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birdwatcher

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Hope everyone had a great Christmas and is ready for the blessings and challenges of 2011-we are ready to go!
We got back from Vacation last night late-had a wonderful time and already have guests checking in tomorrow. Owner is already pushing the proverbial thorn in my side and still looking for a better position.
Question: What does it mean when an Inn is always looking for an innkeeper or an employee every season? Does that mean that there is something wrong with the owner? the innkeepers are on a short term contract or that the owners just cant find the right fit? Just asking because a position came up from the same Inn that we've applied earlier in the year and now its up for grabs again, any one know why? I know it could be many reasons, but as an innkeeper that is looking for a good fit with an owner and an Inn would you keep applying to the same Inn or inquiring about the position?
 
Just look at your own situation...and how often your owner has changed innkeepers....that will tell you the reason for the other one. Maybe not exactly, but it tells me that no one can make the owner happy and they leave. Don't get caught in that trap again :-(
 
Yes, it sounds like you would be moving from one problem to another one...I would investigate carefully.
RIki
 
Off topic and yet oddly on topic:
I went to the grocery store today, bought $150 worth of groceries, which is the norm. (In other words I shop there all the time, a few times per week for 7 years)
I said aloud to noone in particular "I have been shopping here for 7 years, I wonder if the checker will say hello to me yet?" I unloaded them onto the conveyer and walked up to the pay area and said "Hello!" looking at her. The corners of her mouth curved momentarily and that was it. No utterance of any kind. A smirk is not a smile.
I then looked to the bagger and said "7 years I have been shopping here and going through her line and she has never once said hello, thank you or have a nice day."
What would I do as an employer? FIRE HER BUTT. 6 1/2 years ago.
Yes the turn over rate would be high if you worked for me, a simple hello is too much to ask? Customer service in a customer service industry? I can scan the dang groceries myself at the self scanner and at least it talks to me! LOL
 
Off topic and yet oddly on topic:
I went to the grocery store today, bought $150 worth of groceries, which is the norm. (In other words I shop there all the time, a few times per week for 7 years)
I said aloud to noone in particular "I have been shopping here for 7 years, I wonder if the checker will say hello to me yet?" I unloaded them onto the conveyer and walked up to the pay area and said "Hello!" looking at her. The corners of her mouth curved momentarily and that was it. No utterance of any kind. A smirk is not a smile.
I then looked to the bagger and said "7 years I have been shopping here and going through her line and she has never once said hello, thank you or have a nice day."
What would I do as an employer? FIRE HER BUTT. 6 1/2 years ago.
Yes the turn over rate would be high if you worked for me, a simple hello is too much to ask? Customer service in a customer service industry? I can scan the dang groceries myself at the self scanner and at least it talks to me! LOL.
When partner missed a few days at the grocery store he was grilled next time he went in: 'So, have you been cheating on us with the other grocery store?'
Do you ever see or hear her talking with anyone else? Maybe she used to be chatty and was told to mind her work.
 
Off topic and yet oddly on topic:
I went to the grocery store today, bought $150 worth of groceries, which is the norm. (In other words I shop there all the time, a few times per week for 7 years)
I said aloud to noone in particular "I have been shopping here for 7 years, I wonder if the checker will say hello to me yet?" I unloaded them onto the conveyer and walked up to the pay area and said "Hello!" looking at her. The corners of her mouth curved momentarily and that was it. No utterance of any kind. A smirk is not a smile.
I then looked to the bagger and said "7 years I have been shopping here and going through her line and she has never once said hello, thank you or have a nice day."
What would I do as an employer? FIRE HER BUTT. 6 1/2 years ago.
Yes the turn over rate would be high if you worked for me, a simple hello is too much to ask? Customer service in a customer service industry? I can scan the dang groceries myself at the self scanner and at least it talks to me! LOL.
I totally agree with Cat Lady.
JB, I'm with you. That person would have been fired right away. One thing I love about living in our area is that people here are nicer and friendlier than any other place I've lived. Just last night, I was shopping at a Fred Meyer store (Pacific NW chain) and DH and I were looking at area rugs and my cart was an aisle away. This is the kind of store that sells groceries, clothings, plumbing, and furniture, etc). I went to go get my cart and it was gone...then I noticed an employee walking fast with what looked like my cart! I tried to catch up but couldn't, so I just laughed and there was a different employee near me and I said "he just stole my cart"! The employee immediately grinned, said "let me get you another cart" and ran to get one, caught up with the first guy, must have told him what happened and both of them came back to me both smiling and happy.
Turns out the first guy was a manager, I asked him about a furniture item I was interested in and he gave me a discount on it because he stole my cart! All of this done with good humor and great customer service.
Happy workers come from happy bosses. It starts at the top. If an inn owner goes through employees so quickly there must be a reason. BEWARE
 
