Mother Murphy Says

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JBloggs

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Mother Murphy's Law of Innkeeping
As I wait here for this last room to check out I thought about old Mother Murphy...she seems to always be around. Had an entire houseful for breakfast today, they are all gone but one wee room. It is going to be 80 degrees and I am finally going to head out and get those ferns...and yet, I cannot leave. I can't go strip the rooms and not be available either. So here I am...Mother Murphy is at it again!
15 minutes til showtime is over...
Care to share any Mother Murphy-isms from your weekend or week?
 
My Mother Murphy of the weekend did not involve guests. I had a Kiwanis dinner in my home territory so we went. Dinner was at 6:30 so figure all will be done by 8:30 (DUH) and I had to be at Chapel at 11- no problem. It would have been BUT they had the Madrigal Choir from the county high school as entertainment - they had a talkative leader and sang on and on and on (lovely music but I need the highway). By the time they finished, there was no hope so we stayed for the door prize drawing and the 50/50 (which as usual I lost). I did win a useless piece of decor that I will regift.
We were sitting at a table clesedt to the door so i figured even with DH, it would not be a problem to sneak out. UNTIL the choir trouped in - between us and the door! (where else? Mother Murphy)
 
As soon as I blocked off dates for the new grandbaby's arrival, the phone started ringing for that date. In the middle of the week. In a usually slow period.
 
Those last 30 minutes just KILL us! WHY do they have to stay until the last possible moment? For us it is time to walk the dog after everyone leaves, and if we can get out even a minute before 11 it makes the rest of the day so much less stressful. But it rarely happens, we always sit here twiddling thumbs until 11. Get out people, go do something!
But I cannot complain today. Only one couple for breakfast and they were up and outta here by 8:30! It's like getting a whole extra half day. PLUS the weather is awesome, win!
 
As soon as I blocked off dates for the new grandbaby's arrival, the phone started ringing for that date. In the middle of the week. In a usually slow period..
Alibi Ike said:
As soon as I blocked off dates for the new grandbaby's arrival, the phone started ringing for that date. In the middle of the week. In a usually slow period.
I had 2 grandbabbies born in the off season.
regular_smile.gif

 
As soon as I blocked off dates for the new grandbaby's arrival, the phone started ringing for that date. In the middle of the week. In a usually slow period..
Alibi Ike said:
As soon as I blocked off dates for the new grandbaby's arrival, the phone started ringing for that date. In the middle of the week. In a usually slow period.
Our new grandbaby was supposed to come in and around the second week in February.....around Valentine's day. So, we blocked the week off knowing that we would want to spend time with our daughter.
January filled up. So, what happens? The little bugger comes two-weeks early. We had to scramble, but the weekend went off without a hitch.
 
Those last 30 minutes just KILL us! WHY do they have to stay until the last possible moment? For us it is time to walk the dog after everyone leaves, and if we can get out even a minute before 11 it makes the rest of the day so much less stressful. But it rarely happens, we always sit here twiddling thumbs until 11. Get out people, go do something!
But I cannot complain today. Only one couple for breakfast and they were up and outta here by 8:30! It's like getting a whole extra half day. PLUS the weather is awesome, win!.
DD - Change check out time to 10:30?
 
Those last 30 minutes just KILL us! WHY do they have to stay until the last possible moment? For us it is time to walk the dog after everyone leaves, and if we can get out even a minute before 11 it makes the rest of the day so much less stressful. But it rarely happens, we always sit here twiddling thumbs until 11. Get out people, go do something!
But I cannot complain today. Only one couple for breakfast and they were up and outta here by 8:30! It's like getting a whole extra half day. PLUS the weather is awesome, win!.
DD - Change check out time to 10:30?
.
No, then I'd just hate 10-10:30! I'm just not good at waiting, like at ALL. I never realized how much I'd be at the mercy of other people's schedule as an innkeeper. I'm not good at it.
I'm actually thinking of shortening check IN time, because that is worse. At least I know I'll be done at 11 every day. We do check in 2-6 right now, I think 2-5 would lead to a lot less angst for us.
 
Those last 30 minutes just KILL us! WHY do they have to stay until the last possible moment? For us it is time to walk the dog after everyone leaves, and if we can get out even a minute before 11 it makes the rest of the day so much less stressful. But it rarely happens, we always sit here twiddling thumbs until 11. Get out people, go do something!
But I cannot complain today. Only one couple for breakfast and they were up and outta here by 8:30! It's like getting a whole extra half day. PLUS the weather is awesome, win!.
DD - Change check out time to 10:30?
.
No, then I'd just hate 10-10:30! I'm just not good at waiting, like at ALL. I never realized how much I'd be at the mercy of other people's schedule as an innkeeper. I'm not good at it.
I'm actually thinking of shortening check IN time, because that is worse. At least I know I'll be done at 11 every day. We do check in 2-6 right now, I think 2-5 would lead to a lot less angst for us.
.
Can you just plan to do self-check-ins at 5 PM and let guests know that in advance? We go until 7 PM and a lot of guests don't even call until then to say they're late. REALLY? You're late? We hadn't noticed.
That's why at 7 PM I just run the cards, print the notes and go about the rest of my life.
Because it really doesn't matter if I let them in or they let themselves in. At least not most people. SOME people it behooves to have them know you LIVE on the premises. Otherwise they can be jerks.
There is no way I could be smiley and happy at 2 PM everyday.
 
