This one is going to floor you!!! Now, I have told of the mushroom rooms, I have told of smells, and sad decorating. I am not sure if I have mentioned the slants, perhaps we will go into that at a later date. I am seriously thinking those slants may very well be the source of my pain in the hip, but...today we will visit Nature.
I have read about the Safari hotels in Africa, Treetop thatched huts where folks pay massive amounts of money to be one with nature. I have heard of hotels in Hawaii where if you turn the lights on suddenly at night, you will find the walls covered in Geckos.
Some folks, like myself, enjoy hauling the trailer out into the boonies, so I can enjoy the serenity of Nature, lakes with jumping fish, bears in the bushes, squirrels in the trees, foxes and moose cavorting about. But, I like to keep the door closed, to all animals, and insects, don't even like to see a spider inside.
I doubt anyone would appreciate waking up to find another species next to them, and perhaps, some do not even appreciate finding the same species....
Some folks enjoy scuba diving, and closing themselves up in the shark cage for a visit..but it is doubtful they would even consider getting a hotel room with a shark in the bathtub, right? There is a limit to how close paying guests want to come to Nature.
Now, we all know what overhangs on a building are all about, right? The roof always comes down a little farther over the outside walls, well, maybe not always, I am not an engineer, but, in my world, the buildings all have overhangs. It is not unusual for small birds to build nests under these overhangs. Hey, I think it is pretty smart on the bird's end, nice and sheltered, babies will stay dry, and folks would have a difficult time climbing up to dig around in their nests, plus, other animals are not an issue, insects are likely plentiful. If I was a bird, I would feel pretty darn secure with my tidy home protected from the elements. I would fly away from the kiddies, without concern, flitting back home to fill their gaping yaps with all sorts of goodies. Hah!!! Silly birds, they had no clue, and no warning.
This morning, 2 birdie parents lost their babies. Where did the babies go, you ask? Into the sink!!!!Their lovely little home suffered what in our world, would amount to a landslide of epic proportions. The "retaining wall (basically the wall of the hotel) crumbled around their house, causing the tiny babies to plummet through the wall, and down into the kitchen sink of a guest.
Imagine his shock when he awoke to find his sink (which had dirty dishes in it) filled with squawking birdies. Hey, not everyone gets this up close with nature!
The babies have been saved, but sadly 2 birds have come home to not only an empty nest, but a demolished home.
Hummm..I guess this room will offer venting...and a peephole of sorts..better get the duct tape out.
Wednesday, 6 June 2012
Tuesday, 5 June 2012
Repetitive
One of the problems of time off, is that often you can see things from a different (normal) perspective. I imagine some of you may find this blog a tad repetitive, as I have had a few days to consider things, and once again, the issues are still the same.
What on earth has happened to business owners in the past decade? I hear all the time how employees do not take pride in their jobs, they are irresponsible, and unreliable, and simply go in, spend their required time, and walk out, with no thought to their job.
Hellloooo...Pride in the workplace is a two sided deal. The business owner must have a sense of pride in their company. If you work for an employer who is concerned with the workplace, concerned with the customer satisfaction, concerned with the staff moral, you may find that this will rub off on employees. A person who does a particular job, with no expectations of reward, or even acknowledgement, becomes stale. When employees work in a place with a noticeable Caste system, they will certainly not develop pride. They will, instead, stop trying. What is the sense in giving that extra, when it is obvious it is simply ignored, or worse, ridiculed?
Yes, this does happen. When some employees see another go that extra mile, they become jealous. They have no intentions of doing anything beyond the required, so they will start to stir the pot. If they find someone who is farther up the ladder, they will attempt to get their ear, and then the pot starts to boil. Why is it, that there is always someone who will listen to the twisted stories, accept them, and then take it upon themselves to pass it on to employers as the true facts? Those who listen, feel a sense of importance, and companionship. They are part of a higher Caste, they have the right to ensure their special group is acknowledged, and that another is treated with disdain..
Employers should have the common sense to understand Human nature. How did they manage to acquire a business, and have it survive, without understanding people? Goodness sakes, they all went to school! We all remember the "Teacher's pet" cripes, that individual was hated by other classmates, because they were transparent to us, we saw them for who they were, way back in Grade 3! Suckholes, I think that is what we called them, even then! Oh, then we have the Brown nosers, equally hated, and basically, the same.
In truth, the Suck holes, Pets, and Brown nosers (pardon the pun) are incredibly lazy. Their time is spent extolling their self importance, and not doing their job. When an employee has nothing better to do, but bad mouth other employees, their job should be seen as redundant. The employer should clue in that they have far too much time to waste. Those who must continue working away, while another chats away, complaining about co-workers, have no chance. They cannot defend themselves, because they are too busy. They do not have the employers ear, the employer simply accepts the higher Caste person's word as the truth, and then fixates on the worker.
