New to this

I'm a Platinum, Diamond, Elite, Supermegatoplevel member and should be treated like God!

2014-05-23T05:28:00.000-07:00

Just as i was thinking I will get away with not being complained at this week I got lucky and checked in one of the most ignorant creatures on earth! So as I was checking this small man, he went on to me about his status and I thought "ok, brace yourself , cause something extremely unpleasant is going to happen here!"

And so it goes:

Owl: What would you like for your amenity sir?

Platinum/Diamond/Jerk: Breakfast.

Owl: Continental Breakfast, no problem.

Platinum/Diamond/Jerk: What? Continental Breakfast, I want the full breakfast with everything on it.

Owl: That's ok sir, if you want to have the full breakfast you only need to pay 5 euros.

Platinum/Diamond/Jerk: What!?! I'm a Platinum member! i should not have to pay for breakfast, this should be one of my entitlement!

Owl: And it is. You are entitled to Continental breakfast.

Platinum/Diamond/Jerk: Why do I need to pay for the full breakfast? I have free breakfast, lunch and dinner on other hotels. I am a Diamond member on "Muppet Hotels" and i get all these things! Continental Breakfast, that's only cereals, that's hardly anything to eat...

Owl: Sorry sir, this property only gives this kind of amenity thou, it may differ from property to property.

Platinum/Diamond/Jerk: This is not good enough. Can I have my room keys.

Owl: Here you go sir, you were upgraded into a very nice deluxe room!

Platinum/Diamond/Jerk: What?!? Is there no Suite? I'm always upgraded to suite on other hotels, I'm a Platinum/Diamond etc. etc. member, If I'd had known that it would be like this, I would have booked into "Muppet Hotel"!

Owl: This room is very nice and it has a balcony.

Platinum/Diamond/Jerk: Yeah, but its not a suite, isn't it?

Owl: No, sorry the hotel is fully booked and all the suites are occupied (by people who are actually paying for the price of it, not like you! cheap bastard!)

Platinum/Diamond/Jerk: (took the key, went to the room and called after a few minutes...)

Owl: how may I help you sir?

Platinum/Diamond/Jerk: May I speak to you manager, the balcony of this room is closed, I'm really disappointed, I am a Platinum/Diamond etc. etc. member. This is not good enough.

Owl: Sorry sir, let me connect you to the manager.

Platinum/Diamond/Jerk: This is disappointing, i am given a ordinary room, with a balcony feature that does not open, and am asked to pay 5 euro for breakfast and have to pay 25 euro for parking too! This is ridiculous!

Manager: Sorry to hear that. We just need you to sign a waiver and security can open your balcony.

Platinum/Diamond/Jerk: You're apologising but doing nothing about it. I am a Platinum/Diamond etc. etc. I do not need to pay for things on the other hotels I stay, blah blah blah, (repeating everything he said to Owl)

Manager: I'll give you the parking for free this time sir, goodnight!

This is what we go through...

To all the really good Platinum guest(yes people! there are some good ones but are very rare to find) that I checked in this week, KUDOS to you for being well mannered, we really hope every member is as good as you, sadly most of them gets this stupid sickness of "its Mine, all Mine, everything is Mine" with all the crazy ass attitude attached to it, which only attracts negative energy (screw you small man, and not in a nice way, i hope you rot in hell bastard!!! evil laugh).

Have a good weekend all!!!

PS: this is dedicated to Linda who is going to Canada, best of luck girl!!!

The Wonderful World of Alice in Wonderland...

2013-08-29T13:57:00.000-07:00

Owl has now moved in with her partner in crime whom she nicknamed Pokemon and Heinz their adopted pooch! An exciting and tiring experience because of all the back and forth and deciding on things to dispose, keep, buy, trade etc. etc. Once were done, our peeps can book a fun weekend in our bungalow! We promise to try and keep you entertained!

