EAT HEALTHILY
I recently decided to take a healthier approach to food and my general lifestyle. I have cut down my alcohol intake to once a week, drinking 4 pints of water a day, I’m even keeping a food diary so I’ve got a record of my daily intake.
I also made the decision that from now on it will be fibre for breakfast, carbs for lunch and protein for dinner which basically means that pasta, bread, rice or potatoes are out of the question for my evening meal.
Last Saturday which was day one of my new regime, I sent a message down to chef advising him of my new dietary requirements. The response that I got back was… shall we say rather concerning.
When it came to dinner time at 6:30pm I walked into the kitchen and was hit with a look from chef similar to the look you see on the faces of parents in the 3 second build up before their toddler starts screaming it’s head off
“Em, I’m sorry, don’t kick off”
“You call yourself a chef and you can’t even come up with an idea for a low carb meal”
“Well what do you want me to do Em? Give you a nice fillet of salmon or a nice juicy steak?”
“Don’t get cocky with me Phil”
“Well the thing is Em, you know you make these drastic changes, don’t tell anyone then expect everyone to bend over backwards”
“Well I didn’t think it was a difficult request”
“Well it wouldn’t be if you’d just tell me what you want”
“I don’t know”
“Well if you don’t know I don’t know”
“Well what’s Low Carb?”
“Em… why are you on a diet where you don’t know what you can and can’t eat?”
“Excuse me?”
“Well normally if you decide go on a diet…”
“Right! Do you know what Phil? Just… Forget it! I’ll start it on Monday”
“Emma…”
“No, forget it, it doesn’t matter
“Seriously?”
“Seriously?”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes”
“Right. So… what do you want to eat?”
“I don’t know. What will you make me, Can it at least be something high protein?”
I really enjoyed the tuna sandwich I had for dinner that night. It was light yet filling and just what I needed after a 3 mile walk to work earlier that afternoon.
I’m glad to say that despite that hiccup, my new lifestyle choices are going well.. I feel better, healthier, and in answer to Chefs question… No, I decided not to log the 2 bottles of wine I drank at my sisters barbecue, into my food diary, last week.
TAKE A SHOPPING TRIP
It’s always nice to have a girly day out, do a bit of shopping, try on a few things, then have a spot of lunch afterwards. Sabrina and I decided to do just that last weekend, we ended up in Debenhams and when I got to the till she told me that she was going to go downstairs to find a cash pont because they don’t accept cards at our chosen lunch haught, “spud u like”
I paid for my purchase then called her on her mobile to get an update…
“Hiya, where are you?”
“I’m downstairs in Jane Norman where are you?”
“Upstairs by the benefit counter”
“Right Ok then, I’ll see you in a minute”
So I put down the phone, jumped on the escaltor and went down to Jane Norman, no sign of Sabrina, so.. Picked up the phone again…
“Hiya. Where are you now?”
“Upstairs by the benefit counter where are you?”
“Downstairs In Jane Norman”
“Why have you gone downstairs?”
“Because I thought we were gonna have a look in Jane Norman?”
“No I said I just needed to go to the cash point then we can go to spud u like”
“For god sake!”
So I put down the phone and got back on the escaltor back upstairs to the benefit counter, no Sabrina, so… I picked up the phone again
“Where are you now?”
“On the escalator going down to Jane norman”
“FOR F**K SAKE!!!!! I’VE JUST COME BACK UPSTAIRS! WHY ARE YOU GOING BACK DOWN???”
“Because I still need to find a cash point”
“Haven’t you found one yet?”
“Well no or wouldn’t say I still needed one would I?”
“Don’t get cocky with me Sabrina”
“I won’t get cocky if you stop screaming at me”
“Jesus! Right I’m not going all the way back down there to come all the way back up to Spud U Like. I will lend you a tenner to pay for the Jacket potato”
“I don’t want you to lend me a tenner”
“Well you haven’t got much choice have you because I’m not walking all the way to that cash point”
“You are such a lazy bitch?”
“I’m a lazy bitch you’re a lazy bitch! Who’s the one out of both of us with a proper bloody job?”
