Consultants Report

[Alibi Ike]

birdwatcher, i totally feel for you! but a little reality check here.
without repeating my saga ad nauseum, i got fed up with the (lack of) pay, the steamrolling, the discounting of my ideas and hard work, the deception, and yes ... my own lack of ability to stand up for myself ... i admit to that ....
i bailed. without a life boat. without a job in site. never dreaming it would take two years for me to find something part time. no one would even interview me, let alone hire me ... not even to flip burgers. how can that be? it seemed incredible, unbelievable. at the few interviews i got, they would say, you are overqualified for this job ... you will leave when something better comes along. so, in the meantime, long time, nothing better came along and i had no job. i couldn't believe it. i volunteered all over the place but that does not pay bills. i did not collect unemployment because i had walked away from a paying job. what a nightmare! i had heard stories of people looking for jobs for ages and i thought, those people are not taking whatever job they can get. now i know better.
i do look back at the inn with regret ... missing what i created .... although it's a very different inn now.
i understand wanting to do your best. to make the place great.
when you're running it, acting as face and host, you have that feeling of ownership, you want it to be wonderful in all ways. but with a supreme absentee owner who ties your hands it is a nightmare.
please don't walk away until you find another position. but please do continue to look .. in earnest ... because if you are like me, you will feel your spirit being broken. i can still look back and say i did the best darn job i could. and you'll be able to take that with you..

i can still look back and say i did the best darn job i could. and you'll be able to take that with you.

You did a darn fine job!

 

[gillumhouse]

There is one problem with the advice put forth - if the place goes belly up doing it her way, it is not your fault. The problem is this: SHE will maintain it went belly up BECAUSE of what Bridwatcher & Jon did. SHE employed them to run the business. The business failed. Therefore it failed because of them. And being what and who she is, she will not give a tinker's about what can be said legally in checking referneces. She sill lambast them from one end of the country to the other. It is a fine line to walk. And when the bank acount has fewer entries than Mother Hubbard's cupboard one tends to quickly join the Wallenda family.

 

[Alibi Ike]

There is one problem with the advice put forth - if the place goes belly up doing it her way, it is not your fault. The problem is this: SHE will maintain it went belly up BECAUSE of what Bridwatcher & Jon did. SHE employed them to run the business. The business failed. Therefore it failed because of them. And being what and who she is, she will not give a tinker's about what can be said legally in checking referneces. She sill lambast them from one end of the country to the other. It is a fine line to walk. And when the bank acount has fewer entries than Mother Hubbard's cupboard one tends to quickly join the Wallenda family..

IF they decide to use this place as a reference. OTOH, they could leave with the place making money hand over fist and you know where the kudos are going, right? They are going right to the owner. Sometimes all you get at a job is experience. You don't get a reference. The owner could STILL say they did nothing to improve the business and she had to let them go because they were holding business back.
A reference is like a guest review. You just never know what you're going to get.

 

[agoodman]

I have to agree with seashanty, despite what our pres says, the job market out there is BAD. It is NOT getting better and where they are hiring, salaries in a lot of cases are less than they were for the same position when the last person held the job
Hang in there and start looking for something better

 

[birdwatcher]

We know for a fact that we won't use her for a reference. We do have people that worked here with us and they will give a good reference-thats all I can do right now. Hopefully we will find something by end of the season-but like agoodman-jobs are hard to find these days..

 

[Don Draper]

Birdwatcher I don't have any suggestions beyond what has been already written, but just know that all of us here KNOW how much heart and soul you've put into the work you're doing there. I know that doesn't pay the bills or make anything better, but have some faith that maybe this is all part of a bigger plan and you just can't see the end of the tunnel yet. But I do think we always manage to make it to the light, one way or the other.
In the meantime do whatever makes YOU happy, and don't worry if it's for the good of the owner or not. If you enjoy gardening then do it, but don't feel you have to do the entire thing. If you enjoy interacting with guests, then spend any free time with them. Just try to feel as good as you can with where you are right now and take it one hour at a time.
And DO NOT dread this inspection...you know everything is as great as it can be, and you are your own harshest critic. Don't let this abusive person take away your power or your dignity. Feel sorry for her, it sounds like she is truly a pitiful character, and just thank goodness YOU don't have these petty control issues.
HANG IN THERE!

