Chapter 1 #2
“Well, that’s nice, obviously, but I can handle my own romantic life, and right now dating is not a priority. And I’m especially not dating someone I work with.”
“Why not? That man is hotter than a chilli pepper, and it’s convenient that he works here. It means that a rendezvous in the laundry room is a definite possibility. Or one of the empty bedrooms.”
And there were far too many of those.
“Stop!” Evie held up a hand. “You have to stop.”
“I’ll stop if you tell me what secretive thing you’re doing on that laptop of yours. And don’t say nothing because I know you well enough to know when you’re hiding something.”
“It’s nothing of interest, really.” Seeing the speculation on Donna’s face, Evie wished she was a better liar. “You said you wanted to talk to me?”
“Is it Pat’s anniversary you’re planning?” Donna was still peering at Evie’s laptop, as if it held the clues to the universe. “Can you believe she has worked here for twenty-five years?”
Yes, she could believe that. She also believed that Pat probably should have moved on to other things at least twenty years ago when she was still feeling fresh and enthusiastic.
“We have a loyal staff,” Evie said. And that, of course, was part of the problem. They’d been here for so long they were set in their ways and refused to change. And she had no idea how to motivate them to do things differently.
She adored Gerald, who had been the general manager for the past fifteen years, but after his heart attack she’d stepped up into the GM role in the hotel and what she’d discovered had almost given her a heart attack, too.
How could he have let things get so bad? The whole place was a disaster.
For the first month she’d worked eighteen-hour days trying to get a full picture, and once she’d got the full picture she’d spent a few more days in full panic mode before sitting down and trying to form a workable plan to save the place.
But her plan required everyone to join together and change the way they did things.
Unfortunately, most of the staff, though lovely and loyal, liked the way things were done and weren’t prepared to change anything bigger than a lightbulb.
She didn’t have a fraction of Gerald’s experience, but even she could see it was only a matter of time until head office made the decision to intervene in a big way.
She knew a developer was interested in the site.
He’d had the audacity to spend three nights at the hotel, during which he’d poked his thin hooked nose into every corner and asked intrusive questions.
He reminded Evie of a weasel. She’d managed to resist the urge to give him scratchy sheets or feed him dodgy seafood.
What was the point? What difference would it make?
The ship was sinking and she was trying to bail it out by herself with a teaspoon.
All she could do was grab herself a lifebelt, which was why she really should be applying for jobs. This was the push she’d needed to do what she probably should have done a long time ago.
Maybe calling herself “an experienced hospitality professional” was pushing it.
If she was being honest she should probably be describing herself as “burned out, disillusioned and hopeless at establishing boundaries with the staff.” She’d thought that over time they’d start to respect her experience but that wasn’t happening.
And maybe it was unrealistic to expect it.
To some of them she was still the child who had sat on their laps and watched TV with a glass of milk.
She felt a pang, because there were some things she’d miss, of course.
She woke every morning to the sound of waves crashing onto the rocks and the shriek of seagulls. She ran on the beach and the coast path and bought her fish straight from the boats that landed on the quay.
But she kept those thoughts to herself and tried again to make Donna focus on work. “You came in here to talk to me about something.”
“Did I? Oh yes—” Donna nodded. “I’d forgotten for a moment. Mrs Dodds is refusing to pay in full because she says she asked for hypoallergenic bedding and she was given feathers. She hasn’t had a wink of sleep for three nights because her airways have closed up.”
“But she always has hypoallergenic bedding. It’s on the computer system.”
“Mandy hates the computer system. And I know we also keep cards for each guest, but I think she forgot to look at it. Anyway, Mrs Dodds didn’t get hypoallergenic bedding.
I’ve told her it was the highest quality down and feathers but that didn’t soothe her.
She said when this happened last time Gerald comped the whole stay. ”
“He didn’t charge her at all? For the whole week?”
“That’s right.”
And that, Evie thought wearily, was just one of the reasons the hotel was in trouble.
“All right. I’ll deal with this. How bad is it? Should we offer to make her a doctor’s appointment?”