Come on Bosses!! Your business is run by those who work, chatting and complaining and the Caste system, are not conducive to company growth. Look around, those who go the extra mile, are the ones you need to keep. Those who continue to spend their work time whispering into ears, and finding faults with proven reliable, responsible employees are, in truth, destroying the machinery of the workplace.
I know the saying, "the squeaky wheel gets the grease", but honestly, when the squeaks become deafening, and the grease is constantly going onto the same wheel, the rest of the parts will soon stop running smoothly, and that greased wheel will run your company right into the ground.
I expect if I ever was an employer, I would be despised. The only thing I would expect from my employees would be a full days work. I do not need to pay for a friend, I have all the friends I need, and they do not require a pay check. I no longer understand the workplace. I fear that I will never reach the top rungs of any job, simply because I do not savour the taste of Butts.
What on earth has happened to business owners in the past decade? I hear all the time how employees do not take pride in their jobs, they are irresponsible, and unreliable, and simply go in, spend their required time, and walk out, with no thought to their job.
Hellloooo...Pride in the workplace is a two sided deal. The business owner must have a sense of pride in their company. If you work for an employer who is concerned with the workplace, concerned with the customer satisfaction, concerned with the staff moral, you may find that this will rub off on employees. A person who does a particular job, with no expectations of reward, or even acknowledgement, becomes stale. When employees work in a place with a noticeable Caste system, they will certainly not develop pride. They will, instead, stop trying. What is the sense in giving that extra, when it is obvious it is simply ignored, or worse, ridiculed?
Yes, this does happen. When some employees see another go that extra mile, they become jealous. They have no intentions of doing anything beyond the required, so they will start to stir the pot. If they find someone who is farther up the ladder, they will attempt to get their ear, and then the pot starts to boil. Why is it, that there is always someone who will listen to the twisted stories, accept them, and then take it upon themselves to pass it on to employers as the true facts? Those who listen, feel a sense of importance, and companionship. They are part of a higher Caste, they have the right to ensure their special group is acknowledged, and that another is treated with disdain..
Employers should have the common sense to understand Human nature. How did they manage to acquire a business, and have it survive, without understanding people? Goodness sakes, they all went to school! We all remember the "Teacher's pet" cripes, that individual was hated by other classmates, because they were transparent to us, we saw them for who they were, way back in Grade 3! Suckholes, I think that is what we called them, even then! Oh, then we have the Brown nosers, equally hated, and basically, the same.
In truth, the Suck holes, Pets, and Brown nosers (pardon the pun) are incredibly lazy. Their time is spent extolling their self importance, and not doing their job. When an employee has nothing better to do, but bad mouth other employees, their job should be seen as redundant. The employer should clue in that they have far too much time to waste. Those who must continue working away, while another chats away, complaining about co-workers, have no chance. They cannot defend themselves, because they are too busy. They do not have the employers ear, the employer simply accepts the higher Caste person's word as the truth, and then fixates on the worker.
Come on Bosses!! Your business is run by those who work, chatting and complaining and the Caste system, are not conducive to company growth. Look around, those who go the extra mile, are the ones you need to keep. Those who continue to spend their work time whispering into ears, and finding faults with proven reliable, responsible employees are, in truth, destroying the machinery of the workplace.
I know the saying, "the squeaky wheel gets the grease", but honestly, when the squeaks become deafening, and the grease is constantly going onto the same wheel, the rest of the parts will soon stop running smoothly, and that greased wheel will run your company right into the ground.
I expect if I ever was an employer, I would be despised. The only thing I would expect from my employees would be a full days work. I do not need to pay for a friend, I have all the friends I need, and they do not require a pay check. I no longer understand the workplace. I fear that I will never reach the top rungs of any job, simply because I do not savour the taste of Butts.
Friday, 25 May 2012
Room from hell
I started this the other day, but for some reason, just could not get the right words down to explain this phenomenon. I describe it as such, because, it is, at all times, out of the ordinary.
We often can go months without a "Room from hell", but when it occurs, it is always a long term guest.
We will open the door to this RFH in the beginning, hoping that it is a one time mess, maybe a weekend of binge drinking, and once the work week begins, the mess will shrink. Nope!! Not in this room. The mess continues, and the smells join the garbage.
They vary, sometimes it will simply be food, snack food scattered about, chips broken on the floor, mud tracked all about, obvious signs of lack of "before bed shower" on the sheets and pillow cases, energy drinks spilled on linen daily, and an apparent aversion to garbage cans. Those rooms cause a instant sigh upon opening the door. Then you add to this mess the smell of parmesan cheese, which tends to emit from socks, yuck!!!! I used to add that cheese to my spaghetti, now I almost gag when I smell the container, because it just reminds me of dirty socks.
These rooms seldom get a good clean, generally because the laundry will join the potato chips, and we have an unwritten rule, we do not ,usually, sift through dirty floor laundry to open up an area the vacuum can enter. Oh, the bathrooms in these rooms are often decent, and the time we do not use vacuuming, will be given to the tub and toilet, we can dust as well, because the majority of the mess is on the floor.
