I'm very grateful for my job. It is a really good fit for my skills. It's heavy on customer service, and it makes use of my ability to organize and get things done. My department is kind of the heartbeat of the hotel. We organize and dispatch service providers to assist the hotel guests in most areas of the hotel. For instance, we are responsible for answering the phones of the hotel and following up on requests, we dispatch our engineering department to any request for repairs to pipes, electrical and other mechanical issues; we work with housekeeping, take room service orders for the restaurant, handle billing issues, organize and log lost & found items and handle shipping and receiving (among other tasks). I really enjoy the work.
The problem started when one of the girls had gotten another job and left and the other person working in the department was either let go or quit (not sure which). Either way, all of the sudden, after less than 3 weeks, I had suddenly become the only person in my department and I wasn't even fully trained yet.
My bosses are amazing, they have totally supported and encouraged me, more than I could have ever asked. They have acknowledged my situation and have done much to help me get up to speed in many areas. But it has been extremely stressful for me and I still have lots to learn. For the past two weeks I have been totally alone in my office, often having question with little outside help and seemingly critical comments about actual and perceived mistakes I am making. There is SO much to learn in this job, so many areas of the hotel I have to have knowledge of (including knowing most employees in the hotel), and technical issues and limitations, as well as moving (separately) our office to another location and our shipping/receiving location to another floor (it used to all be in the same office).
There have been significant challenges to overcome (acknowledged by my managers) with VERY little supervision. There have been times where I just get discouraged because I just don't understand how I can complete this overwhelming amount work, designed for 4-5 employees, by myself in eight hours per day with little help and training. I am making progress, but it feels painfully slow. Progress is progress, I guess.
So I think it's appropriate to brag on my managers here. I have had to have a few uncomfortable and challenging conversations with them, and every time, they have tried to understand and help me however they can. One manager in particular has told me numerous how excited he is to have me on board. He wants me to kind of rebuild the department. In my original interview, I told him that I am writing a book on how to treat people. Hopefully he has seen that in practice in my calls.... Kind of a high bar I set from the very first time we met at my interview!!! Oy.... LOL Oh well....
So it's going pretty good now, still feel challenged, but at least we have another person starting next week to help me get some stuff done! That makes me happy, and supposedly they are trying to hire a couple more. Boy, that would be nice!!! I have also been making some suggestions on how to streamline everything and make improvements in workflow, etc. Some they have accepted and embraced. :)
One other thing that hit me like a ton of bricks last week.... I got a message from my renter in Spokane that he had a problem with the electrical in the house. He didn't have any lights or power in either bedroom, the bathroom, or the hallway. I was hoping it was just a bad breaker and I was praying for that to be all it was. Unfortunately, there was a problem with one of my outlets in the back bedroom.... and it cost me over $450 to fix, which absolutely decimated my budget. I'm not sure how I'm going to pay my mortgage this month (Which is less than the amount it cost to have the electrical problem fixed.) Uuuuughhhh.....
So now, to the good stuff... A few weeks ago, I was kind of looking to see if there were any cars I could "afford".... Any free cars out there??? LOL Seriously, the last couple years I have been more interested in older Toyota Corollas, so I was looking on craigslist locally (and even in Portland and Spokane!) and the cheapest cars that ran, generally started at $1000 and went up from there. Kind of discouraging, I didn't know how I was going to be able to afford a car, but I figured if God wanted me to have a car, he would make it obvious.
One day, I was browsing and saw an ad that just said "cheap transporttation" (yes, it was misspelled). I looked at it and immediately loved it... It was a 1986 Corolla. It was ugly as sin, but it ran... and it was only $600! I didn't have any money at the time, but I thought I might be able to come up with that much. I sent him an email and he called me after a few days. He offered to drive it over so I could test drive it, so I took it for a spin and I was amazed. Despite it's looks, it ran really nicely!
The car was originally owned by nuns. Seriously.... They apparently only drove them 50k miles and then they sell them. So one of the sister's sisters bought the car from them and has owned it ever since. Her husband (the guy I bought it from) says she drove it like a grandma! LOL So, it's pretty obvious that mechanically I think the car is in pretty good condition. It needs a tune-up and filters and such, but for the little bit that I drive it, it should work great. These cars are notoriously reliable and it only has about 180,000 miles on it (290k km).
But that is all great, but here's the amazing thing. The first day I heard from the owner of the car, he said that his email inbox was inundated with interested parties in the car. Everyone wanted to trade housework for the car, or make payments or whatever. I told him I had no money, but that I was VERY interested in the car. So every few days I would call and he kept saying he still had the car! I absolutely couldn't believe that this car did not sell the first day it was up. It was half the price of all other running cars, and it still had working air conditioning and a decent-sounding AM/FM stereo! There's just no reason this car was for sale for 3 1/2 weeks!
When I got my second paycheck (and with a little help from some generous donations from followers of this blog) I was able to buy the car. I originally told him my situation, that I had just moved back from Germany, trying to get settled again, etc. I told him a few days before my payday that I would likely only be able to come up with $500. He talked it over with his wife and they agreed to accept that price! This car was already totally under-priced! I am so grateful that God held the car for me! It really runs so nicely! Thank you, God!
Also, last weekend I was so happy to have a chance to get out of town for a couple nights to the Semiahmoo Resort and Spa in Blaine, WA for a single's retreat. This hotel is only about 3/4 mile (just over 1 km) from the Canadian border. It was so nice to get some time away (3 1/2 whole glorious days!) and see some people that I haven't seen in a long time. It was badly needed!
Saturday night, some of the women from our sister church in Vancouver, BC invited us to their condo in Birch Bay for dinner. Not just any dinner, but BBQ!!! There was a ton of amazing food and got to catch up with an Austrian sister (yes, we did speak some German!) that I haven't seen in a few years and make new friendships as well... It was super encouraging!! Definitely exactly what I needed.
Well, I think that's enough for tonight. Thanks for letting me get so much off my heart. Hope you all are doing well and I look forward to updating again soon.
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