Duty meals - Part 2
Like they say, showing up is half the job. Another acquaintance from my last hotel saw me in the cafeteria one afternoon after one of my lunch shifts. She asked me how it was going. I told her it was slow and then I asked her how things were for her. She smiled and said she was having fun! Well, I thought that was the end of that.
Not 10 minutes later I was clearing my plate in the dish lane and a girl I didn’t know at all came up to me and said, “Are you David?”
“Yes, that’s me,” I replied.
She was wearing what I thought was a front office uniform. That is usually how you know what people do in the hotel, by the uniform they wear. She introduced herself and asked me if I had time to talk. We both grabbed a coffee and sat down. She explained that she was the head front office cashier and needed new staff as several team members had recently left. Oh, so why me? Well, she said, our mutual friend MJ had called her to tell her about me and she wanted to let me know firsthand about the new openings.
Ten minutes later I was in what we called “personnel” in those days filling out a transfer request only to find out I was not eligible to make the change because I had not completed my six months.
With that news I made my way to the lobby where I found my new friend behind the cash end of the front desk. I told her about my bad news and thanked her. Maybe in a few months, I said.
“Not so fast,” she said, “Didn’t you work back east before coming here?”
“Yes,” I said.
“Stay right there and I’ll make a call.” With that she disappeared, and I took a seat feeling just a little looked upon by the desk agents, not to mention what my imagination was doing about what the guests were thinking.
She reappeared after what seemed like an eternity and she was smiling a little. She motioned me to the desk and explained that she was able to get a small exception for me.
The very next day I had my first day of training on the front desk. The job was awesome. I learned so much and by the way I was the only guy in the entire department that winter. I worked there for almost one year when another opportunity presented itself and I transferred to the F&B Control Department.
After a few months the assistant left to move to British Columbia and I was offered her job.
Now things were starting to cook.
This job was really the first job where I could show “management” what I was all about. It was coincidentally the same time that the hotel got its first personal computer. This meant a steep learning curve, but it was no time until I had all the green columnar pads on Lotus spreadsheets and what would take an hour before now took four minutes.
This is where things paid off. Not only was I in the right time at the right place with work, I also had a new boss and her boss liked me. She was a bit unusual, but you take what you are given and make it work.
She is the one who gave me my own duty meal account. Duty meals in our business are as common as shifts can be long and meals are often provided after the work is done. But to have your own duty meal account—including your own number—means you are given the privilege of going to the outlets whenever you work. It means that even before your shift you can have a meal, heck, even on your day off. That is not only awesome, it is life changing.
I sat there during the conference breakfast as my mind wondered back through all of this and I remembered this hotel, the dining room, the people, the work, the good times and most of all how proud I was that I stuck with it.
David Lund – The hotel Financial Coach
At Hotel Financial Coach I help hotel leaders with financial leadership coaching and workshops. Learning and applying the necessary financial leadership skills is the fast track to greater career success and increased personal prosperity. I significantly improve individual and team results with a proven return on investment.
Contact David at (415) 696-9593
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