Sean's job is markedly better than mine in many ways (the main one being that he doesn't have to scrub toilets). He works with a cook to deliver meals and "amenities" to guests in their rooms. His uniform is dapper and classy (maroon button-up shirt - think bellhop style - with black pants and dress shoes), he wheels around white tableclothed carts with silver trays, he schmoozes and chats up the guests, he pours wine and he gets to keep his tips (which, in a non-tipping country there aren't many of). Oh, and he makes more money than I do.
Sean can have one of two shifts: 6am to 3pm or 3pm to midnight. When he's not bringing up meals or drinks he has to run lame errands for needy guests like bringing up fresh milk, buckets of ice or urgently needed seltzer and tonic water. He also has to give the VIPs extra-special treatment.
There are levels of VIPs at the Hilton which can be broadly separated into two categories: famous people and Hilton's loyalty club members called Hilton Honors. Within the honors program there are Blue members (anyone can be on this level), Silver, Gold and Diamond. There aren't many Diamond members and when some stay in our hotel everyone is on red alert and, in the words of our HR manager, "It's like God himself has entered the building." You get the idea.
Being a Silver, Gold or Diamond member gets you certain additional perks that add a lot of menial and trivial tasks to Sean's day. Before these guests arrive he has to deliver one or all of the following to their room: homemade macaroons, boxes of truffles, wine, bottled water, handwritten welcome notes from the general manager and coupons/discounts to the various dining options at the resort. All of these things are what the hotel labels as "amenities."
Sean likes his job because it's fairly low-stress, contains barely responsibility at all, he gets to talk with a lot of guests and employees since he's always walking around and he likes to always be moving. The things he doesn't like are when guests are overly picky, impatient, rude, demanding and stingy. He also doesn't like it when it rains since it means in-room dining will be slammed or when guests order "hot brownies with ice cream" since it's next to impossible to deliver it without everything melting (the resort is huge, people). I don't have a lot of sympathy for these complaints because guess who gets to clean up, collect and transport all of the dirty "in-room dining" dishes later that afternoon or the next morning?
You got it . . . the housekeepers. It's a glamorous job, but somebody's got to do it.
Oh man! Can you shift to his job?
There is a movie coming out called Wanderlust and I thought of you when I saw the previews. Have you heard about it? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oz7xMY1AbbI
@Amanda - I know, right?! You can do an internal transfer after 6 months . . . I'm not sure I'm going to make it that long!
@Kate - Thanks! I had no idea - I watched the trailer and it looks funny - love both those actors =)
I agree, I think you should change jobs if you are still there! Oh yeah and I thought you with the Wanderlust movie too... and Paul Rudd reminds me of Sean!