The last RFH, however, was the doozy of all rooms. This guest stayed months, and months. The first room they were in, we wondered, the bathtub was lined with products, candles were placed on every possible area (as well as the bathtub)and air fresheners abounded. Now, first, I imagined a person who loved clean, and wanted things to smell fresh, HAH!!! I suppose they loved clean, but did not want to take any part of allowing clean.
Every blasted day, we would open this door, to find the garbage overflowing. Hey, no aversion to the garbage can, but apparently, unlike all other guests, the size of the can was not sufficient to the amount of garbage collected daily. The coffee table would be loaded, 3 candles, a heaping ashtray, empty cans, 1/2 empty glasses, weed bitties, joints, pills, makeup, you name it, it was on there. There was also a pet involved, daily food would be spewed about his dish, water slopped onto the carpet, candies, hair ties, lingerie, kleenex, and magazines all over the floor. Mud would daily be tracked across the floor, dirty towels by the fridge on the floor, dirty dishes in the sink, and on the table. The bedroom, well that was disgusting!!! I will state that we had to separate the linens from this room, they were set aside, only be be reused in this room. They were so stained, we could not clean them, therefore destroyed. Clothing was everywhere, candies on the bedspread, on the floor, perfume and smelly stuff littered the dresser, mixed with medication and weed. The bathroom, well, that broke even the strongest of us...for some reason they used a blender on the bathroom sink?????? The tub, as before, had about 20 products lined along it, with at least one opened roll of toilet paper, of course, always, without fail, there would be clothing beside the bathtub.
Our course of action had to change for this RFH, as this guest was continually calling to complain about the poor housekeeping!!! She actually had the nerve to inform one of my co-workers that she worked very long hours, and how nice it would be to come back to a clean room!!!! HUH?????? We did our best, we washed the floors on a continual basis, we lifted everything off that damn coffee table and wiped it down, there were times we did not empty the ashtray, as our rule is, do not throw out roaches.....her tub was washed every day, her linens were changed almost daily, her carpet was vacuumed every second day, yet, this was not good enough, she wanted the vacuuming every day, and she wanted her coffee pot lifted and cleaned under...O.K. sweetie...the last time I did that, I lifted your can of coffee as well, and found your stash under it....
She often would not go to work, and we would enter this RFH to find all the candles burning, call out "Housekeeping" with no reply, wander gingerly in, and lo and behold, she would be passed out in the bed. If she lifted her slumbering (drugged) head in response, we would ask "do you need anything" which she would always reply...." just go ahead " and wave her arms in the air, apparently signally she wanted everything cleaned but the bed she was lying in. Once she replied that she just needed towels...towels were left, and an hour or so later when she came to, she was on the phone to the office claiming her room had been missed.
The day this RFH emptied, was a day to celebrate. Oh, the mess was enormous, but the thrill we feel when we can clean a room from top to bottom erasing the stink and all signs of the disgrace to humanity, is awesome. I cleaned and bleached everything in that room, and today, I walked in, and I was pleased....the next guest to go into this room, will have no clue they have entered the previous RFH Grand Supreme (yes I watch Toddlers in Tiaras)!
Now, I honestly pray that this will remain the worst RFH, as I cannot imagine having anything worse than this. It would have to include wild game, and perhaps the Beverly Hillbillies ...OMG, could happen!!
We often can go months without a "Room from hell", but when it occurs, it is always a long term guest.
We will open the door to this RFH in the beginning, hoping that it is a one time mess, maybe a weekend of binge drinking, and once the work week begins, the mess will shrink. Nope!! Not in this room. The mess continues, and the smells join the garbage.
They vary, sometimes it will simply be food, snack food scattered about, chips broken on the floor, mud tracked all about, obvious signs of lack of "before bed shower" on the sheets and pillow cases, energy drinks spilled on linen daily, and an apparent aversion to garbage cans. Those rooms cause a instant sigh upon opening the door. Then you add to this mess the smell of parmesan cheese, which tends to emit from socks, yuck!!!! I used to add that cheese to my spaghetti, now I almost gag when I smell the container, because it just reminds me of dirty socks.
These rooms seldom get a good clean, generally because the laundry will join the potato chips, and we have an unwritten rule, we do not ,usually, sift through dirty floor laundry to open up an area the vacuum can enter. Oh, the bathrooms in these rooms are often decent, and the time we do not use vacuuming, will be given to the tub and toilet, we can dust as well, because the majority of the mess is on the floor.
The last RFH, however, was the doozy of all rooms. This guest stayed months, and months. The first room they were in, we wondered, the bathtub was lined with products, candles were placed on every possible area (as well as the bathtub)and air fresheners abounded. Now, first, I imagined a person who loved clean, and wanted things to smell fresh, HAH!!! I suppose they loved clean, but did not want to take any part of allowing clean.
