For context, this story takes place in a franchise hotel. Even though a hotel may have a premium name, like Hilton, Marriott or Sofi, the hotel is actually owned by an ownership group, an investor fund, or an insurance company. Furthermore, the hotel will actually have a management company calling the shots on hiring and budget, so if you stayed at a Hilton and had premium service, then, six months later, you stayed at a different Hilton and noticed not so good service, it is likely that the second hotel was a franchise. For this story, the GM position had originally been offered to the assistant GM, who didn't want the job. When the Front Office Manager also passed on the job, she was told to then find and hire a GM.
The story began with a party. My best friend from the theme park, Randy, was getting married. Randy came from a cop family as did his would be bride. Three days before the wedding, we drove up into the hill country. The preparations for the wedding weren't finished and I would help Randy with the remaining tasks on the list before the wedding itself.
Other than Randy, I didn't know any of these people. Since I had never seen any of these people before and was not likely to see them again, I decided to not be my regular old self, rather to revert to who I once had been, joke telling, prank loving, and fun seeking. As a result, I ended up impressing a lot of people, including the bride's cousin-Hank.
Five months after the wedding, my phone rang. It was Hank and he told me that a hotel was interested in hiring me as a General Manager. Hank was a known prankster, so I forgot about the call seconds after I hung up. Three days later, Hank called me again and said "They're not going to hold that job forever. You better get your butt down there." I put on a suit and tie and pondered the seriousness of the call.
There was no interview, as a matter of fact, they put me to work immediately. The hotel had an assistant GM, who handled all of the hotel's financials. Linda, the front office manager, headed up the front desk team. Maria, who headed up housekeeping, ran her department with an iron fist and this was her fiefdom, which she would defend to the last drop of blood. The engineers, I would quickly come to learn, always had their eyes and hopes set on some golden prize and would leave every few months, so I constantly would have to advertize for, interview and hire engineers. Finally, Larry, the director of security, was a full time city firefighter. He worked at the hotel on his days off from the fire station and he would become a mentor, and a sort of father figure.
On my first walk through of the hotel, I found it to be quite run down. I had worked at a company owned Marriott a decade before and I found the differences striking. When I brought this up to Linda, Larry and the (then) Chief Engineer, I was assured that the hotel would soon go through a renovation and not to worry about it.
I reluctantly told the assistant director of security about my new job and she shifted my hours to weekends only (keeping the theme park job in case the hotel thing all went to shit).
The renovation came three months later and with it, a lot of changes. First, Linda quit, taking one of the front desk girls (her daughter) with her. Linda had been waiting on a payout from a lawsuit where a doctor's mistake had killed her husband. As a matter of fact, all of the front desk staff (except a night auditor and an evening shift girl-Rosanna) quit. The Chief Engineer quit and Larry asked to take his job (Patrick, a hot tempered, but very faithful Irishman took over Security). Lastly, I had to go to "Manager's School" for a week because the hotel had changed brands and there would be new computer programs and procedures.
The hotel was gutted (except for 18 rooms and these rooms would also be gutted in phase two-a month later). I learned a wealth of information about plumbing, electrical, carpentry and HVAC (this would come in handy down the line. When rooms started being available again, rates went from 149 a night to 300 bucks.
My first employee challenge came from my night auditor, Magda. She had escaped Hungary during the 1956 Revolution and had worked at the hotel since it's opening in 1968. She was friendly to Larry, tolerated other employees and she had a special disdain for me because I was half her age. With that said, soon after finishing Manager's school, I was teaching Magda on the new night audit procedures.
It was midnight and some lunkhead decided to go into the workout room and lift weights (KLANK!!, KLANK!!, KLANK!!). The workout room was adjacent to guest rooms and did have posted hours. One man, rightly pissed off, challenged the lunkhead and both of them moved their disagreement, loudly, to the front desk. I was upstairs in my office. I came downstairs and while trying to peacefully work out a solution, all three of them started yelling at me about my "incompetence." At that point, I screamed "STOP IT!!" I told the two men that if they didn't return to their rooms, right this second, I would evict both. After they walked away, I told Magda that if she ever talked down to me again in the presence of guests, I would fire her, despite her 25 years of service to the hotel.