So I went to Wexford with a very nice lady from work to what the Irish would say " have a little bit of craic!" and see what the future beholds! There's nothing better than a bit of fortune telling after your long night shift. Anyway after having a bit of breakfast we got in the bus where I was longing to have a quiet snooze which instead turned out to be a bit of a restless slumber caused by the buzzing sound of people chattering away with whats happening to this, that and the other. I woke up pleasantly surprised that we are already in Gorey and realised that the trip was not that long after all. After a cup of tea we walked out to Ashdown Hotel to meet the mysterious Alice.

After one and a half hours, we were headed out and excitedly chatting about what she has told us. For everyone I care about this were the highlights. I was told that I have met a man and that I should keep him and that he will take very good care of me :-). She said that I am thinking about a friend and that she has a few things going on in her life and I have a few things going on in mine as well so we don't seem to be seeing each other eye to eye at the moment. She said that I have made a good decision in moving home and that if there was something that was worrying me, this is only small thing and that it should not concern me. She told me to stay in my job and last but not the least she told me that I have good connection with my family and that everyone is healthy. Most of the things she mentioned were spot on and has some very real possibilities. If I had questions I did not ask them, cause I still want to keep some aspect of my life unknown, its more fun that way.

To my friend, if you are reading this. I'm sure we will always be friends, its just that there's a lot going on with our lives right now and it seems like we dont have enough time for each other. I am positive that a time will come and we'll be in touch with each other like the good old days. Lots of love and happiness in your new undertakings and I am always just a Skype or Viber away...

Change - the only constant thing

2013-07-08T09:41:00.000-07:00

The last few months went by with a series of life events that normally happens to people. May has been a busy month with some good friends and family visiting me here is Dublin and spending their birthdays here with me! I really hope you enjoyed your time here. We have been lucky with the weather, some days peaking to 24 degrees and my housemate will say "Wow! we have the Africa weather today!" And June was spent on holidays with loved ones, all of which happens in a blink of an eye and before you can even start savouring it, you realise that its all come to an an end. Ahh well, I suppose this is a time to plan the next one!

Anyhow, there's a few people going from work and and will be re-placed by a new set of people. Its busy all the time as the summer comes to its peak. A lot of guests are are coming in with their families and are mostly requesting for inter-connecting or adjoining rooms most of which we do try to accommodate. I have got to hand it to the Americans thou, I love most of them but the small percentage that comes to the desk to complain about their keys getting de-magnetized, their check in getting screwed up because they did not get the connecting rooms that they requested for, although they have been allocated to upgraded deluxe rooms next to each other that is only a few meters walk so they can be near their family, and expect us to be apologetic for ruining their precious stay. God love them for the piece of work that they are. If I have a museum for this lot, I'll definitely hang each and everyone of them on my wall, for people to scrutinise and maybe I'll allow free pokes depending on the degree of ignorance that they showed while they stayed. Right, enough said, bananaliscious helps in my therapy from these toxic pips, its highly recommended, kudos to you John, you never fail to discover new and delicious things to savour.

I might be on a potential house hunt in the very near future as my housemate is venturing into buying his very own property soon! More of this to come. Whaaaaa! I really don't want to look at the things i need to move!!!!

Just a word of thanks to N, this one is for you!

Bail me from jail!!!

2013-04-14T04:12:00.000-07:00

I am now frustrated with myself cause this is the 3rd time I have written this bloody thing and because of anger I somehow discarded my drafts!

I had another Asshole tonight and YES with a capital A. He checked in and as he seems to believe that he's on top of the asshole chain, he can treat people like shit, when his credit card declined and he was told that he needs to contact his bank he raised his voice and said that he was with "IDIOT Company" and that he will do this in the morning, and that he wants his keys cut immediately cause he wants to go up in his room now, maybe to simmer more on his special brand of stupidity! I seriously hate this company cause there is another woman who is as much of a bitch as this man is a craphole!

