The new GM was set to start here on the 28th July,
I've been plodding away at my charity thing trying to get that set up & running, ready to hand over by the time we are set to depart, At the close of June hubby was pleased that he wouldn't have to do any more month end reporting for the Hotel as "the new GM is coming in".
Well yesterday the New GM was chatting to Hubby, She casually advised her start date was in fact mid August, not the end of July as we understood it to be.
Hubby informed her that, the new date was news to him & asked if the date was 100% confirmed.
She replied "Not Sure, I haven't even received my contract yet"
Great, so fuming hubby sent a curt email to head office, 5 mins later receives a quick call from HR to say "Received the email, will call with details in 40 mins"
Pissed off Hubby switches off phone.
Fast forward to this morning, after a lot of ass kissing on HR's side and a few phone calls.
Turns out, YES indeed New GM's start date is delayed by approximately 2 weeks.
Why? New GM currently holds the position of 2IC at a sister property in Thailand, The Pres (yup, Bush himself) has decided to stay at that Hotel during an impending trip to Thailand, So it's all hands on deck there in preparation for his arrival !
I questioned why The Pres & his crew wanted to stay at that particular Hotel, I was curious as it's doesn't have a 5 star rating & I personally like to stay at the Shangri-la when I'm out that way. Seems that secret service was out on a recon mission recently and this particular hotel is the only one that meets security requirements & has an approved escape route i.e The hotel sits at an intersection so if the proverbial hits the fan and Pressy needs to abscond he can have 4 different escape routes as opposed to possibly being stuck in one way traffic if he stays at the other hotel.
Oh well, 35 days to go & counting ....
Showing posts with label South East Asia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label South East Asia. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Finally some gossip
We are approaching peak season at the hotel & business has really picked up in the last month.
One thing has also become apparent in the last 2 weeks, We have a thief in our midst.
On 2 occasions guests returned to their rooms to find cash & valuables missing, This kind of thing in NOT TOLERATED at the hotel, Security has investigated, found a suspect & advised the guests to report the matter to the local police as theft is definitely within their jurisdiction, Not the GM's.
The Suspect: Not difficult to figure this one out, You know the keycard access locks that Hotels use? Well the retain information on all comings & goings from each room. All security needed to do was see what card accessed the lock after the guests had left.
On both occasions it was the same key belonging to one of the housekeepers.
On the first 2 occasions the guests refrained from filing police reports.
GM's hands were tied in the matter & he was unable to terminate the staff member with out an admission of guilt or the police reports being filed.
Yesterday another guest reported money missing from his room, This time the guest did wish to file a police report. Security & police investigated & found the same housekeeper had accessed the room during the time the guest claimed to have been away from it.
She was questioned on the hotel premises, denied any guilt so was handed over to the police to be taken to the police station for further questioning. A union member went along with her to represent.
This morning, the proverbial has hit the fan. The unions are up in arms & threatening strikes! Why? Because while in police custody the housekeeper was strip searched.
GM is now off holding an emergency meeting trying to explain to the dim witted union members that he has no control over police policies or procedures on how they deal with suspects. If a cop chooses to strip search a suspected thief, GM is powerless to stop them, furthermore a union member accompanied the housekeeper to the station. So he was present to object to the strip search & contact legal aid for advise prior to it taking place.
Oh well, it's just another day in paradise.
P.S GM's time is coming to a close here, Looks like Mumbai is the next location with a tentative start date of mid August.
One thing has also become apparent in the last 2 weeks, We have a thief in our midst.
On 2 occasions guests returned to their rooms to find cash & valuables missing, This kind of thing in NOT TOLERATED at the hotel, Security has investigated, found a suspect & advised the guests to report the matter to the local police as theft is definitely within their jurisdiction, Not the GM's.
The Suspect: Not difficult to figure this one out, You know the keycard access locks that Hotels use? Well the retain information on all comings & goings from each room. All security needed to do was see what card accessed the lock after the guests had left.
On both occasions it was the same key belonging to one of the housekeepers.
On the first 2 occasions the guests refrained from filing police reports.
GM's hands were tied in the matter & he was unable to terminate the staff member with out an admission of guilt or the police reports being filed.
Yesterday another guest reported money missing from his room, This time the guest did wish to file a police report. Security & police investigated & found the same housekeeper had accessed the room during the time the guest claimed to have been away from it.
She was questioned on the hotel premises, denied any guilt so was handed over to the police to be taken to the police station for further questioning. A union member went along with her to represent.
This morning, the proverbial has hit the fan. The unions are up in arms & threatening strikes! Why? Because while in police custody the housekeeper was strip searched.
GM is now off holding an emergency meeting trying to explain to the dim witted union members that he has no control over police policies or procedures on how they deal with suspects. If a cop chooses to strip search a suspected thief, GM is powerless to stop them, furthermore a union member accompanied the housekeeper to the station. So he was present to object to the strip search & contact legal aid for advise prior to it taking place.
Oh well, it's just another day in paradise.
P.S GM's time is coming to a close here, Looks like Mumbai is the next location with a tentative start date of mid August.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Update for the sake of updating
So,
My Bro in Law is here at the moment competing in the "battle of the chefs". Day 1 he placed in the Top 5, Today is Day 2 and he is currently at the convention centre competing against other Chefs from the Asia Pacific region. Good Luck !!
