Wow... has it really been two weeks since I last posted? Yikes!! That's what happens when working tires you out so much.
I've been in my job for almost two whole weeks (two weeks Wednesday!) And even if it's not my favourite thing in the world (I don't even like cleaning my OWN room...) It's not all bad. I'm getting quicker at flipping rooms (complete clean) and have managed to get most of my time under an hour - so close to the ideal 45 minute mark. The days that doesn't happen... tend to be the days I'm not feeling 100% (stupid cold!!)
So... where to start?
Well, last Wednesday (Sept 14th) we just learned the basics of doing bathrooms to the Fairmont Standard, before doing beds on Thursday and tying the whole rooms together on Friday (and that was hard being rather sleep-deprived.) You know how everyone scoffs when they hear 'housekeeping'? How it's such an EASY job to do?
Throw something at them.
Or, make them do it.
Because Housekeeping is probably one of the most demanding jobs around.
It's stressful, requires lots of physical exertion, and you really don't get a chance to rest until your shift is over.
10-12 hours of labour.
So not fun.
But, it pays the bills.
So far, Sunday (Sept. 18th) has to have been our HARDEST day. I mean, 12-hour shift, I just want to pass out and sleep for a week, hand me that vodka (yes i'll take it straight!) hard.
We were absolutely EXHAUSTED.
I'm pretty sure the only thing that got a lot of the staff through the day was the promise of a night out at the local club afterwards. (and by that time, everyone needed it.)
Thankfully, I had the day off with a few of the girls i started with, so we didn't have to worry (as much!) about the after-effects of a night on the town - a good thing to.
Everyone says to watch out for the altitude, because it will mess with your system - and they know.
You might be able to handle half the liquor up here you could back home - sometimes, not even that much.
But, as the JPL says, we're here to turn moments into memories - even splotchy, fuzzy ones that are missing half the pieces.
Tuesday and Wednesday were good, the weather started to get a little warmer, and we met up with some friends at the local bar after work for a few 'farewell' drinks (okay, drink.) because one of the guys was leaving the JPL.
Thursday was a surprisingly easy day, just a few rooms and nothing too major. A good day to get accustomed to the job.
Oh, and they gave me my own list on Tuesday... that was interesting. These lists... are SO confusing. I mean, they have the basics - room number, if they're staying over or leaving, the guest's names (mostly) and everything, but still - they can get realllllyyyy confusing if you don't know what you're looking for. So, sometimes they can be... interesting to decipher if you aren't sure of all the codes and lingo.
Friday SUCKED. I was sick (something with my stomach, we thought it was a flu or a cold) so they sent me home early (I mean, would YOU want me looking after your room when I'd as soon be sick in the toilet as clean it? Didn't think so.
Saturday was our last 'busy' day, and we got off at about 6pm (yay for a 10 hr shift)
Sunday... just not fun.
The temperature hit an unseasonable spike on Thursday and it was a good 20+ around here for the following three days.
So, when I woke up freezing or sweating in the middle of the night Sunday, I figured it was the outside air competing with the radiators in the room.
And I assumed that my throat was all dry and sore because I was dehydrated from sweating all night.
Strep throat didn't cross my mind until almost 11 am when I could hardly move to make a bed, was getting head-rushes every time I went to tuck in a sheet and wanted to puke the empty contents of my stomach up every time I swallowed. Needless to say - my super sent me home (again.) It took my manager all of two seconds of seeing me to agree that I shouldn't be at work.
So, I spent the afternoon in emerge. Because I do not need another horrible case of strep that lays me out for a week or more.
No thank you.
Unfortunately, by the time the nurses called me up (after the asthmatic, strep prone, high-fever prone, pneumonia prone, can't even look at food I'm so sick sob story) The advil I'd taken had kicked in, and they decided it was just 'viral' and to come back in if it got any worse.
Thanks... antibiotics may have been a better idea.
