Chapter 8 #2
"Morning."
Casey smiled back.
"Morning."
Tiffany looked between the two of us.
"Nyrobi, this is Casey."
"The one I told you about."
Casey reached her hand out.
"Welcome to the team."
"Thank you."
"I heard good things already."
I looked over at Tiffany.
"You been talking about me?"
"I own the company. I talk about everybody"
She shrugged.
That made all three of us laugh.
Casey looked down at her clipboard.
"We waiting on one more person, then we'll roll."
"Who's that?" I asked.
"My trainer."
Right on cue, another woman came walking across the parking lot with a travel mug in one hand and a ring of master keys clipped to her waistband.
She looked like she'd been doing this for years.
"Sorry, traffic was crazy," she said.
Casey looked at her watch.
"You still got two minutes."
"I know."
She smiled before looking over at me.
"This her?"
Casey nodded.
"Yep."
The woman walked over and shook my hand.
"I'm Ariel."
"Nyrobi."
"You nervous?"
I laughed.
"Is it that obvious?"
"A little."
She smiled.
"Don't worry."
"Ain't nobody expecting you to know everything your first day."
"That's good. Cause I definitely don't."
Everybody laughed.
Tiffany looked at Casey.
"Y'all got today's room report?"
Casey held the clipboard up.
"Tia emailed it about twenty minutes ago."
"Anything crazy?"
Casey glanced down at the paperwork.
"Hundred and twelve departures. Forty-seven stayovers. Three VIP arrivals. Two executive suites. And one presidential suite."
Tiffany nodded.
"Busy day."
Casey let out a little whistle.
"You ain't lying."
I looked between all of them.
"I ain't gone lie...This sound like a whole different language."
Ariel laughed.
"It do now. But by next week. You gone be saying it with us."
She opened the side door to the van.
I climbed inside behind her, buckled my seatbelt, and looked out the window as Casey started the van.
I didn't know what today was gone bring. I just knew it had to be better than yesterday.
Casey backed the van out of the parking space before pulling onto the main road.
Ariel reached behind her seat, grabbed a clipboard, and dropped it in my lap.
"Start learning these."
I looked down.
Room Status Codes. DND. OOO. VIP. Stayover. Departure.
I looked back up at her.
"This look like another language."
Ariel laughed.
"It did to me too."
Casey glanced at me through the rearview mirror.
"You'll catch on."
"Everybody keep saying that."
"Because it's true."
I looked back down at the clipboard.
"So...what exactly make this hotel so different?"
Casey answered before Ariel could.
"The people."
"What you mean?"
"People paying six, seven, sometimes ten thousand dollars a night expect everything to be perfect."
I blinked.
"A night?"
Ariel nodded like it wasn't nothing.
"You heard her."
"Hell..."
I leaned back in my seat.
"If I'm paying that kinda money, my room better clean itself," I joked.
The whole van busted out laughing.
Casey shook her head.
"You funny."
"I'm serious. For ten bands.....I need the towels folding themselves."
Ariel laughed so hard she had to wipe tears out her eyes.
"Girl, don't say that in front of Tia."
"Why?"
"Because she don't laugh when she working."
Casey nodded.
"Tia good people. But when it comes to that hotel...she don't play."
"She strict?"
Ariel looked over at me.
"Let's just say if Tia tell you a pillow crooked don't stand there looking at it."
"Fix it."
"Immediately,” Casey added.
I nodded.
"Got it."
Casey smiled.
"Good."
"Because in about ten minutes...you gone see why,” She pointed through the windshield.
I nodded.
The van got quiet after that.
Casey turned the radio up a little while Ariel looked over tomorrow's schedule on her tablet. I leaned my head against the window, watching Orlando fly by.
Now that my mind was silent I wasn't thinking about the job. I was thinking about my mama.
I reached into my purse, grabbed my phone, and pulled up Kendra's messages. I already knew she was probably knocked out by now.
Hell...After the night she had, she deserved to be.
I typed anyway.
Me: Whenever you wake up, can you stop by the hospital and check on my mama for me?
I stared at the message for a second before hitting send.
Not even ten seconds later...
My phone buzzed.
I laughed.
"Knew your ass wasn't sleep," I mumbled to myself.
Kendra: Girl...you know I don't miss your calls or texts.
Another message came through before I could respond.
Kendra: I'm already planning on going. Quit worrying so much.
I smiled and shook my head.
Me: Love you.
Kendra: Love you more. Now let me take my ass to sleep cause a bitch is tied.
I laughed under my breath before sliding my phone back into my purse.
Casey looked over at me.
"Everything alright?"
"Yeah."
I smiled.
"My best friend."
She nodded like she understood.
"Everybody need one."
Before I could answer, Casey slowed the van.
She pointed straight ahead.
"There it is."
