I am Pregnant

I am now pregnant, and instead of the actual hard labor of cleaning up rooms by myself, I have been helping the other housekeepers and have also been doing laundry or walking with supervisors to double-check rooms.

The smell of the chemicals, the pushing around the car, lifting the vacuum on and off the cart, scrubbing tubs and moving chairs and furniture to vacuum behind became a bit much.

So, now I am running around making sure other housekeepers are doing their duty. If they aren't, I go up and wipe things down, make sure mirrors have no streaks or spots, pick up that extra crumb that was skipped over, etc. I wish my supervisors did that for me back when I very first started this profession.

It's a drag, the odor of the air freshener STILL gets me queasy, but other than that, laundry and walking the rooms has been interesting. I'm not fond of folding laundry so much though.

Crush

There is a man who stays in our hotel once a month for a week. He does work out here every single month and has a slight southern drawl, but also speaks so eloquently and crisp like that of a News anchor. He's an attractive man, but I am really not interested.

By now he's figured out my work schedule, and our lunch break. I never told him but he always asks me where am I going for lunch. I always tell him, "Home." I don't want him to go where I go and he's never asked to go to my home, so that was safe. Well, I lie. I do not go home but go to various restaurants around here to pick up something fast, or I just eat there and then go back to work.

Oh gosh, I made it to a hamburger shop called Rally's. Guess who I see? It's the guy who always gets our best rooms, comes in every single month for a week, and always asks me out. I was already eating, my face stuffed, and he came up with a tray, didn't sit in front of me, but sat at a table within the same booth, and was like, "It's good to see a familiar face. Mind if I join you?" I mean, he had already sat down, so what was I supposed to say, "No?"

Well, I packed my food up rather fast, because I told him I had to get gas and get back to work to clock in on time. I didn't really need gas, but just wanted to go. I don't feel like a hottie in my sweaty maid outfit. I feel like a trashman! Anyhow, it's cool he finds me attractive but it is not going to go anywhere.

Lo and behold, I ended up having to clean his room. His room smelled so nice, like a fresh shower...he never uses the trial size shampoos or soaps we leave. The room smells like the Axe body wash he has in the shower, and the Polo Sport by Ralph Lauren that sits on his vanity. His room also has a hint of leather because of his leather luggage. Guess what, he requested that I personally clean his room because he said I do it better than anybody else." I had noticed that my room schedule had said that Estella got one of my rooms and I ended up with one of hers. We had a room swap.

The man, who I have figured by the paperwork on his nightstand is named Mark, only needed extra towels, as all his towels and washcloths were used. I made his towels extra fluffy, by shaking them out and refolding them. I fluffed his pillows although we were trained to flatten them, and even straightened out his shoes which were in a mess in front of his closet. I had to, he left me a $30 tip on his pillow.

I'm so very flattered.

Coke and an Umbrella

Yesterday, I went to a checked-out room, and saw TONS of belongings in there. I'm thinking, "Oh, they must have extended their stay," and I moved on to finish up 2 other rooms. Later, my supervisor asked me why I had skipped over the room, after reading over my room-list. It wasn't highlighted (we have to highlight all rooms we cleaned). I said, "It's still occupied."

So, she calls the front desk and they are like, "No, they checked out already." I'm thinking WTF is with all the stuff everywhere?

I went back to the room and found a note that said (verbatim):

Dear Staff,

Thank you for the friendly service this entire vacation. I can't bring all my luggage with me on the airplane because of new baggage fees. The things I have left can be used or donated. I only brought them for my trip. Please do not throw away because everything is in mint conditon. I would like them to be donated or put to good use. I took what I needed. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Mrs. J***** M******* (I bleeped out her name)

She left 2 small suitcases full of clothing (some were brand name and brand spanking new), a bag of lotions and unused lipstick samples and lipbalms, poolside/beach gear consisting of a small plastic table, a rainbow colored beach umbrella, and a folding beach chair (maybe used once or twice), and an ice chest full of Coca Cola and still had a few ice cubes and water in it. My supervisor called for extra help for me, but I really would have liked to been there alone! The housekeepers were on her things like crazy, arguing over who wanted what! They were holding shirts and dresses up. I took the ice chest and umbrella, considering my car was parked within 50 feet of her door.

Housekeeping does have its perks! LOL

I'll Miss You Cashew and Chicken Combo

For the entire duration of my job at the hotel, I was always able to buy food at the hotel restaurant. The only staff that is allowed to actually sit and eat in there are the head hotel honchos who have business meetings there. I would order food and then take it to the break room.

So, they held a meeting Monday after work and said we couldn't order food from the restaurant anymore. This means no more coffee and muffin for me in the morning. I'm so aggravated. I'm an On-The-Go type of person. I wake up in the morning, shower, throw my uniform on, braid my ponytail and GO. I don't usually even have a real breakfast.

Eating a morning snack and having a cup of coffee or even a bottle of water is always convenient for me. It wakes me up and gets me going. They said it makes the restaurant look "cheap" having staff (housekeepers and maintenance is who they actually meant) in the restaurant. We are also not allowed to use the restroom in the hallway. It's for guests only. We have to take that extra long walk to the break area and go there. I was spoiled for a moment. When I first got here, things were much more lenient.

I guess with the cost of everything going up, they also had to do some cutbacks in order to keep guests happy, like making staff use the restroom that tends to not get as clean as the ones in the hallway.