ARRGGGGGGGGGHHH! I am just asking my family, friends and my lovely boyfriend to please bail me out of jail cause they will, one of this days, be likely to receive a phone call from the Gardi,of me stabbing somebody 100 times with a ballpen, as a result of repressed anger that has built up from this ignorant people. They might need to put me in banana institution too cause I will probably have the craziest smile of satisfaction once I have finished with this deed and would be quite ok to admit to temporary insanity when this happens! I probably need to stop watching all this serial killer stuff on TV, it only encourages my imagination.

On a much lighter note, I would like to say KUDOS to my workmates who have spoken their minds about one of their uttermost hated duty(I'm sure you guys know what I'm talking about) at work and hope this has given way to what I'm hoping is progress, to all of you guys, cheers!I am very happy for you!!! Don't worry I'm still in the look-out for a force field from the undesirable bullshit that guests gives us! I'm afraid the pocket whip from my phone does not do them justice anymore. I promise to keep you all posted when I find this and if I do and have enough money, I will buy one for the team!

As always some good people left and they will surely be missed, this gives way to change and new people to get to know...

Badge or Boobs

2012-12-19T01:55:00.001-08:00

I will start off with this old regular guest who has a Thai wife, he lives in New York and comes here to Dublin from time to time as he has a business that he is looking after in here. Every time he sees me he stops in the middle of the lobby, I greet him and hope in the back of my head that the phone rings so I can pretend to be busy and not have polite conversation with him, but for some reason I am always unlucky, so Mr. Sleazeballs will come up slowly to me with cane on hand and ask me how I am and if the hotel is busy while constantly looking at my badge or boob (i really don't know, cause his eyes will constantly dart on the left hand side of my jacket where my badge is) and normally I will just blow this off and not even think of it as we are having the small talk, but it happened two days on a row and its just became a bit creepy. I am very tempted to say:

"Sorry sir, I'm here (pointing at my face) not there(pointing at my left boob)."

Not that my boobs are "Hooters like" to receive any of that attention, they are just the normal kind and are happy to receive just a passing nod. Anyway, I usually manage to shorten the conversation so I can shoo him away and carry on.

Moving on... The Xmas period seems to be bringing in the "crazies" as we keep on getting one after the other. If its not the alcoholic couple we have year after year who orders their G&Ts and bottle of chardonnay together with their breki after having to order rounds of these the whole night, every night. It would be the young man who comes down to the desk in the morning a bit panicked as he was pretty sure that he was drugged the night before as he cannot remember anything and his room is a complete sick mess. Or the guy who you blocked a room for and instructed to pack bags so we can move him during the day and comes back to you at midnight telling you that his bags are unpacked and he wants to move rooms NOW!, when the room you were holding for him has been sold already, of course he gets upset with you. You try to turn it around and offer some reasonable options which he will then refuse and threat to speak with the GM.

It kind of reminds me of the Robot Santa Claus in futurama, he spreads out this antagonism that most of the time is really easy to fall into as the energy just draws you and the people around you into it like a big snowball falling on a hill.

"Bananas" I tell you! If you don't have any sense of humour to make some situations lighter, you'll probably end up in a banana institution! But sure,"What the hell! bring 'em on and we'll sort them out!"

Where's my Armani Jacket?!?

2012-12-10T03:43:00.000-08:00

So, I was about to finish my shift and Mr. Dim came to the front desk telling me that I have his jacket. For a little while I thought... and try to re-call if I might have spoken to someone regarding a jacket, but as much as I racked my tiny little brain, I could not remember anything. Mr. Dim seems to be sure that someone has found his jacket, so I went through all the standard operating procedures to see if I can find it but there was no luck. So I said to myself, ill ask for more details. So...

Mr. Dim: Where is my jacket?

He does not look this good but I was definitely in the company of a wolf!!!

Owl: Sir, may I just ask for a few more details, what colour is your jacket? Where did you leave it and when?

Mr. Dim: (in a condescending tone) Its a black ARMANI jacket, I left it in the bar, YOU called me last night in my room to tell me that you found it. Its very important , my passport is there!