“Screw you”
“Where are you now?”
“On the escalator coming upstairs”
“SABRINA I AM ON THE ESCALATOR COMING DOWN”
“WELL WHAT HAVE YOU DONE THAT FOR?”
“BECAUSE YOU SAID YOU WANTED TO GO TO THE CASH POINT”
“Yeah, then you said you’d lend me a tenner so I didn‘t need to go to the cash point”
“Yeah, then you said you wouldn’t take it”
“Yeah then you refused to walk to the cash point and said I don’t have a choice”
“Right, stay upstairs, don’t move. I’m coming back up, and we are going to Spud U Like for lunch”
“Jesus Christ Em”
That was a fun afternoon. Although I can’t say I was that impressed with the jacket potato. Little bit dry for my liking, but there you go, it’s an experience at the end of the day.
HAVE A PICNIC.
There’s nothing better than a girly day in the park to lift your spirits. Although I would advise using items from your cupboard as opposed to a trip to the supermarket. We had an incident at the self check out system at Morrisons where I had a bit of a rant about how impersonal the self checkout system was and how it was an excuse for the staff to be more bone idle. At that point, some middle aged, cropped haired checkout woman with a set of jail keys and a walkie talkie took that as her cue to rush over and look like she was doing something, it turned out that “something" was to humiliate me as I stood there with my salad box with no idea how to scan it through
“Is she alright? She asked Sabrina with a screwed up, over sympathetic smile that you normally only give to the elderly or mentally challenged “or does she need any help?”
“She’s fine” Sabrina replied” I’ll sort it out, but thanks for asking”
“Erm… excuse me!” I shrieked, my arms flaying about my mere 5ft 3” frame “Do you want to stop talking about me in the 3rd person like I’ve got some kind of mental illness or something?”
You can imagine, the kind of sniggering that followed that comment, Sabrina covering her face with her hands as the assistant went in search of some elderly people she could “help” Idiot!
So then we went to the park, and we did have a nice lunch, The playground experience was tarnished by that little girl who decided to hog the spinning seesaw ride that was clearly for 2 people. By the way if you do decide to go to the park you want to try and get there before the 3 o clock school rush because the intimidating stares that used to get people off the rides you want to go on doesn’t work like it did in my day. Kids are more resilient than they used to be.
But one thing that will stick in my mind is whilst Sabrina and I sat there in the sunshine, there was a bit of a silence between us that I believe you only get with people you are truly friends with. Where you’re just there and don’t need to talk because you‘re just, comfortable with each other. Then all of a sudden, Sabrina just said
“Thank you Em. Thanks for being such a good friend”
It really touched me.
Because what Sabrina doesn’t realise is that without her friendship over these last few weeks, I would have been lost. I would have been… I don’t know what. And for that, I would like to thank her, she has helped me without even realising it. Simply for being herself. And so, my last tip, on a receptionists guide to a good summer…
FIND YOURSELF A GOOD FRIEND
And don’t ever let her go.
Monday, 28 June 2010
Monday, 21 June 2010
The Child Within
It doesn’t really matter how much older we get with each passing year. There will always remain a little child in all of us who pops up to say hello, every once in a while
I’m still that little girl who made her mummy promise her that she would always have the prettiest dress, the longest hair and the bluest eyes. I’m still that little girl with the mandate to spit my dummy and throw my toys out of the pram if I don’t get my own way. I’m still that little girl who refuses to share, even if it means missing out on something she desperately wants because she’s simply too stubborn to just give in. I’m still just a little girl at heart.
I started thinking about the subject when I bought my dads Fathers day card last week. The first verse on the card that I chose was…
“You choose not to see the faults in me that other people do”
It really made me chuckle.
A very small man with very large shoulders my father. I can recall many a conversation over the years after one of my hissy fits that have gone as follows…
“Dad….”
“I know”
“I’m sorry”
“I know”
“I love you”
“I know”
And it’s forgotten.
I’m chuckling to myself now as I write this latest post. Thinking if only it were so easy for others to forget.
