Confession

Okay. New week, new confession.
This time, 'round it's why the hell I started this:
A few days before I started this blog, I came across an MSN article "Confessions of a Housekeeper." Ho, man. The writer implied that she got paid by the hour and only had to do 12-15 rooms a day. AND it takes twenty minutes to make a bed.
Duuude.
First off, it takes me twenty minutes or so to clean a *whole* room, depending on how dirty it is. I need ten minutes to strip down the room, make the bed back up, change pillow cases and dust. The rest of the time is used to clean the bathroom. I tell you, no shortcuts are allowed there. My bosses are sharp-eyed and picky as all hell. Our bosses do check, and score us. We're not allowed to get anything less than an 85 per-cent, or we go on probation.
The next thing you all need to know, is that we're NOT paid by the hour. We're paid by the room. Some days it's not too bad. Other days, it sucks like woah. These days are usually Sundays, when everyone and their brother is checking out of the hotel, and the queen-bed rooms are almost all doubles. The dirtier the room, the longer it'll take me, and double rooms take me at least a half-hour.
And the last point, I'm so jealous of all the hotels that can get away with 12-15 room boards. We have to do anywhere from 14 on up. The average board, however, is 18 rooms. Because we have *so many*, we tend not to take breaks. Though, we are required to attend the 1015 meeting during the week, and since the restau closes at 1000, we take the oppertunity to snatch some breakfast.
A last thing... the article mentioned that housekeepers are supposed to clean water glasses. We're not allowed to do that. In fact, our glasses are now wrapped after they come out of the dishwasher and before they're put in the guest rooms. Apparently, we did have housekeepers that tried to cheat, and that's how the bosses put a stop to it.
...Though, I'm not sure *why* the housekeepers would bother with washing or wiping out glasses. It takes less time to switch dirty for clean. *shrugs*
So, yeah. The "Confessions of a Housekeeper" article on MSN doesn't really paint an accurate picture of housekeeping.

Smoking

My city has a smoking ban for all public places-- bars, resturants, and hotels are not exempt. To this effect, there are "No Smoking" signs all over the hotel at which I work. These signs also announce a five hundred dollar fine if you are caught smoking or leave evidence that you have been smoking in a room.
This still doesn't stop people from smoking in the hotel.
I really hate it when they do.
I am a housekeeper in a NON-smoking hotel, not a waitress in a bar. I did not sign on for second-hand smoke, nor am I paid enough to stand in your toxic clouds of stink. If you're going to smoke in one of my rooms, either leave a decent tip or leave enough evidence to allow me to smack you with a fine.
Today, I had two rooms in which people smoked. Though they didn't leave a tip, the first wasn't terrible. Once the balcony door was open, I was able to work comfortably. The second also lacked a tip, but it reeked so badly, I could smell it half-way down the hall. But! There were ashes on the night-stand and a cigar-butt on the desk. Plenty of evidence for a justified fine.
So, I walked all the way down to the front desk. I would have asked the head of operations to phone me in said room, but due to the lingering smoke and the smell, I had trouble being actually in that room for any period of time. The head of operations was absolutely delighted to hear my report, as the guest was inexcusably rude... and paid with a credit card.
This made today a pretty good day to be a housekeeper.