Owl: Sorry sir, I called you?

Mr. Dim: I don't know someone called me.

Owl: So, bear with me, cause I have to investigate further (said on a calm manner, but really fuming inside). Why don't you have breakfast while I try to find out where your jacket is (and save us both the embarrassment of whose the more stupider person here).

We eventually found his jacket, and checked that his passport was there. I was thinking of drawing a dry wipe on his passport saying "Stop loosing your shit! you forgetful Git!" but I refrained from doing so. I really hate it when people gets this way and I want to tell them straight in their face "YOU were the one who lost your things! YOU were the one telling me that it was important, so WHY THE HELL did you not collect it when someone rang you! Now YOU have the gall to actually make me feel that this is my fault! Rot in hell bastard! Although, I'm sure he will enjoy that too!

You & I Both ♥

2012-11-04T14:31:00.000-08:00

So, hey, its been awhile. I had a blog written on the beginning of October, however when I was about to copy paste it from my notes, I accidentally erased it instead. Grrrr, I hated myself for that! Anyway, I have a short and sweet one here and I hope you guys enjoy it...

Did you know: “Someday, someone will walk into your life and make you realise why it never worked out with anyone else.” It makes me feel grateful, and foolish in a way when I thought of all the sad moments of my life, and why I have put myself in so much pain, not realising that I will meet someone who will make me really happy. I tell my friends, maybe its like practise, if it was a game, you kind of try your best to be good however bad things are going and tell yourself that you are a good person and that maybe someday, just maybe, someone good will come your way, and maybe, just maybe, you'll be lucky this time around. Well, it seems like this time around I have the good luck!

It feels good to know that you belong to someone and that this someone belongs to you too! I suppose the challenge then lies on how long you can keep it up, and that, my friends, will be the interesting part of the journey and as Jason Mraz sang, " if you could see me now, well then I'm almost finally out of, finally out of, finally dedeedeeedeee, well then I'm almost finally out of words."

Jumping Into the Scary Pool

2012-08-18T06:00:00.000-07:00

This bit, I admittedly find challenging and I am not going to lie about it! Its not so easy for most people to admit that they are lonely and in need of a "special someone" in their life to fill in the void. But I am getting a little sick of waiting for things to happen. So I have started slowly by downloading this dating app on my phone. This is, in hoping that this is the beginning of trying to shift my gears from dipping a toe in to jumping in feet first.

Its amazing to see how many people put their self out there on this things and what you can actually learn from them by just reading their profiles. Some of them will admittedly say that they just want fuck buddies and some will give you, what I think, to be an honest to goodness thought out profile. Some can just deceive you and after chatting with them for a little while and making you think 'hmmm, there might be something here', will ruin it and send you a picture of their wiener, complete with a video! Well, I suppose its part of the experience, I just hope that there are still good fishes swimming out there and its not so hard to identify them from the sharks & piranhas....

Sucker for Flyby Boys!

2012-06-18T07:33:00.002-07:00

I was walking to get my bus one day and I had to laugh at myself cause I realised how much of a sucker I am for people who leaves. I'm really not sure what it is, it seems that when people who are close to me plans to change their life and move somewhere, I am right smack in the middle of their life getting more involved, as if its a mission for me to actually be there to assist with their every need and make sure that everything is in place or everything is sorted. This energy seems to draw me in the centre and leaves me drained and exhausted afterwards. It makes me think if this is a pattern and if this is the reason why I am not with anyone...

Its like a cartoon, put someone there who has a a travelling bag or am planning to leave for the betterment of their lives and "Wham!" "Owl in Dublin at your service!" Oh, you're feeling insecure about your decision? " I'm here to tell you that its OK to feel that way and it will pass and you're going to be OK. You don't feel comfortable about this or that, DO NOT FEAR, cause I am here and I will try my best to ease your discomfort. You are feeling horny and you need some loving, COME TO ME and I will give you some intimacy. If I have a super power, it would probably be a long the lines of being a little geeky, cause I love reading and making people come to terms with their inner peace.
Funny cause not a lot of people can actually make me feel at peace with myself....