Our kitchen porter still remembers the time I threw a box with £50.00 worth of change inside directly at his head, simply because he asked me for it at the wrong time. Sabrina will never forget the time I lost it with her because she chose a biscuit from the foxes selection, knowing full well that she wouldn’t like it. But that’s me, and it would seem that I’m not the only one around here with a temper.
Yesterday morning I walked into the kitchen where chef was ranting away like, I suppose I could say like normal really because he does seem to do it a lot these days.
Sabrina was stood chuckling to herself and I of course had to know what was going on
“What’s up with him?”
“He’s just thrown a tin opener across the room”
“A tin opener?”
“Yeah”
“Why?”
“Because he didn’t know how to use it”
“He didn’t know how to use it?”
“No”
“Why what’s so difficult about it?”
“Erm excuse me!”
We both turned to look at chef
“Right” he said as he pointed at me “You see if you can f**king do it”
He slatted the tin opener in front of me and folded his arms. The little boy inside him had a smug look on his face as if to say
“If I can’t do it there’s no way that she can”
But he was wrong. Although I had absolutely no idea how chef thought it should be used. To me, the correct way was blatantly obvious. I knew that I was going to get the last laugh.
I carefully clasped the contraption around a tin of prunes and gently twisted it round and round, and watched his face drop as mine became more and more smug.
“There you go” I said as the top of the tin slid off perfectly “Easy as that”
That little boy inside chef that had made him throw the tin opener in the first place gave me a cheeky smile. The little girl inside me just flicked her hair and strutted out of the kitchen proud as punch.
Later on that morning I went back into the kitchen where the topic of conversation was still Chef and the incident with the tin opener.
“At the end of the day” he said still with his cheeky grin “Everyone loses it sometimes, and if I can’t do it in front of you lot, when can I do it?”
And he was absolutely right. We know him back to front, inside and out and we all adore him for exactly who he is, temper and all. It got me thinking back to that card again.
“You choose not to see the faults in me that other people do”
It’s the same for all of us really. Simon reassured me recently that when I go off on my little rants and behave like a “petulant child” as somebody recently called me, nobody here takes me seriously. They just laugh and take me with a pinch of salt. That’s when you know you’ve got good people around you, when they’re people who accept you for who you are, and know that they can expect the same from you.
Yes I may behave like a spoilt little girl sometimes. I may say that something is fine then 20 minutes later decide that it’s not. I may cut my nose off to spite my face by refusing to share. I may “spit my dummy” so to speak if I’m not the centre of attention. But that’s me, and I don’t pretend to be anything different.
I’m still that little girl who wants to have the prettiest dress, the longest hair and the bluest eyes. I still want to be number one. And why shouldn’t I be?
After all, the small man with the big shoulders that I used to sit on as a child told me I should never allow myself to be anything else.
And I think he was right!
I’m still that little girl who made her mummy promise her that she would always have the prettiest dress, the longest hair and the bluest eyes. I’m still that little girl with the mandate to spit my dummy and throw my toys out of the pram if I don’t get my own way. I’m still that little girl who refuses to share, even if it means missing out on something she desperately wants because she’s simply too stubborn to just give in. I’m still just a little girl at heart.
I started thinking about the subject when I bought my dads Fathers day card last week. The first verse on the card that I chose was…
“You choose not to see the faults in me that other people do”
It really made me chuckle.
A very small man with very large shoulders my father. I can recall many a conversation over the years after one of my hissy fits that have gone as follows…
“Dad….”
“I know”
“I’m sorry”
“I know”
“I love you”
“I know”
And it’s forgotten.
I’m chuckling to myself now as I write this latest post. Thinking if only it were so easy for others to forget.
Our kitchen porter still remembers the time I threw a box with £50.00 worth of change inside directly at his head, simply because he asked me for it at the wrong time. Sabrina will never forget the time I lost it with her because she chose a biscuit from the foxes selection, knowing full well that she wouldn’t like it. But that’s me, and it would seem that I’m not the only one around here with a temper.
