Sweet, indispensable you.....

How did we all gossip before mobile phones were invented?

Text received this morning from an ex colleague..."some news for you, R has been sacked, is leaving at end of April....party, party!"

R is worth a post all of her own, but I would end up confusing myself, as I never could work her out, as GMs go, she is one in a million, thankfully.

My Industry is an ever changing one, it is at the mercy of all the shifts in fashion, taste and the economy, and is a constant reminder that no one is indispensable, however good you think you are, or however often you tell everyone that the place would fall down without you!

We have two less staff than we had this time last week, one quit, the other was sacked. I then find out that the one who quit did so because of the one who was sacked...but she has now agreed to come back and work when we are busy.

You would have to be a special kind of sadist to enjoy giving a member of staff their P45, no Manager with an ounce of compassion would sack anyone without first giving all the options some consideration, unless it's for gross misconduct, or theft or thumping the concierge, (who probably deserved it anyway, smug little git).

After months of hand holding, back patting, giving more support than a wonderbra, I finally had enough.

I came into work to find all my ladies sat on their bums awaiting the return of their supervisor, who had gone to speak to the GM or anyone else as long as it wasn't me....!

"What's going on"?

I asked, and one of the girls started to explain that the supervisor has called them all up the night before to tell them that I had accused them of theft and they were not to start work until it was sorted out! Jesus! To say I was a tad annoyed would be putting it mildly, I then spent I don't know how long, relaying the conversation that I had had with her the previous day, (and reassuring them that I did nothing of the sort). The very short conversation the previous day went something like this;

Me: "Hi, do you know where the two mirrors from 10 have gone?"

D: "Why? What mirrors? What are you saying?"

Me: "The new shaving mirrors, there were four on Sunday when I did the inventory after the guest checked out, the girls cleaned it on Monday, and now there are two, does anyone know where they are?"

D: "I'll phone them now and ask them"

Me: "No, don't do that, the morning will do, just ask them for me if they have put them somewhere will you?"

I thought no more of it until the next day when I came in to a revolt! She had indeed called them and told them that they were all going to be sacked unless the mirrors were found, that I was going to call the guards, that I was going to search their cars...you name it I was going to do it!

I at no time suspected any of them of stealing the mirrors, for a start they are horrible looking things, and secondly my Team have more sense than to risk a well paying job for a cheap mirror, plus, I think I know them pretty well now and they just wouldn't.

Once I had persuaded the girls to go back to work, I went in search of the shit stirrer. She was in my colleagues office, using every underhand trick in her book to make herself look a poor little victim, I don't think she expected the response she received, in that she was told that Queenie is a good Manager, and would not accuse anyone of theft unless she was sure and anyway you are blowing things up out of proportion...again!

For the next two hours, I chased her all over the Resort, trying to settle this once and for all, and all she did was disrupt things, she told the girls to stop working, she did nothing but cause trouble, and told bare faced lies...She avoided me all morning, until I managed to track her down, hiding in a store room.

After weeks of putting up with unrest, and being undermined I decide that today, it was going to end. I could go into great detail, but I don't have the energy.

I think it was some sort of power game that she wanted to play, but she was the only one playing it!

With her P45, cheque, and letter of dismissal in my pocket I began the awful task of telling her that I was letting her go. I didn't get a chance to get that far as she ran to her car and sped up the drive to the Hotel shouting something about giving a weeks' notice! Yet again I had to chase her and thirty minutes later she was off site.

I don't have any regrets about the decision, it was the right one, I just wish it hadn't turned into a farce!

Sometimes you can't see the wood for the trees, or you ignore the obvious, and it takes something like this to make you realise that there was a problem. I can now see how much happier the Team is, there is less stress, more laughing, they still work damned hard, and the job gets done, but it gets done without an atmosphere of unrest.

Oh, well, none of us are perfect.