Haughty Bitch You're in the Wrong Hotel!

2012-06-06T13:53:00.000-07:00

It was just half an hour before I finish my shift and this haughty lady came up with a lot of attitude to me and was telling me that they are checking in. So I politely asked for her last name, trying my best not to get on her nerves as she seems properly wound up. Her name was not on our system so I was asking her if she has any confirmation number which she said was with her husband. When her husband came she asked if we were "such & such" hotel and I said "oh Madam no, we are the "Wouldn't really want Bitches like you Hotel" and as Concierge was hauling the trolley laden with their luggage, I motioned that they have got the wrong hotel and to take those bags out.
As we were talking about them at the back office, we were laughing cause, this lady came in seeming to be high and mighty when they got off from their taxi apparently this was how it went:

Haughty Lady: Hello bellman!! can you bring down our luggage. Oh my God its raining! My husband, do you have any umbrellas? (not even bothering to listen to the bellman, goes inside the hotel).
Owl: Good morning madame! Checking in?
Haughty Lady: (looking stressed and wound up) Yes, check in, last name Stuck-upbitch...(repeats this constantly).
Owl: Uhmm, let me see.... I cannot find your name on our system... do you have any confirmation number?
Haughty Lady: My husband has it...(repeats her last name again, as if I did not hear it the first time... husband comes in) do you have the confirmation number dear? We were booked from American Express...
Owl: Oh, ok, (looks in the system again)...
Haughty Lady: is this the "Such & Such" hotel?
Owl: Oh no. Sorry you're in the wrong hotel...(good riddance! motions to the Concierge to take the bags out of the hotel immediately).

Why do people put themselves into such a state for no reason? They end up stupidly getting agitated with things and just wind up embarrassing themselves and people around them. For some reason they let the stressful things take control of them rather than them taking control of the stressful situation. If they just take one deep breath and say to themselves: "I'm glad we arrived in Dublin safely, I feel a bit tired, but only a few more minutes and I will be in the hotel where I can rest." and put their minds at ease, cause they are on a holiday, then maybe they can enjoy themselves more.

Whine-a-holics Anonymous

2012-05-06T12:15:00.000-07:00

Just one of those regular days at work where you are expecting to just have a normal shift, so you come up to the desk and ask your colleague in a mildly cheerful manner how the day has gone and you can immediately see on her face "Oh, here goes...

Whiner1: Oh, I'm so tired...

Owl: Oh right, was it busy?

Whiner1:Yeah, it just got really busy right now and I'm not sure what I'm doing anymore. I feel so tired cause my baby was crying the whole night last night and I didn't get any sleep at all. I was working nights for the last few nights and it was just a killer.... blah,blah,blah...

Owl: Oh, OK, is there anything I can do to help you there.

Whiner1: Oh yeah, can you please look after this one thing, cause I did not get to do it from my task list and blah,blah,blah....

Owl: Oh, yeah sure, you go ahead and go inside and finish up there, so you don't get interrupted.

Enter Whiner2

Owl: Hi, how are you?

Whiner2: I'm good, except for the fact that one of the girls I was working with left me to do more work than I had to, so I really do not want to help anybody anymore cause I just end up getting used.

Owl: Oh, I'm sorry that's how you feel. Silence.....

What is the deal with people! Why the hell do they think I care about the choices that they made with their lives. I have decided not to have children at this stage so I can have a quiet life so I really do not give a rats ass if your baby kept you up all night and its not my problem if you don't have the balls to tell your colleague that what she has done to you is not nice and to please not do it again! I am NOT your damned shrink man!

It may seem a bit cruel and UN-emphatic but Hey! I have worries too and it may not be deemed serious or stressful to anybody but for me it is, and I do not go out whining it for everybody to vouch for freaking sympathy, just because someone seems to be listening, it does not mean to say that they are in an emphatic mood.

