Chapter 8 #3
"See? I told you. She ain't mean."
I laughed.
"I can tell."
"She just expect you to do your job."
"I can do that."
Ariel grabbed one of the housekeeping carts before tossing me a pair of black gloves.
"Stick with me."
I caught them.
"I'm about to teach you how we do things around here."
Casey smiled.
"And don't get comfortable."
I frowned.
"Why?"
"Because every floor different."
Ariel nodded.
"Every guest different."
Casey added,
"And every day...is something new"
She started walking toward the elevators.
I adjusted my badge, took one last look around, and hurried after them.
I watched Tia disappear down the hallway before looking over at Ariel.
"I thought she was gone be mean."
Ariel laughed.
"Everybody think that."
"She just look serious."
"She do."
Casey adjusted the clipboard underneath her arm.
"Tia been with this hotel a long time."
"She know every floor, every room, every employee, and probably every guest that stay here more than twice."
"Damn. That's why people listen when she talk."
I nodded.
"I respect that,” I added.
Casey smiled.
"You'll learn real quick around here."
Ariel reached over and grabbed one of the housekeeping carts before handing me a box 0f trash bags.
"Here…We gone need these.”
"Got ya.”
She pointed toward the elevators.
"Stick with me."
"I will."
Casey looked back at both of us.
"I'm gonna check in with Tia after lunch. If y'all need anything before then, call me."
"We got it," Ariel answered.
Casey nodded once before heading in the opposite direction.
I watched her disappear through another set of doors before looking back at Ariel.
"So...What we doing first?"
Ariel smiled.
"We're gonna start with departures. I know you probably don't know what that means yet."
I laughed.
"I definitely don't."
"It means the guest checked out. So now we go in, strip everything, clean everything, make it look like nobody was ever there."
I nodded.
"Okay."
She started pushing the housekeeping cart toward the elevators.
"Come on…The only way to learn this job is to actually do it.”
She glanced back at me.
The elevator doors slid open.
I took a deep breath and followed her inside.
The elevator doors closed behind us before slowly making their way up.
I looked around at the polished stainless-steel walls before glancing over at Ariel.
"So...how long you been doing this?"
She shrugged.
"About eleven years."
My eyes got big.
"Damn."
"You don't get tired of it?"
"Sometimes."
She smiled.
"But a paycheck gone wake you up real quick."
I laughed.
"I felt that."
The elevator chimed before the doors slid open.
The hallway looked like something out of a movie.
The carpet was so clean it looked brand new. Every few feet sat a fresh flower arrangement on a marble table, and not one piece of trash was anywhere in sight.
I looked down both sides of the hallway.
"It don't even smell like people been staying up here."
Ariel laughed.
"That's because we don't let it."
She pushed the housekeeping cart toward Room 1128 before pulling a master key card from around her neck.
"This one checked out about thirty minutes ago."
She slid the key through the lock.
The light turned green.
Before opening the door, she knocked three times.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
I looked at her.
"They checked out."
"I know."
"Then why you knocking?"
"Because people lie."
I frowned.
"What?"
She laughed.
"You'd be surprised how many folks ask for a late checkout, fall back asleep, then wake up with housekeeping standing over 'em."
I couldn't help but laugh.
"Ain't no way."
"Oh, it's definitely a way."
She waited a few seconds before opening the door.
The first thing I noticed was how cold it was.
The air conditioner had that room feeling like somebody left the North Pole sitting in there.
The curtains were still open from whoever had stayed there the night before, letting the morning sunlight spill across the king-size bed.
The TV was still on.
A pair of room slippers sat beside the bed.
Half a bottle of Fiji water rested on the nightstand.
Everything looked...
Lived in.
Ariel looked over at me.
"Alright."
She clapped her hands together once.
"Lesson number one."
She pointed around the room.
"Don't start cleaning."
I frowned.
"What?"
"The first thing you do..."
She handed me a small notebook.
"...is look."
I looked around again.
"I'm looking."
"No."
She smiled.
"You observing."
She walked over to the bed.
"Every room tells a story."
I raised an eyebrow.
"What you mean?"
She pointed toward the nightstand.
"Half a bottle of water."
Then toward the desk.
"Laptop charger still plugged in."
Then toward the bathroom.
"Wet towel hanging on the shower rod."
I looked at her.
"So..."
She smiled.
"What that tell you?"
I thought about it for a second.
"They left in a hurry?"
Ariel snapped her fingers.
"There you go."
She nodded toward the desk.
"Now go check that drawer."
I pulled it open.
Inside sat a pair of wireless earbuds.
"Oh..."
I looked back at Ariel.