Every blasted day, we would open this door, to find the garbage overflowing. Hey, no aversion to the garbage can, but apparently, unlike all other guests, the size of the can was not sufficient to the amount of garbage collected daily. The coffee table would be loaded, 3 candles, a heaping ashtray, empty cans, 1/2 empty glasses, weed bitties, joints, pills, makeup, you name it, it was on there. There was also a pet involved, daily food would be spewed about his dish, water slopped onto the carpet, candies, hair ties, lingerie, kleenex, and magazines all over the floor. Mud would daily be tracked across the floor, dirty towels by the fridge on the floor, dirty dishes in the sink, and on the table. The bedroom, well that was disgusting!!! I will state that we had to separate the linens from this room, they were set aside, only be be reused in this room. They were so stained, we could not clean them, therefore destroyed. Clothing was everywhere, candies on the bedspread, on the floor, perfume and smelly stuff littered the dresser, mixed with medication and weed. The bathroom, well, that broke even the strongest of us...for some reason they used a blender on the bathroom sink?????? The tub, as before, had about 20 products lined along it, with at least one opened roll of toilet paper, of course, always, without fail, there would be clothing beside the bathtub.
Our course of action had to change for this RFH, as this guest was continually calling to complain about the poor housekeeping!!! She actually had the nerve to inform one of my co-workers that she worked very long hours, and how nice it would be to come back to a clean room!!!! HUH?????? We did our best, we washed the floors on a continual basis, we lifted everything off that damn coffee table and wiped it down, there were times we did not empty the ashtray, as our rule is, do not throw out roaches.....her tub was washed every day, her linens were changed almost daily, her carpet was vacuumed every second day, yet, this was not good enough, she wanted the vacuuming every day, and she wanted her coffee pot lifted and cleaned under...O.K. sweetie...the last time I did that, I lifted your can of coffee as well, and found your stash under it....
She often would not go to work, and we would enter this RFH to find all the candles burning, call out "Housekeeping" with no reply, wander gingerly in, and lo and behold, she would be passed out in the bed. If she lifted her slumbering (drugged) head in response, we would ask "do you need anything" which she would always reply...." just go ahead " and wave her arms in the air, apparently signally she wanted everything cleaned but the bed she was lying in. Once she replied that she just needed towels...towels were left, and an hour or so later when she came to, she was on the phone to the office claiming her room had been missed.
The day this RFH emptied, was a day to celebrate. Oh, the mess was enormous, but the thrill we feel when we can clean a room from top to bottom erasing the stink and all signs of the disgrace to humanity, is awesome. I cleaned and bleached everything in that room, and today, I walked in, and I was pleased....the next guest to go into this room, will have no clue they have entered the previous RFH Grand Supreme (yes I watch Toddlers in Tiaras)!
Now, I honestly pray that this will remain the worst RFH, as I cannot imagine having anything worse than this. It would have to include wild game, and perhaps the Beverly Hillbillies ...OMG, could happen!!
Thursday, 24 May 2012
Mushroom rooms
OMG!!!! I have just spent the last 2 days working on one room. I have washed every single wall in this suite, with bleach and water. I started doing that, to attempt to remove the scent from the "pisher" Bloody Mary, but as I went along, I realized, this went way beyond smells. I removed the bathroom vent, only to find furry mold. I am not a scientist, so...I presume it is again "not the bad mold". Getting a little leery of this, and think maybe there is some course out there I can take to identify good from bad?
I have watched more than enough Holmes on Homes shows to know what mold is. I see them shut things down when they uncover that meandering black stuff. HazMat suits and masks are brought out, and no one is allowed to enter until all signs of this stuff are removed. Hummm...I wonder, how many types of mold are out there? Is there actually some that is "Not the bad stuff"?
Hey, the reason I ask, is, once upon a time, I climbed a very high ladder, which I had to place inside a bath tub, in order to reach a ceiling with a sponge mop on an extension pole, to remove this trail of black off the bathroom ceiling and walls. I remember being told after I had removed it, that is "wasn't the bad mold". Huh?????I must have missed the inspection and did not receive those lab results.
In my world, all mold is bad. If I am paying to spent any time in a room, I would hope that I do not have to breath through a respirator while I sleep, to ensure I do not get "good" mold spores in my lungs.
Now, mold is pretty common, but...how many can say they have mushrooms growing on their walls? Yep!! This is certainly not the first time I have seen this abnormality.
Those who know me, also know that generally mushrooms excite me. No, I am not into the magic ones, but, I do often spend my holidays searching the elusive Matsutake mushroom, and enjoy wandering about picking morel mushrooms. However.....I do not think that a mushroom growing on a wall in a hotel room, is something anyone wishes to purchase from me.
This room has seen other mushrooms, it is so darn moist, it smells like a compost heap. More leaks have happened in this room than Wikileak. The drywall has been ripped and replaced countless times, but....nothing is really done besides replacing the drywall. Isn't it strange, each time we get rain, brown stuff begins to run down the walls, and the new drywall, becomes mush. Oooohhh....perhaps with the mush drywall and the fact that it is a room, we get Mush-room?????Hey, I just thought of that, my mind is amazing!!!
