First work day blues

                              Looks glamorous but it actually isn't

Work banishes those three great evils: boredom, vice, and poverty. - Voltaire

by Susan Palmes-Dennis

A lot's been happening to me these days that dispel boredom (according to Voltaire) and the need to earn a few more dollars for home. For whatever reason and whatever it's worth, I'm excited to face these challenges.

Let me share something with you. It’s been 15 days since I've been cleaning rooms in a hotel and doing errands. It is physically demanding work but I do use my brain since housekeeping also entails some common sense and intelligence.

It's actually a part time job and despite the objections of my husband Ronnie, I continue because the hotel is just a two-minute ride from home and I also wanted to experience how to work with the Americans. Besides earning some dollars doesn't hurt.

Taken from fivediamondhospitality.com

I've never done this much cleaning in my life before. I remember working in the judiciary, teaching, selling insurance and caskets and working in media back home in Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental in northern Mindanao, Philippines.

It's really something new for me. At first I thought it was easy because I did clean the family home under my mother's training. 

Boy, was I wrong. It's not as glamorous as what Jennifer Lopez made it appear in “Maid In Manhattan.”

Complimentary

My glorified job description is room attendant/maid. As room attendant/maid, I'm tasked with cleaning the rooms in the hotel. For brevity I call myself an RA. 

Thank God for vacuum cleaners, they help make cleaning carpets and floors. I can only shudder when thinking how I'd fare if I only use brooms. Or worse, a toothbrush.

I also change bed linens and bathroom towels, take out the trash and clean all bathroom surfaces, including tubs, sinks and showers. Room attendants also dust and polish furniture and mop dirty floors.

Taken from ehow.com

They re-stock complimentary toiletries in the bathroom and other hotel provided amenities as well. 

Room attendants are also responsible for inspecting hotel rooms for safety hazards or broken items and reporting these to maintenance.

When I locate lost items, I must report them to a supervisor as well. I can share you a lot of stories about my work experience, just wait in the days ahead.

Happiest

My first day at work after a day’s training was a disaster. Not only did I end the day with my hands red and itchy but my feet and arms weren't moving anymore when I reached home.

I slept eight straight hours and when I woke up I didn’t know if it was another work day ahead. Thanks for the alarm that woke me up.

I clean 13 rooms for seven hours a day and an additional four rooms when there are walk-in guests. Never mind about how much I receive per hour, that's nott the topic here.

With this in mind, I would tell you my experiences in each of the tasks I mentioned in my new blog.

Taken from work.chron.com.

At the end of every work day I'm reminded of Zig Ziglar who said that the ”happiest people I know are those who are busy working toward specific objectives. 

The most bored and miserable people I know are those who are drifting along with no worthwhile objectives in mind.”

Before I shared this story with you and other stories in the coming days, I resolved to be kind to all room attendants I come across and make their work a little more bearable by placing all towels, wash cloths, face towels and what not in designated places.

I'd also dispose of all used cups, complimentary shampoo, lotion and conditioner bottles in the garbage bin. If I happen to drink some complimentary coffee or tea, I'd make sure to dispose of the plastic cups as well.

I'd promise that to myself as well as to you. I would also throw in a few housekeeping tips as well. For now, bye and see you soon.

(Susan Palmes-Dennis is a veteran journalist from Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental, Northern Mindanao in the Philippines who works as a nanny in North Carolina. This page will serve as a venue for news and discussion on Filipino communities in the Carolinas. Visit and read her website at www.susanpalmes-dennis.simplesite.com. Read her blogs on susanpalmesstraightfrom the Carolinas.com. These and other articles also appear at http://www.sunstar.com.ph/author/2582/susan-palmes-dennis.

Susan also has her website at susanpalmes-dennis.simplesite.com You can also connect with her through her Pinterest account at http://www.pinterest.com/pin/41025046580074350/) and https://www.facebook.com/pages/Straight-from-the-Carolinas-/494156950678063)