"They forgot these."
She smiled.
"And that's why we observe before we touch."
She reached for the hotel phone.
"Now watch how this part works."
She picked up the receiver.
"Housekeeping."
"This is Ariel in 1128."
"We have one item left behind."
She paused while the person on the other end spoke.
"Yes…Wireless earbuds."
She hung up the phone and looked at me.
"Guests lose stuff every single day."
I looked down at the earbuds still sitting in my hand.
"I probably would've threw these in the trash."
Ariel looked at me like I'd lost my damn mind.
"You would've threw away three hundred dollars."
My mouth dropped open.
"These cost what?"
She laughed.
"Welcome to Stylez Grand Stay."
Ariel grabbed the earbuds out of my hand before placing them inside a clear evidence bag.
She wrote the room number, today's date, and the time across the front before sticking it in one of the side pockets on the cart.
"Now..."
She clapped her hands together.
"Let's get to work."
She stripped the bed so fast I almost missed it.
One pull and the comforter was off.
Another pull, the fitted sheet came off.
Then the pillowcases and everything landed inside the laundry bag hanging off the side of the cart.
I blinked.
"Damn."
She laughed.
"What?"
"You move like you done did this in your sleep."
"Some days I probably could."
She tossed me a fresh fitted sheet.
"Your turn."
I unfolded it or at least I tried to. That damn sheet twisted itself into what looked like one big knot. Ariel leaned against the dresser with her arms folded.
"You fighting it?"
"I think it's winning."
She laughed so hard she had to turn around.
"I ain't laughing at you."
"Yes, you are."
"I am a little bit."
I finally got one corner over the mattress. Then another. The third popped off. The fourth somehow ended up underneath the mattress.
I stood there breathing hard.
"This bed don't like me."
Ariel walked over smiling.
"The bed ain't the problem."
"What is?"
"You trying to rush."
She pulled the sheet off and handed it back to me.
"Slow down."
She stepped beside me.
"Luxury ain't fast. It's precise."
She showed me how to line up each corner before tucking the sheet underneath the mattress.
"There."
She stepped back.
"Now you do the other side."
This time it actually worked.
I smiled.
"I did that."
"You sure did."
I couldn't help smiling to myself. It wasn't perfect. But it looked a whole lot better than my first attempt. Ariel nodded toward the bathroom.
"Now let's see how you clean one."
I looked at that marble bathroom. Then back at her.
"I miss Walmart already."
Ariel laughed all the way into the bathroom.
She tossed a stack of fresh towels onto the cart before looking over at me.
“Alright. Now you’ve watched me, now I wanna watch you.”
I nodded.
“Just tell me what to do.”
She pointed toward the bathroom.
“Start in there.”
I walked inside and looked around.
The bathroom alone was bigger than my bedroom. It had marble countertops, a glass shower with a soaking tub and two sinks. Hell, the mirror had a tv built into it.
“What rich people need a tv in they bathroom for?” I asked.
Ariel laughed from the doorway.
“I don’t know. I aint never stayed long enough to ask.”
I grabbed a rag and started wiping down the countertop.
Ariel watched me for a minute before speaking.
“You missed something.”
I stopped.
“What?”
She pointed toward the chrome faucet.
“Look.”
I leaned closer. There were tiny spots all over it.
“I would’ve never noticed that.
“Exactly.”
She handed me in microfiber cloth.
“Out there…that faucet clean.”
She walked over beside me and wiped it one time.
The chrome instantly looked brand new.
“In here it gotta shine,” she smiled.
I stared at the faucet.
“I aint gone lie I see why yall take so long.”
Ariel laughed.
“You’ll get faster. This shit gone come naturally..”
“I hope so.”
“You will.”
She nodded toward the sink.
“Keep going.”
I spent the next twenty minutes wiping, spraying, polishing and asking more questions than I probably should’ve. Ariel answered every last one of them and not once did she make me feel stupid. Every now and then she would stop me just to show me how to do things ‘their’ way.
By the time we finished the bathroom, I stepped back and looked around. It looked like nobody had ever used it.
Ariel smiled.
“See?”
I nodded.
“I aint gone lie this look good,” she stated.
“It do?”
She tossed the used microfiber cloth into the laundry bag hanging off the cart.”
“Yeah, but one room don’t make a shift.”
She grabbed the master key from around her neck and stepped back into the hallway.
“Right.”
“We still got a whole lot more doors to knock on.”
I looked down the long hallway lined with identical room numbers and let out a slow breath.
“…Lord.”
Ariel laughed.
“Girl come on. The sooner we get started, the sooner lunch get here.”
The next couple hours went by faster than I expected.