Remember the gossip there, which I avoid her line unless I need some info. She pries it out of everyone. Nope this gal is just unfriendly and I can friggin' pass the items over a scanner myself.
I EXPECT some sort of customer service, it is much friendlier at stuff mart! That shows you how bad it is.
The floral dept is the same, I buy flowers ALL THE TIME and the lady is the same from day one and never says anything other than "Kin I hepp you?" She has never asked me why I buy so many flowers, and so I wait...one day she might be curious. Or if she knows I own "the B&B" maybe ask me what I do with them all? I mean I buy them for room flowers, table flowers, and add ons for special occasions. She is a nice enough lady. Just commenting on some basic customer service skills.
edited to add - I miss Freddies! Our super "stuffmart" is as close as we get to a fred meyer. I am wearing a pair of black levi's I bought at Fredmeyer hm, 9 or 10 years ago! I miss that store! The smell of coffee as you go in! (espresso area)
 
I understand that completely-customer service is gone and some people should not work in a customer base company such as any type of store, restaurant, hotel or Bed and Breakfast-if you're not a "people" person you dont need to work there and that clerk that has been there that long and has not acknowledged you should be FIRED. We've only been here in this B & B for 6 months but one small grocery store we go to my husband has made a name for himself (its all good) and the other day we where shopping and I went into another lane and the clerk that knows us said to the other clerk (laughing) "hey you takin my customer?" and when she doesnt see me with my hubbie she asks where "the troublemaker" is... it makes you feel good that they at least notice a customer that comes in more than once or twice a week or month...sometimes a small towns are good.
 
Our trouble is we are a bit anti social right now (I think we are a bit burnt) Cos we were really looking forward to our break but have had a sort of aunt/friend of my mums staying (the guest that cleans) but she wants to pop up and chat all the time when I am trying to catch up on my paperwork so I have nearly had to hide in my bedroom. She is going in two days thank goodness. On the plus side all the rooms are immaculately clean but my sanity is hanging by a thread. She means well but you can't take 8 hours a day to do one room and acts offended if I try and hurry her. Oh well you can't win them all.
 
The subject regarding a change of inkeepers.......Obvious what birdwatcher is going through.....change of establishment makes sense.
I have to ask....
Inkeepers that are not owners....how long does one expect to stay at a given establisment?......is it months, a year, years ?
Seems to me that those that are not owner inkeepers have the freedom of mobility of not being attached to a particular establishment....as such...perhaps the opportunity of travel...staying for a spell at interesting locations.......not unlike temp-inkeepers, or insitters
Perhaps I wouldn't associate a particular place hanging out the "help wanted" sign, as a troubled establishment. If that was happening once or twice a year.
Granted there can be personality conflicts..
Not sure I would assume the worst......knowing that perhaps some inkeepers take the nomad approach
 
"Just asking because a position came up from the same Inn that we've applied earlier in the year and now its up for grabs again, any one know why?"
Birdwatcher, to answer your question...I have told numerous Inn Owners to take their time hiring someone because good Innkeepers are hard to find. Of course I am trying to sell myself as a temporary Inn-sitter until they "find that perfect someone". But it is true - it is hard to find that perfect person to run your Inn - it is a personality thing - it is their home, their business, etc. They really need to find someone very similar to them actually. That is why you also are already looking to move on - you and the owner don't jive after just 6 months - it could be the same for the one you applied to earlier in the year. Perhaps you both chose wrong (or the owners chose wrong). If I were you I would get in touch with the other Inn and put your name back in the hat if you were bummed you didn't get it the first time!
 
I was thinking about that,.
Considering the situation you have now, what do you have to lose? Yes, it could be another same-old, same-old but it also may turn out great. As has been said, perhaps the last innkeepers did not like the area or found a better position or decided to change careers - or this owner is the twin of your current owner. Give it a shot. Worst case, you will have running a different inn in a different area for your resume.
 