Anybody want to open a Whine-a-holics Anonymous?!? I can recommend it to a few people I know...

Eskimo Dream

2012-04-21T16:49:00.000-07:00

My workmate was looking for the meaning of her dream and I remembered one of the last dreams I had. I was travelling with a group of people and we were Eskimos, it feels like the group of people I was travelling with is my family and I was a kid in the dream. We were walking to go from one point to the other and we know that we are in danger of being caught by some bad people, so we were walking in one big group, knowing that if one gets separated, one will be in danger. We have developed a means to hide from the bad people and this is by covering ourselves in snow, which will look like we got frozen while on journey. We suddenly felt like bad is coming and we got ourselves covered in snow in time, we have to put a hole at one end of our snow covering for us to be able to breathe. I have to make sure that the hole is open. The bad people came and one of them looks in the hole and I can see his face so I closed my eyes and pretended to be dead so he could not harm us. He blew on my face and waited for a reaction and when he did not get any he shoved some snow on the hole just to make sure we're dead. I got worried cause we will not be able to breath, but there was another hole on top of the snow covering us so we were ok.

I woke up and felt relief...

Another One Bites the Dust...

2012-04-13T03:18:00.000-07:00

Why is it that when you meet someone good and someone you think you can get along with really well and not pretend that you are somebody else, Murphy’s law kicks you in the butt and makes you realise that, “ girl! Whatever it is that you’re hoping to happen here, is not going to happen, not to you and not this time. It sucks!

Sorry , I suppose I have not been visited by feelings of sadness for awhile and unfortunately for me, this emotion is often accompanied by its miserable friends, bitter and selfish. It just seems like I have become very fond of , lets just say, a nice pair of pants, and now that I have been really comfortable wearing it and having it with me every time I travel , life has decided to take it away from me and I’m not ready to let go of my favourite pants, not just yet. If the choice is solely mine, I will keep it with me for a really long time, cause my other favourite pairs were taken from me as well and for some reason I know that it will probably take awhile before I can find another pair that fits perfectly. Its not fair!

Its almost the same feeling I have whenever my Dad has to go to work and leave us for almost 9 to 10 months at a time, you just feel, helpless, cause you know he has to go and you cant do anything about it…You’re just left to deal with this feeling until I suppose just like everything else, time makes it a bit better…

Thank God for good friends, they will always pick you up and let you know that, you are a good person and that this will pass and something good or maybe even better will come along. It sounds like a cliche but it does make you feel a little stronger and helps you move along.

May I Have a Room, Room please, Room please....

2012-03-21T17:04:00.001-07:00

Let me begin by saying that our hotel was all booked out for the week of Paddy's Day due to some groups in house, and naturally when we're fully booked for the week all of our other regulars who did not book ahead of time requests to be on the waiting list.
Now, I am a very patient person and there's a period of time that you can ask me the same questions every time and at a specific period of time and I'll probably answer you with the same answers but after 3 days and you're still asking me the same question, I really get annoyed! I know that I should really be proud and flattered that people love the place a lot not to give up on any chance that there may be a cancellation and they can be booked in on that note, but after awhile of listening to the same tune, it really gets old and tiring. Why is it so hard for people to just stop for a minute and think that maybe if they stop for a awhile, they can extend their energies into something more productive, like maybe getting over the fact that the hotel is sold out and looking for another place to stay rather than trying in futility, again and again and again, knowing that they will only get the same result.

Happy Paddy's Day

Regular Guest: Are you still kicking me off the hotel? Where there any cancellations today?

Owl: Oh sir, I'm afraid were still all booked. But, let me think for awhile...

Regular Guest: turns to me with an expectant look in his eyes...

Owl: hmmm...maybe I can ask my colleague from housekeeping to bring you some blankets and sheets and you can camp out here in the lobby, just by the fireplace. Or do you prefer for me to go to the engineering office and build you a room somewhere that is attached to the hotel, may take a awhile thou... or did you want me to tell the highest paying guest to pack his bags so you can move cozily to his room... Let me know which option you'd like and I'll gladly fucking attend to it immediately!