Yesterday morning I walked into the kitchen where chef was ranting away like, I suppose I could say like normal really because he does seem to do it a lot these days.
Sabrina was stood chuckling to herself and I of course had to know what was going on
“What’s up with him?”
“He’s just thrown a tin opener across the room”
“A tin opener?”
“Yeah”
“Why?”
“Because he didn’t know how to use it”
“He didn’t know how to use it?”
“No”
“Why what’s so difficult about it?”
“Erm excuse me!”
We both turned to look at chef
“Right” he said as he pointed at me “You see if you can f**king do it”
He slatted the tin opener in front of me and folded his arms. The little boy inside him had a smug look on his face as if to say
“If I can’t do it there’s no way that she can”
But he was wrong. Although I had absolutely no idea how chef thought it should be used. To me, the correct way was blatantly obvious. I knew that I was going to get the last laugh.
I carefully clasped the contraption around a tin of prunes and gently twisted it round and round, and watched his face drop as mine became more and more smug.
“There you go” I said as the top of the tin slid off perfectly “Easy as that”
That little boy inside chef that had made him throw the tin opener in the first place gave me a cheeky smile. The little girl inside me just flicked her hair and strutted out of the kitchen proud as punch.
Later on that morning I went back into the kitchen where the topic of conversation was still Chef and the incident with the tin opener.
“At the end of the day” he said still with his cheeky grin “Everyone loses it sometimes, and if I can’t do it in front of you lot, when can I do it?”
And he was absolutely right. We know him back to front, inside and out and we all adore him for exactly who he is, temper and all. It got me thinking back to that card again.
“You choose not to see the faults in me that other people do”
It’s the same for all of us really. Simon reassured me recently that when I go off on my little rants and behave like a “petulant child” as somebody recently called me, nobody here takes me seriously. They just laugh and take me with a pinch of salt. That’s when you know you’ve got good people around you, when they’re people who accept you for who you are, and know that they can expect the same from you.
Yes I may behave like a spoilt little girl sometimes. I may say that something is fine then 20 minutes later decide that it’s not. I may cut my nose off to spite my face by refusing to share. I may “spit my dummy” so to speak if I’m not the centre of attention. But that’s me, and I don’t pretend to be anything different.
I’m still that little girl who wants to have the prettiest dress, the longest hair and the bluest eyes. I still want to be number one. And why shouldn’t I be?
After all, the small man with the big shoulders that I used to sit on as a child told me I should never allow myself to be anything else.
And I think he was right!
Thursday, 10 June 2010
Hotel Receptionist? Hotel Superhero?
Now most of you who read this blog may have formed the opinion that I’m not the most competent person when it comes to doing my job as a hotel receptionist. Some of you may also have formed the opinion that I am not, shall we say, the sharpest tool in the shed.
I mean ok, maybe I do get aggravated when people call the hotel to do basic things like book accommodation or enquire about a table in the restaurant. And yes maybe I do always fall for the chef’s pathetic attempt for a cheap laugh by inadvertently ordering tubs of elbow grease, breasts of cod and one time, a bag of chicken lips.
But I’ll tell you one thing, you lot can laugh all you like… Because I know that when the chips are down, when it all goes Pete Tong, Cream Crackered, or whatever you want to call it. You can always count on yours truly to save the day.
The most recent example I can think of was Friday of last week.
It was around quarter to 6 in the morning when I was abruptly awoken by a text message on my phone from the lovely Sarah, my fellow full time receptionist to say
“Really sorry to text so early Em but I’m not gonna be able to make it in to work today. I’ve been really sick and fainted during the night so mum is gonna take me to the hospital. I’ve rang Rob to let him know. Really sorry again”
The text immediately startled me into a conscious state, first of all because I realised that Sarah was on the early shift that day meaning she was due in work in little over an hour and second of all because, well… I love Sarah and was genuinely worried about what was wrong with her. So I sat up in bed and quickly tapped in the number to ring rob, the night porter at the hotel to let him know that he didn’t need to worry and that I would be there at the usual time to cover the early shift instead. It didn’t really matter at that point that I was meant to be doing the late shift that day, all that mattered was covering the early, I would sort out the afternoon shift later on that morning. The priority was to ring Rob before he did anything stupid like ringing another member of staff or god forbid… the Boss! And so…
“Hiya Rob it’s Emma”
“Oh hiya Em”
“Are you alright?”