Off topic and yet oddly on topic:
I went to the grocery store today, bought $150 worth of groceries, which is the norm. (In other words I shop there all the time, a few times per week for 7 years)
I said aloud to noone in particular "I have been shopping here for 7 years, I wonder if the checker will say hello to me yet?" I unloaded them onto the conveyer and walked up to the pay area and said "Hello!" looking at her. The corners of her mouth curved momentarily and that was it. No utterance of any kind. A smirk is not a smile.
I then looked to the bagger and said "7 years I have been shopping here and going through her line and she has never once said hello, thank you or have a nice day."
What would I do as an employer? FIRE HER BUTT. 6 1/2 years ago.
Yes the turn over rate would be high if you worked for me, a simple hello is too much to ask? Customer service in a customer service industry? I can scan the dang groceries myself at the self scanner and at least it talks to me! LOL.
Joey Bloggs said:
I said aloud to noone in particular "I have been shopping here for 7 years, I wonder if the checker will say hello to me yet?" I unloaded them onto the conveyer and walked up to the pay area and said "Hello!" looking at her. The corners of her mouth curved momentarily and that was it. No utterance of any kind. A smirk is not a smile.
I then looked to the bagger and said "7 years I have been shopping here and going through her line and she has never once said hello, thank you or have a nice day."
I'm going to call you out on all of this on several points because I know you would extend the same courtesy to me.
#1 - People who talk to "no one in particular" are usually pretty scary/irrational.
#2 - Did you politely say "Hello" or did you bark "Hello!" ?
#3 - Hello is not a question and therefore doesn't really require a response especially if the girl was already on alert that you were being scary/irrational. Maybe you remind her of her mother and she knows she will get shot down no matter what she says/does.
#4 - Maybe she is a mute - have you ever actually tried engaging her in conversation by asking her a polite question? ie - I love your sweater, where did you get it?
#5 - What was the baggers response?
People just want to be acknowledged/validated. That is basically what you are looking for from her, but someone needs to make the 1st step - maybe it could be you? She has been kept on at the store becos she doesn't gossip like the other lady you don't like. Damned if you do and damned if you don't.
 
Yup thats exactly right K-im sure they have a reason and we are working with someone about a position in another Inn now for the last 6 months...thats ok too. Exploring options while you still have a job is good so that you don't seem desperate.
 
Now the flip side of the coin. We go to Lowe's and spend the typical $250 (and another $150 today). We need insulation and dry wall. I have an oversized cart filled with insulation rolls 10 of them, and DH gets another big cart for sheets of dry wall.
An employee at Lowe's (female in her late 50's I would guess) comes over immediately and gets on the other end of these big cumbersome and heavy sheets of dry wall of which we are buying ten of them and helps DH load onto the cart. Doesn't ask, just does it. Amazed we were! She buzzed off from there and went and assisted someone else.
We checked out, they called some dude to help us load it into the back of the truck (with canopy) so not totally easy to do, and he came out dragging his tail and helped because he had to.
What a shining star this employee was who stepped up!
Like I said to DH last night, I don't expect excellence from others, just doing their job is all I ask, customer service is customer service. So to see EXCELLENCE, man I was on it! I tweeted it first, then sent a comment with the employees name to the store manager and to corporate.
Today I got an email from my tweet asking for the name and store please so they can recognize this employee! WELL DONE LOWE'S!
Just wanted to share that with y'all. Nice to see Lowe's has someone monitoring social media to resolve issues or acknowledge staff! GOOD ON YA LOWES!
LOWE'S IS WORKING HARD FOR US! I appreciated that.
 
Now the flip side of the coin. We go to Lowe's and spend the typical $250 (and another $150 today). We need insulation and dry wall. I have an oversized cart filled with insulation rolls 10 of them, and DH gets another big cart for sheets of dry wall.
An employee at Lowe's (female in her late 50's I would guess) comes over immediately and gets on the other end of these big cumbersome and heavy sheets of dry wall of which we are buying ten of them and helps DH load onto the cart. Doesn't ask, just does it. Amazed we were! She buzzed off from there and went and assisted someone else.
We checked out, they called some dude to help us load it into the back of the truck (with canopy) so not totally easy to do, and he came out dragging his tail and helped because he had to.
What a shining star this employee was who stepped up!
Like I said to DH last night, I don't expect excellence from others, just doing their job is all I ask, customer service is customer service. So to see EXCELLENCE, man I was on it! I tweeted it first, then sent a comment with the employees name to the store manager and to corporate.
Today I got an email from my tweet asking for the name and store please so they can recognize this employee! WELL DONE LOWE'S!
Just wanted to share that with y'all. Nice to see Lowe's has someone monitoring social media to resolve issues or acknowledge staff! GOOD ON YA LOWES!
LOWE'S IS WORKING HARD FOR US! I appreciated that..
I have never thought to tweet about a good experience. I will keep that in mind.
The folks at BB&B are very good at that service thing. Invariably I do not get a cart because I'm just picking up a few things and I know what I want and what I want won't require a cart. Yeah right. Last time, I was juggling an arm basket with soap, 2 luggage racks and I had just picked up some pillows when an employee saw me and said, 'Stay right there, I'm getting you help!' She took the luggage racks and told me I would find them at customer service when I was ready and returned with a cart for everything else. (I still can't shop for very long in there because of the lighting. It stresses me.)
HomeGoods has one checker whose only conversation is to ask me if I want to get one of their credit cards. Everytime I say no and everytime she shakes her head like I'm totally insane for not getting another credit card to save 10% on this $30 purchase. I try to avoid her but now they have a new checkout system where you wait for the next cashier in one, long line. (Oddly, a friend I was shopping with said, 'Sure, sign me up,' because she was buying about $1000 in stuff. They denied her a card. Kind of embarrassing.)
Good luck with your projects!
 
