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Raina swiped her badge at the security door and went in. Further down the hallway, she popped her head into the warm kitchen that smelled of freshly baked bread, bustling with activity, and said hello to the chefs and cooks. From the moment she stepped through the entrance of the Del Mar she held herself a little straighter, walked a little more confidently, and laughed a little more easily. The hotel was where she belonged most in all the world.
She scrutinized the floor as she walked, looking for any stray dirt or smudge, just as she did the walls and the fixtures. An unlit bulb up on the ceiling reminded Raina that she desperately needed to find a new maintenance man.
Reliable ones seem to be scarce in Palm Beach, especially when you actually needed them, she thought wryly. The last man she had interviewed a day earlier had been qualified enough, but his attitude stunk. She would much rather hire a person with less experience, who could learn on the job, and had a positive attitude. After all, how hard was it to change light bulbs and unclog toilets? Someone who was discrete and good with the guests was more important.
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nbsp; Raina knew more than anyone else that attitude is what mattered in the hotel business. It had gotten her to where she was today.
She had started as a room attendant cleaning several of the resort’s eleven hundred rooms, along with other housekeepers, while attending community college in the evenings. It had been a hectic schedule, but she had done it and gotten her business degree.
Her diligence and kind way with guests hadn’t gone unnoticed and she had quickly been promoted to housekeeper, then head housekeeper, and then to an assistant manager, and now, she was the manager of this magnificent property.
Still, she had her sights set even higher. Attitude did matter, Raina thought to herself, remembering her ideas on improving the standards of the housekeeping department. She was especially proud of how her idea on motivating the staff had caught on. She knew how much everyone hated “forced fun” get-togethers and motivational seminars. Instead she offered bonuses and incentives for catching employees performing random acts of kindness or exceptional service.
Still, every month, a large portion of the housekeeping staff and other service people went out for dinner or bowling together. It was impossible not to grow close to the people who worked in such close quarters for so long together.
The management offices were off a heavily carpeted hallway, away from the noise of the kitchen but close to the lobby. Her office was through a medium-sized room, furnished with a lone desk that should have belonged to a secretary, but which was currently vacant.
Another of Roger’s cost cutting measures, she thought with a heavy sigh. As far as Pervy Rog was concerned, Raina did not need a secretary. Or someone to manage billing and invoices. Or a new handyman.
Roger believed she could run the hotel single handedly by waving a magic wand, apparently, she thought with a tinge of bitterness. She was now doing the job of three people, but her salary hadn’t budged one penny.
While she understood that sometimes a business needed to cut back, the lack of a secretary meant that Raina wasted a lot of time on tasks that a secretary would have handled. She eyed the piles of papers stacked precariously throughout the room. She would get to those.… Someday. Eventually. Really, she swore to herself, she would. Maybe tomorrow.…
Raina just had enough time to drop her bag in her office and read the agenda that they would be discussing that day on her phone. She left a minute later and headed to a small conference room that they used for their meetings.
“Good morning everyone,” Raina called cheerfully as she walked into the room filled with the heads of the various departments, from the head of sales to the front office manager.
She looked to pour herself a cup of coffee, but noticed none of the breakfast pastries, fruit, or beverages had been laid out. “Eddie, can you have the kitchen send up our usual spread?”
Eddie, an older gentleman who had been at the Del Mar since the Kennedy administration just shrugged and shook his head. “Mr. Roger says no more. It’s too—"
“Expensive.” Raina finished the words for him and sighed. He just shrugged and nodded.
Raina gritted her teeth and sat at the head of the table. How a hotel whose cheapest room was one thousand dollars a night couldn’t afford some rolls and coffee for the staff was beyond her. To her right was Kelly, her oldest friend as well as the head of housekeeping and customer service of the Del Mar, and to her right, was Mathew, who was the restaurant manager.
“Good morning, everyone.”
“Good morning,” they dutifully echoed back.
“It’s good to see you all looking chirpy this morning,” Raina said and grinned. “Let’s get straight to business. I saw a few complaints from yesterday’s guests.”
Her tone changed from playful to serious. Her day started better when there were no complaints whatsoever, but that was a rare morning. Rich people liked to complain a whole damn lot.
“Yes, we had a guest checking out in the evening who complained that her room was too close to the fire exit and she heard noises all night. Don’t ask me from what.” Kelly said. “However, we did sort it out by giving her a complimentary night and she left quite happy.”
That’s what Raina loved about Kelly; cool headed and efficient, she sorted out the complaints swiftly and usually had a positive outcome with the guests. Raina went through two more, one from the restaurant and another from checkout. They were minor issues but their effects spread far as Raina drilled her staff about procedures and how to improve guest relations. Word of mouth was very powerful and if one guest bad-mouthed them to five friends, those were five potential customers lost.
“Right. Let’s move on to today’s banquet schedule, Mathew?”
As the restaurant manager, Mathew’s duties included organizing the menu for any events at the hotel.
“We have the Deputy Mayor’s State of the City Banquet Luncheon today and a black tie charity dinner for the ‘Wonders of Uplifting Children Charity’ in the evening.”
Raina watched Mathew as he spoke. He dressed immaculately, in black or dark blue suits and matching ties but it was his face that caught your attention. He had eyes which were blue and sometimes green depending on which direction they caught the light. He was handsome in a good-guy sort of way that made women swoon. He was also very, very gay. She’d learned that the hard way many years ago, much to her disappointment. Still, she could admire the view from where she sat.…
She wound up the meeting fifteen minutes later and everybody left for their various stations. She and Kelly lingered behind. They hadn’t caught up in the last week except to consult on professional matters.