I looked through the windshield.
At first, all I saw were rows of palm trees swaying in the breeze.
Then a long stone wall came into view.
It stretched almost as far as I could see, with perfectly manicured hedges running along the front. Right in the middle sat a huge stone monument with bronze letters carved into it.
STYLEZ GRAND STAY
"Damn..."
Casey smiled.
"That ain't even the best part."
The security guard at the entrance recognized the company van immediately. He waved us through without even asking for identification.
As we drove farther onto the property, I found myself leaning closer to the window.
"This can't be no damn hotel."
Ariel laughed.
"I said the same thing my first day."
The driveway curved around a massive fountain where water shot twenty feet into the air before crashing back down into crystal-blue water. Luxury cars lined the front entrance while bellmen hurried back and forth pushing gold luggage carts.
Everything looked spotless.
Not one piece of trash.
Not one dead flower.
Not one crack in the sidewalk.
The closer we got, the bigger the building looked.
Floor-to-ceiling windows reflected the morning sun so bright I had to squint.
People walked in and out dressed like they had somewhere important to be. Men in tailored suits rolled expensive luggage behind them while women wearing heels that probably cost more than my rent talked on their phones without missing a step.
I shook my head.
"I would've never guessed a hotel looked like this."
Casey glanced at me in the mirror.
"Most people don't."
Instead of pulling underneath the grand entrance, she turned toward another driveway wrapping around the side of the building.
I frowned.
"We don't go through the front?"
Ariel smiled.
"Nah."
She pointed toward a set of glass doors with an EMPLOYEES ONLY sign hanging above them.
"Guests come through the front."
"We come through here."
Casey put the van in park and unbuckled her seatbelt.
"Grab your stuff."
She looked back at me and smiled.
"Let's see if you can make a bed worth six thousand dollars a night."
I grabbed my lunch bag and climbed out behind Ariel.
The second my feet hit the pavement, I realized just how big this place really was.
Employees were everywhere.
Some pushed giant laundry carts overflowing with fresh sheets and towels. Others hurried through the employee entrance carrying clipboards, radios, and coffee cups. Everybody looked like they knew exactly where they were supposed to be.
Meanwhile...
I was just trying not to look lost.
Ariel must've noticed because she bumped my shoulder.
"You thinking too hard."
"I can't help it."
She smiled.
"You gone fit in."
"I hope so."
"You will."
Casey held the employee entrance open while we followed her inside.
The first thing that caught my attention wasn't the fancy floors or expensive artwork.
It was the smell.
Everything smelled...
Clean.
Not Pine-Sol clean.
Not bleach clean.
It was some kind of fresh scent that made the whole place feel expensive.
"You smell that?" I asked.
Ariel laughed.
"I knew you was gone say something."
"What is it?"
"I don't know."
She shrugged.
"All I know is they pump that scent through the vents."
"For real?"
"Yep."
I shook my head.
"They rich-rich."
Casey laughed.
"You ain't seen nothing yet."
We walked down a long hallway before stopping at a room full of lockers.
"Everybody got five minutes," Casey said. "Put your lunch up, grab your badge, then meet me back out here."
I found the locker with my name taped across the front and couldn't help but smile.
It wasn't much.
Just a gray locker with a combination lock.
But seeing my name on it...
Made this whole thing feel real.
I put my lunch inside, clipped my temporary badge onto my shirt, and hurried back into the hallway.
By the time I got there, Ariel and Casey were already talking to a woman dressed in a navy blazer with a hotel radio clipped to her waistband.
She wasn't loud.
She wasn't doing the most.
But the way people acknowledged her as they walked by...
I could tell she ran something.
"Morning, Tia," Casey said.
"Morning."
Tia glanced down at the clipboard in her hand.
"We're good on attendance?"
"Everybody showed."
"Good."
She checked something off before continuing.
"One hundred and twelve departures."
"Forty-seven stayovers."
"Three VIP arrivals."
"And the presidential suite has to be inspection-ready before one."
Casey nodded.
"We'll get it done."
That's when Tia looked over at me.
"This the new hire?"
"Yes, ma'am," Casey answered.
Tia looked me over for a second.
Not in a rude way.
More like she was trying to figure me out.
"You ever cleaned hotels before?"
"No, ma'am."
She nodded.
"You ever cleaned?"
I laughed.
"I got a mama."
The corner of her mouth twitched.
"Fair enough."
She tucked the clipboard underneath her arm.
"Welcome to Stylez Grand Stay."
"Don't let all this marble and glass intimidate you."
"At the end of the day..."
She looked around the lobby.
"...it's still just work."
With that, she turned her attention back to Casey.
"I'll have another room report waiting on you after lunch."
"We'll be ready."
Tia nodded once before walking away.
I watched her disappear around the corner.
Ariel leaned over.