Hot City Diary: Work Day 70
The DJ has finished playing and the drunks are clinging to the bar. The hotel entertainment for the night has ended. It's 1:30am. The drunks make their way out, others go to the pool; others go to their rooms and others sing and one person is talking about Jesus. Nobody wants to hear about Jesus at 1:30am. Maybe 7am, but not 1:30am. We receive several complaints about the Saint and even the bartender thinks he might be on some serious drugs. Security get's involved. Obviously nobody could debate him. It's a little bit upsetting and I think to myself that I expect too much from the clientele. The Herald of Jesus is asked to leave. Turns out he's a veteran and has some problems. He just wants to talk about Jesus. We tell him that nobody else wants to talk about Jesus, especially when you drop the F-Bomb and the N-Bomb and talk about him being a bigot and seem to be really angry about it all. It ruins things. He understands, gathers his things and leaves. The pious drunks clap and cheer the security for their effort and then see the photo booth, take some pics, and move out to the parking lot.
People mingle around in the lobby, on the couch is the kid that was allergic to the vodka and was turning bright red could have sworn he drank less this week than last week. How could he be this fucked up? He slowly slids down the couch in the lobby. His friends come to check on him regularly. He'll be alright he mumbles. No need to call the hospital and send for an ambulance.
It's another night at the Hotel on the south side of town. Kinda sketchy. It sure isn't in the walking district. Not for normal people anyways. The residents of the 65+ Mobile Home park across the street out back throw high fives and make their way home. It's a group of 5 elderly folks that frequent the club, ones in a wheelchair. Hell, it's right across the street, and they can see young people. You know you'll do that kinda shit when you turn 65+ and there's a fun nightclub across the street. The wandering homeless are always walking by. Some push shopping carts and stop halfway down the sidewalk to ponder what's around the curve in the road up ahead. Do they really want to go down that road?
Do I really want to be here working the night shift at this hotel? It is air conditioned and the "It" Hotel of the Coachella valley, so that kinda works. It's fun and safe. There's no need to worry about bullshit. The security is still here, they're making sure things don't get out of control and wander the property and tell people to shush if there's a complaint. You get two shushes and then we call the police. They also stop the bullshit. They mostly make sure the guests don't pass out in the shubbery. Sleeping in the bushes. It's also a favorite for the wandering homeless. The security staff tells me they can never be too careful with rousing a bush sleeper. It could be a guest or a homeless person. You never know, and it's better to err on the side of caution. Regardless, the homeless have to get out and the guests have to go to their rooms.
It's the best part of the night. People splashing in the pool are told to shut up and get out.
I tally the numbers. How much did this sucker make tonight. A lot. It takes 8 hours to run all the reports and work it all out. Some reports are only printed after a certain time. The guests are nice and see that I have shit to do. Paperwork everywhere. It's a paper party. They ask their requests from the De Facto Manager and I grant them with pleasure. Some requests take longer than others, but I deal with all the bullshit and tuck everyone in.
The housekeepers are still here, also. They buzz around and sweep, mop, dust, and empty the trash.
Around 2:30am, a homeless woman comes in and want's to know what's happening. I tell her she's the only thing that's happening. I tell her the hotel provided entertainment has ended for the night, and she's responsible for her fun, now. She doesn't give a shit. She says' she's going to use the ATM and pulls out like $500. She gives a little yip and does a jig. Her torn up friend comes inside and want's to know what's keeping her so long. She want's to go to the bar. The door is closed. She wants to start partying immediately. Her friend tells her he knows where they can go and they dance out the door.
I'm running mad statistics, figuring out what the ADR and total REV and what all the ARR and DEP get to do. Stacking a bunch of paper on top of each other until the stack is like a foot high. It get's two feet high on Sunday. My trainer leans over the counter and chit chat's with her boyfriend. He works at the new Pool Bar down the street. Things are going kick ass, and that's all there is to it. I continue to stack papers.
The clubbers that linger in the parking lot, play their music. Somebodies still dancing. You are.
I'm busy doing shit. Cigarettes are for sale and will cost you over $10. The Japanese tourists show up out of nowhere and demand to know the color and size of all the merchandise in the showcase. I tell them I only have time for a couple items, but they can buy online.
"Online?"
"Yes, Online."
I get back to my reports and rack up the chips. How much did we make tonight? The receipts aren't in just yet, but by the roar of the crowd tells me we did another $1M night. We're making money. Printing it.
The rooms are $300+ and the drinks are selling 28 hours a day.
The evenings are cool. I need coolant to run properly. It's possible to deal with all these numbers at night, otherwise, my brain would overheat. It's the perfect time to do the audit. Working the night audit.
I call a couple cabs and the night moves into the early, early morning hours. Only the serious drugs keep people up this late, so it's better when nobody shows up. No news is def good news at that time of the morning.
Finally, in the early morning, a man hovers around the ashtrays outside the lobby and steals a couple butts. It's about 5am and security is bullshitting with the rest of the staff in the lobby, as usual, and just so happens to see all this and follows the young man around to the other ash tray and talks to him. Turns out he is homeless and has a real bad sore on his left hand. It was almost all puss. His whole left hand. Horrible mess. He just needed some smokes and then left, walking down into the valley from this hot mess of a town.