Once Upon a Summertime (16 page)

As
Anna plunged into a to-do
list
that was longer than her arm, she reminded herself that hard work would be a great distraction for the state of her heart. With all she had to accomplish this week, she would have little time to mope around over her shattered love life . . . or Sean. Instead, she rolled up her sleeves and dug in. First on her list was to post an announcement for tomorrow's meeting with the maids. Hoping that she'd get the rest of the maids hired by the end of the day, she decided to schedule the meeting for tomorrow afternoon. If the new hires could attend the meeting, it would be both an introductory meeting and a training session.

After Anna posted an announcement for the meeting on the lunchroom bulletin board, she started looking over the maid applications. Before she began calling, she went over the math herself, using the formula she'd learned in college. But instead of planning for a 75 percent occupancy of the sixty rooms, she pushed it up to 100 percent. Maybe that was optimistic, but she would rather be overstaffed—especially at
the beginning—than understaffed and scrambling. It would also compensate for things like sick days, vacation times, and cleaning of the public areas. As it turned out, Mrs. Newman's calculations pretty much matched Anna's. That was reassuring.

One by one, she began to check on the references of the maids who had already interviewed. Satisfied that their referrals were solid, she started to call the applicants who seemed like the best candidates. Some calls went straight to voice mail, but a few were answered. Mrs. Newman was right: these women seemed to have been eagerly waiting to hear back, and every one of them gladly agreed to come in for a final interview with Anna. Two of them were able to come by later in the day. The others agreed to come by tomorrow morning. It seemed that the prospect of working for this new boutique hotel was highly motivating.

By midafternoon, Anna realized that she was hungry. She knew that as a manager, it was up to her to schedule her lunch hour and breaks. She also knew that in hotel management, one didn't always get one's breaks. Since she hadn't brought a lunch, she decided to duck out to a nearby deli. She'd get something to bring back here, allowing her to continue working.

Although she knew no one would mind if she exited through the main lobby, she was reluctant to cross paths with Sean. Not because she didn't want to see him but because she did. Right now she felt like the best cure for her—in getting over him—would be time and space. And perhaps a lobotomy.

It felt good to be outside and invigorating to stroll along the sidewalk. She was still marveling at how different everything here was from Springville. As she passed the little restaurant
she and Sean had serendipitously met at on Saturday afternoon, she felt another wave of sadness. Once again, she chided herself for not listening to that cautionary inner voice. She'd known better than to get involved with a co-worker, and yet she'd naively agreed to go sightseeing with him the very next day. Thankfully, Mrs. Newman was unaware of this—and that was exactly how Anna intended to keep it. What was done was done, but it didn't need to continue.

With a brown paper bag containing her bagel sandwich and an apple, Anna headed back to the hotel. Realizing she'd forgotten to bring her employee pass key for the side entrance, she was forced to enter through the front doors. She was tempted to duck her head down and sprint for her office, but deciding that was childish, she held her head high and strolled into the lobby like she owned the place. Hopefully Sean wouldn't be in the reception area but would be off attending to something or other.

She was halfway through when Sean came rounding a corner. “Good afternoon, Miss Gordon,” he said crisply.

She made a startled smile. “Good afternoon to you too, Mr. O'Neil.”

“Getting all settled in?” he asked.

“Yes.” She nodded. “I'm up to my eyeballs in work.” She held up her brown bag. “Eating lunch at my desk.”

“I hear you,” he said. “Have a good day.” Then he went on his way, just as if Sunday had never happened.

As Anna continued to her office, she felt a tinge of relief. At least Sean seemed to be aware of the importance of maintaining a safe and courteous distance. Yet she felt slightly hurt too. He was so formal and cool, as if he didn't even know her. Okay, she knew that was crazy. Of course, he had to act
like that. If he'd handled it any differently, people might get suspicious, and she would be worried about her job security. Obviously, he was acting like that for her sake—and for his. So why did she feel so irked?