Yes, housekeeping can easily spray this area with bleach, after removing the offending mushroom, however...I for one know, mushrooms can grow over night in the right conditions, and this room is perfect. It is dank, and dark, and very ,very moist, with rot to feed all types of Mycelium, Joe Blow could simply have his 8 hours of sleep in a mushroom less room, to wake in the morning and find a whole bouquet of them.
I know Bleach is a wonderful thing, it is still the cheapest cleaner, and it does a variety of jobs. It will clean, even bad mold, but, unless the source of the mold is removed, and the problem fixed, it will continue to return. It will scrub any visible evidence of mushrooms away, as well, but....again, unless the rot is removed, my employer cannot lay" mushroom growing wall blame" on poor housekeeping.
I am afraid that in my world, this room should simply be removed from the building, but...that will never happen. I bet you dollars to doughnuts, one day, very soon, myself and my co-workers will get to spend a day picking mushrooms and bleaching. This is the first time the thought of mushroom picking does not excite me in the least.
I have watched more than enough Holmes on Homes shows to know what mold is. I see them shut things down when they uncover that meandering black stuff. HazMat suits and masks are brought out, and no one is allowed to enter until all signs of this stuff are removed. Hummm...I wonder, how many types of mold are out there? Is there actually some that is "Not the bad stuff"?
Hey, the reason I ask, is, once upon a time, I climbed a very high ladder, which I had to place inside a bath tub, in order to reach a ceiling with a sponge mop on an extension pole, to remove this trail of black off the bathroom ceiling and walls. I remember being told after I had removed it, that is "wasn't the bad mold". Huh?????I must have missed the inspection and did not receive those lab results.
In my world, all mold is bad. If I am paying to spent any time in a room, I would hope that I do not have to breath through a respirator while I sleep, to ensure I do not get "good" mold spores in my lungs.
Now, mold is pretty common, but...how many can say they have mushrooms growing on their walls? Yep!! This is certainly not the first time I have seen this abnormality.
Those who know me, also know that generally mushrooms excite me. No, I am not into the magic ones, but, I do often spend my holidays searching the elusive Matsutake mushroom, and enjoy wandering about picking morel mushrooms. However.....I do not think that a mushroom growing on a wall in a hotel room, is something anyone wishes to purchase from me.
This room has seen other mushrooms, it is so darn moist, it smells like a compost heap. More leaks have happened in this room than Wikileak. The drywall has been ripped and replaced countless times, but....nothing is really done besides replacing the drywall. Isn't it strange, each time we get rain, brown stuff begins to run down the walls, and the new drywall, becomes mush. Oooohhh....perhaps with the mush drywall and the fact that it is a room, we get Mush-room?????Hey, I just thought of that, my mind is amazing!!!
Yes, housekeeping can easily spray this area with bleach, after removing the offending mushroom, however...I for one know, mushrooms can grow over night in the right conditions, and this room is perfect. It is dank, and dark, and very ,very moist, with rot to feed all types of Mycelium, Joe Blow could simply have his 8 hours of sleep in a mushroom less room, to wake in the morning and find a whole bouquet of them.
I know Bleach is a wonderful thing, it is still the cheapest cleaner, and it does a variety of jobs. It will clean, even bad mold, but, unless the source of the mold is removed, and the problem fixed, it will continue to return. It will scrub any visible evidence of mushrooms away, as well, but....again, unless the rot is removed, my employer cannot lay" mushroom growing wall blame" on poor housekeeping.
I am afraid that in my world, this room should simply be removed from the building, but...that will never happen. I bet you dollars to doughnuts, one day, very soon, myself and my co-workers will get to spend a day picking mushrooms and bleaching. This is the first time the thought of mushroom picking does not excite me in the least.
Thursday, 17 May 2012
Smells
Still enjoying my days off, but figured I would hit the keys for a few minutes. Kind of addicted to spewing away on here, can you tell?
Today I figured I would delve into the not so wonderful world of smells. I asked my friend the other day, why it is that not once do I enter a room or a building and say "mmmm, something smells wonderful!" O.K., once in awhile the kitchen has some good smells coming out of it, but generally there is something nasty floating about in the background.
My nose has become extremely sensitive to stink as I age. I know, I have nasty habits, and apparently one of them is suppose to diminish my sense of smell. Thank goodness I have this habit, as something needs to cut the stink! I have mentioned that the place I work is basically comprised of camp trailers, right? Well they are very, very old.Things that are old, usually dry up, and smell of dust, not here. They have soaked up decades of water, from the roof and the ground. Add a few plumbing issues, and you have smells upon smells. Oh, along with this, countless guests and pets, and cooking, it becomes overwhelming.
When a person goes back after breathing fresh air, you are slammed. I spend the first few hours just sniffing and covering my nose. I still check my armpits and the bottom of my shoes, on occasion as the smells just seems to linger, and I start to think it must be me. We have discussed having a list, and writing down what particular rooms smell like, sewer, rot, pee, Parmesan cheese, vomit. .
