I created this blog a while ago and wrote a couple of posts, then practically forgot about it. If you read those previous posts, by the way, I apologize. I started to re-read them today but soon I was bored half to death. I promise to erase them from the cyber space and suppress the memory of them forever, as I'm sure readers have. They were the most boring pieces of writing I've ever created.
Today I was bored to begin with, which is why I came back to this blog after months of neglecting it. After realizing how boring my previous posts were, it dawned on me that this is not the place to have published such articles, so I have decided to make this a personal space to write freely about anything that comes to mind without following a format. It sounds more fun.
And what I need now is fun. The thing is that I am at work. Yes, an actual job; I have to earn a living, right. Writing has its rewards for me but, unfortunately, none of the financial kind. I rarely admit this even to myself, but the sad fact is that I am a broke writer. So to pay my multiple bills and feed myself, I work at a hotel as a front desk clerk. The pay is little but the work is even less. Basically, I sit here behind the desk and look pretty. While I'm at it, I check my Facebook every few minutes. I don't even close the page and log back on again and again. I minimize the window and every five minutes or so I go back and refresh the page to see what everybody is up to. It's amazing what you can learn on Facebook. People feel the need to share their every thought and action; it's disgusting, but addictive. Luckily, I still have the ability to stop myself from publishing stupid updates. Sometimes I go as far as to actually type in the status bar something like, "Life is like a cookie," just because I have a seemingly philosophical line stuck in my head for no apparent reason, and the first thought that crosses my mind is to post it on Facebook to enlighten my Facebook friends. But I quickly catch myself and delete it. Most of the time, anyway.
The point is that I was bored of looking pretty behind the desk. Fall is the slowest season. While sometimes I even register a few guests and answer a couple of phone calls, today isn't one of those busy days. Earlier today I sat here thinking, "I'm actually really good at my job. I deserve a raise for being such a good worker." The challenge will be to present this argument to the owner, so I came up with a speech that I will deliver tomorrow when he stops by to get his free USA Today and free coffee, as he does every day. According to him, he can't afford to go to Starbucks and evidently, owning half of the town's hotels and apartment buildings doesn't yield enough profit to spend a dollar on a USA Today either. And I strongly suspect his aftershave is the cheap kind; I can tell by the way my stomach reacts every time he's near. But anyway, everyday he comes in to get one of the complimentary newspapers and a cup of bad coffee that's intended for guests.
But let's get back to the speech I have prepared. So when he comes in tomorrow and just as his aftershave hits my nostrils, I will have a broad smile and say, "Good morning, Mr. Thompson. Lovely day, isn't it?"
To which he will most likely reply, "The glass door is dirty, Nick. You should clean it when you get a chance."
I know he will say that because I always forget to clean the damn door, and invariable when Mr. Thompson walks in there are kids' fingerprints and noseprints and foreheadprints all over the glass. So I will say, "Certainly, that is my next item on my to-do list. But I was wondering if you could spare a few minutes of your precious time; I'd like to tell you something important."
And he will surely say, "Are you going to tell me you've rented fifty rooms today? Because that will make me very happy."
"Well, I've rented three rooms today, but there are two reservations for tonight," I will say with as much enthusiasm as I can, then I will go on speaking fast so he won't interrupt, "But actually, what I wanted to say has to do with what a great job everyone does around here. We receive compliments everyday and guests keep coming back. In fact, the other day a gentleman told me that I deserved a raise. Of course I replied that I was just doing my job, but he insisted on expressing his satisfaction with my service to the manager, totally unnecessary, but he insisted. Jack wasn't around though, because we are watching labor cost and never have more employees on the clock than necessary. So to save the company money on labor, Jack has taught me how to handle anything that he would take care of, such as sales reports or group reservations; so now he can be off when I'm working knowing I can handle anything that comes up, and of course there's only the labor cost of one employee instead of two. Jack's a genius, isn't he? Don't you agree that I deserve a raise?"
After blurting out the speech, hopefully Mr. Thompson will be off guard and say, "Yes, I agree."
It may be a long shot, but it's worth a try. I hope I get a raise, but if I don't, it's okay. The job is so easy that sometimes when I'm watching a re-run of Friends on the TV of the lobby and I fall out of my seat laughing I get up thinking, "This is what I get paid for; I'm thankful for my job."