“Yeah are you?”
“Yeah I’m fine I’ve just had a text from Sarah letting me know she’s not coming in so…”
“Oh yeah she rang me this morning at half 5 so I’m just trying to sort it out now”
“What do you mean you’re sorting it out?”
“Well I was just looking for Rea’s number on the computer”
“Rob, Rea doesn’t work there any more. Rea left 8 months ago”
“Yeah I know but…”
“Right. Rob. Don’t – Ring – Anyone”
“Ok I just thought….”
“Yep, Rob I know, and thank you but it’s fine. I’m awake, I’m up and I’ll be there at 7 clock to cover the early”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes”
“I thought you were on the late today?”
“Yeah I am but I’ll sort that out later”
“Are you sure because…”
“Yep, Rob, I’m sure. Thanks”
“Ok Em, erm… I’ll see you in a bit”
Now then I was just about to put the phone down so I could get myself ready for work, but something stopped me, there was little bit of awkwardness in Robs tone a kind of, hesitance to his voice that suggested he had something to say to me but wasn’t quite sure how to say it, and so, I thought about it for a sec and just took a stab in the dark guess and asked
“Who have you rang Rob?”
“I rang Sophia”
“And what time did you ring Sophia?”
“At about half 5”
“And what did she say?”
“She didn’t answer”
“Ok, don’t ring her again Rob”
“No I won’t”
“Ok. I’ll see you later on”
And so I put the phone down and just sat there on the edge of the bed, a little dazed trying to pull myself together. Within 2 minutes the phone rang again
“Hiya Rob”
“Hiya Em”
“Are you ok?”
“Yeah, Sophia’s just rang back”
“And what did she say?”
“She said no she can’t come in”
“Ok Rob, thanks for letting me know”
“No problem. I’ll see you later”
So that morning I went into work to do the early shift. Luckily I’d had an early night and had washed and straightened my hair so I was feeling rather fresh and sprightly, but there was one thing that was kind of playing on my mind.
The thing is that our boss has this thing about absence and lateness. If it were up to him people would plan their illness’s at the beginning of the year to coincide with their holidays so that he didn’t have the inconvenience of having to cover their shifts or God forbid having to sign anything regarding statutory sick pay. In this instance however he didn’t have either of those things to think about given that I had already sorted the whole thing out without having to get him involved. I had got in at 7:00am and had planned to work until 5:30pm until Helen, another receptionist who I had text earlier that morning, could come in to cover the latter part of the late shift. Job Done. But knowing the boss as well as I do and knowing that he can’t help getting involved in things that are nothing to do with him I just knew that when he came in and saw me at the desk instead of Sarah he wouldn’t be able to help but start ranting that “People should just soldier on” and “these youngsters today just don’t know how to show commitment” and “Rotas are there to give structure and people shouldn’t go changing them at the last minute to suit them” I was about to be very much surprised.
At around 8:30 the boss walked into the back office and put his briefcase down on his desk. I sat up and prepared myself to be bombarded with questions, but instead… he said nothing. He just looked through his in-tray, didn’t say a word and went straight into the restaurant for breakfast.
I think dumfounded is the best word to describe my reaction to what happened. I just sort of sat there squinting and running through it all in my head. Maybe I had got it wrong. Maybe I had dreamt the whole thing about the text from Sarah and the conversation with Rob and it should have been me on the early shift the whole time. That couldn’t possibly be it could it?
