"We Veerrry Beeezy"

As with most Hotels and Resorts in Ireland at the moment, our housekeeping staff are, in the main, Polish, which is fabulous as far as I'm concerned, as I have never had to chase anyone over their bad standards or attitude. Mostly, as a whole they are a delight to work with. I know I shouldn't generalise, but in this case it's true.

There's always an exception to every rule.

My last supervisor, lovely girl, polite, friendly, mature........stubborn as hell.

On my days off, I would leave directions in the diary of what needed doing that day, I always made sure that she understood what was expected, that she had no problems, that she would be able to complete the tasks, that she had enough staff to do it.
Without fail, when I came back, nothing was done. The excuse was "we were very busy" er, yes, and?? The bare minimum was all you could expect.

I then spent a couple of days picking up the pieces.

I have lost count of the number of times I blew my top, having horrendous rows in both broken English and Polish, it must have sounded like a comedy sketch, some bright spark who, walking in on the torrent, called it Penglish.

What can you? Sack someone who has been there longer than you, and in all honesty probably does more work than you? At this stage, I was already in the process of cutting my team down to the bare minimum, so without a supervisor, even one who played dumb at the mere mention of the dreaded mattress turns, we would have been even deeper in the shit.

You always know the hotel you are working in is in financial trouble when your purchase orders come back with refused written in blood on the top page. First casualty is always toilet rolls. I have never had to cut up the Indo and put it on a hook on the back of the bathroom door, but I have come pretty close. Once this starts to happen, get the hell out of there. That sounds completely disloyal, but hey, loyalty has to be earned, along with respect.

I sincerely hope my last property thrives and starts to make money, there are still some lovely, decent people working there, and I would like to see it succeed, but unless it has huge investment, in the very near future, I seriously doubt that will happen.

A GM friend of mine starts a new position today, I still don't know where, he wouldn't tell anyone, something to do with 'jinxing it'!! I hope he's ok, and it's what he wants. It must be difficult taking over a property with total control, but he has the technology as they say, I'm sure he's fine.

Personally, I wouldn't be a GM for a big clock.

Speaking of GMs mine has just announced that I now have control of the cleaning standards in the public areas in the clubhouse as well as my bits!! Oh thrilled I am! Since the day I walked in the door, I have thanked the Lord under my breath that I am not responsible for the bars and lounge.....because they are fucking filthy!! Having said that, it was starting to annoy me, so maybe its a good thing. Nice to know that he thinks I'm up to it!

Now, what's 'skirting boards' in Polish?