Leave Your Problems At The Door.

Sometimes when I come to work, I wonder why some people bother to get up in the morning. Have they made it their mission to be an arse to all and sundry or did the day just pan out that way?

This morning was a prime example of how some people should take two Mogadon and go straight back to bed.

"Good Morning...."

it costs nothing, you don't even have to mean it, but it makes everyone you say it to feel good, they think that yes, maybe it is a good one, positive vibes, warm fuzzys call them what you will.

"Hmmp, growl...."

again it's free, although it does have a price, maybe you don't mean it, but it makes everyone you say it to feel like shit, they know that they are going to have a bad day with you, and with everyone else if they get the same greeting, and are made as miserable as you.

Because I come to work with a positive attitude, I make the mistake of expecting that everyone else will too. I understand that we all have problems, and illness, and we just don't feel like being nice....but leave it at the door!! We work in the Service Industry, 'treat your colleagues as you would treat your guests' blah blah!

I have developed a fantastic team of housekeepers, they don't read this so my reasons for saying it here are to illustrate that I think the world of them and they are the best team I have ever had the pleasure of working with.

Today, I nearly hung one of them from a tree.

My lovely ladies (I can't stop calling them that after 'Father Ted') had been working away quite happily this morning, with no problems, not too much work, and they were heading for an early finish.
My supervisor mentioned to me that one of the girls was a bit 'down', and was 'snapping' at the other ladies. I went and had a private chat with her to try to see if I could do anything, or if it was a problem she had with work.

She explained that she was a just feeling a bit fed up today and didn't want to work with the girls. This was easily remedied by just moving her sideways to other duties so that she didn't have to be around anyone, we all get like that sometimes, so it's no big deal to change staff around. I am their Manager, not their mother, and I have enough children of my own to know that petty arguments are forgotten about within minutes, so I let it go.

Making a mental note to keep a close eye on her I left her to beat up the dirty laundry!

Usually if one of my ladies has a crisis, or is ill, I just send them home, there is no point making someone stay to do their shift if they are not up to it, luckily this only happens occasionally, and it is easy to spot, you know when someone is having a bad day, and if you can't fix it, and they don't want to then they go home.

So, we trod on eggshells all morning, trying not make things any worse, she was already as miserable as sin, and we were all having a good day.....the problem was, as I had moved her to the laundry, she was now coming into contact with all of the team, and not just the two she was working with in the morning!! Silly me.

I'm not a violent person, but I had little visions of myself pushing her off the stepladders, and poisoning her tea. How can one person ruin the day of so many?

I toyed with the idea of sending her home, but as she had driven in with one of the other girls she had no transport to get back, and anyone who knows Ireland will laugh if you suggest public transport. The day progressed, with us all popping into the laundry to collect clean linen, drop off the soiled, and try to cheer our co-worker up....her day then progressed with snapping, shouting, and generally being a pain in the neck.

My point is, if I have one, is that everything we say or do, however small it seems, has a direct effect on all around us, you can kill with the stroke of a pen, but you can do worse with an ill timed joke, or a snide remark. I have worked with many people who enjoy the confrontation, the fact that they can destroy the good mood of your team, and we don't have it here I'm glad to say.

I suppose we are spoilt in that we all get on well, if we didn't then we wouldn't notice if someone was being horrible.

When it was time to go home, I was pleasantly suprised at how clean and tidy the normally chaotic laundry was, she had got through so much laundry that I realised that we need her in there full time, at least while we are busy, so something good came out of today, she's happy about changing jobs, and I'm happy that she keeps the linen in order.

Duck tape isn't something I would have lying around normally, but I soon found some when her lift asked me for a reel.....I wonder what they are going to do with it?