20 minutes later he came out of the restaurant and into the back office, I just sat in awe watching him and thinking
“He’ll click in a minute”
But no. Another 10 minutes passed and then that was it . I couldn’t help myself, I got up, glanced in the mirror and walked over to the door…
“Hiya” I said
“Hiya” He replied
This was followed an awkward pause (only awkward on my part) as I stood in the doorway whilst he sat at his desk with his back to me, engrossed in the emails that had come through that morning. Very strange I thought. And so I went on…
“Are you alright” I asked
“Yeah” he replied
“Good” I said That’s good”
This was followed by another awkward pause. At that point I think he must have felt my confused stare upon him cos he sort of turned around and glanced at me then turned back, then turned around again and asked
“Are you alright?”
“Yeah” I replied
“Good” He said “That’s good”
It then became clear to me that he had absolutely no idea that Sarah should have been the desk that morning instead of me. Either that or he didn’t care. But what confused me was that neither of those possibilities would normally be viable. First of all because the boss very rarely forgets anything and prides himself on knowing everything that is going on at the hotel at all hours of the day and night(normally because he always f**king ringing and asking), and second of all because he is renowned for getting involved in things that
A) Don’t concern him
&
B) Are not his place to sort out.
It was all very confusing and to be honest I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. I toyed with the idea of not saying anything but then concluded that he’d find out eventually and then freak out because he hadn’t been told the ins and outs of it all, and so, I walked up behind him and said…
“Do you want to know what I’m doing here?”
He turned round and just gave me a blank, vacant stare
“What do you mean?”
“Well… I was meant to be on the late shift today”
“Were you?”
“Yes I was”
“Oh? Right”
“But then Sarah text me at 5:30 this morning to say that she couldn’t come in to do the early shift because she wasn’t very well”
“Ok”
“So I’m staying till half 5 today”
“Right”
“Then Helens coming in and taking over from me to do the latter part of the late shift”
“Ok”
“And Sarah will be back in on Sunday”
“Great”
“So everything’s been sorted”
“Good”
“And there’s no need for you to worry”
“Fine”
He then turned back to look at his emails leaving me in yet another state of confusion as to why he wasn’t asking “Megs Arse” about the situation and course of events of the morning like, “What time exactly did Sarah text you” and “Why didn’t she let us know 24 hours before the unforeseen incident happened so that we could arrange appropriate cover?” Stuff like that. And so frustrated, I carried on
“Do you wanna know what’s wrong with Sarah?” I asked in a sharp tone that seemed to get his attention very quickly
“Yep” he replied as he spun round in his chair looking rather startled “yeah, I do, is she alright?”
“No not really”
“No?”
“No”
“What’s wrong with her?”
“She woke up in the night feeling dizzy and nauseous and then she fainted”
“Oh dear”
“And so her mum’s had to take her to the hospital”
“Right”
“So, no she’s not brilliant at the moment but hopefully she’ll be alright for Sunday”
“Ok good, good that’s good”
“Yeah”
“Ok well it seems like you’ve got it all under control so MIKE!!!!!!!!”
And I’d lost him, he barged past me to go in pursuit of the maintenance man no “Thanks for getting up at 5:30am to come in and cover” nothing.
I still don’t know what happened that morning. Maybe his body had been taken over by another life form, maybe he fell and hit his head and just didn’t mention it to anyone. Who knows? But the point of the story is exactly what I said before, Forget the grumpiness, forget the incompetence, forget that incident that happened on Christmas Eve that I still refuse to take full responsibility for, when the going gets tough, You can always count on yours truly to swoop in and save the day
It’s just a good thing I do this job for the laughs rather than the recognition. Other wise we’d all be in big trouble!
Wouldn’t we?
I mean ok, maybe I do get aggravated when people call the hotel to do basic things like book accommodation or enquire about a table in the restaurant. And yes maybe I do always fall for the chef’s pathetic attempt for a cheap laugh by inadvertently ordering tubs of elbow grease, breasts of cod and one time, a bag of chicken lips.
But I’ll tell you one thing, you lot can laugh all you like… Because I know that when the chips are down, when it all goes Pete Tong, Cream Crackered, or whatever you want to call it. You can always count on yours truly to save the day.
The most recent example I can think of was Friday of last week.