While she ate her lunch, Anna continued to work. She wondered if all she needed to get done was even possible for a single human being. Then she remembered that Mrs. Newman had recommended she hire an assistant, so she called Virginia in personnel. “Do you have any applicants for clerical assistants?” she asked. “Someone who would be good for a position in housekeeping?”

“I certainly do.”

“Could you gather a few applications for me to look over? I'd like to hire someone ASAP.”

“Give me half an hour and I'll have some ready for you.”

Anna thanked her and went back to working on the schedule that she was putting together for the maids. Well aware of the busiest hours, between checkout and check-in, as well as the peak days of the week, Friday through Sunday, she made the schedule accordingly—first on paper and then converted into a pdf file on her computer. Her plan was to make it accessible to all of housekeeping electronically, for those with smartphones, as well as on paper for those without, plus she would post it in the lunchroom.

At four o'clock her first interviewee showed up. Anna suspected from the accent over the phone that Gina was Eastern European, and she quickly discovered that the shy girl was Ukrainian. Although Gina's English skills left something to be desired, she seemed friendly and eager, and her appearance was neat and her manners good. “I'd like to offer you a job,” Anna said at the end of the interview.

Gina's dark eyes lit up. “Yes?”

Anna nodded. “Yes.”

“Thank you—thank you so much,” Gina told her. “I vork hard. I promise.”

Anna asked if she could make tomorrow's meeting, and Gina eagerly agreed. Anna told Gina where to go to fill out the employment paperwork, and they shook hands. “Welcome to the Rothsberg.”

“Thank you!” Gina's eyes were moist with tears. “Thank you much.”

The next applicant was already waiting outside Anna's door, five minutes early. “Come in,” Anna told the middle-aged Hispanic woman. “You're Carlotta Garcia, right?”

“Si.”
She nervously twisted the handle of her purse. “I Carlotta.”

Anna knew from talking to Carlotta on the phone that she spoke very little English. Fortunately, Anna spoke a fair amount of Spanish, so she interviewed her in both Spanish and English. She was already impressed with Carlotta's job references and felt certain she would be a great addition to the housekeeping team. As she wound up the relatively short interview, she asked Carlotta if she was interested in learning more English.

“Si—si.”
She nodded eagerly.

“Great.” Anna nodded. “I'd like to offer you a job.”

“Gracias!” Carlotta's eyes lit up. “When I start?”

“Mañana?”

“
Si—si.
Mañana!” She continued speaking in rapid Spanish as if Anna were fluent enough to keep up.

Anna told her what time to come to work, then sent her to personnel. So far so good. The rest of the interviews were
scheduled for tomorrow morning. She'd lined up more applicants than jobs, just in case someone didn't seem right. She hoped to solidify her housekeeping staff by the time she finished her last interview. In the event they were all worth hiring, she would keep the extra names on file, because everyone in the hotel business knew that housekeeping always had a high turnover.

By midday Tuesday, Anna had hired all the maids and was feeling quite pleased about it. She'd also scheduled interviews with what she felt were the top three candidates to be her assistant, and she planned to fill that position ASAP. The work was still piled up around her, and she knew she needed help.

The housekeeping meeting was scheduled for 3:00 in the maids' lunchroom. Just to get off on the right foot, Anna splurged on a selection of cookies from a nearby bakery. Not from Elsie Dolce—that would be more than just a splurge. She even made a fresh pot of coffee, then did a quick cleanup of the kitchen, wiping down the sticky table and countertops and making a note to herself to be sure that spots like this didn't get neglected. She'd already included, she hoped, every square inch of the hotel for housekeeping, but had somehow neglected this lunchroom. She made another mental note for the other staff lunchroom back behind the reception area.

Anna realized that at some point in time, she'd need to meet with Sean to discuss how housekeeping and janitorial would divide the extra cleaning tasks around the hotel. She knew that janitorial would be responsible for things like the hotel's exterior, large cleaning projects, and places like the spa, pool, lounge, and restaurant. She also knew that cleaning responsibilities varied by hotels, but it was the head
manager's job to draw these lines. Her job was to follow his direction.