So, I've spent the last... however many hours, curled up in bed with a book or my laptop, whittling away the time and hoping I feel well enough to work tomorrow and that this viral infection leaves my head (which is currently pounding) and my neck (which hurts whenever I try to move) alone.
Until next time....
Ciaoz!!
Monday, September 26, 2011
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Welcome to Jasper
Sunday, September 11th, 2011
Sunday was my first full day in Jasper, and it was nothing short of amazing.
Other than waking up at 5:30 and not getting my phone until 11 but hey, who cares??
In addition to fretting and running down to the front desk every 30 minutes to see if my cell had been dropped off, I had a very productive morning.
I signed my lease at 8 am when the office opened, and got a tour of the important places on site, like the staff cafeteria, the staff services centre (Where we get our Uniforms) and the buildings in the staff area. I also went and got the internet hooked up in my room and my wireless router all set up, which makes typing this blog a thousand times easier.
Sure, JPL has computers for the staff to use, but they're mega slow and probably riddled with viruses.
The first thing I did when I got my cell back was text Andrew to apologize for flipping out over losing my phone, then call my mother.
And yes, she just laughed.
Typical.
I went into 'town' with Andrew and his roomie Carlos to get a feel for the place Sunday afternoon, and we managed to cover the main part of town in all of 20 minutes. Which meant we still had an hour and forty minutes to kill.
And there was NO decent shopping.
Like, at all.
It sucked.
Anyhow, after being in town for the afternoon, I came back and tidied up my room (shock, i know...) then went down to the Grizzly Cafe (fondly known as 'The Griz') for drinks with Kayla and Cassandra, two of the girls from my floor. We ran into Andrew and Carlos and a bunch of old staff and ended up having a couple of drinks with them at the Griz and at Cory's place before we decided to go into town to hit the 'big' club, Atha-B.
Apparently, it's tradition for the newest staff to go and get totally drunk the night before their orientation.
Now, we get it.
The club was fun, and it was a great way to just get out and unwind after a long weekend of travelling and stress over moving away from home.
Even if you do get in at 3 am
and need to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for your Orientation at 9 am the next morning.
We all managed just fine.
Monday was a little long, spent in a board room going over all the do's and don't's of the JPL, getting everyone familiar with the standards and the site, and finishing off all the paperwork.
It was a lot of information to cram into 8 hours, but the fact that Daisy, the staff dog (she's a cute caramel and white bichon/poodle mix) was in and out of the room, up on everyone's lap and begging for pets for the duration helped the time race by.
We were treated to lunch in the Emerald Lounge, one of the guest dinning rooms, and it was delicious!
The staff were given a menu of three options: a pulled-pork sandwich, a spicy chicken pita or an Alberta steak burger with mushrooms.
I had the Pita, as did Kayla, Cassandra and April, one of the other new staff members, and it was amazing, if not a little confusing to eat.
(The guys assure the sandwich and burger were good too)
We wrapped Monday night up at the Griz again, with a few coolers for the girls and Kayla, April and I getting ready for our day off while the rest of the new recruits were prepping for their first day of work.
Tuesday came and went without much to say. It's a little weird having your second official day on the job as a day off, but it still managed to be productive.
In addition to starting this blog (yay!) Kayla and I hit up the Gym and checked out the Bean (the staff cafeteria) for a good lunch of roast pork and mashed potatoes and LOTS of Salad. I also managed to get my room moved around (pics to follow) so it feels a little bigger and looks a whole lot cleaner (...mostly).
Wednesday was day one on the job. Kayla, April and I are the only new Housekeeping staff this week, so we had training bright and early at nine am. After an hour in the HSKP office, we got to see the rooms and learn how to clean the bathrooms to the Fairmont Standard. Which we did, for the rest of the day.
It really wasn't boring, surprisingly (I have to say I was a little worried...) The repetition is a great way to learn, and things just breezed by. Between the three of us, we got a good 20-30 bathrooms cleaned, and by 3:30 were out of work, so we got to head out early.