It was around quarter to 6 in the morning when I was abruptly awoken by a text message on my phone from the lovely Sarah, my fellow full time receptionist to say
“Really sorry to text so early Em but I’m not gonna be able to make it in to work today. I’ve been really sick and fainted during the night so mum is gonna take me to the hospital. I’ve rang Rob to let him know. Really sorry again”
The text immediately startled me into a conscious state, first of all because I realised that Sarah was on the early shift that day meaning she was due in work in little over an hour and second of all because, well… I love Sarah and was genuinely worried about what was wrong with her. So I sat up in bed and quickly tapped in the number to ring rob, the night porter at the hotel to let him know that he didn’t need to worry and that I would be there at the usual time to cover the early shift instead. It didn’t really matter at that point that I was meant to be doing the late shift that day, all that mattered was covering the early, I would sort out the afternoon shift later on that morning. The priority was to ring Rob before he did anything stupid like ringing another member of staff or god forbid… the Boss! And so…
“Hiya Rob it’s Emma”
“Oh hiya Em”
“Are you alright?”
“Yeah are you?”
“Yeah I’m fine I’ve just had a text from Sarah letting me know she’s not coming in so…”
“Oh yeah she rang me this morning at half 5 so I’m just trying to sort it out now”
“What do you mean you’re sorting it out?”
“Well I was just looking for Rea’s number on the computer”
“Rob, Rea doesn’t work there any more. Rea left 8 months ago”
“Yeah I know but…”
“Right. Rob. Don’t – Ring – Anyone”
“Ok I just thought….”
“Yep, Rob I know, and thank you but it’s fine. I’m awake, I’m up and I’ll be there at 7 clock to cover the early”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes”
“I thought you were on the late today?”
“Yeah I am but I’ll sort that out later”
“Are you sure because…”
“Yep, Rob, I’m sure. Thanks”
“Ok Em, erm… I’ll see you in a bit”
Now then I was just about to put the phone down so I could get myself ready for work, but something stopped me, there was little bit of awkwardness in Robs tone a kind of, hesitance to his voice that suggested he had something to say to me but wasn’t quite sure how to say it, and so, I thought about it for a sec and just took a stab in the dark guess and asked
“Who have you rang Rob?”
“I rang Sophia”
“And what time did you ring Sophia?”
“At about half 5”
“And what did she say?”
“She didn’t answer”
“Ok, don’t ring her again Rob”
“No I won’t”
“Ok. I’ll see you later on”
And so I put the phone down and just sat there on the edge of the bed, a little dazed trying to pull myself together. Within 2 minutes the phone rang again
“Hiya Rob”
“Hiya Em”
“Are you ok?”
“Yeah, Sophia’s just rang back”
“And what did she say?”
“She said no she can’t come in”
“Ok Rob, thanks for letting me know”
“No problem. I’ll see you later”
So that morning I went into work to do the early shift. Luckily I’d had an early night and had washed and straightened my hair so I was feeling rather fresh and sprightly, but there was one thing that was kind of playing on my mind.
The thing is that our boss has this thing about absence and lateness. If it were up to him people would plan their illness’s at the beginning of the year to coincide with their holidays so that he didn’t have the inconvenience of having to cover their shifts or God forbid having to sign anything regarding statutory sick pay. In this instance however he didn’t have either of those things to think about given that I had already sorted the whole thing out without having to get him involved. I had got in at 7:00am and had planned to work until 5:30pm until Helen, another receptionist who I had text earlier that morning, could come in to cover the latter part of the late shift. Job Done. But knowing the boss as well as I do and knowing that he can’t help getting involved in things that are nothing to do with him I just knew that when he came in and saw me at the desk instead of Sarah he wouldn’t be able to help but start ranting that “People should just soldier on” and “these youngsters today just don’t know how to show commitment” and “Rotas are there to give structure and people shouldn’t go changing them at the last minute to suit them” I was about to be very much surprised.
At around 8:30 the boss walked into the back office and put his briefcase down on his desk. I sat up and prepared myself to be bombarded with questions, but instead… he said nothing. He just looked through his in-tray, didn’t say a word and went straight into the restaurant for breakfast.