Velma and Cindy, the two maids Anna had met on Saturday, were the first ones to come to the meeting. “What's this?” Velma said, eyeing the plateful of cookies.

“Help yourselves,” Anna told them. “First come, first served.”

“Oatmeal raisin,” Cindy exclaimed. “My fave.”

As the other women trickled into the room, Anna warmly greeted them and invited everyone to fill out and wear the sticky name tags she'd set out on the table. “We all need to get to know each other,” she said cheerfully.

After a few minutes, she did a quick head count, then glanced up at the wall clock. Two maids were late. “Everyone help yourselves to cookies, and there's fresh coffee,” she said as she separated the handouts she'd made. “Feel free to introduce yourself to anyone you don't know.”

She decided to allow the maids ten minutes to get their treats and find a chair, hoping that the two MIA maids would show up soon. But it was 3:15 when the tardy maids finally sauntered into the lunchroom like they thought they were elegantly late.

“Oh, did you already start?” a tall blonde asked. Anna recognized her, as well as the other one, from that day she'd been crying in the bathroom. These were the two who'd left a mess on the countertops—a mess that had helped to get her this job. Maybe she should be grateful. She knew that their names were Justine and Bianca, but she wasn't sure which was which.

“The meeting was supposed to begin at 3:00,” Anna informed them. “But we've been having some social time and
a little snack.” She glanced at the cookie plate, happy to see that only one broken cookie remained. “Next time, I'll expect you to be prompt.” She smiled and stuck out her hand. “I'm Miss Gordon,” she told the blonde.

“I'm Bianca Norton.” Bianca nodded to her friend. “This is Justine. Mrs. Newman hired us last week. We've been helping to clean and outfit guest rooms.”

“Yes,” Anna told her. “I know about that.” She shook Justine's hand, then asked them to fill out name tags and take a seat. “Sorry, it seems there's only one cookie left.” She made an apologetic smile as she picked up the agenda she'd written out for this meeting. She started by welcoming them all to the Rothsberg team. She spoke a bit about quality and excellence, explaining that although she knew they all knew how to clean a room, she would go over some quality training at a later date. She told them about what they'd be doing for this week and the next, explaining how the rooms were still being set up and that their job was to clean up after the last of the workers and to eventually prepare the rooms to be ready for guests.

“We will open in just over three weeks. The last week of June. It won't be a grand opening and the hotel won't be full. But it will give us a chance to get the kinks out.” She looked at the non-English-speaking maids, knowing that they were probably feeling slightly lost but also knowing that they would probably work twice as hard as maids like Bianca and Justine to catch up.

Next she explained about the uniforms, handing out a form for them to fill out with their sizes and heights. This was followed by a list of locker numbers, which they filled in with their names as well. She gave them the hotel extensions list as
well as her own cell phone number, which she explained was only for emergencies. Finally, she handed out the schedules she'd finished making last night. The first schedule was for the period before the hotel opened and only included day work. The second schedule was for the last week of June and the full month of July. Naturally, it was 24-7.

“I realize that not everyone will be pleased with their hours. That's just normal. Not everyone can work the day shift because we need a couple of maids on hand during the other hours. But, as with most hotels, you are allowed to trade shifts with other maids—as long as it gets entered into my main schedule at least twenty-four hours in advance.”

She went over some other things, including some warnings about how to avoid repetitive motion injuries or RMIs. “For that reason, I plan to pair maids together. As you can see on your schedule, anyone working the day shift is paired with another maid. The reason for this is twofold. One is to help the maids lacking in English skills to become more fluent. The other reason is to prevent RMIs. I want the maid teams to take turns at tasks so that the possibility of injury is lessened.” She smiled. “Not only that, but it's been proven that a team of two can clean two rooms faster than two women working solo on two rooms. It's simply more efficient.”