Those last 30 minutes just KILL us! WHY do they have to stay until the last possible moment? For us it is time to walk the dog after everyone leaves, and if we can get out even a minute before 11 it makes the rest of the day so much less stressful. But it rarely happens, we always sit here twiddling thumbs until 11. Get out people, go do something!
But I cannot complain today. Only one couple for breakfast and they were up and outta here by 8:30! It's like getting a whole extra half day. PLUS the weather is awesome, win!.
DD - Change check out time to 10:30?
.
No, then I'd just hate 10-10:30! I'm just not good at waiting, like at ALL. I never realized how much I'd be at the mercy of other people's schedule as an innkeeper. I'm not good at it.
I'm actually thinking of shortening check IN time, because that is worse. At least I know I'll be done at 11 every day. We do check in 2-6 right now, I think 2-5 would lead to a lot less angst for us.
.
Can you just plan to do self-check-ins at 5 PM and let guests know that in advance? We go until 7 PM and a lot of guests don't even call until then to say they're late. REALLY? You're late? We hadn't noticed.
That's why at 7 PM I just run the cards, print the notes and go about the rest of my life.
Because it really doesn't matter if I let them in or they let themselves in. At least not most people. SOME people it behooves to have them know you LIVE on the premises. Otherwise they can be jerks.
There is no way I could be smiley and happy at 2 PM everyday.
.
That is where my housekeepers save me...they are typically totally finished by 1 pm so we can start the check-ins at 2 pm. I'm thrilled when they get here right at 2. Right now we do check-ins 'til 6 and leave a note if they are not here by then, but as the days get longer we find people rushing in the door at 5:55, at that point my dinner is ready and I want to sit down and eat it in peace. If I say check-in is until 5 but know I'll really be done at 6 I think it would work better....maybe I'm just trying to Jedi mind trick myself?
 
Those last 30 minutes just KILL us! WHY do they have to stay until the last possible moment? For us it is time to walk the dog after everyone leaves, and if we can get out even a minute before 11 it makes the rest of the day so much less stressful. But it rarely happens, we always sit here twiddling thumbs until 11. Get out people, go do something!
But I cannot complain today. Only one couple for breakfast and they were up and outta here by 8:30! It's like getting a whole extra half day. PLUS the weather is awesome, win!.
DD - Change check out time to 10:30?
.
No, then I'd just hate 10-10:30! I'm just not good at waiting, like at ALL. I never realized how much I'd be at the mercy of other people's schedule as an innkeeper. I'm not good at it.
I'm actually thinking of shortening check IN time, because that is worse. At least I know I'll be done at 11 every day. We do check in 2-6 right now, I think 2-5 would lead to a lot less angst for us.
.
Can you just plan to do self-check-ins at 5 PM and let guests know that in advance? We go until 7 PM and a lot of guests don't even call until then to say they're late. REALLY? You're late? We hadn't noticed.
That's why at 7 PM I just run the cards, print the notes and go about the rest of my life.
Because it really doesn't matter if I let them in or they let themselves in. At least not most people. SOME people it behooves to have them know you LIVE on the premises. Otherwise they can be jerks.
There is no way I could be smiley and happy at 2 PM everyday.
.
Dupe
 
Those last 30 minutes just KILL us! WHY do they have to stay until the last possible moment? For us it is time to walk the dog after everyone leaves, and if we can get out even a minute before 11 it makes the rest of the day so much less stressful. But it rarely happens, we always sit here twiddling thumbs until 11. Get out people, go do something!
But I cannot complain today. Only one couple for breakfast and they were up and outta here by 8:30! It's like getting a whole extra half day. PLUS the weather is awesome, win!.
DD - Change check out time to 10:30?
.
No, then I'd just hate 10-10:30! I'm just not good at waiting, like at ALL. I never realized how much I'd be at the mercy of other people's schedule as an innkeeper. I'm not good at it.
I'm actually thinking of shortening check IN time, because that is worse. At least I know I'll be done at 11 every day. We do check in 2-6 right now, I think 2-5 would lead to a lot less angst for us.
.
Can you just plan to do self-check-ins at 5 PM and let guests know that in advance? We go until 7 PM and a lot of guests don't even call until then to say they're late. REALLY? You're late? We hadn't noticed.
That's why at 7 PM I just run the cards, print the notes and go about the rest of my life.
Because it really doesn't matter if I let them in or they let themselves in. At least not most people. SOME people it behooves to have them know you LIVE on the premises. Otherwise they can be jerks.
There is no way I could be smiley and happy at 2 PM everyday.
.
That is where my housekeepers save me...they are typically totally finished by 1 pm so we can start the check-ins at 2 pm. I'm thrilled when they get here right at 2. Right now we do check-ins 'til 6 and leave a note if they are not here by then, but as the days get longer we find people rushing in the door at 5:55, at that point my dinner is ready and I want to sit down and eat it in peace. If I say check-in is until 5 but know I'll really be done at 6 I think it would work better....maybe I'm just trying to Jedi mind trick myself?
.
We are not organized enough to have dinner at a set time every day. It happens when it happens. Yesterday it was 4:30, some days it's 7 PM. Most of the time dinner and guests coincide no matter what we do, so we've given up planning to sit down to an uninterrupted meal. I'm not sure what we will do when we retire. ;)
Hoping that a housekeeper is in my future. One that can do ALL the rooms, not just 3-4 of them. We also try to be done cleaning rooms by 1, but the laundry is still going and I'm still running at 2, so that just wouldn't work. I need from 2-3 PM to get a grip!
 
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