 

[EmptyNest]

We know for a fact that we won't use her for a reference. We do have people that worked here with us and they will give a good reference-thats all I can do right now. Hopefully we will find something by end of the season-but like agoodman-jobs are hard to find these days...

Have you checked here? http://bbteam.com/resources/need-and-want-ads/

 

[birdwatcher]

thanks so much for the uplifting pep talk Don, you are so right about just do the things you love anyway and I do cause as you said about being your worst critic yourself-and I do feel sorry for her cause she can't trust anyone and thats hard when you live day to day that way what a waste of time and energy.
Yes, I go to that site all the time + some others that have couple jobs in it cat.

 

[Samster]

thanks so much for the uplifting pep talk Don, you are so right about just do the things you love anyway and I do cause as you said about being your worst critic yourself-and I do feel sorry for her cause she can't trust anyone and thats hard when you live day to day that way what a waste of time and energy.
Yes, I go to that site all the time + some others that have couple jobs in it cat..

You are doing your best in a less than desirable situation. I guess you need to look for the small joys that you can take away from this job. I would agree that you are smart not to walk away until you find another position, but I would be really looking in earnest and even sending out cold resumes to large places. You just never know where another door will open!
I hear you that you want to do your best, but I would not do anything extra without being compensated. It will just keep going, and going, and going...and you'll end up being resentful of all that you did.

 

[user 26]

We know for a fact that we won't use her for a reference. We do have people that worked here with us and they will give a good reference-thats all I can do right now. Hopefully we will find something by end of the season-but like agoodman-jobs are hard to find these days...

on the subject of references ....
i did not list my boss/'best friend'/'partner' ... however, i asked various business owners and big wheels in the area if i could use THEM as references. area business people who worked with me, with whom i developed stellar relationships. i had a sheet full of such references, some sent me letters to keep on file that made me blush they were so nice. and i had a whole little spiel of what i had accomplished backed up by numbers and simply said i left because we had different philosophies and business objectives. so please keep that in mind.
now, of course, my former 'partner' says i was awesome blahblah ... but at the time, she felt i abandoned her.

 

[Tom]

The issue with references is a hard one. As an employer, I was very sensitive to gaps in the resume and silence on what was obviously conflict with a former boss. Be prepared to deal with it head on. You spent time working there and you should be prepared to discuss it with pride and without fear.
One of the stock interview questions is "why did you leave the last job?" Well, answer seems clear: owner created an environment where it was hard for you to reach the level of excellence that you as a hospitality professional expected for a quality property.
Another stock question is "may we contact your current employer?" Searching for a new position while at an old one is a good, well understood reason not to have a reference from the current employer; just be up front about it: you are a prize and current employer will be p*ssed when you leave. Good employers get that.

 

[agoodman]

I agree with Tom, and with today's social media anyone can find anyone to contact regarding a reference, in most cases in most states you do not have to give permission in order for a potential employer to contact a past employer or coworker
With that said and again this varies from state to state
You can expressly tell a potential employer that they may NOT contact someone (which is fine if you are still employed and you don't want them to know you are looking but not that great if you left that employment previously .. it DOES raise a red flag whether or not there were extenuating circumstances)
And, in most cases most employers can only "legally" answer 2 questions (1) how long were they employed for / dates of employment and (2) are they eligible for rehire. Now a lot of "more relaxed" (ie non corp) places will probably add a few "good words" if there are any, and potential employers know this. So although someone may have been the perfect employee, the fact that only the 2 basics are stated can SUCK especially when you have worked your butt off and left with no hard feelings for greener pastures, or for circumstances beyond your control such as spouse transfer etc

 

[birdwatcher]

Ok about the references-she did not closley physically work here with us- so in that instance she could not really give a reference about how we did our job if she was not really here-but she could say when we worked here. We have two people and one was a director overseeing the property and another that has worked closely with us that know what we do and has worked with us. This will give the potential employer at least a sense of what we are about.
When we were searching for a position after we closed our Inn we had professional references that directly worked with us at the Inn-
We can also give references of people in town that have worked on several town project with us-this should give a personal reference as to our commitment to grow the business through PR.