First Week

So I have just about got through my first week here at Canyon Lodge, yesterday and today were my days off – what a relief. I never knew how much work truly went into a hotel room before I started as a Room Attendant (Cleaner) here. I start out work at 8 am each morning where firstly we all line up and get our lists of rooms that need to be cleaned for the day, a list with many ‘occupied’ rooms will brighten up a face because they are much faster, and a list with yellow marker all over it with the words ‘due-out’ next to the room number certainly does not raise a smile for anyone, these take twice the time and effort.

(I just finished this blog post after an hour of work but it got sucked away by the web so I'll give a short version)

One large room with two double beds and an en suite is supposed to take 30 minutes to complete in total. Everything has to be deeply cleaned each time, even when the rooms are occupied. First all the rubbish and dirty sheets/towels are stripped from the room and thrown into multiple bags. Then a rainbow of toxic chemicals is bought into the room. Pink for intense shower/tub/sink/toilet rubbing. Blue for shiny surfaces. Green for deodorisation and Yellow for every other surface. All soaps and towels must be replaced and the shower and sink washed with buckets of water, then dried off. Every single hair must be removed since the bathrooms are all white, which is very difficulty. When the bathroom is done new sheets must be put onto the bed. These are simple cream sheets so you have to spread them out and tuck them under the bed like you would when wrapping a birthday present. A final cover is placed on top with two pillows folded into it at the top. Then you vacuum all the floor and clean every surfaces, after which all the coffee, condiments, leaflets and postcards must be replaced - not forgetting to empty the coffee machine. Then you finally shut the door and take a big breath, for there are normally 14 of these in a day. It doesn't look like much here but the length is in the details and running back to your trolley that looks like a fruit selling cart. I have no clue how it is humanly possible to finish all this within 30 minutes, but I am going to try. 

I'll write later about the interesting stuff I have done on my days off.