Ever have one of those days where it seems that everywhere you look, "whomp, there it is"?
My "pay for traveling/shopping" job is at a hotel. I usually work in the afternoons/evening, so this morning I was a bit surprised when one of my co-workers called asking if I could come in earlier. Apparently she had just went to the back office to eat her lunch, and ended up getting sick. She had been feeling crummy for awhile now (about a week), but it was mostly cold/flu symptoms, so she was pretty surprised when she ended up vomitting.
I said of course I would come in earlier so she could leave (LOL- the whole time wondering where she had been sick, and if it was gone by now. Me catching anything is not really a concern to me, as I know this person is hygienic, and there is no way her vomit would be alive and kicking by the time I got there. I just didn't want to see any evidence!). I got there, and not an hour into my shift did someone come down and say they had left something in their room but they had already checked out.
Since housekeeping didnt get to it yet, I took him to the room to see if he could find whathe lost. I only opened the door and stood in the doorway- like I was going into a hotel room with a random. After he found what he was looking for and left, housekeeping called down and asked who had stayed in that room. Apparently, he had been sick all over the wall and carpet near the bed. Man, if I would have seen that not only would my anxiety have shot through the roof, but I would haveput an extra cleaning charge to his bill. I KNOW this was alcohol related, as he was a walk in from the day before, and when I had checked him in he and his friend were asking where the closest liquor/beer store was. That, and he was completely shifty-eyed and nervous while we were on his way too and from the room, and when he got downstairs he high-tailed out of there even though one of his friends was calling to him as he was leaving. He KNEW he had done something wrong.
man, twice at work in one day- wonderful, lol. I will also soon be starting to work the audit shift- which is from 11pm to 7am. During this time, I will be the only person at the front desk, and there will be a security guard on premise. It will be Friday and Sat evening- and we have a large bar next door that has live bands those nights. There are a LOOOT of drunken walkovers....I'm not sure why I volunteered, lol. Maybe it's my way of testing myself. Maybe I'm just a glutton for punishment. Who knows- all I know if that if someone is sick in the lobby, I will wake up the manager on duty to clean it because it is definitely not in my job description.
On a more interesting note, I found out that one of the guys I work with also has emet-tendencies. When I mentioned that one of the girls left early because she was sick, the first thing he asked was wether we had wiped down the counters and phones. That, and he related to me the fact that the last time she was sick, it came on suddenly and she vomitted in a garbage right to the side of the front desk. This garbage is at the only entrance to the front desk area, and he said that his first instinct was to jump the counter. He couldn't walk past her, because then he would have to see/be near it, so he couldn't move away from where he was until it was all taken care of. Interesting.
I am constantly amazed by my physiological reaction to all of this. I am good with the self talk, and not really letting this affect a lot of my life or my relationship with others. But, even though the mental aspect has improved, the physiological aspect hasn't. Coming into work and reading a maintenance request from the morning asking for vomit to be cleaned from outside the front of the hotel will immediately make me feel nauseous and clammy, even though I KNOW it was long gone by the time I got there. It's bothersome how my body reacts automatically even though my mind is telling me to chill.
*amber*
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I am constantly amazed at how much I can freak on the inside, but still be relatively 'normal' on the outset. If only the interior can match the exterior, then I'd be in business!