We have complained about smells, but apparently once a person reaches a certain level in organization, they lose their ability to smell. The smell of sewer seems to escape them. I have seen someone close a particular door, to attempt to keep the smell out, only to have another person get up 3-4 times to whip the door open. The rule is to walk slowly, so as not to cause a breeze, which causes the smell to hit you, like a ginormous fart.Ooops, there is another smell to add to the list, under the sheets farts.
I personally can't imagine what a guest thinks as they turn their key only to have the heavy musty stink hit them as they walk into a place they are to spend days, perhaps weeks in. I have seen as many as 9 air fresheners in one room, in an attempt to cut the nasty smell, but it still lingers.
Funny, the one room that never had a nasty smell is the one that a certain guest feels obligated to have her collection of pisshing freshners. She along with many other guests adds the smell of "Skunk" to the building. I am not a prude, remember I grew up in the 70's. The smell of Panama Red and Pachouli oil brings back memories of wonderful times. The smell of "Skunk" on the other hand takes me right back into the swamp, surrounded by stinking Skunk Cabbage.
Now, as I stated, no prude, but I am behind the times..."is Skunk" the only pot available today?" I wonder, what is that stuff Mortician's use to mask the smell of their workplace? I am already dreading having my nostrils assaulted, and perhaps if I find a baggie of the "good stuff" that I can leave smouldering in a hidden spot, and dribble Patchouli oil down the hallway, my day will be spent smiling and breathing happily.It's an idea.....
Today I figured I would delve into the not so wonderful world of smells. I asked my friend the other day, why it is that not once do I enter a room or a building and say "mmmm, something smells wonderful!" O.K., once in awhile the kitchen has some good smells coming out of it, but generally there is something nasty floating about in the background.
My nose has become extremely sensitive to stink as I age. I know, I have nasty habits, and apparently one of them is suppose to diminish my sense of smell. Thank goodness I have this habit, as something needs to cut the stink! I have mentioned that the place I work is basically comprised of camp trailers, right? Well they are very, very old.Things that are old, usually dry up, and smell of dust, not here. They have soaked up decades of water, from the roof and the ground. Add a few plumbing issues, and you have smells upon smells. Oh, along with this, countless guests and pets, and cooking, it becomes overwhelming.
When a person goes back after breathing fresh air, you are slammed. I spend the first few hours just sniffing and covering my nose. I still check my armpits and the bottom of my shoes, on occasion as the smells just seems to linger, and I start to think it must be me. We have discussed having a list, and writing down what particular rooms smell like, sewer, rot, pee, Parmesan cheese, vomit. .
We have complained about smells, but apparently once a person reaches a certain level in organization, they lose their ability to smell. The smell of sewer seems to escape them. I have seen someone close a particular door, to attempt to keep the smell out, only to have another person get up 3-4 times to whip the door open. The rule is to walk slowly, so as not to cause a breeze, which causes the smell to hit you, like a ginormous fart.Ooops, there is another smell to add to the list, under the sheets farts.
I personally can't imagine what a guest thinks as they turn their key only to have the heavy musty stink hit them as they walk into a place they are to spend days, perhaps weeks in. I have seen as many as 9 air fresheners in one room, in an attempt to cut the nasty smell, but it still lingers.
Funny, the one room that never had a nasty smell is the one that a certain guest feels obligated to have her collection of pisshing freshners. She along with many other guests adds the smell of "Skunk" to the building. I am not a prude, remember I grew up in the 70's. The smell of Panama Red and Pachouli oil brings back memories of wonderful times. The smell of "Skunk" on the other hand takes me right back into the swamp, surrounded by stinking Skunk Cabbage.
Now, as I stated, no prude, but I am behind the times..."is Skunk" the only pot available today?" I wonder, what is that stuff Mortician's use to mask the smell of their workplace? I am already dreading having my nostrils assaulted, and perhaps if I find a baggie of the "good stuff" that I can leave smouldering in a hidden spot, and dribble Patchouli oil down the hallway, my day will be spent smiling and breathing happily.It's an idea.....
Tuesday, 15 May 2012
Computer Impaired
Morning all...Yep, it is morning, and I sit at the keyboard with the whole day ahead of me. I am in the midst of 5, count them, 5, whole days off. Oh, I earned them, worked 11 days in a row so I could still have a decent pay check, got that darn Hydro bill on it's way, and a new Hot Tub that is likely sucking the electricity (although it claims it will cost me $14 extra, Hah!). I have been spending far too much time "thinking". When I think, it is an attempt to figure out a way to make life better. The dessert tray was a bust, and now I am left wondering what I can do, to make me a happy camper each morning. I am reasonably happy this morning, no work, got my honey home on his days off, and no one has called wanting money , yet...But this will fizzle, as already I am counting days until I go back to work.
