The Innkeeping Blog

The day began early again. Now that I had learned the breakfast set up routine, I was able to jump right in at 7 a.m. and contribute. We were expecting thirteen guests for the meal, again spread over three different rooms. I lucked out this week, because we had no crazy or mean guests to serve. Everyone was quite affable. The only one who stuck out a bit was a widow who personified the word “loquacious.” We had quite an eclectic group, including a young couple seeking a little romance, young parents and their 5-month old baby, a widow on her way to a spiritual retreat, an Australian visiting the University of Washington on some official academic business, a gay couple, a non-descript baby boomer couple and a mother and daughter checking out the campus. We served yummy ginger spice pancakes, dusted with powder sugar, with an apple salad. It was my good fortune that the mother and daughter in the Sunrise Chamber didn’t show for breakfast, if you get my drift.

The calm after the storm didn’t last long, as Kristen and I were off to the large suites for some room turning. I cleaned the kitchen top-to-bottom, dusted, vacuumed, put new linens on the bed, and inflated an Aero bed for the incoming guests. I was then given the go-ahead to turn a room by myself. Joyce gave me the Scallop Chamber, which is the largest room in the main house. Here was my opportunity to show Joyce that I was coachable and could take on the monumental task of a thorough cleaning.Lesson number one that I learned: gather and organize what you’re going to need, so you don’t have to make too many trips. The Scallop Chamber is on the third floor, and I discovered that what I needed (if it wasn’t stocked in the housekeeping cabinet and linen closet) could have been on floor two, floor one or the basement. There is definitely a method to the madness of housekeeping. You have to anticipate all that you’re going to need. Working a three-floor house can be exhausting, which motivates you to think wisely about how you approach these kinds of projects. Three or four trips up and down the stairs will have you thinking about efficiency! And, what an appreciation I now have for the laundry chute! Open the little door in the wall…drop the dirty linens…voila! They magically appear in the basement, right where you want it all! Unbelievable. Everyone should be so lucky.

I also learned from Kristen that there are lint rollers, and then there are lint rollers. She uses them on the floor in the bathrooms to pick up hair that the naked eye will usually miss. I asked her, “But how do you deal with a wet floor? Won’t the tape just get wet and stop picking up stuff?” Kristen proceeded to take the next three minutes to explain that not all lint rollers are created equal, and that some will actually continue to pick up hair even when wet! Yes it is true ladies and gentlemen – the perfect lint roller exists (according to Kristen), and I intend to contact the company directly to discuss a formal endorsement with PAII.

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