Today has been a pretty hectic but productive day. Well…supposedly productive cos everyone seems on the verge of confirming their plans to stay w us....you can never be sure.
Been thinking a bit about sales as well. Wondering if I am really cut out for sales. I mean, I enjoy meeting people and I enjoy being of service to others, which is why without a doubt the hotel line is just right for me. And I do enjoy solving problems. Any guests who comes running to us with a problem, if I am given the power and authority to make decisions, then I can solve anything. But as of now, I’m still working with what I am given and how much I can move within limit. I enjoy appeasing guests and making them happy again. Which is why I’m wondering if I’m in the right department because I might be better off doing Guest Relations at the Front office. I hate targets. I don’t like working towards meeting a target. I’m a free-spirited person who enjoys just going along. Thank goodness right now at my position I’m not under pressure to reach target or risk losing a job. I have someone above me to take that kinda crap for now. However, if I am going to move up in the future, I do have to consider if this is what I want to pursue a career in. And I am really getting kinda old to be deciding what to do now. Quarter of a century old and still trying out jobs to find my niche???!!! Unheard of in this day and age when everyone seems to be starting younger.
But sometimes one tends to worry too much about finding happiness in what we do that we lose all the happiness in what we do. You geddit? Like…in this new age where “happiness” means so much to the person we end up measuring everything we do in terms of how “happy” we are. If we are given our own way, “happiness” might mean sleeping in whenever we want and having no boss in all we do. But no one can work that out. I sometimes think the value of “happiness” is over-rated. Yes, it is important to be happy, but I think as long as we are productive and enjoy what we do, not necessary be jubilant every day going to work and missing work intensely during weekends, then I think the job is ok. Anyway, I’ve lost my train of thought. So yeah, well, I’m happy now in this line…ok wait, wrong choice of words, I’m enjoying what I’m doing. It’s challenging and it’s dynamic. I can never take stable work. If I were given a choice, then I’ll be forever meeting guests and making them happy. But then again too much of something, you become complacent and don’t get to enjoy it anymore. Geddit? Like no pleasure without pain etc. Anyway, at a cocktail party yesterday, was chatting with a German guests who kinda has very high expectations of services. He’s a tough sell, as what we say in sales talk. But I managed to convince him to go on this dinner cruise with his family, and he told me I’m a super sales person. I never really thought of myself as really good at sales. I always thought I’m just surviving. As long as I bring in some small income to the hotel I’m ok to stay on. But….at the risk of over-indulging myself with egoistic thoughts, I think I am quite good. After all, I sold to the I***an group who according to everyone, usually never go anywhere without travel agents and are usually so penny-pinching that it’s easier to put out the fire in hell than to get one to part with his money. And I got a pretty good tip from them. The highest amount, according to my sales director, she has ever seen in her career, and her career is pretty impressive, ranging from the Sheratons to the Le Meridiens.
Unfortunately, I will never see that money. I think. I think it has gone to supplement the service charge of all the staff in the hotel. My tip. Split between 300 over working staff. Sssighhhhhhhhhhhhhh……….. too late to feel a little bit unfair, cos I did fight to get tips for the departments like HK and FB through gratuity charges. Sssighhhhhhhhhh……….
Well, will I be good enough to kick-start a career in the hotel industry in
To be continued….