Three months later, Magda died suddenly, at home, of a massive heart attack. Since she only had one relative, a distant great niece at that, the hotel staff was the only attendees to her funeral. At the funeral, Larry quietly leaned in and said "I hate to sound crass on a day like today, but today is one of the best days of your life, isn't it?"
My next employee challenge came from Rosanna. She was a high school senior when I took the job, had now graduated, and because she had peaked in high school, she was now drifting. Patrick warned me that she had been disappearing into the (large) hotel after her shift and that she took advantage of the two shift changes (evening to night, night to morning) to disappear altogether. She blew her cover one morning, by sleeping in.
Maria was training a new maid. Maria opened the door to a room and there was Rosanna, with her boyfriend. Maria instantly called me on her two way radio. When I arrived, Rosanna had put on her underwear and was stumbling around. I noticed cocaine (and implements) on the dresser. I told Rosanna she had ten minutes to leave the hotel, not to return and that I would mail her final paycheck to her. I discovered that Rosanna had been taking advantage of a situation. People would check in, only use the room for an hour, then check out. Rosanna had been using these empty rooms to party with her boyfriend.
The management group for the hotel was less than honest. My strike one happened on a Friday morning. Two of the maids called me and said that their paychecks were bouncing. I went down to the bank and talked to the head teller. We both called the CFO. The CFO, was with the CEO (his father) on the golf course. The CFO, actually had the temerity to ask if the whole situation couldn't wait until Monday. "No, absolutely not" I told him, "these people deserve their money to pay bills." The head teller, hearing the conversation, gave me a look of disbelief because of this guy's arrogance. The CFO then made calls, and while I was still in the bank, the payroll fund was replenished. Later, when I was back in the office, the CFO called me, chewed me out and threatened me for making him leave the golf course.
My strike two also happened on a Friday. An armed robber had piggybacked on a guest entering a back door to the hotel. He made his way through the hallways and I side eyed him as he ran at the front desk and jumped over the counter. I instinctively got between him and the girls behind the desk. We went to the floor, wrestling and I realized that it was a robbery when the gun went off next to my head. I ended up with head, arm and wrist injuries. Patrick got off two gun shots, in the parking lot, as the robber ran to his getaway car (which had a getaway driver). I went to the ER. Days later, the CFO called me. He was pissed that I used workman's comp, instead of my insurance, to pay the hospital.
Strike three. I was standing outside talking to Patrick. We saw a car, at high speed, enter the parking lot, followed by three police cars. We walked over to the side lot to see what was going on. A guest was being arrested by the cops.
Back story: This guest first popped up on my radar when he fell behind on his bill and my Front Office Manager (Tracy) attempted to collect from him. He chewed her up one side and down the other, calling her names (cunt, bitch, etc.) while doing it. She returned in tears. I went to the man's room and told him to clear out. Without a word, he shut the door. By the time I got back to the front desk, the CFO was on the phone. He told me that the man was under his protection and to let him run a tab.
A tow truck arrived to tow the car that the guest was in. A cop explained that the guest had been taking cars for test drives and not returning (selling these cars). That explained why the guest would come to the front desk and hand us 1k or 2k in cash. Patrick asked if the cops were going to take the "other three cars" that the guest had on the lot (they too were stolen).
The guest was behind by 5.2k when he was arrested. The CFO punished the hotel be reducing front desk hours (everyone went to 38 hours), security lost one position and they also lost their patrol car.
Note: I need to add at this point that I left the theme park two years after being GM at the hotel and two years after that Larry talked me into taking a position as head of dispatch in a public safety department (police/fire/EMS) that was being created. I was able to use this position as a networking opportunity, not only for me, but also for the guys in the security department at the hotel.
Moving on:
Six months after the car thief guest was arrested, I came in for work and found someone else in my office. I quickly realized that I was going to have to train my replacement. Sure enough, Friday morning I was told that it was over and I was going to receive a three week separation pay since they were not giving me advance notice. I went home, called Larry at the fire station, and called the chief of the new department I was in. Mid afternoon, my replacement at the hotel asked what I had done as not only had Larry quit, but so did the entire security department. I feigned innocence and my replacement asked if I could return (as a security guard) until he could hire some bodies. My reply: "I seem to recall you firing me" and I hung up.