The best part of today though, I must say, was lunch. We went to the Bean again, and got some AMAZING Fish and Chips <3 which was made even better because the department arranged for all the housekeeping staff to get free lunch today.
And that, is my week thus far.
Tomorrow we're going to be learning how to make the beds, and Friday is putting the rooms together, so it's going to be a busy couple of nights. Plus, we're all pretty stoked to hit 'The B' again this Sunday - made even sweeter because we get Monday off!!
Ciaoz for now;
xoxo Kara
Sunday was my first full day in Jasper, and it was nothing short of amazing.
Other than waking up at 5:30 and not getting my phone until 11 but hey, who cares??
In addition to fretting and running down to the front desk every 30 minutes to see if my cell had been dropped off, I had a very productive morning.
I signed my lease at 8 am when the office opened, and got a tour of the important places on site, like the staff cafeteria, the staff services centre (Where we get our Uniforms) and the buildings in the staff area. I also went and got the internet hooked up in my room and my wireless router all set up, which makes typing this blog a thousand times easier.
Sure, JPL has computers for the staff to use, but they're mega slow and probably riddled with viruses.
The first thing I did when I got my cell back was text Andrew to apologize for flipping out over losing my phone, then call my mother.
And yes, she just laughed.
Typical.
I went into 'town' with Andrew and his roomie Carlos to get a feel for the place Sunday afternoon, and we managed to cover the main part of town in all of 20 minutes. Which meant we still had an hour and forty minutes to kill.
And there was NO decent shopping.
Like, at all.
It sucked.
Anyhow, after being in town for the afternoon, I came back and tidied up my room (shock, i know...) then went down to the Grizzly Cafe (fondly known as 'The Griz') for drinks with Kayla and Cassandra, two of the girls from my floor. We ran into Andrew and Carlos and a bunch of old staff and ended up having a couple of drinks with them at the Griz and at Cory's place before we decided to go into town to hit the 'big' club, Atha-B.
Apparently, it's tradition for the newest staff to go and get totally drunk the night before their orientation.
Now, we get it.
The club was fun, and it was a great way to just get out and unwind after a long weekend of travelling and stress over moving away from home.
Even if you do get in at 3 am
and need to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for your Orientation at 9 am the next morning.
We all managed just fine.
Monday was a little long, spent in a board room going over all the do's and don't's of the JPL, getting everyone familiar with the standards and the site, and finishing off all the paperwork.
It was a lot of information to cram into 8 hours, but the fact that Daisy, the staff dog (she's a cute caramel and white bichon/poodle mix) was in and out of the room, up on everyone's lap and begging for pets for the duration helped the time race by.
We were treated to lunch in the Emerald Lounge, one of the guest dinning rooms, and it was delicious!
The staff were given a menu of three options: a pulled-pork sandwich, a spicy chicken pita or an Alberta steak burger with mushrooms.
I had the Pita, as did Kayla, Cassandra and April, one of the other new staff members, and it was amazing, if not a little confusing to eat.
(The guys assure the sandwich and burger were good too)
We wrapped Monday night up at the Griz again, with a few coolers for the girls and Kayla, April and I getting ready for our day off while the rest of the new recruits were prepping for their first day of work.
Tuesday came and went without much to say. It's a little weird having your second official day on the job as a day off, but it still managed to be productive.
In addition to starting this blog (yay!) Kayla and I hit up the Gym and checked out the Bean (the staff cafeteria) for a good lunch of roast pork and mashed potatoes and LOTS of Salad. I also managed to get my room moved around (pics to follow) so it feels a little bigger and looks a whole lot cleaner (...mostly).
Wednesday was day one on the job. Kayla, April and I are the only new Housekeeping staff this week, so we had training bright and early at nine am. After an hour in the HSKP office, we got to see the rooms and learn how to clean the bathrooms to the Fairmont Standard. Which we did, for the rest of the day.
