Chapter 8 #4
We cleaned one room and then I lost count.
With every room, I felt myself getting a little more comfortable.
I stopped fighting the fitted sheets and remembered to check every drawer before touching anything.
I even caught a pair of sunglasses sitting behind the blackout curtains before Ariel saw them.
She smiled.
"See...You learning."
"I told you I wasn't slow."
"I ain't say you was."
She bumped my shoulder.
"I just said you was new,” she said jokingly.
By the time we finished our fourth or fifth room, my feet were barking.
I leaned against the housekeeping cart for a second.
"I don't know how y'all do this every day."
Ariel took a sip from her water bottle.
"You get used to it."
"I hope so."
"You will."
She looked down at her watch.
"Come on."
"It's almost lunch."
My stomach growled right on cue.
Lord...
I had packed a bottle of water this morning thinking I'd just grab something to eat once lunch came.
Then I remembered...I was broke and the little bit of money I had left needed to stay exactly where it was. I wasn't spending it on no sandwich.
We made our way downstairs and into the employee break room. People were already finding seats, laughing, warming leftovers up in the microwave and talking over one another.
I quietly took a seat at the end of one of the tables.
Ariel looked over at me.
"You ain't gone eat?"
"I'm good."
"You sure?"
"Yeah."
She looked like she wanted to say something else but didn't.
Before the room could get much louder, the door swung open. Tia walked in holding a clipboard. The conversations slowly died down. She looked around the room before speaking.
"Y'all don't have to worry about lunch today."
A few people looked up.
"Mr. Stylez had food catered in for the housekeeping staff," she added.
A couple people clapped and somebody in the back yelled...
"Tell Mr. Style I said thank you!"
The whole room laughed.
Tia smiled just enough for me to notice.
"It'll be here in about ten minutes."
The second she walked back out...
The break room got loud all over again.
I let out the breath I'd been holding.
Thank you, Jesus.
Because I definitely wasn't about to tell these people I couldn't afford lunch.
One by one people started standing up as hotel staff rolled in trays of food. The smell hit the break room before they even made it through the door.
Fried chicken. Baked chicken. Mac and cheese. Collard greens. Rice. Cornbread. Salad. Dessert.
My stomach growled so loud I prayed nobody heard it.
Ariel looked over at me and smiled.
"Told you to quit worrying."
"I wasn't worried."
She raised an eyebrow.
"Mhmm."
I grabbed a plate and got in line behind everybody else.
By the time we all sat back down, the break room sounded like a family reunion.
Everybody was laughing, talking over each other, passing hot sauce around and some more shit.
Shit, somebody arguing over who made the best potato salad. It almost made me forget I was at work.
One of the housekeepers took a bite of her food before shaking her head.
"I swear Mr. Stylez don't have to feed us like this."
The older lady sitting across from her laughed.
"That man do this every few months."
Another woman nodded.
"And every holiday."
A younger girl smiled.
"My cousin work over at another hotel downtown. They lucky if they get a slice of pizza."
Everybody laughed.
The older lady pointed her fork toward the food.
"See...This why folks stay working here. It ain't just the money. It's how they treat people."
A woman sitting beside me wiped her mouth with a napkin.
"And it don't hurt that Mr. Stylez fine as hell either."
The whole table burst into laughter.
"Girl...You ain't never lied."
Another woman fanned herself with a napkin.
"That man so damn fine, I almost volunteered to work overtime when I seen him walk through here last month."
Everybody cracked up.
The older lady rolled her eyes.
"Y'all better leave that married man alone."
"Ain't nobody bothering that man."
The younger girl laughed.
"Please. Have you seen Mrs. Stylez?"
A couple people nodded at the same time.
"She beautiful."
"Beautiful ain't even the word."
The older lady smiled.
"They look good together."
"They really do."
Another housekeeper leaned forward.
"I've been here almost eight years."
"I done seen women try to flirt with him."
"And?"
She shrugged.
"He'll smile, he'll speak., he'll ask how your kids doing..."
"But he keep it moving every single time."
Another woman finished the sentence.
"That's because he know what he got waiting at home."
"Amen," somebody else said, making the whole table laugh again.
I listened quietly while eating my food.
"They own all this?" I finally asked.
Everybody looked at me.
"You ain't know?"
I shook my head.
"Nah."
The older lady smiled.
"Baby...This hotel just one piece."
That made me stop chewing.
"What you mean one piece?"
She took a sip of her sweet tea.
"They got hotels, apartment buildings, commercial property… I don't even think half of us know everything they own."
"Damn."
I looked around the break room for a second then back down at my plate.
Black people owned all this.
For some reason that made me smile.
The rest of the afternoon flew by and before I knew it , we’d finished the last room our cart. My back hurt, my feet hurt, hell my fingers was even hurting. Ariel laughed when she caught me stretching.
“Told you.”
“I aint know making beds could whoop your ass like this.”
“It aint the beds. It’s all the walking.”
She smiled.
Casey met us near the employee entrance just as we were turning our carts in.
“How’d she do?”
Ariel looked over at me.
“She ask a lot of questions.”
I laughed.
“I do.”
“But…”
Ariel shrugged.
“She pay attention.”
Casey nodded.
“I’d rather have somebody ask questions than act like they know everything.”
That made me smile.
“I appreciate yall being patient with me.”
Ariel waved me off.
“Give it another week. You gone be telling the next new person what to do.”
“I don’t know about all that.”
“You will.”
Casey looked down at her clip board before checking something off.
“Same time at the office tomorrow,” said Casey before we loaded up and headed back
The whole time I was all nervous thinking I wasn’t gone be good enough and after the first day I couldn’t wait to get back tomorrow.