“I don’t think she wants that. I told her it was a mixup and that we’re sorry, but she seems to want financial compensation. And one of our branded waffle bathrobes.”
One of the disadvantages of being a five-star hotel and providing top quality bathroom products was that guests tended to walk off with them.
“I’ll talk to Mrs Dodds right now, then I need to see Mandy.
” Mandy was the head housekeeper. Evie had tried to persuade her to use the computer system that automatically flagged guest preferences, but she was scared of it and preferred to check the old-fashioned card system that had been in place for decades.
“Go easy on her,” Donna said. “She’s already upset because Mrs Dodds shouted. Honestly, it’s not that big a deal. I’m sure she’ll stop sneezing if she goes for a walk on the beach. Fresh air, that’s what she needs. And maybe antihistamine.”
“Donna, it’s a big deal,” Evie said. “Firstly, because we have an unhappy guest, which means we’ve failed at our job.
Secondly, because it is much easier to keep guests than it is to cultivate new ones, so losing a guest is bad news.
And thirdly, as well as losing money by compensating her, we risk a bad review and bad reviews put people off staying here.
And they also affect our SEO ranking and—”
“Our what?”
“Never mind. I’ll handle it, Donna.”
“Right—before you do that, I wanted to ask if I could leave early today. I need to take my mother to a hospital appointment and the journey takes forever at this time of year. I know it’s not great timing—”
That was true. They were already short-staffed, but what could she say? She knew how hard it was for Donna, caring for her elderly mother at the same time as raising her family and working.
“Of course. How is she?”
“Frail. She seemed to give up after Dad died. Anyway, such is life. All you can do is carry on carrying on. Thanks, Evie.”
Evie wondered if she dared ask Donna to come in early tomorrow to make up the time, but then remembered she had to drop her youngest at school.
Unable to see a solution, she stood up and followed Donna to the front desk where Mrs Dodds was making her discontent known to anyone who would listen and a great number of other people who would probably rather have not listened.
Her face was red and blotchy and her tirade was punctuated by sneezing.
Her mouth tightened when she saw Evie. “I have been staying at The Alexandra, Cornwall for—”
“The past ten years. I know, Mrs Dodds, and you’re a special and valued guest. I’m extremely sorry this happened.
It was a genuine mistake and I assure you it will never happen again.
” She smoothed and soothed, ignoring the inner voice telling her that the way things were at that moment, it probably would happen again.
“What are you going to do about it? Gerald would have offered me my next holiday free of charge.”
“Last night will be complimentary, and we are going to offer you a special discounted rate for your booking next year.” She was determined not to give away an entire stay.
“I’ve been rethinking my booking for next year. I’m not sure I’ll be able to look forward to it after what has happened. How can you be sure it won’t happen again?”
Good question.
“Because I am personally going to look into it and will be doing some intensive staff training.” Which, she could safely predict, would make absolutely no difference at all to the level of service delivered.
It didn’t really matter what she promised because she couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that The Alexandra wouldn’t be in business next year.
It would have been closed or sold off to someone who would probably turn it into holiday homes which would remain empty for eleven months of the year.
The thought depressed her. She couldn’t imagine strolling through the village and not seeing the hotel nestled in the dip on the headland.
Having pacified Mrs Dodds and offered medical assistance (which was refused), she returned to her office and Mandy appeared a few minutes later.
Evie knew this wasn’t going to be an easy conversation.
“Mandy, why don’t you take a seat and—”
“You look exhausted, Evie. You’re the one who should be taking a seat, you poor lamb. I still can’t believe you’re all grown up and in charge.”
How was she supposed to exert authority when the staff treated her like a favourite pet?
“I’m fine, really. But, Mandy, I need to speak to you about Mrs Dodds.”
“Don’t you worry your head about that. No one likes to be yelled at and I was upset by the things she said, that’s true, but I’m over it. I’m not one to hold grudges. I’m sure she didn’t mean to shout at me the way she did. She obviously woke up in a bad mood.”
Evie opened her mouth to say that Mrs Dodds had woken up surrounded by feathers which might have explained her less than sunny disposition, but Mandy was still talking.