A day in the life of a hotel supervisor

“All they want is a fling because they know you are accessible. That is why they give up after the first or second attempt. Other times, you turn down a man, and he just walks straight to the next waitress.Eunice Gicheha believes that a good girl is like an apple on top of a tree. “The bad ones are down, so the unserious guys will not go for the apple on top of the tree. They pick what’s nearest to them.” Eunice counts herself among the good apples; the ones on top of the tree. Only problem is, the nature of her job as a hotel supervisor makes it hard for society to view her as a good apple. “People think that all hotel workers are immoral,” she vents, adding, “I think it’s because we smile a lot and give clients the opportunity to get close to us. You can’t be as close to a bank teller or a doctor.” Smiling a lot and giving clients the opportunity to get up close has got its own downside, especially so if the person doing the smiling is a beautiful young woman; it sends out wrong signals to secret admirers. It is something Eunice has learnt to accept as an occupational hazard. What she is yet to come to terms with is the fact that to most men, “unserious guys” as she puts it, the word “hotelier” means “easy access,” like the apple on the ground. “You don’t have to be a hotelier to become a prostitute. You can be a banker and a prostitute. I believe it boils down to personality,” she reasons. As supervisor in charge of general operations at Scola Hotel, her duties entail dealing with fellow staff and clients alike, making sure service is excellent and guests are comfortable. Sometimes, she offers so much comfort to clients (read male clients), they are left asking for “more”, usually over and above her call of duty. “I’m a person of many words and a gifted orator. I don’t jump into talking to people. I first read their moods, so I treat each person exclusively. I talk a lot, because business means talking. You don’t talk to people, you don’t make money. People have got money, and you’ve got to find a way of getting that money by talking to them.” One wonders how it is possible for a woman in Eunice’s shoes to maintain the extremely delicate line between work hospitality and her personal life. How does she stave off all those advances from men looking for the nearest apple to pick? “The way you conduct yourself determines your dignity. When it’s work, it’s work,” she says rather seriously. “You ask for my number and I’ll gladly give it to you. When out of work, it’s strictly Eunice the serious girl.” She says there are “many civilized and polite ways to put a man off”, so no need to even be rude to them on phone. She is convinced that most advances men make on hotel waitresses are fuelled by drink. “All they want is a fling because they know you are accessible. That is why they give up after the first or second attempt. Other times, you turn down a man, and he just walks straight to the next waitress.” Eunice’s strength as a hospitality provider lies in her excellent communication skills, a level head and an ever present smile. On account of these attributes, she gets to chat with doctors, lawyers and pilots alike during the course of her duties. “A smile crowns it all. It’s a picture of what’s inside your heart. I don’t think anything can take away my joy. I rarely fall sick. I think I have too much joy that scares away sickness,” she says, sounding cheeky. “If you want happiness, stop thinking that money or a good job will bring it. If you smile at your job, it smiles back at you. If you cry at it, it will cry back at you. I don’t need anything to be happy,” she says with finality. Away from work, Eunice will be found reading her bible, taking a swim, or checking out the competition. “I go to other hotels because I love challenges. I go to learn new things. When I get poor service, I’m happy because it makes me know I’m good in comparison. When I’m served excellently, I take it as a challenge to be even better at my work.” Eunice believes that she deserves a man from the bible, her favourite book, not the hotel. “Being in a hotel, I’ve learnt how men treat ladies, so I seriously fear relationships. In the hotel industry, men are complicated while in the bible there is Mr. Right. God will intervene for me.”

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A day in the life of a hotel supervisor