Dirty Laundry

The hotel business is an insidious industry in which people jump from ship to ship. People will move within the hotel to department to department, or from hotel to hotel. They may even move from city to city, country to country. You just never know where one will end up. There is an old saying I recant from time to time, "be careful which person you call an asshole, because you never know who's ass you may be kissing tomorrow". Hotel people pursue opportunities on their inspiring journey to the top. Rapid career advancement is very common in our industry due to the lack of qualified & talented successors as well as in pursuit of fame, success and money.

Just as people pursue other hotel career opportunities, they pursue love and romance. Since many hotel people work long, grueling hours, there is often little time to mingle outside of work. And ensues, office friendship and romance. Some are really good at concealing their romance and others are not. I quite prefer the later. The hotel world is full of office politics and if you are hanging around the water cooler shooting the breeze with Bob from the Kitchen about Suzie in Accounting, it can often poise work place hazards if Bob is "doing her". Now as much as I restrain myself from shooting the breeze with anyone, the lack of sleep and too much caffeine effect often has it's downfalls. I mean who else are you going to be shooting the breeze with when you haven't had a day off in 4 weeks and recently surpassed the 300 hours worked in a month? At some point, everyone's dirty laundry gets aired in this reduced state of mind.

My top 5 tips to minimizing dirty laundry are:

1. Don't Gossip
Even if it kills you, DON'T! If you saw the Front Office Manager get drunk at the hotel bar after work and leave with the Breakfast Server; - you don't care! Keep it to yourself and chuckle about it after a long day at work, or after a particularly heated guest dissatisfaction encounter. Most hotel work place romances come to an end and often last only as long as the buzz from the wine. You do not want to be the one spreading the salacious gossip and rumours, and then firing the Breakfast Server when she does not show up for her scheduled shift.

2. Don't Create Any Dirty Laundry
As hard is it, do not get involved with anyone in your hotel. Go to the hotel next door! Make the hotel next door your hang out after work for drinky-poo's. You have no involvement with this hotel's Colleagues and Management, it's a safe zone. You'd be surprised how great everyone there looks after the third drink!

3. One Drink Rule
AS people move into leadership roles, most times they greatly reduce their alcohol consumption. I think it due to a combination of years-of-getting-drunk-at-staff-parties-with-greatly-reduced-drink-prices-and-my-body-just-couldn't-handle-drinking-anymore, coupled with I-can't-expense-that-many-drinks-on-my-expense-report-and-have-my-boss-think-I-really-am-a-good-fit-for-this-job. Now when one socializes on and off work time, they try limit themselves to one drink on hotel premises. If one decides they'd like to have another drink, they generally recommend to go somewhere off site. This provides the ability to leave after multiple drinks and no one even knows one has left. Generally when you are off site of the hotel in any social setting, friends will join you and the gossip and topics of the day at the hotel seem much less interesting.

4. Sleep: Lack of & Do It Outside of Work
Make sure you get lots of sleep. If you are not going to get lots of it, make sure it is quality. I slept many a night at the hotel due to the reduced amount of time between shifts, or simply a busy night at the hotel and management presence needed to be around for emergencies. But it is always alone. I know of an incident where someone got involved with a Server who ended up becoming the Supervisor then Manager. They broke up but one of them reported to the other person. They could not look him in the eye as they remembered their passionate and crazy rendez-vous's, as well as some dirty dancing at the local bar. The subordinate could only think of him having seen the other naked! People in the department knew of the past relationship as they had been at several house parties and had vividly been observed swapping tongues. She eventually quit her job due to the uneasiness she felt between him and her.

5. The Future is So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades
Always be nice to others. My Mother told me, "don't say anything unless you have something nice to say". You never know where Paul the Front Office Manager will end up. One day, he got a promotion and was the Director of Rooms; MY BOSS!. She had some moments of regret as she had remembered some heated moments together of when she had told him to "shove his early check-in requests". He never forgot it but he did forgive. Thank goodness for her. They eventually were able to laugh it off when she was promoted and became his peer. Don't ever forget who you call an asshole because you truly could end up kissing their ass.