It really wasn't boring, surprisingly (I have to say I was a little worried...) The repetition is a great way to learn, and things just breezed by. Between the three of us, we got a good 20-30 bathrooms cleaned, and by 3:30 were out of work, so we got to head out early.
The best part of today though, I must say, was lunch. We went to the Bean again, and got some AMAZING Fish and Chips <3 which was made even better because the department arranged for all the housekeeping staff to get free lunch today.
And that, is my week thus far.
Tomorrow we're going to be learning how to make the beds, and Friday is putting the rooms together, so it's going to be a busy couple of nights. Plus, we're all pretty stoked to hit 'The B' again this Sunday - made even sweeter because we get Monday off!!
Ciaoz for now;
xoxo Kara
The super easy 'follow me!' tutorial!!
Well, I decided that I was just going to be doing this blog, rather than sending out an email daily. So here is a quick little guide on HOW to follow the blog.
What does following get you??
It gets you an email or notification when I update =)
So, see the little button here?
Well, all you have to do is click on it!
Yeah. it's THAT simple!
After clicking the button, you'll get a window like this one:
Yeah yeah yeah, I know what you're thinking.
But I don't HAVE one of those
No biggie!! that's why you click here
And make a Google account. This is just a way to keep up with all the sites Google seems to preside over, and you still keep your old address!
and, VIOLA
you can follow my (awesome and inspired) blogs =)
Xoxo
Kara
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Let's start at the very beginning (A very good place to start...)
Well, TECHNICALLY I could say this all started with the interview, or when I was packing and repacking and re-repacking my bags, but I wont. I'll start when the trip began...
Saturday, September 10th, 2011
Saturday saw me up bright and early at 7 am. Dad was awesome and made me my very last home-made pancake breakfast - at least for a while! We had the car all packed and hit the road for 7:45 so I could make it to the airport in ample time. After a quick check in and baggage drop, we headed down to the security gates and dawdled so I could actually say goodbye.
My plan for a tear-free goodbye were shot pretty early on when Mom produced a little tissue=paper wrapped package for me, containing a little plush puppy about the size of my fist. Stress (the pup) was quickly decked out with a ribbon-collar as I bawled into her shoulder. Knowing what was to come, I began to insist that I head to the security gate and get ready to board the plane. Goodbyes were much more tearfull than I had planned, as Dad started bawling (He was the first to actually cry) and even Dev shed a tear or two. A few parting gifts later, I was Through security and ready to start my adventure, with a brave face in place.
The plane was small but standard, and I had extra leg-room with a 'premium' seat which was nice for the short flight.
A piece of advice though. Do NOT watch 'The Nannie Diaries' if you are REALLY leaving home for the first time. It may cause you to start bawling uncontrolbly and receive concerned and confused looks from the other occupants of the plane. Just saying.
The flight to Edmonton was probably the smoothest I've been on in a long time, not one pocket of turbulence!! I made it into Edmonton about 15 minutes early, collected my bags, got myself an absolutely DELICIOUS Timmies Sandwich and settled in for a nearly 4 hour wait for the SunDog shuttle that would take me to the Jasper Park Lodge (henceforth referred to as the 'JPL')
Just before the shuttle showed, I met Andrew, a guy from Windsor who was also going to be starting at the JPL and was waiting for the same shuttle. It was great to meet a friendly face so early in, and made the long shuttle ride that much easier.
The drive from the Edmonton Internation to the JPL took us a little longer than expected - about 5 hours - but was nice. We had an awesome, friendly driver (who talks more than I do!) and he was giving us information left right and centre for the whole duration. Durring the drive we spotted a number of Elk, as well as my first Coyote (which I may have been the only one to see...)
The night was great though, and we made it to the JPL at about 8:45. I was so excited to just get out of the shuttle and up to my room I (genius I am) left my brand new BlackBerry in the shuttle. I realized this when we got to the main Dorm cabin and started freaking out because I couldnt find my phone. Poor Andrew got to see me in full panic mode after only knowing me a few hours... and handled it quite well. We managed to get a hold of the SunDog company, and I had my phone back by 11 am on the Sunday.