Oh if only... if only i knew how...

Happy Paddy's Day to everyone, sorry i'm a little sour, I am on a two week break after Paddy's weekend so I feel relieved in a way, had a wonderful and quiet weekend with people that I like and even though I am not travelling anywhere nice I am OK....

Mirror Looking Workouts

2012-03-09T09:35:00.000-08:00

Just had a busy day at work and my equilibrium has been shattered because of the unexpected busyness of the day. It all ended with me going home an hour and a half later with no extra pay and some much wanted sleep, which did not come easily and was interrupted after a few hours by a scrawny dude who was offering a discount if we switch electric companies. Uggghhh.... I managed, not to be rude and was actually proud of myself for keeping my conversation in line with this dude while we were discussing the switch.

I look so good babeyhh!

The only thing that made me laugh this day was a story from one of my colleagues about his workout in the gym. He said that he went in for a swim, then went for the stationary bikes for a awhile and he was freaked out of all the people working out and looking at themselves in the mirror while doing so. I'm not sure if it was funny cause I'm guilty of doing it myself or cause I'm imagining people doing this and imagining them thinking "maybe, if I stare at myself more, I'll loose a couple of more pounds!" Cracked me up and actually made feel a bit better, knowing that there are small funny things that makes life easier to live by.

That's all for now folks, my energies does not seem to be giving me a lot of funny things to write about this days, not to worry, I'm sure there's plenty more to come....

Aquachic

2012-02-25T08:20:00.000-08:00

So, I went out for a swim with a friend and for some reason, the pool on a Friday morning was busy and I generally enjoy observing people so after two laps I just sat down by the edge of the pool to watch people from all walks of life. There was this guy who I thought I knew and who kept on smiling at me so I just smiled back politely, after a while when he smiled at me and my friend, it just kind became a bit creepy. We went to the dry sauna for awhile and were chatting a bit, oblivious that we're the only two girls there and are surrounded by tattooed men with their thick Dub accents, reminds me of the guy who collects our bins, and whoever works with me on nights will know it when I say "thorntons recycling."

Anyway, back to the pool and the lady who caught my attention most is Aquachic, cause she had all this gears with her, like flippers for the feet, and something similar for the hands as well. And she can do this flip under water after a lap that I have been dreaming to learn all my life. When I see it being done, it always kinds of amazes me, so cool! So I just want to say, for Aquachic, who I kept staring at while she glides on and overtakes the dude who really should be on the medium lane, kudos to you for splashing some water on my face while I'm trying to finish one of my laps.

Troll In the Lobby

2012-02-16T13:54:00.000-08:00

You will hear from me in the morning!!!

I wish I can write a romantic story where I had a secret admirer who gave me a bouquet of red roses on Valentines Day so I can at least occupy my thoughts on silly imaginings and be happy for at least a moment or maybe awhile, seeing as it does not take much to make me happy. What I got, instead, is an obnoxious guest returning in the hotel early in the morning, drunk, shouting obscenities because he was not able to get past the locked doors after giving out the wrong room number when asked, at past one in the morning...

Mr. Troll: "You did not let me in! Me! I will talk to someone in the morning about this!" (in an incredulous tone, pointing his finger at me and repeating the same sentence, as if I did not hear it loud and clear.) Blah blah blah...

Owl: Sir, this is being done for your own security as well as all the residents in house.

Mr. Troll: (Angrily) I will talk to someone in the morning! (storms off)

God must have misheard me when I prayed for a tall nice guy, He probably just heard the tall bit and dropped off a troll by mistake cause a more urgent prayer needed to be heard. Well, what can I say... some people probably have the troll genes on them and however human like they seem, their "inner troll" still comes out naturally. This dude has been flagged already from hand overs as one of the idiotically demanding ones and he is not even a loyal member. I suppose I was one of the "lucky" ones to actually have the pleasure of meeting him. What a charming guy!