Oh, I know, you all are thinking, why doesn't she simply get another job, it is clear she absolutely HATES this one. Not so simple as it sounds. We do not have a single Micky D's, 7-11, Tim Hortons, or Subway in our town. Why limit myself to this? Well, I took a huge chunk of my life to sit at home and raise my children. I certainly did not have the extra moola to take any sort of classes to upgrade, or get ready for the workforce, while ensuring my children got the basics of life. When they were grown up enough to be left on their own, I was left with a resume that was about 20 years old. How is this possible? Well, I had my first 2 children 10 years apart, so I was raising children for approx. 26 years, that's a very long time.
A lot happened in those years, computers for one. I actually worked on a computer while in the Military back in the 70's, it was huge, and connected to another upstairs that was even bigger, I had to program it with punch cards, for every single entry. I remember the first time I sat down to a "modern"one, while working in the Chevron Town Panty, I simply had to enter fuel numbers into the thing in the back room, and send them off to Head office. Cripes, I was scared sh#tless, I was certain I would hit the one button that would empty everything off the machine, and each night I would enter that room sure I was going to cause my boss a huge headache, when I hit a button.
I am a little better when it comes to computers now, and I mean just a little. I can check my e-mail, go onto FaceBook, go on here (although I still am not sure exactly what I am doing when I get the "share " button). It has taken me all this time to realize that Grace has a blogspot, although she joined my page long ago. I wonder, do all of my fellow Bloggers wonder if I am being rude? Please understand, I am just ignorant of the workings in these machines. I would be lost without my computer "fix". Life has become so very amazing with access to the whole world, but again, I am one of those old folks who have to ask someone else in the house how to do things beyond my limited scope. These days, I am often all alone, without that help, so, it is difficult. Now you know, I am a technologically impaired Blogger.
Blogging is not the only thing I have difficulty with, I can't do Microsoft office, or any of those fancy doohickies, that always seem to be a requirement of a job with oomph. I am trapped in a world that allows me limited opportunities. Oh, sure, I could figure out some way to take a course so I could learn these things, but, again, I live in a town without a college, or anything resembling Post secondary education. I would have to travel elsewhere, and while I did that, I would be unemployed, hummm...Catch 22...Maybe there is something On-Line, that I could stumble onto? But, then again, even if I did learn this stuff, I am 56 years old, and living in a town that has no listings in the Job Bank for office workers that do not have social or company connections. It is clear, you will all just have to bear with this Blogger, as she slowly learns the hidden secrets of the computer, and moans continually about her Dead-end job.
Oh, I know, you all are thinking, why doesn't she simply get another job, it is clear she absolutely HATES this one. Not so simple as it sounds. We do not have a single Micky D's, 7-11, Tim Hortons, or Subway in our town. Why limit myself to this? Well, I took a huge chunk of my life to sit at home and raise my children. I certainly did not have the extra moola to take any sort of classes to upgrade, or get ready for the workforce, while ensuring my children got the basics of life. When they were grown up enough to be left on their own, I was left with a resume that was about 20 years old. How is this possible? Well, I had my first 2 children 10 years apart, so I was raising children for approx. 26 years, that's a very long time.
A lot happened in those years, computers for one. I actually worked on a computer while in the Military back in the 70's, it was huge, and connected to another upstairs that was even bigger, I had to program it with punch cards, for every single entry. I remember the first time I sat down to a "modern"one, while working in the Chevron Town Panty, I simply had to enter fuel numbers into the thing in the back room, and send them off to Head office. Cripes, I was scared sh#tless, I was certain I would hit the one button that would empty everything off the machine, and each night I would enter that room sure I was going to cause my boss a huge headache, when I hit a button.
I am a little better when it comes to computers now, and I mean just a little. I can check my e-mail, go onto FaceBook, go on here (although I still am not sure exactly what I am doing when I get the "share " button). It has taken me all this time to realize that Grace has a blogspot, although she joined my page long ago. I wonder, do all of my fellow Bloggers wonder if I am being rude? Please understand, I am just ignorant of the workings in these machines. I would be lost without my computer "fix". Life has become so very amazing with access to the whole world, but again, I am one of those old folks who have to ask someone else in the house how to do things beyond my limited scope. These days, I am often all alone, without that help, so, it is difficult. Now you know, I am a technologically impaired Blogger.
Blogging is not the only thing I have difficulty with, I can't do Microsoft office, or any of those fancy doohickies, that always seem to be a requirement of a job with oomph. I am trapped in a world that allows me limited opportunities. Oh, sure, I could figure out some way to take a course so I could learn these things, but, again, I live in a town without a college, or anything resembling Post secondary education. I would have to travel elsewhere, and while I did that, I would be unemployed, hummm...Catch 22...Maybe there is something On-Line, that I could stumble onto? But, then again, even if I did learn this stuff, I am 56 years old, and living in a town that has no listings in the Job Bank for office workers that do not have social or company connections. It is clear, you will all just have to bear with this Blogger, as she slowly learns the hidden secrets of the computer, and moans continually about her Dead-end job.
