When the fun starts

Just get through New Year and it'll be OK- the fun will start.

That's our mantra in the hotel. I won't bore you with the horror that was start up week. We arrived to discover that the hotel had not been closed down by last year's crew, they had simply got up and left about 2 weeks earlier than they were supposed to- management problems was the only reason I was given. I was then told that I had been chosen to get this place around- last year had been so bad that the owners were looking like they would not renew the contract with Total, and I was expected to get them back on side. The food had been judged the worst in the whole Total programme last year and to be fair they gave me the best chef to sort that side of things out- unfortunately they didn't bother to pay him so with direct debits going out of his account and nothing going in he may not be here for good.

The back of house rooms were stuffed with dirty laundry, broken crockery, broken electrical equipment, rotten wine and ten tonnes of other crap. To cap it all, when the heating was turned on in November the pipes had burst causing the bottom floor to flood- wiping out my newly decorated room and the sauna area so I was homeless. We had no cleaning products and no money in the bank for the first week. After 5 days the overseas director arrived with my boss, the area manager. She had drawn up a list of objectives she wanted me to have achieved in the first six weeks- as I showed them what we had done she ticked all of them off- in the first 5 days. We were starting at 7am, working through till 9pm when we sat down with some food in front of a playstation rigged up to play DVDs. I don't think anybody saw the end of one film, falling asleep long before.We certainly never went skiing- even though I was expected to know my round the slopes so I could guide the guests on the first week of the season.

The first guests were families- Total doesn't really cater for kids so they weren't all that happy. Despite this the results to the company questionnaires was great and the pressure was off for a while. Only one couple left us a tip- €28 (I don't take a share because I get bonuses if we reach certain targets)- luckily I negotiated 55 litres of free beer from a brewery rep and with some shorts left over from last year which weren't on the books we were effectively running our own bar with all takings pure profit.

A single room was taken off sale for the first two weeks but has been booked for 30 Dec- my room won't be fixed till mid Jan. I only discovered this by accident and have spent the past week networking with the few friends I've made locally to find a place to live. I've got an attic above a garage which is 4 feet high at the apex- nice.

Christmas day was a big thing for us because it's quite expensive to stay here then. Many guests said it was the best Christmas dinner they ever had. I took some photos of my day skiing. I know everyone wants to read good news but this is also my memoire- this month has been Total shit! I work from 7 am sometimes till 1 am straight through. Pressure comes from all directions and I although I didn't do this for the money I got paid £139 which is approximately one fifteenth of what I'd get at home and work about a quarter as much. A few half days skiing with guests who can't handle an easy blue each week is not my idea of compensation. If I weren't tenacious by nature I would be thinking of all the other fantastic things I could be doing instead- but it has to get better- doesn't it????

{You should click on this photo to see the perfect tracks- I only wish I'd laid them.

In The Industry

Well it's been a while since I had the time or computer to update this- so here we go.
Firstly if you sent me an email recently please SEND IT AGAIN. I cancelled my ISP account and find it highly suspicious that Wanadoo wiped out about 30 messages from my inbox for no reason at all. The address still works, I think they were just being spiteful!

After leaving Chamonix I went to Tignes to train hotel workers who had just arrived from the UK- well they were from all over the World though strangely not one of the hundreds was from an (dare I say it...I do dare) ethnic minority. I found this quite interesting and wondered what effect it would have on the company's profitability if they were to embark on a program 'reflect society' as the Police has done over the past decade.

By the time I got to Tignes I was tired, Tired of having no free time, tired of having nowhere to exercise or just get some fresh air (notwithstanding the one trip to the French swimming pool which so nearly ended in permanent disability). I was tired of seeing snow every where but unable to go skiing because they made me work all the time and very very tired of having nose bleeds- along with everyone else there. We were living at 2000m and with the average air temperature at about -10 c the cold air and change of pressure causes the capiliaries in one's konk to become inflexible and susceptible to the relative increase in blood pressure. Hey presto- big bogies and blood on your pillow- nice.

My students (about 80 of them) had endured a 30 hour bus trip from the UK which they had made more interesting by drinking duty free booze for the later 27 of those hours. Exacerbated by the refusal of the French driver to allow use of the one on board toilet (to be fair busses never had toilets when I was a youth- wrap them up in cotton wool!) their physical state was an indication of the ravages of slave trade.

Amongst them was my team (except for one which I poached from the chalet teams which still left me one short). I had two 'no shows', one of whom didn't come because the week before she hurt her knee and found out she was pregnant. I never did find out if these were connected or which of her conditions prevented her appearance.

After ten days of taking classes in things like complaint handling and how to give a 'welcome brief' to guests I was ready for a change. I had blagged a place in a mini bus for the big push across Switzerland to Austria (avoiding coach travel has always received total dedication) I drove through the deep nighttime snow to the ski resort of Les Arcs. My mind was preoccupied by the fact that I had done a good deed and lent my £200 Gore-tex jacket to one of the hotel managers who arrived without one. Only after several days when I was just about to leave did she offer my jacket back- only it wasn't mine. She had hung it in one of the many bars frequented in the evenings and picked up another one by mistake- sadly one two sizes smaller than mine. I found myself not knowing whether to make her buy me a new one, ask for a contribution because mine was about 18 months old or make the most of some unexpected retail therapy. Eventually she was able to recover it from one bar or another and get it passed on to me.

I spent a couple of nights in Les Arcs catching up with some of my resort manager colleagues before the journey. Things were mad on the morning of departure- having organised a big Army move involving a hundred mixed vehicles it was so bad it was actually entertaining. So, with a co-driver and another lad who had nipped in for a last minute wee before leaving, only to find the coach had gone without him we headed off to the rattle of snow chains. Typically I got the job of diverting over the Alpes in a snowstorm to deliver some important stuff back in Chamonix but eventually we were across the Swiss border and on our way- the coach had stopped for a good while to work out where their missing person had gone.

The journey wasn't too bad given it is such a long way. When we eventually got to St Anton the snow was so bad we couldn't get through to Lech and had to spend the night there. One beer was enough before I was in bed