To suggest the last sixteen months have been challenging and in some cases, life-altering, is to suggest Donald Trump has a few eccentricities.
Let’s face it, we’ve all had to face some unsettling truths and make some hard choices in the last year- and-a-half – and it looks like this wildly-dark ride isn’t quite over yet.
However, while civilization has been irrevocably altered by the damnable nightmare that is Covid-19, some things, like Mother Nature’s impact on this globe, never change. Sure, it feels like Momma N has an entire swarm of bees in her organic bonnet these days, with all the wildfires, mudslides and a host of other natural disasters humanity is facing these days, but at least she’s left the seasons untouched.
To that point, I was walking home from the hotel the other night just before midnight and I took the opportunity to take stock of the events of the day.
- The hotel was “sold out” for the first time in months. (An unprecedented North American labor shortage has led to the hotel being unable to clean more than sixty percent of the rooms, thus giving the term “sold out” less weight than ever before.)
- We’ve switched from a full service property offering bell service to one that allows guests to take their own cart if they don’t wish to avail themselves of the services of someone who actually knows what they’re doing. So now guests are placing fully loaded coolers on top of smooth suitcases and gym bags. What could possibly go wrong?
- Guests are hostile.
- Guests are raging over minor issues.
- Guests have, quite frankly, lost their fucking minds over the past year-and-a-half and have thrown reason and good manners out the window.
- The air is crisp and humid.
- Horny skunks are roaming the streets once the sun goes down.
- There’s an electricity in the Niagara air.
- A few guests allowed nostalgia to overtake them and actually engaged my services. It was glorious. The feeling of walking home with pockets that weren’t empty was deeply unfamiliar.
What did all this pondering, done over the course of a mere ten-minute walk lead to, you ask? An inescapable revelation, friends…
The closest thing to an actual Niagara Falls summer is finally here.
It will be agonizingly brief, but summer is actually here. It certainly doesn’t feel the same, but then again, what does anymore? And there’s one more significant change that cannot be ignored…
My immediate supervisor of twenty-two years, who didn’t work a single shift in the last sixteen months while the rest of us toiled in Hell, has resigned and his assistant has stepped down. That left a vacancy waiting to be filled. Granted, the job and the department no longer resemble the pre-2020 version, but the role of Bell Captain still needed to be filled.
And now it has.
So yes, you may now proceed to unleash as many Captain Hook jokes as your fevered, social media attuned brains can manifest, my children. I can take it, I’m a captain.
What does this mean for my life as an indie author, you may be wondering?
Well, I’ve never been a manager before, so making schedules and filing payroll is all new to me and will no doubt be taking up a lot of my time. But promoting Into The Dark and writing Into The Grey and Into The Light is going to be put on the backburner for the time being, at least.
But I’ll get back to mining my creative depths eventually. In the meantime, I have a lot of studying to do, so wish me luck.
See you in the lobby, and the virtual book aisles, friends…
Captain Hook has a nice ring to it. Congratulations Robert. I remember going to the bell captain’s desk when I was a meeting planner to arrange stuff. I was always in awe of those guys. They actually understood how to get things done in a hotel. So proud of you.
Thanks, John.
Like I said, the job has been significantly altered by the pandemic, but with any luck it may change back again someday.
In the meantime, this is still a victory in many ways.
For sure.
Cheers and hooray – adventures await. You’ll catch on quickly – a sense of humor and wit will get you through. (besides your daughter and wife will get some good grins from you dealing with the other side now?)
Simmering books on the back burner often turn out to be hotter and better – a bit of perspective with distance and time.
YEA you!
And once again, I thank you for your support.
Congratulations. I hated being a manager, and thus wasn’t very good at it. I hope you do better than I did.
I hope so too, Doug!
And thanks!
I seem to recall telling you some long while ago that you’d be promoted one day. I hoped I’d get first crack at the Captain Hook jokes for that. So much for your friendship with an elderly Brit.
I hope you find some time for the novel and don’t be too serious at the new job.
Hugs
I try not to be to serious about anything, David, but thanks.
And yes, I hereby acknowledge your prognostication abilities.
Hello from the East Coast, best coast. Congratulations Mr. Capt. Hook on your new job. And congrats on your book. You have persevered and prevailed. A grand sense of humour always helps, doesn’t it? All the best to you and your family.
And to you and yours, old friend.
Now you need Tinkerbelle! Congrats!
My Tinker Bell is smart enough to avoid the hospitality industry and stay home!
You just had to mention the skunks … lmao! Congrats Captain!
Congrats Captain Hook!!! Thrilled for you.
I am too, thanks!
Congratulations, Hook! You will be terrific. I thoroughly enjoyed your thoughts during the ten minute midnight walk.
I appreciate that, Jennie.
Walks are great for mining one’s creative and introspective well.
Yes, they are.
Congrats…..I think…….
Thanks… I think…
Congratulations, Robert! I hope that this will be what you need it to be (at least for the time being). I am still waiting to see what my job will morph into (fingers crossed I still have a job). Enjoy what’s left of the summer. I am hoping to come spend at least a couple of days there with you.
You’ll be most welcome, and thanks.
Well done Robert!! Good luck in the new job. I’m sure you’ll do brilliantly!
Well, no one’s quit yet, so I’m crushing it so far.
Good for you!
Hey Congrats on your new post! Being Captain Hook sounds like it was made for you 🙂 wishing you good vibes to find time to write, be the boss man, and enjoy yourself.
I’m trying, old friend, thanks.
Congrats hook! You might be pleasantly surprised to learn that you probably already have the tools you’ll need to succeed at this new position, and be back to your creative mind in no time! Like that side ever leaves you!
I appreciate the much-needed pep talk, Julie.
Thanks.
Better late than never…congratulations on the new job! 😎