GM was interviewed this morning for a Chinese travel show called "Travel World" produced by Shenzhen media group . The segment will play on a Chinese station and an Astro channel in about 6 - 8 weeks.
I'm keeping busy doing the charity thing, I'm about to head off to view another orphanage as we are still looking into "adopting" a charity, similar to what we did in Indonesia.
And the goddamn postman has decided to start stealing my parcels, 2 missing so far, grrrr !!!!
My Bro in Law is here at the moment competing in the "battle of the chefs". Day 1 he placed in the Top 5, Today is Day 2 and he is currently at the convention centre competing against other Chefs from the Asia Pacific region. Good Luck !!
GM was interviewed this morning for a Chinese travel show called "Travel World" produced by Shenzhen media group . The segment will play on a Chinese station and an Astro channel in about 6 - 8 weeks.
I'm keeping busy doing the charity thing, I'm about to head off to view another orphanage as we are still looking into "adopting" a charity, similar to what we did in Indonesia.
And the goddamn postman has decided to start stealing my parcels, 2 missing so far, grrrr !!!!
Here's some of the orphans I've been working with.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Pics from the weekend.
Snapped these pics a few days ago.
Enjoy.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Busy, Busy, Busy
Been so busy of late,
I had 5 in laws turn up last week & it's almost a full time job playing host to them.
I've just started helping with another Charity, more hands on this time round.
Still making small batches of mineral make up.
Have had friends arrive from Oz unannounced (not staying at this hotel) & send me a message to say "Oi we're here Biyatch!" so will host a catch up dinner tomorrow night.
Tasted a durian for the first time today (finally! Only took me 3 years). OMG , it certainly is an 'acquired taste'. Think of 'Garlic Pudding' multiple that taste by 1000 and that will give you an idea of what a durian is like to eat. yuck, yuck, yuck.
Shopped until hubby dropped today, I was still raring to go, he was tired & hungry.
The hotel is pretty boring this week, We did have some wait staff deliver room service earlier and took the opportunity to dob on the kitchen staff (no white bread, no chicken burgers, no apple, pineapple or carrot juice. Lots of customer complaints ) So just need to figure out why the Exec Chef is running every thing down so low. He's new to the hotel, first week on. So I assume the low stock has more to do with the old chef not stock taking during his last few weeks here.
No Monkey or Snake Sightings.
Oh a guest came down with typhus, I know him fairly well so jokingly told him not to poke around in dirty holes and to disinfect his clothes. Good thing I did as I wiki'd "Typhus" & seems it's transmitted via body lice. I think body lice is a nice name for "crabs".
I had 5 in laws turn up last week & it's almost a full time job playing host to them.
I've just started helping with another Charity, more hands on this time round.
Still making small batches of mineral make up.
Have had friends arrive from Oz unannounced (not staying at this hotel) & send me a message to say "Oi we're here Biyatch!" so will host a catch up dinner tomorrow night.
Tasted a durian for the first time today (finally! Only took me 3 years). OMG , it certainly is an 'acquired taste'. Think of 'Garlic Pudding' multiple that taste by 1000 and that will give you an idea of what a durian is like to eat. yuck, yuck, yuck.
Shopped until hubby dropped today, I was still raring to go, he was tired & hungry.
The hotel is pretty boring this week, We did have some wait staff deliver room service earlier and took the opportunity to dob on the kitchen staff (no white bread, no chicken burgers, no apple, pineapple or carrot juice. Lots of customer complaints ) So just need to figure out why the Exec Chef is running every thing down so low. He's new to the hotel, first week on. So I assume the low stock has more to do with the old chef not stock taking during his last few weeks here.
No Monkey or Snake Sightings.
Oh a guest came down with typhus, I know him fairly well so jokingly told him not to poke around in dirty holes and to disinfect his clothes. Good thing I did as I wiki'd "Typhus" & seems it's transmitted via body lice. I think body lice is a nice name for "crabs".
Monday, April 7, 2008
Any One read Hotel Babylon ?
I have, long after the hype about it had died down, I finally picked up the book, read it cover to cover, nodded knowingly and smiled to myself.
I'm a regular down to earth Aussie girl, living in S.E Asia, I'm also a hoteliers wife, The eyes & ears of the Hotel, so to speak. I hear all the gossip from the Staff, Guests & Hubby.
Now, if you have read the book and think to yourself "Nah, That cant be real" I can assure you, It is !! I have seen it all and more.
I will be randomly blogging here jotting down the events and happenings at the hotel, As I am still in S.E Asia and Hubby is still actively working as a GM, to remain anonymous, I wont disclose the name of the Hotel or Location and will use pseudonyms to protect the innocent & stupid.
Rest assured, Times, dates & places may have changed by the events are all 100% True.
I'm a regular down to earth Aussie girl, living in S.E Asia, I'm also a hoteliers wife, The eyes & ears of the Hotel, so to speak. I hear all the gossip from the Staff, Guests & Hubby.
Now, if you have read the book and think to yourself "Nah, That cant be real" I can assure you, It is !! I have seen it all and more.
I will be randomly blogging here jotting down the events and happenings at the hotel, As I am still in S.E Asia and Hubby is still actively working as a GM, to remain anonymous, I wont disclose the name of the Hotel or Location and will use pseudonyms to protect the innocent & stupid.
Rest assured, Times, dates & places may have changed by the events are all 100% True.
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