Sunday, 13 May 2012
Mother's Day
Today, I have to change the forum to a topic not concerning the workplace. This day happens once a year, and because I have found a way to have my thoughts scattered all about the world, I am going to take advantage of it, and speak from my heart. I know, some of you have wondered if I really do have a heart, well, it may be a little hard and withered, but once in awhile, it warms up. Deep down inside, I truly am a softie, I have managed to build a thick crust, and that is because life has seen fit to throw me some pretty hard crap, and I got very tired of the constant bruises, so the shell surrounds me. Those who likely think I have no heart, are also the same folks who have seen this crust crack on occasion, but maybe they didn't realize it. I try very hard to keep the mushy stuff for private moments, and use my temper to cover up my true feelings. I grew up with the constant "stop your crying, or I will give you something to cry about". Funny, just had this conversation with a couple of friends who had grown up in the same era, and we all had a chuckle about it, but...this was the way of life back in the 60's, in my world. We did not have Oprah, or Maury, or Dr. Phil, we did not have teachers telling us that we deserved respect while we were in elementary school, we did not have any rights besides the statement "I brought you into this world, I can take you out", or this one, that I heard on a constant basis "The door opens both ways". I think if I told someone the door comment today, they would simply stare at me wondering what I was talking about. Well, I knew what they were saying. Before anyone gets on their high horse, and thinks my parents were mean...remember, they grew up during the big Depression, and through the War years, so all they were doing, was to attempt to toughen me up for the bumps along my life, as they had learned to manage through their struggles. No matter what, I appreciate what they did.
Now the crack in the crust, this is the one day that crack is ginormous. I can cry at the drop of a hat on this day. I have already teared up, as I woke up to a video from my oldest, of my children and grandchildren, and felt this is it, I have done well...no matter what happens from now on in my life, I have made my mark, decades from now, there will be more children who will somehow be connected to me, Hahaha..no stopping me now!! But all these children, are also connected to another Mother, and that was mine. And, that Mother is the reason for the crack. I lost my Mother to Cancer when my oldest was 3, my two younger children never had the chance to know this amazing woman. Last year I wrote my daughters about my Mother, simply because they needed to know how I became the Mother I am. No matter what your own Mother did wrong while she raised you, she (unless she has been on Dr. Phil) did her best. There were no books on how to do this, a person must learn by trial and error how to be a Mother. I can remember telling my Mom she was mean, I can remember even saying I hated her, Lord love us, if I could take all that back now. I was "lucky" enough to be there to care for my Mom right up until the moment she left this world, and for that I am grateful, because I was able to let her know I loved her, and knew that love was returned.
I am writing this because, there are a lot of folks who think they have plenty of time to let their Mom know that they are loved and appreciated for all they have done to allow others to grow up in a safe and secure world, stomachs filled when needed, booboos fixed, clean clothes at the ready, a warm bed to sleep in, a chance to go to school (yes this is a privilege). There is only one day a year set aside for this person, but, in my world, my Mother is in my thoughts countless days, she is greatly missed by myself, and I miss her for my children and grandchildren. Today, those of you who are lucky enough to have your Mother, take the time to say " Thank you". Trust me, mine has been gone almost 30 years, and the pain I feel today is just as strong as the day she left.
Now the crack in the crust, this is the one day that crack is ginormous. I can cry at the drop of a hat on this day. I have already teared up, as I woke up to a video from my oldest, of my children and grandchildren, and felt this is it, I have done well...no matter what happens from now on in my life, I have made my mark, decades from now, there will be more children who will somehow be connected to me, Hahaha..no stopping me now!! But all these children, are also connected to another Mother, and that was mine. And, that Mother is the reason for the crack. I lost my Mother to Cancer when my oldest was 3, my two younger children never had the chance to know this amazing woman. Last year I wrote my daughters about my Mother, simply because they needed to know how I became the Mother I am. No matter what your own Mother did wrong while she raised you, she (unless she has been on Dr. Phil) did her best. There were no books on how to do this, a person must learn by trial and error how to be a Mother. I can remember telling my Mom she was mean, I can remember even saying I hated her, Lord love us, if I could take all that back now. I was "lucky" enough to be there to care for my Mom right up until the moment she left this world, and for that I am grateful, because I was able to let her know I loved her, and knew that love was returned.
I am writing this because, there are a lot of folks who think they have plenty of time to let their Mom know that they are loved and appreciated for all they have done to allow others to grow up in a safe and secure world, stomachs filled when needed, booboos fixed, clean clothes at the ready, a warm bed to sleep in, a chance to go to school (yes this is a privilege). There is only one day a year set aside for this person, but, in my world, my Mother is in my thoughts countless days, she is greatly missed by myself, and I miss her for my children and grandchildren. Today, those of you who are lucky enough to have your Mother, take the time to say " Thank you". Trust me, mine has been gone almost 30 years, and the pain I feel today is just as strong as the day she left.
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