i just got a job working overnight at a hotel front desk

nah, man. it's like, i mean i was unable to be cool and harness my desire to see her titties and stay in character.

the second guest that came in was named van nostrand. she said it might be tough to spell but i reminded her, kramer as dr. martin van nostrand. she said that her family was very proud of the name and that they've traced their family tree back to the 1630s, friesland. she said that when her second son was born, they let their first son choose a name for him. he chose the name jacob. turns out, they learned this later, their first son had no idea, their first ancestor that came over to canada and settled in toronto was also named jacob.

dylannn i want you to know that i am thinking about you and your sitch and that your stories, while perhaps sad to you, or even irritating, are tremendously beguiling from my POV. hang in there.

This is great reading. Thanks, Dylann.

really enjoying the stories dylannn -- pretty fantastic stuff.

Seconding that, love the stories <3

that's good to hear!

although i wish there was more to say. i've related nearly every incident that has occurred. the only events i've omitted are those that might strain credibility-- even if they're true, they sound a little too good.

is there anything interesting going on in terms of just surroundings; hotel carpet patterning, competing hums of electronic fixtures, &c. i am staying up waiting to do a radio fill in drinking shitty coffee (i went to the place & asked for a medium coffee & then had doubts, whether i should have got a large since i have to be up until probably seven, but lord i don't even wanna see what the large is like now i have the medium) & i am really enjoying this thread, its gateway nocturnalism

i'm not sure about the organization of a daytime hotel staff, but there are two offices that i can sit in. one office is near the front desk and has a flatscreen monitor displaying 9 security camera feeds. it has three white book cases and the only things on them are binders with labels like TIME SHEETS 2010/2011 and they're arranged in alternating black and blue. carpet is coarse, striped taupe beige dark blue. there's a honeywell window fan set in a window and it's blowing on the highest setting and the sound of plastic blades sucking in night air is the main sound. there's another office that's empty except for a desk and fridge, but there's no window and it's hot. there's a large back room with two fridges, a LIFETIME-brand folding table, two bulletin boards (schedule, black and white computer printouts of pictures of cats, a glossy colour picture of a cat in a jar, minutes from the occupational health committee, a notice of contravention from the alberta minstry of labour relations and workplace safety, a list of emergency numbers, the hotel's human rights and harassment policy, an origami flower, a computer printout of a picture of a black woman with the caption "share this if you're a strong, independent black woman who DON'T NEED NO MAN," a sketch of the hotel done by a guest, several thank you cards from guests), a first aid kit on the wall, a water cooler, stacks of phone books, two haier-brand fridges, a water cooler, and several leather office chairs.

on the main floor, there's also a small library, which is octagonal and has views of a creek and an ordered block of forest. in the library, there are several low book cases and a glass case containing local historical artifacts. it is uncarpeted.

there are other things on the main floor:
there's a gym.
the entrance to the outdoor pool is at the east end of the main hallway. it's hot tonight but when i first started working here, a month or so ago, it was still getting cold enough that the pool would steam all night, sending up a constant wet cloud over the east side of the building. there's a wrought iron fence around the pool.
the indoor pool is at the west end of the main hallway. it was built relatively recently and it's industrial and there's nothing about it worth describing, a lot of concrete and beige tile. it closes at ten o'clock, so during the primetime of inactivity between two and three thirty, i'll sometimes go for a swim, which requires some daring on my part because of the long period of time away from my post and semi-public nudity.

does your hotel have any meeting rooms/ballrooms?
how many rooms/suites/floors?
is there a gift shop?
have you had to "walk" anyone yet?
how many similar hotels are there in the area?

there are two large conference rooms. there are also business suites that have a long meeting table and two work areas. there doesn't seem to be a large number of corporate groups. we get a lot of business from tour groups. during the week, there are sometimes talks by local naturalists or historians.
there are five floors. 60 rooms/suites.
there's a gift shop, which sells things like expensive raincoats, books about local history and outdoors topics, small pieces of art by local artists, postcards.
there's an on-site restaurant and room service until midnight.
in all of the instances we were overbooked, i was saved by no shows. i've heard that it's standard practice for hotels to overbook and we are usually overbooked on big weekends. the last week, we've been overbooked by 10-15% because of the amount of no shows and last minute cancellations due to flooding. i think OTAs making bookings can sometimes result in overbooking, if a date is not manually closed on our end. a lot of the booking issues are probably sorted out before i arrive at work. so far this week, i have checked in three guests.
there are many similar hotels in the area. it's a resort area, a major tourist destination for domestic and international tourists. i feel like we're upper midrange, price and qualitywise.

how many security personnel are on duty during your shift

we have a contract with commissionaires; one guy on duty from 11-3.

and after 3....?

nothing, man. is that unusual?

sort of? i dont know.

anyway, good thread.

i am just drinking in these descriptions

it's like a richard ford novel

great thread

although i wish there was more to say. i've related nearly every incident that has occurred. the only events i've omitted are those that might strain credibility-- even if they're true, they sound a little too good.

feeling this, as you'll all know from the famous ilf thread "I SCORED A GOAL FFS" hang on in there, back yourself and give us the full story imo

what happens if you're overbooked and everyone shows up? is there a policy in place for that or do you just have to wing it?

