The earthquake is over and the ground has settled..hopefully

Okay, so it's been a while since I posted. I have an excellent reason for that.

Within these past few weeks, my GM was fired, my manager went AWOL, which ended in her termination, and I got promoted to Supervisor. Whew, that's a lot, right? So perhaps I should go back and explain a bit better, shall I?

So, our next to last training meeting, we had..no wait, I need to go back farther than that. There was an accountant brought in by the owners about a month ago to begin looking over some discrepancies. Now she also started to ask questions of staff about other people's work habits.

I was honest when she questioned me without giving too much personal opinion. At least I thought so. She asked me about my GM, what her work schedule was and how often did I actually see her. Now if you work in a place such as mine, it's like a small town. Everyone pretty much knows already, but they want to see if you'll lie.

I said what I knew and left it at that. Fast forward to the next to last training meeting. I walk in and people were acting so weird. We all find out later that the GM is not longer employed and the Sales manager is now acting GM. Wow, talk about strange.

After that happens, my manager starts to get all paranoid and think that she's next. Seeing as her and the GM came from the same hotel before and were friends. I tell her that if she is doing her job, she has nothing to worry about. She still is stressing out and I of course cannot convince her otherwise.

Now the accountant with the owner's permission, begins to make the schedule. This does not sit well with my manager at all. I get some reduced hours, but I take it in stride since we are a hotel and things like that tend to happen. I also know it is a temporary situation. But it becomes an issue for others.

One of the staff members is my manager's friend and he decides that he doesn't want to be patient about his dwindling hours and quits. That wasn't really too big of a shock though. He was not happy here and his lack of guest service reflected that.

Then on May 24th at about 3:15pm, I receive a phone call from my manager. She sounds like she's crying and says she can't make the schedule. I asked her if she was okay. She also said that she had called the Sales manager and that she wasn't able to get ahold of her, but that she believed that yesterday was her last day at the hotel. Then the phone went dead. I called the Sales manager to let her know the situation.

She said she would call my manager and get back to me when she could. The accountant called as well to find out what was happening. I told her what I knew so far and she said that if I heard anything else to let her know. The Sales manager called me back and asked if I could stay until 8pm as it seemed that my manager was not coming in at all.

That my manager had said to her that she was done with the hotel and that she didn't want to explain anything, but that she was just done. I said I would stay and then she asked for Night Audit's number which I gave to her. I then looked in the back and noticed that my manager's picture collage was no longer there and it was hanging there yesterday as it has been for the almost 2 years I've been here.

So I was a bit confused since I saw my manager the day before and she seemed fine. Perhaps it is a temporary situation and she just wants to blow off steam. I am wondering though that it is Memorial Day weekend and she is scheduled to be off tomorrow, so why not call in today to not work your 6pm to 12am shift? Maybe that is mean, but it did cross my mind.

She only worked a 12pm to 6pm shift that day before, so my logic wasn't a unheard of thing. I was just hoping I'm not right. I figured we shall see on Tues. which way it goes. I really don't see her just quitting like that. Unless she got a better deal somewhere else. But still, I don't understand.

Nothing is heard at all until the 26th. I get told that there will be some interviews for manager next week and that I am in the top three candidates. I say wow, thank you and I look forward to that. I ask about my manager and am told that it's not for me to worry over. I say okay.

Then I get asked by the accountant to come speak to her after my shift. I do so and she says she has something to tell me. She says you cannot wear that uniform anymore. I say why? She says because you are no longer a front desk person. I get a little scared. She says you have to wear business clothes from now on. She says that I am being promoted to Supervisor.

Wow! We discuss everything and I sign a 3 month probation contract. Which after that time, it will be decided whether to promote me to manager or not. Now I am sweating bullets as even though I know I can do the job, since I was doing most of it anyway, I really have to step up the guest service and employee morale part of it.

I am also concerned that some staff may think I was after my manager's job that whole time. Which is nonsense, but hey, people are funny when it comes to changes. So I go out and get a few items which I think are more businessy. What do I know? I've been wearing a uniform for almost 6 years. It was very odd buying things that would give me more of a professional look.

A memo gets posted and various staff members congratulate me. But then I am asked yesterday to write a statement about what happened that day when my manager called in. I say I will and I come in a bit early to write it. Now of course, I don't sit in the front as then guests will assume I'm working.

I sit at the manager's desk in the back and set my things down. Of course I just finish and print it when lo and behold, the accountant walks in with my manager. Huh, awkward much? Anyhow of course, I show my manners and step back to show my respect while my manager takes care of taking whatever is left at the desk of her personal property. She takes great pains to not look at or address me unless she has to. And hmm, she seems to be in VERY good spirits unlike the last conversation I had with her.

Which makes me laugh a bit since what did she think would happen? She was the one who deserted the hotel and we all picked up the slack and moved on. Yes, I would have waited just a few days more (for my promotion and all that) until after she had signed the exit papers and was no longer coming to property, but that's me.

Now we are getting back on track and pulling together as a unit. I have re-assured everyone that asked that we are a team and my promotion is to help us all reach the common goal of a successful hotel. That's where my desire lies. Not for power or that stupid stuff. I am not going to be someone that forgets where they come from. I was born in the trenches and I'll die in the trenches, right next to my co-workers. That's what teamwork, real teamwork is all about.

I think one of the things I have in my favor is that everyone I work with sees that it's not a phase, and that I truly do give a damn, that I have from the beginning. That is what I believe will help push us all to greatness.

I will keep everyone posted more, I promise. But now you all know why I have been absent for a while.