Welcome to the jungle in My Unpredictable Life ...

So I'm back. I've been trying to get caught up on all of you. With over 400+ entries, it is taking some time, because I do have a life outside of this laptop ya know lol. Some of you have gotten blank messages, to let you know I read it, others, got an actual comment, some got nothing. But I am reading. Slowly but surely.

Anyway, the laptop hard drive took a crap on me, thanks to The Child. She likes to play on a site called Roblocks and it is nothing but a malware, virus, hack inducing nightmare of a sight. She plays it on her laptop with no problems, probably because she has no programs installed. My laptop is not so lucky. Between that damn site and constant power surges, I lost my desk top over a year ago. So she is now forbidden to even glance at my laptop, much less touch it with hopes of playing on it.

Luckily, I was able to save everything off the old hard drive before it died completely so transferring everything to this new hard drive has been easy. Its just taken a while trying to find the time to sit here long enough to load everything up. I still have to reload my Yahoo Messenger. Hopefully tomorrow I can get around to that.

Work is still going good. I refer to it as "The Jungle" now. Normally I would call it a zoo but that description doesn't fit well. A zoo keeps the animals contained, restricted, unable to "be" themselves. This new hotel encourages everyone to embrace their inner animal and gives us pretty much free reign. I am most definitely in my element lol. They encourage us all to go the extra mile, to never, ever, tell a guest "No" (within reason of course!), be as friendly and welcoming as possible. We have become a family with the regular/long term guests.

For instance: our friendly neighborhood sniper is an early bird. He is usually up by 4 am and wants his coffee right then and there. My first night on my own working the night audit he taught me real quick that if it isn't ready by then, he'll walk right back into kitchen and pour his cup from the urn as the coffee is brewing into it. So, it is my personal mission to make sure the coffee is out and ready by 3:59am each morning that I work. LOL

We have a few night owls that like to walk the hotel when they get restless. They don't want to go to the casino, they don't want to swim or exercise, they are just restless so they come down to talk. I caught one of them off guard one night by saying, "Has anyone ever told you that Toby Keith looks like you?" He just stopped and stared at me and said, "Uh no. Lots of people say "I" look like Toby Keith though." I laughed and replied, "Pffft! Naw Dude! He totally looks like you! LOL" Which either way you put it, they could be twins. But the point is that I was trying to "go the extra mile and make the guest feel good" lol And for those that know me off of PB, y'all know my obsession with Toby Keith. So I really enjoy when this guest comes to talk! LMAO

All the front desk employees that were working from April 1 till April 30 got an $200+ bonus on their paychecks because the hotel met and exceeded all of it's financial goals and the other goals it had set. Of course, my hire date is April 14. So no, I didn't see any of that money. But maybe next month! Fingers crossed!

Went to my very first staff meeting on Thursday. No job I've ever had has ever required one so this was a new experience for me. I got lots of praises for how quickly I caught on to night audit. I won't lie to you people, there is a shit ton to do for night audit! I had to make myself a "cheat sheet" to make sure I didn't forget everything needed to be done. It's 5 pages long!!! The actual audit itself is right at an hour long. I barely have time to eat before 5 am so I've been having to get up a few minutes earlier than normal so I can eat before I leave. Once I walk in the hotel, it is none stop busy till 4:30-5 am. I'm sure if I didn't stop to chat with the guests when they want to talk, that might help my time management, but at least it makes the night go by quicker.

Rick, the guy who trained me on night audit is like a giddy little high school girl when it comes to me. He's so sweet but damn Dude, tone the gushing down a little will ya?! He's so happy that we are both OCD and we understand each others "method of madness". He's counting down the days until he can train me on the DSR's. It's not that important that I learn them right away so I'm trying to hold off on that. I told him that I wanted to wait till everything becomes habit for me and I am not having to "stop and think about what it is I need to do or am doing to get it done". Right now, it is much easier than it was in the beginning, but I'm still having to rely on my cheat sheet for a lot of it to insure that I get it all done perfectly. Monday night the numbers were off by $86.03 and even though it was nothing I did (one of the new girls put that amount in the wrong section), it still bugged me and I couldn't "rest easy" till Omar came in to show me where the missing money actually was. But Tuesday night everything was perfect down to the exact penny. I like those kind of nights lol.

Okay, this has gotten too long winded. Sorry. I'll shut up now so that I can piddle around the house before I have to get ready for work at 3pm. The Child is chomping at the bit to add some songs to her iPod now that I successfully got the iTunes library transferred over without losing everything. Go Sassy! lol

Till next time ...