Well got a call from another B & B that we've been slowly conversing since summer and will be speaking again this coming week. It kind of comes with the idea of being closer to family and working at a job we both love and its in a beautiful area which I would enjoy. Now if we where to be offered the job and decided that its a good fit overall; we would have to make the decision to leave this one-but what Gillum said makes sense maybe its a good omen and its time to move on? Its a hard decision to just get settled here (but without any power to run the place properly) in town and getting to know people here and then up and go.
Maybe its the Nomad in me that thinks that hey why not, nothing is really tying us here but that word in one of the last pages "commitment". Does it get easier for the traveling innkeepers to just up and go? I know for a fact that I would not want to live where we are currently living forever.
Will keep you abreast of the situation-the owner is still waiting on her "consultant report" and is not really making any serious decisions although it was insinuating a "better arrangement" for this year-what in the world does that mean? is for good or bad? I am trying not to project and its hard sometimes so I don't want to kick a gifthorse to the curb.
 
Well got a call from another B & B that we've been slowly conversing since summer and will be speaking again this coming week. It kind of comes with the idea of being closer to family and working at a job we both love and its in a beautiful area which I would enjoy. Now if we where to be offered the job and decided that its a good fit overall; we would have to make the decision to leave this one-but what Gillum said makes sense maybe its a good omen and its time to move on? Its a hard decision to just get settled here (but without any power to run the place properly) in town and getting to know people here and then up and go.
Maybe its the Nomad in me that thinks that hey why not, nothing is really tying us here but that word in one of the last pages "commitment". Does it get easier for the traveling innkeepers to just up and go? I know for a fact that I would not want to live where we are currently living forever.
Will keep you abreast of the situation-the owner is still waiting on her "consultant report" and is not really making any serious decisions although it was insinuating a "better arrangement" for this year-what in the world does that mean? is for good or bad? I am trying not to project and its hard sometimes so I don't want to kick a gifthorse to the curb..
IMO you are in a good position right now - talking to another possibility that would be preferred in location and probably situation WHILE currently employed, meaning you are not in a desparate position. You may be in the pits at the moment but it is paying the bills. You are not in a situation that you are down to your last dollar and the first of the month bills just rolled in. At this point in time, your commitment is to YOU. You have given the professionalism the inn requires, you have given a list of what you know it will take to make this a truly viable business - the commitment right now, as I see it, must come from the owner.
 
Well got a call from another B & B that we've been slowly conversing since summer and will be speaking again this coming week. It kind of comes with the idea of being closer to family and working at a job we both love and its in a beautiful area which I would enjoy. Now if we where to be offered the job and decided that its a good fit overall; we would have to make the decision to leave this one-but what Gillum said makes sense maybe its a good omen and its time to move on? Its a hard decision to just get settled here (but without any power to run the place properly) in town and getting to know people here and then up and go.
Maybe its the Nomad in me that thinks that hey why not, nothing is really tying us here but that word in one of the last pages "commitment". Does it get easier for the traveling innkeepers to just up and go? I know for a fact that I would not want to live where we are currently living forever.
Will keep you abreast of the situation-the owner is still waiting on her "consultant report" and is not really making any serious decisions although it was insinuating a "better arrangement" for this year-what in the world does that mean? is for good or bad? I am trying not to project and its hard sometimes so I don't want to kick a gifthorse to the curb..
Don't know if it is the one I referred to you or not...but whatever, YOU are what is most important. Do what YOU feel is right in your own gut. You owe this current employer nothing..except notice...if you decide to go elsewhere. This has not been a good situation for you and honestly I wouldn't wait for her report to you. What makes you think she will change now? I would tell her in very polite terms what has to change and if she doesn't like it, then go on your merry way to the next job. You are one of the fortunate ones who it looks like will have one to go to:)
 
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