providing apple juice for Bill.  When I worked at the Hampton Inn the breakfast hostess always came in by 4:30 am to get breakfast ready by 6 am.  It was obvious this morning that the breakfast hostess probably came in about ten minutes before 6 am because she was doing setups.  We managed.

Enough about my complaints.  Those who know me know that I have to rant when I'm upset about something. That's the way I let off steam and don't develop ulcers or a heart attack.

So here is what we did today.  No cemeteries today but we "did do" a church.  Specifically my brother John's church.  After checking out of our Hampton Inn hotel room in Anderson, South Carolina we headed toward my brother's home in Greenville.  Of course we weren't sure how to get there so I got our my trusty iPad and pulled up the Map app.  With my direction we got there!

John was waiting for us.  We went inside his home and sat and talked awhile with him and his wife Barbara.  Then John took us in his former backyard and showed (off) us his latest construction.  Both my brothers are very handy with there hands and can build things.  I can't.  I am always impressed with folks who are mechanically inclined and can build things.  Both my brothers are good carpenters and builders.  Not me.  I'm the gay one, remember?  I can bake a delightful apple pie. Neither one of them can.  So there.

After about an hour John then took Bill and I over to his new church.  He took us on the Grande Tour.  I won't recount every detail of our tour but suffice to say were were awed.  But what I really liked seeing was was watching my baby brother's enthusiasm in showing us every improvement he has made to his church.  I am proud of my brother.  I don't even hold it against him that he was a Bob Jones produced pastor.  While I"m not religious, I do respect those who are with the exception of religious zealots.  I'm happy when anybody else is happy with their job.

After The Tour, John took us to his friend Jack's house to show Bill the wonderful way this 83 year old widower customized his home with wood.  My Bill and Jack (the 83 year old widower) hit if off right away.  I was glad to see and hear Bill laughing.

I am so tired right now that I think I may flop over on my MacBook Pro laptop I may start sending them cash.  I'm going to wrap this up and go to bed.  I was up early this morning. Ill never relive those days.

I'm hitting the sack folks!  This time tomorrow night I will be "home sweet home".