Can't Be Missed If You Never Go Away

I just haven't had the time post a blog. Or, I had, but just never prioritised it for some reason! The last one I wrote was the blog after seeing Hollywood Undead, on a wednesday off, when Marten took Yatha to go to West Palm Beach or Miami.

The day after I was MOD. It's been a really nice day for me. I was in the lobby, welcoming people, having new arrivals behind me while I got people at the Front Office to look up their information before the guest even reached the desk. Helping out with the Valet guys, driving cars to the parking spots or picking up cars for leaving guests. Helping arriving guests to bring their luggage to their room. Checking up on people in and around the lobby, and ending with a dinner in the Ilios restaurant. My steak came a bit late so I had some small items in between. I ate diver scallops and actually liked it good enough. Started out with a great "Sour Green Apple Salad", then got the scallops with chickpeas and some beef with mashed potatoes, before I got my wonderful steak. Ended it with a chocolate hazelnut tart, but I didn't have the room to finish that completely anymore, after also drinking a liter of water and two glasses of lemonade.
Wrote my MOD report and went home nicely on time, around 10:30. Such a change! No overtime those days at all. Apparently I was the last one to do the MOD shift as a non-executive manager. They change the setup now, and Bart and Yatha won't be MOD (at least for a few months).

That Friday and Saturday I had to work from 2PM to close. It's been a while and I can't remember if I actually did anything special those days. I must say I really love closing down though. Sunday was my day off, because I had to work on my regular thursday off.

Monday I started at 3PM because I had been making too much overtime and they need to think of costs too. Blake is off every sunday and monday, so I didn't get to close with him, but with Kara instead. It's a different way of working, but for some reason people are really active in cleaning up after themselves at the end of the shift instead, probably because they can't leave otherwise. Tuesday I worked with Blake again. He closes with me most of the time. He's doing culinary school and goes to school most mornings, to then do an evening shift with me alongside of it. He used to be the one always closing down before Tina and I came in as supervisors. Now we're closing together, usually 4 days a week. And we've got the division of tasks down nicely, and I think we form a good team. Sometimes there is a little tension, because of the way I request things from him. I sometimes just tell him what to do instead of asking nicely, but I'll work on that. Most of the time we just joke around and talk about women and share anecdotes about whatever else.
Wednesday was my day off. Yatha was also at home, and Bart came home early as he always does morning shifts. We went to the barber shop where we met up with Marten, who had already taken a seat. Marten had taken his laundry with him to wash at our place, and we hung around for a bit. Decided to not go out for dinner as planned, but just eat at home, simple. We made the plan to go and see the new James Bond, Quantum of Solace, but Marten had already seen it the day before and took it easy at home instead. When Bart, Yatha and I got there at the cashier, I mentioned not having any cash on me, asking if they could pay for me and I'd repay them (and I asked in English, for some reason). The lady behind the counter then told us to walk on and just watch the movie, if we wouldn't tell her manager. While walking up the stairs we thought that there was a catch and we'd be busted upon entering the theatre hall or so, but nothing like that. We watched the movie for free there, and got back by bicycle again. The movie was the worst 007 I've ever seen. The first few scenes were brilliantly shot, on locations that were simply amazing. After that, the story got somewhat lost, there was no real action anymore, except for overdone explosions near the end. I never heard the sentence "The name is Bond, James Bond" or anything about his shaken martini. I only saw the Aston Martin in the first scene, and the Bond girl wasn't all that spectacular either. The villain was annoying at best. After all we were glad we didn't pay the 8,75 a person to see it.

Thursday was my day off, at first, but I ended up switching shifts with Pierre, doing another morning shift for the first time in weeks (and I have none planned for next week either), getting this sunday off. However, wednesday night Tina had called me to switch shifts, as she'd like her morning shifts so she could spend time with her boyfriend, who is here for three weeks. He's on internship in South Africa (or he works there for a while now) but spends his time here now. I accepted gladly, being able to do another closing shift with Blake. Got some more understanding and did a little paperwork on the side of it, increasing the communication ease. Especially with her boyfriend here and other people wanting to leave early at times, this should help us out for a bit. Pierre made another sheet for communication that completes it all.
Friday was another evening shift with Blake. Nothing really special happened there.

Unlike yesterday. Blake had switched with Garvin, as Garvin missed another day, and Blake could use some time off. Steven was there too, until 8:30, and Ram was in the kitchen (he recently replaced Maria, who went to work for roomservice, and oh, his name isn't Ram, but something really long starting with Ram. He's from India). Steven left when it was still really busy that night. We got swamped with people that night. For the first time in a long while, the first time I can remember, we had better hours at night than in the morning. When Steven left I called upstairs and got Nikolay on the phone, asking him to bring me a steward to clean our plates, and take the cardboard and garbage. Niko brought him down personally, seeing our busy state, and helped us out by handing out gelato (ice cream) samples to guests and handing out plates and cups when we needed it. Ram did an amazing job, making 25 pizzas that night, with 5 at the same time in the oven at one point.
Garvin stayed with me until almost 12 even though his sister was waiting for him outside. Been really busy, and we spent a lot of time cleaning and restocking, as we needed everything in perfect shape for the morning shift, as there were a lot of check-outs coming, and they mostly all want coffees and pastries in the morning. The steward also stayed with us until well after 11, cleaning almost everything for us, as he's supposed to. As of late we had some problems with the stewards and their planning and work, but this saturday everything worked out.
Spent another 3o minutes sending out e-mails and reports to the people interested, and headed home at 12:15. The restaurant had been very quiet, and for the first time in weeks, Yatha was home well before I was.

Today, Georgi and I went to do some small shopping before he had to go to work. We bought a small little table, big enough for four plates for dinner, or two laptops like Yatha and I have now. We're working on our project proposal (if Ale reads this; it's almost done, I'm just waiting for some more information from work, and Pierre's approval). I also bought some binders for my personal paperwork. Receipts, statements and other paper, all organized soon. Tonight, my personal menu consists of oven-baked fries and chicken, with some ice cream and red grapes for dessert.
Most days at work I eat Le Marche-made pizzas. The fresh cheese pizzas with pepperoni are just so amazing.

For a song I picked something that is nothing new in terms of a discovery, or something that fits the week or so, but something I just love and listened to for a few days before I moved to Florida.
Dead Poetic - Narcotic



Oh, and yes! There are new pictures in my album. A map with iPhone photos, a map with photos of myself, and two maps with Culture Room pictures.