I think dumfounded is the best word to describe my reaction to what happened. I just sort of sat there squinting and running through it all in my head. Maybe I had got it wrong. Maybe I had dreamt the whole thing about the text from Sarah and the conversation with Rob and it should have been me on the early shift the whole time. That couldn’t possibly be it could it?
20 minutes later he came out of the restaurant and into the back office, I just sat in awe watching him and thinking
“He’ll click in a minute”
But no. Another 10 minutes passed and then that was it . I couldn’t help myself, I got up, glanced in the mirror and walked over to the door…
“Hiya” I said
“Hiya” He replied
This was followed an awkward pause (only awkward on my part) as I stood in the doorway whilst he sat at his desk with his back to me, engrossed in the emails that had come through that morning. Very strange I thought. And so I went on…
“Are you alright” I asked
“Yeah” he replied
“Good” I said That’s good”
This was followed by another awkward pause. At that point I think he must have felt my confused stare upon him cos he sort of turned around and glanced at me then turned back, then turned around again and asked
“Are you alright?”
“Yeah” I replied
“Good” He said “That’s good”
It then became clear to me that he had absolutely no idea that Sarah should have been the desk that morning instead of me. Either that or he didn’t care. But what confused me was that neither of those possibilities would normally be viable. First of all because the boss very rarely forgets anything and prides himself on knowing everything that is going on at the hotel at all hours of the day and night(normally because he always f**king ringing and asking), and second of all because he is renowned for getting involved in things that
A) Don’t concern him
&
B) Are not his place to sort out.
It was all very confusing and to be honest I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. I toyed with the idea of not saying anything but then concluded that he’d find out eventually and then freak out because he hadn’t been told the ins and outs of it all, and so, I walked up behind him and said…
“Do you want to know what I’m doing here?”
He turned round and just gave me a blank, vacant stare
“What do you mean?”
“Well… I was meant to be on the late shift today”
“Were you?”
“Yes I was”
“Oh? Right”
“But then Sarah text me at 5:30 this morning to say that she couldn’t come in to do the early shift because she wasn’t very well”
“Ok”
“So I’m staying till half 5 today”
“Right”
“Then Helens coming in and taking over from me to do the latter part of the late shift”
“Ok”
“And Sarah will be back in on Sunday”
“Great”
“So everything’s been sorted”
“Good”
“And there’s no need for you to worry”
“Fine”
He then turned back to look at his emails leaving me in yet another state of confusion as to why he wasn’t asking “Megs Arse” about the situation and course of events of the morning like, “What time exactly did Sarah text you” and “Why didn’t she let us know 24 hours before the unforeseen incident happened so that we could arrange appropriate cover?” Stuff like that. And so frustrated, I carried on
“Do you wanna know what’s wrong with Sarah?” I asked in a sharp tone that seemed to get his attention very quickly
“Yep” he replied as he spun round in his chair looking rather startled “yeah, I do, is she alright?”
“No not really”
“No?”
“No”
“What’s wrong with her?”
“She woke up in the night feeling dizzy and nauseous and then she fainted”
“Oh dear”
“And so her mum’s had to take her to the hospital”
“Right”
“So, no she’s not brilliant at the moment but hopefully she’ll be alright for Sunday”
“Ok good, good that’s good”
“Yeah”
“Ok well it seems like you’ve got it all under control so MIKE!!!!!!!!”
And I’d lost him, he barged past me to go in pursuit of the maintenance man no “Thanks for getting up at 5:30am to come in and cover” nothing.
I still don’t know what happened that morning. Maybe his body had been taken over by another life form, maybe he fell and hit his head and just didn’t mention it to anyone. Who knows? But the point of the story is exactly what I said before, Forget the grumpiness, forget the incompetence, forget that incident that happened on Christmas Eve that I still refuse to take full responsibility for, when the going gets tough, You can always count on yours truly to swoop in and save the day
It’s just a good thing I do this job for the laughs rather than the recognition. Other wise we’d all be in big trouble!
Wouldn’t we?
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