Work Day 2 & 3

Work Day 2 & 3

Yesterday was the second day of my work but it was pretty much the same with what I did on the first day, except for that I got much better and comfortable with what I was doing there. Maybe I will have two to three days at the front desk and then I will be moved to the sales or accounting.

I was talking to the front desk girls and found out that there are so many things could be changed for this hotel. They could open the water park during the weekdays as well since so many guests only book the rooms for the water park; they could have opened the theatre to play old movies for $5/per to attract guests and earn some revenue as well; they could have set a rest area for people who come to wait for the shuttle to Chicago. For the room itself, it could definitely be updated and aimed for a four stars hotel. Just like people, hotel is all about self-respect too. If you don’t invest in yourself and respect yourself, don’t expect others to.

But what I really want to talk about yesterday is that I went to visit a friend’s family and had dinner with them. The front desk girl Julissa invited me to her family dinner yesterday, which was the second day we met each other. She is very sweet and welcoming and friendly. Her family is nice too. However, even though I was already aware of the difference of Chinese and Western parenting styles through Josh’s family, it was still shocking to see how different it actually is. For example, they don’t really care that much about supporting their kids’ education or livings. The kids did not go to college, and they have to beg or negotiate with their parents for even 20 dollars of gas. And the craziest part is that the parents thought that the kids are TAKING ADVANTAGE of them. I was like…What??!!! My parents never even thought about using the word take advantage, and I have been taking advantage of my parents for my whole life! Not until then had I seriously realized that how much our parents have devoted to us and how much we should appreciate their love and support for us, both financially and emotionally.

Anyway. Today was a nice day though. I attended the staff meeting as a secretary in the morning, which the managers from every department came for reporting. My manager Eva looks educated and very businessy, then I was told that she is actually a consultant from Chicago, only works at the resort few days a week. I was introduced to the managers by her and was taking meeting notes the entire time. After the meeting, I took a tour around the resort and I was shocked to find out that how much potential there is at this hotel! For instance, they have tons of framed pictures that have not been used to decorate the walls, a theatre that has not been utilized to draw customers, space that has not been rent out for businesses such as convenience store and coffee shops to help the revenue, party rooms have not been set up nicely to be showed to the potential customers, etc. I feel like all they need to do is having a good management team to be aware of the situation and take actions. Finding out those stuff excited me so much that I couldn’t wait to help them. I realized that instead of doing what I was told to do, I should take this internship as a huge consulting project, and try as best as I can to bring as much value as I can to the resorts. Front desk is just where I learn how things work here, but it could not possibly be how I bring out my values.

Learn something new every day.

Love,

Regina