http://blog.cvent.com/blog/meeting-and-event-planning-tips/the-hotel-walk-policy-defined

working late, i only have the vaguest sense of the rest of the staff, especially the heavyweights of guest services that control the lobby during the day, the staff of eight or nine that are here behind the desk and behind other desks during daylight hours. when i come in at 11, sometimes it's a guy named daniel, who is from toronto, went to school in vancouver and actually did some sort of degree in working at hotels. things that drive our conversation: gossip about other staff members, 'ryan gosling or channing tatum'-style pick only one games. but this information is out of date because he got fired for stealing money. now, it's this girl named nicole or a girl named rebecca. rebecca is a coolly religious girl from some fucked up town in northern ontario. the first time i met her, i asked her, "a lot of gas huffing going on up there?"-- that's not a funny thing to say but in my memory of the conversation, i asked it sincerely and quickly realized it wasn't a good first conversation question. i followed that question up with, "how's the moose hunting up there?" she's a singer. after the conversation where i asked her about huffing gas, i had several very sincere, serious conversations with her. nicole is in her late-30s and also went to school to learn how to work at a hotel, an educational choice that i'm mentioning again in the same slightly disparaging tone. she's got a pompadour and seems like she'd be interested in a local roller derby league forming. she likes to touch while talking and also shared with me that she has sex with men and women. she's very short and... i'm a gentleman, okay? i don't know quite how to put this but... she has a nice figure. when i talk to her, i adopt a mumbling, old fashioned masculine character, alberta accent, spitting molasses through the slit in the lid of a styrofoam coffee cup. tonight, she mentioned that she couldn't find weed and said that the reason was the flooding in southern alberta and highway closures in the bc interior. we sat in the front seat of my car and smoked a joint. i mentioned that i really enjoyed working with rebecca. nicole asked in a flirty way, "ohhhh, you're feeling a little something for her, huh?"
"no no no, nothing like that."
"she's a pretty big girl."
"that's not a problem."
there was some segue to this but i can't remember what it: she pulled open the top of her shirt and showed me the strap of her bra. it was leopard print, or some other animal print. for some reason, i said, "come on, let me see the whole thing."

that's not the right way to build a healthy relationship with co-workers.

I want an entire book of Raymond Carver-esque short fiction, On the Midnight Shift

I also have this thread bookmarked, I used to work the 11-7 shift and the night vibe you depict resonates with me. good writing, too! thanks, man.

Yeah, this whole place sounds exactly like certain aspects of hotels I've worked in, except transplanted to what sounds like the wild highwayman frontiers of Canada. I could imagine a world where teleportation is implemented just by having you step inside one sad hotel at 3 AM, and you can step back out of any of them.

you should work on writing a book while you're bored at the hotel, even if it's not about hotels. i would buy it.

yeah, do that

http://media.comicbookmovie.com/images/users/uploads/10300/013819817ryiqj.jpg

Yeah, this whole place sounds exactly like certain aspects of hotels I've worked in

In every hotel ever...

dylannn based on all the clues you've left itt, i think my little brother is spending part of his honeymoon this week at a hotel very near where you work... possibly even AT your hotel?

good thread

just read that heads in beds book it wasnt very good but it got me thinking about upgrades and how i basically have never even really been aware that they exist

gr8000, i just wanted to be sort of light on the details because i was sort of paranoid someone would pop in and ask like, "yo, do you work at the XXXXXXX?" mostly out of a sense of being embarrassed by this, partly by not wanting to get in trouble-- when i first got hired a cautionary tale was told to me about a girl that got fired for tweeting a picture of john cougar mellencamp checking in-- after hinting at or describing doing things i was specifically told not to do while working here.

i only have about five more days here.

Agreed on the Ford/Chandler vibe itt, love this stuff :)

nooo, you must continue working here! For us! xpost

oh dylan i wasn't trying to blow your spot-- just that when my brother started telling me about his honeymoon plans i was like hey wait a minute and thought of this thread

best of luck in your new endeavors; stick with writing

i know, big guy! i trust you on that. you're in the biz.

It's been 5 days.

i started doing this again. not overnight but at night.

in a different situation. it's a hostel. i want to be vague about where. pros: there's extremely limited pressure and i never ever have to wake up until the afternoon and i have time to work on projects outside work and i get to meet people from all over the world. cons: the money is poor. the lack of pressure and formalness can be very hard to handle.

it might be the first job i've ever enjoyed. my co-workers are uniformly nice and cool and the guests are teenagers from denmark and french-canadians on their way west and retired australians cycling from alaska to costa rica.

by the time i finished the last sentence i realized i didn't actually want to talk about it.

here's hoping you change your mind and write screeds.

no. i started talking about it because i'm at work and depressed as fuck and i think i was just going to solicit ilx for advice on how to solve everyday interpersonal problems.

That actually sounds really sweet

hey dylannn is it still working out for you?

yeah it suddenly got really good. sorry for reviving this for nothing. i could talk about it now.

20 years ago I did a stint as a Kitchen Porter at a novotel hotel in Sheffield for a short stretch. It never got good, no Bukowski type action at all, just a lot of taking verbal abuse. Even when the World Championship Snooker was going on nearby at The Crucible I didn't didn't even get a glimpse of any of the snooker stars staying there. I ended up getting into a shoving match with the Geordie twat head chef and walking out at a very inopportune moment for him, leaving the kitchen in chaos on a busy night. That bit was fucking good.

@dylannn, do you do any reading when it's slow? what books do you read under those circumstances? kafka?

i really want to write about being on night float for the psychiatry service but you know

love this thread btw

jim thompson's a swell looking babe is a pretty creepy book with an overnight hotel clerk protagonist