But that, is a story for another blog.
Goodnight y'all
Saturday, September 10th, 2011
Saturday saw me up bright and early at 7 am. Dad was awesome and made me my very last home-made pancake breakfast - at least for a while! We had the car all packed and hit the road for 7:45 so I could make it to the airport in ample time. After a quick check in and baggage drop, we headed down to the security gates and dawdled so I could actually say goodbye.
My plan for a tear-free goodbye were shot pretty early on when Mom produced a little tissue=paper wrapped package for me, containing a little plush puppy about the size of my fist. Stress (the pup) was quickly decked out with a ribbon-collar as I bawled into her shoulder. Knowing what was to come, I began to insist that I head to the security gate and get ready to board the plane. Goodbyes were much more tearfull than I had planned, as Dad started bawling (He was the first to actually cry) and even Dev shed a tear or two. A few parting gifts later, I was Through security and ready to start my adventure, with a brave face in place.
The plane was small but standard, and I had extra leg-room with a 'premium' seat which was nice for the short flight.
A piece of advice though. Do NOT watch 'The Nannie Diaries' if you are REALLY leaving home for the first time. It may cause you to start bawling uncontrolbly and receive concerned and confused looks from the other occupants of the plane. Just saying.
The flight to Edmonton was probably the smoothest I've been on in a long time, not one pocket of turbulence!! I made it into Edmonton about 15 minutes early, collected my bags, got myself an absolutely DELICIOUS Timmies Sandwich and settled in for a nearly 4 hour wait for the SunDog shuttle that would take me to the Jasper Park Lodge (henceforth referred to as the 'JPL')
Just before the shuttle showed, I met Andrew, a guy from Windsor who was also going to be starting at the JPL and was waiting for the same shuttle. It was great to meet a friendly face so early in, and made the long shuttle ride that much easier.
The drive from the Edmonton Internation to the JPL took us a little longer than expected - about 5 hours - but was nice. We had an awesome, friendly driver (who talks more than I do!) and he was giving us information left right and centre for the whole duration. Durring the drive we spotted a number of Elk, as well as my first Coyote (which I may have been the only one to see...)
The night was great though, and we made it to the JPL at about 8:45. I was so excited to just get out of the shuttle and up to my room I (genius I am) left my brand new BlackBerry in the shuttle. I realized this when we got to the main Dorm cabin and started freaking out because I couldnt find my phone. Poor Andrew got to see me in full panic mode after only knowing me a few hours... and handled it quite well. We managed to get a hold of the SunDog company, and I had my phone back by 11 am on the Sunday.
But that, is a story for another blog.
Goodnight y'all
The 'Low-Down'
Hi everyone!!!
Well, here it is, just one of the ways you can keep an eye on all my adventures out here in the wild, wild west (where, the most wild things are the wind and the parties)
Although, Parties really shouldn't be an issue... right?
So, here's the low-down for anyone who's not totally up to date on my current situation.
School sucks.
As in, MAJORLY.
Plus, my awesome major (Classical Drama & Literature) was amazing, but sadly, not exactly what I wanted to do.
So I'm taking some time off to work and re-assess.
And I'm doing all this out in Jasper, Alberta. A sleepy little town with a lot of character and one of the most beautiful hotel/resorts I've ever seen! (okay, the Cairo Marriott was pretty damn awesome, but the FJPL has its own rustic charm)
So, I'm currently living on the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge property in their staff accommodation, working as a Housekeeper/Room Attendent. And no, it really doesn't suck as much as you think. Plus, the pay is awesome and there are lots of hours to go around.
I don't know how long I'll be here (at least a year) but I know I've been in love with the place since I arrived Saturday night....
But that's a story for the next blog, so i'll leave my intro here and let you gear up for post #2!!
Ciaoz <3
Kara
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