Like Shifting Sands

"Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work." - Aristotle 

I took this photo the day I got my name badge, back in January!

Life sometimes feels like its slipping through my fingers like sand. The end of April is fast approaching and I realise that I've been at Travelodge almost five months. Its scary actually. I love my job so much. Bartending is something that some people end up doing to make a little bit of money during the holidays or a for a few days a week during their college (the last two years of high school) or university (American college) years, except for a few people. For some of us, bar work has become a career. When I first started working at The Coaching Halt in October 2017, I only thought I'd be there long enough to find a job at London Gatwick Airport, which lies on our doorstep. However, I ended up staying there about 9 months and was forced to leave due to the poor state of my mental health, though I didn't fully understand what was going on at the time. When I found a job at McDonald's a month later, it took a while for me to realise that I actually missed working behind a bar and when the opportunity came along to work at the bar café at Travelodge Gatwick Central, I jumped at it. I also realised that I needed to myself first, its why I sought medical help in regards to my depression (I may or may not write about this in more detail in the future). 

Taken 9 weeks ago, back when my Samsung S8+ was working!

It didn't take long for me to realise how much I had actually missed working behind a bar, and that I wanted to stay longterm. Over the last four months I've realised that bartending is definitely not for everyone. We've lost a number of staff members, who either had been in the company quite a bit longer than me or joined after I did. Some of the other bartenders didn't stay longer than a week. It's been hard because I've gotten to know these people, only to see them leave again. The high turnover is something that is commonplace amongst bartenders and the like. We had a pretty high turnover at The Coaching Halt when I worked there, and we were always short staffed, though, thankfully we've not been as bad at Travelodge. There has been a few times when its been rather scary because of the lack of staff on the bar, compared to the number of customers we've had. A few times the queues standing around the bar has been two or three people deep and management has had to come and jump onto the bar to help us ease through the busiest spots. Though I should point out that the busier times make the shifts fly by and often I'm almost surprised that my eight hour shift has come to an end. Sometimes I'll hang around after my shift, especially if I'm finishing at 23:00 (11pm) I'll hang around and make sure that the night staff be eased into their shift, especially if its busier around the time of the shift hand over. Sometimes it does get busy around the time when the handover takes place. You see, the bar café at Travelodge Gatwick Central is open 24/7, unless, on the rare occasion when we don't have the staff to man the bar. Though this hasn't been the case recently. We've had a few night staff join the team and they've been amazing. I've become friends with a few of them, even though I only see them a few times a week and briefly, depending on when I finish my shift. I've had quite a few 12:00-20:00 (12pm to 8pm) recently, and the night team always starts at 23:00 (11pm). The night staff who cover the bar over night tend to also be a part of the reception's night team. So they're often flexing between the two departments. Thankfully I've got a few late shifts coming up over the next few days, so I get to see them when I finish work. My bus often comes pretty late, about 40 minutes after I finish work, so I tend to make sure that they're able to ease into their shift (if its busy) or I'll end up just chatting with them after I've signed out but before I leave the building.

I'm planning to stay at Travelodge for the next few years, at least. I've changed my jobs a few times over the last year and a half, so my choosing to stay at the hotel will do my CV the world of good. Not to add, I'm enjoying working at Travelodge and don't see any reason why I should leave the hotel. It's my career and job that I enjoy doing!

I'll write again soon.

XX