I am pretty bummed. I won't be able to get the fabulous cashew and chicken sandwich that I was able to order before. Now, I have to eat at Subway or McDonalds down the street. Yuck. I guess I could pack a lunch, but WHO HAS TIME anymore?

When I get home, I try not to work so hard. Standing around on my feet as a housekeeper, you'd think my house would be white-glove clean too. WRONG. I have laundry piled up and eat off paper plates because I GIVE UP on dish washing. I also never make my bed unless someone is coming over...like I really have time and energy to fix myself a sandwich.

At Least the Tres Leches Cake was Great

There was a huge birthday celebration for the front desk supervisor. Although I've seen him many times, I never really met him or spoke to him other than hello. I sometimes feel the front desk workers look down on the housekeepers just because they have more verbal communication with guests or perhaps they don't get dirty and sweaty like me while working. Either way, it feels uncomfortable sometimes.

We were presented with enchiladas and tacos. The birthday food was Mexican cuisine and very authentic. I chose to sit with some of the front desk and office people just to see how I would fit in to their conversations and perhaps meet someone not in housekeeping. I was actually disappointed that nobody spoke to me and basically pretended I was not there. I wasn't surprised, just disappointed.

Lunch was delicious and I even had a second helping of chicken and cheese enchilada. They had this very moist cake which they said was called Tres Leches Cake (3 Milks Cake). It was the best cake I've ever had.

When lunch break was over, it was back to the nitty gritty. I noticed that one of the rooms facing the pool was extremely wet. They were letting their children run back and forth into their room in wet bathing suits. I normally wouldn't say anything, but I couldn't hold back. I said, "Please use your towel when going back into the room. It keeps the carpet dry and helps keep it from getting moldy." The mother gave me a dirty look and yelled at the children to stop running indoors. I am not sure if what I had said was disrespecting them as guests, but I felt they were disrespecting our property and it felt right at the time to speak up.

I had another room and there was a note on the bed which said, "Please leave the pillows alone. I brought my own and it's not necessary to fluff them or put pillow cases over them. Thanks." I looked at the pillows and they were filthy! They were beat up looking and inside a light brown pillowcase that looked 50 years old. I guess the pillows were like "blankies."

The bathroom was pretty nasty, though. The female was obviously on her period, and did not have the decency to wrap her menstrual pads in paper. They were just sitting there in plain view. Dirty pillow case and not wrapping her pads! I bet she keeps a filthy house. I changed the wastebasket liner for her and felt almost like vomitting. I have seen far worse things, but something about her room just grossed me out and turned my stomach upside down. After dumping her wastebasket into my trash bin, I actually was so disgusted, I took it to "headquarters" to the main dump that our maintenance staff will take to the outside dumpster bins. I couldn't bare to have her blood that close to me every time I pushed my cart or needed something from it.

The 6 last rooms I had were so very easy as they were all stayovers and those are always easiest. I ended up helping some of the other staff clean some rooms and the day went by extremely fast.

Porn In Room 233

I had a very sexually active room. Apparently, last night there were complaints about one of the rooms and the people in it were being loud, there were loud noises, radio was blaring and lots of laughter and sounded like a lot of people. Come to find out they had a party in there.

However, when I went to clean up the room today around 2:30pm, I noticed that the room was still occupied, but the guests were out and about. They had 3 cameras, 2 angled at the bed and one on the couch. It was absolutely disgusting...at least what was going through my mind.

There was a bottle of warming oil and two used condoms on the coffee table. I LEFT it there. Yes, I am a housekeeper and yes I am to clean up after people, but to deliberately leave a condom on the table is just downright disgusting. They are to stay overnight anyway, so I hope and pray that one of the occupants throws their condom in the wastebasket.

When I got to the bed to make it, I had to get out the biohazard bags. I removed the blanket because I believed it needed to be thoroughly washed and replaced for the room, as the bed area smelled of sex to me. The pillows were piled up as if it was used to boost someone, and there were DIRTY vibrators of multiple colors sitting on the nightstand. On the dresser was some strange glass device which I later learned during our lunch break was another form of sex toy. I cleaned around it and did not touch it. I thought it was a sex toy, but I had no idea. The bathroom vanity had hand prints on the mirror.

The women were laughing at me in the breakroom as I described this room to them.

I guess they were taping a movie of some sort. Apparently, there are some gentleman who rented the room for the week who put it on their business debit card which sounded like a porn production company. So the inside of one of our hotel rooms will be in some porn movie. Just totally crazy.

When Families Sneak kids In.

Considering I CHOSE to work on Memorial Day, they let me have a 3 day weekend this weekend. I'm not at work.

I had such a dirty room Thursday. The room was only supposed to be occupied by 2 people, but they snuck about 4 other people in. There was a makeshift bed on the sofa, and 3 on the floor! The bathroom was sandy on the floor and in the tub. When I began to scrub the tub, the water wouldn't go down because of the sand. I had to call maintenance to the room so they could clear the tub out as I cleaned the pigsty room.

There were crackers and chips in the couch, red stains on one of the sheets on the floor, and the culprit was Flaming Hot Cheetoes fingers, as I found the bag shoved under the couch. The trash was over-full, and come to find out, the couple had their DND sign up for the entire week they were here, for obvious reasons. This is why hotels charge more for having 2 extra kids than 2 extra adults, because kids tear up the place a lot more.

The family had wet mildewy towels fermenting in the closet. And boy were they RIPE. I had to open the window and sliding glass door to breathe. Well, that is my story for the day.