Hi there how are you doing this evening?
-Mehhh
...Is there something I can help you with?
-Yeah, um... how much are your rooms for a night?
Well, since it's three o'clock in the morning I could probably give you a discount. How does $59.00 plus tax marked down from $89.00 sound?
-Well, we um... only really need it for an hour or so... do you think you could go any cheaper than that?
*Internal Shudder* No, I'm sorry sir I'm not authorized to go any lower than $59.00 a night, but if you'd like I think the Super 8 across the street might have lower rates available.
So, apparently I have an associates degree in "Useless" because after four months of looking for a job I've finally landed one... where I do nothing for 5+ hours every night. I work third shift front desk at a Best Western. I literally come into work click about 10 buttons on the computer put all the shit that prints in an envelope and write the date on it. Then I put the envelope in a drawer and if no one calls down to complain or comes in with a hooker looking for a cheap bed for an hour I do nothing for the remainder of my shift. If it weren't for StumbleUpon I think I would go bezerk.
Actually, I am going bezerk. I've already been offered and taken a different position... working at Avis DOING THE SAME THING for a dollar more an hour. So, I put my two-weeks notice in last week and the manager (who specifically told me he's not looking for an employee who's going to get hired and then leave in 15 days) has been nonstop giving me these super dirty looks, and I'm like, "Hey man, you should have told me before I signed the paperwork that you offer no benefits... Not even holiday pay. I mean what's up with that anyway? Who doesn't offer holiday pay for their employees? Even when I was in high school working part time I got time and a half when I physically worked a holiday." But he doesn't really speak English very well so I didn't feel like repeating myself.
Anyway, now I'm sitting here... at work... wondering why I even bothered to go to school and get myself $20,000 in debt if I'm just getting the same old positions I was getting before I even got my degree. This is the fourth hotel I've worked in since I started working in high school. Now, in less than two weeks I'll be training for a job that's basically the same thing only instead of checking people in and out of rooms I'll be checking cars out and in to the airport. The real kicker? I'll still be making barely enough to pay for that college degree that I was so consistently encouraged to get when I got out of high school.
I think it's less a degree in "Useless" and more a useless degree and it's really sad because there are more and more people who are graduating from college tens of thousands of dollars in debt and struggling to find work at McDonald's. I can't tell you how many times I've seen resumes come in for a hotel job like housekeeping from people with full bachelors degrees. Meanwhile another company just reported a huge profit increase in the fourth quarter last year, but are they hiring this year because of it? No sir, they've learned the hard way not to spread themselves too thin by paying 5 people to do a job that they found out during the recession can actually be accomplished by 2 highly motivated people. And what's a better motivator than, "Do all this extra work as well as your existing work or I'll fire you and hire someone who will"?
Boy oh boy, I suppose I shouldn't be complaining about my shit job when there are so many people out of work, but what can I say? I'm a little bitter about the whole thing.
But this is the land of the free and the home of the brave, so I guess I'll do my best to work my hardest and maybe when I die and they dish out my money amongst my remaining relatives there will be slightly more than I have now. Old habits die hard after all.
I wonder what classes they're offering at Oshkosh this next year...
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