Laura Fay shares about her summer job experience working in the hospitality industry.
A few decades back, I was fortunate enough to acquire a student work visa to come to the United States for the summer. The search for work brought my friend and me to the seaside town of Wildwood, New Jersey, where I picked up my first job as a motel chambermaid.
I was responsible for cleaning the rooms after the holiday makers had left – changing the bed linens, dusting and vacuuming, cleaning showers, wash basins and toilets and taking care of various messes that the occupants had made. And there were plenty of those! The job was not well paid and I depended heavily on tips. While some guests did tip, many did not. When that happened, I always felt disappointed, as cleaning up after someone else somehow felt personal.
It wasn’t long before I came to realize that I was an invisible worker. Unless I happened to encounter a guest in person – a rare occurrence – they were not aware of me. Mostly they took for granted that when they returned to their room, it was clean and tidy, with fresh fluffy towels, the housekeeping magic fairy having visited.
That summer, I also had a second job as a waitress where I faced my customers eye-to-eye. They mostly tipped regularly and well, apparently pleased that I’d taken their order and carried food to their table.