Sil Hattaavah

Goodbye doesn’t mean the end. It only means that I will return or see you some other time. Take the sky, for example, the sun tells the sky goodbye when it gets dark only to return the next day once it is bright. – Frank Alile

All I can do is apologize and let him know that I will have one as soon as I can, I just started the second pot of regular, but I will begin to the decaf the second it’s done.

Of course, I apologize all over myself because that’s what we’re supposed to do, and thankfully, he is OK with it. He says he’ll come back in a bit.

Once I have all the coffee made, I message Ryan and tell him that the coffee pot quit working, and I am doing the best to keep it going for the guests.

No response, but I know he’s awake. He’s getting his kids up for school, I’m sure of it, as I would be if I were home.

He arrived on time, as usual. However, he brought me birthday/good luck flowers. That was super sweet of him.

I wasn’t sure what to say; I wasn’t expecting that.  I didn’t think he cared that much that I was leaving: Upset with me maybe, even.

Me: thank you!

He had a gander at the coffee pot, and it is not going to be fixable. He calls the company that provides our coffee, and they advise him that they will be sending out somebody to either fix it or replace it tomorrow.

Ryan: I’m going to tell the guy to change it out because we just had somebody out to fix this a couple of months ago, and it was basically doing the same thing.

I tell him about the printer, and he gets that figured out quickly. The unique tool he needed was a screwdriver. It was a deep, paper jam.

Me: We have 54 rooms, 2.5 girls no laundry. What do you want me to do?

Ryan: Let me call Kaydie and see if she would be willing to come in.

She answered, and I can tell by his side of the conversation that she said yes. I run three runs of fifteen rooms each and one with nine for Kaya, the early housekeeper.

Tally, the head housekeeper, arrives as I’m colouring their runs.

Me: Kaydie is coming in, and they have a lot of yellow; it should be a good day.

Tally: Good. I almost called in this morning; my kids are sick, I’m sick: I’m exhausted! I’m going to ask Ryan if Evini can come in and do laundry.

Me: I’m sorry. Hopefully, the day is smooth for you.

She talks to Ryan for a few then heads to the laundry room to rotate linen.

Kaydi and Celeste arrive just before the clock in time. Arelia calls just then to let us know she’s going to be five to fifteen minutes late. They get to work.

A guest has been staying for a couple of weeks now; he comes in and pays daily. One of them irritating types.

Me: Good morning, paying for another night?

Guest: Yep, this is probably the last night.

Me: OK, go ahead and slide your card.

I already added the night and got the system ready to accept payment when I saw he was headed in.

Guest: You know, all it’s going to take is one person saying they got that virus here and they’ll quarantine the entire motel, and you employees won’t be allowed to go home.

Me: That would suck. Do you want a receipt?

Guest: No, I’ll get one when I check out. I’ve been watching the news; they’re taking over motels to put quarantined people in because hospitals are running out of room.

Me: Well, I haven’t heard of anyone sick here, so I doubt that’s going to happen anytime soon. Do you want housekeeping service today?

Doesn’t this guy get that I couldn’t care less about his theories?

Guest: No, you guys should be worrying about catching this virus. It’s killing a lot of people.

This guy is bloody crazy; I haven’t heard anything about this, although I don’t watch the news. But I would think I would have heard about something this big, regardless.

Me: We’re careful here. We’ll be OK. There’s still some coffee left if you want another cup before I pull it.

He wanders over and gets a cup, and heads out the door. I open up his profile and add a comment.

“Guest has made numerous comments over the past few days about a virus that’s killing people, possibly causing the motel to be quarantined, including the employees if someone reports being sick that was a guest here.”

If something hinky happens, there will be documentation, and they’ll know it was this nut. Most likely, he’s just setting it up so he can get a refund. He’d get it; corporate refunds anyone that complains about anything. Rather, they call and make us do it.

Arelia arrives just as I’m putting up the coffee. I’m mopping when she comes back from clocking in, carrying flowers.

Arelia: Happy Birthday Liv! She hands me the flowers.

Me: Thank you! I tell her as she gives me a tight hug.

Arelia: You’re welcome. I wish you so much luck on your next adventure.

Man, I’m really going to miss everyone here a lot.

Me: Thank you, Arelia, you are so sweet.

She goes out on the floor to get to work. The guy that wanted decaf never came back; imagine that. The rest of the morning goes without a hitch for the most part.

Jevin is the p.m. shift; he arrives at 1310 hours, about thirty minutes early, like clockwork. He goes straight back to the breakroom.

As I’m sidetracked digging in my bag for my brush, I hear a commotion coming up behind me.

I turn around, and Jevin leads a train of singers carrying a delicious chocolate-chocolate personal birthday cake from Safeway. Mmmm. My favourite!

Following Jevin is Robbie, Arelia, Kaya, Tally, Evini, Kaydie and Celeste, all singing happy birthday to me!

I don’t know what to say; I’m sure my face is beet red at this time.

Me: Wow, thank you so much, all of you!

These people genuinely care about me; I feel awful leaving them. But I find myself at a crossroads, and I’ve made my decision.