Fish Cyclops

2012-02-12T04:33:00.000-08:00

Hey! Can you tell me where my friend Nemo is?

Funny story.... for me anyway. One of my workmates was telling me a story about her pet fish and how one of them died. Her housemate apparently scooped up one of this goldfish (described as the one with the bulging eyes) because it seemed sick, so the housemate apparently blew some air on to the fish's mouth and one of the eyes popped out of the socket! This, for some reason cracked me up 'cause I was imagining this happen in a cartoonish way in my minds eye, even though it was described in a very solemnly endearing manner. The fish obviously died and was apparently flushed down the toilet. To comfort her I just said, "Don't worry, your housemate is probably going to be haunted by Cyclops Fish," and this made her smile a bit. I'm not into fish, I'm more of a dog person, that's probably why I find this a little funny.
A lot of turnover on people work wise, I used to view this in a sad way before, kind of makes me think how people are changing their lives and somehow I am not. But now I, for some reason have a different point of view about it, It seems refreshing in a way that now that some people are gone, there's an opportunity to meet new people, and hopefully get to know and learn from them...

Annual Christmas Party!

2012-02-01T13:52:00.000-08:00

Just had our annual Christmas Party and it was good fun!(despite the horrible rainy day) I must say, from thinking of what I'm going to wear, to getting to the venue and actually getting that first glass of prosecco. It must have been a long time since I did any kind of socializing, to actually look forward to this one. The food was a bit disappointing and almost everyone found it tasteless however the band and the dancing was good. Made even better by observing all your tipsy colleagues who had enough drinks and feels uninhibited enough to actually not realise that they're making Muppet's out of themselves, yours truly included of course! Going to a night club afterwards is reminiscent of the good old days when the horrid smell of alcohol and sweat mixed together in a basement did not seem to faze me. Throw in all the young lads who keeps eyeing or otherwise chatting you up and "Happy Days" it actually feels like I'm in my twenties again for a short period of time. The sleeplessness and the alcohol sweats because you knew you had too much, instantly brings you back to earth and makes you realise that "yes, my dear, sadly you are not in your twenties no more!"

So, I just finished most of my tasks and its nice and quiet in the lobby. Just thinking about the last couple of days and how people just kept on moaning about stuff. You know, stuff that did not happen, stuff that happened because of someone, boss stuff, stuff that's getting on the way of other stuff. It just feels like everything is spiralling into this big snowball of unhappy stuff! Anyway, when energy like this goes around its usually contagious and once people start on a roll, you might as well roll with them cause there really is no way of getting around it. The good news is that it has a beginning and an end and I have a feeling that its ending soon. So, we look forward to when the good stuff starts rolling!

New Year 2012

2012-01-26T23:12:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year all!!!

Sorry I have not been writing ever since Xmas, I just decided to work as I am for some reason not feeling the joy the year 2011, I decided to ask for the New Year off to celebrate the coming year. I planned on having party which did not happen in the end 'cause the peeps I invited all had plans of their own. It turned out ok cause I was not feeling my 100% on that day so it just ended up with me and my housemate popping a bottle of Prosecco at midnight.
So I have been procrastinating on writing for the last few weeks and now I'm feeling bad, cause I know that there were a few occasions that I had good material to write but did not take the opportunity to do something creative about the ideas and they just ended up in what i hope is the recycle bin of my brain.
Anyhow! Here I am at your service again and hopefully can bring up some entertainment for people who wants to read especially those working in the hotel industry. So I checked in one of our platinum guest and he was a bit short and unfriendly while I was checking him in.

Owl in Dublin: Good evening sir, you're very welcomed! Let me check you in.

Mr. Crank: Good evening! (practically throws his platinum card in front of me) Can you tell me if my stay has been extended for one night?

Owl : Uhhhmmmm, let me check for you sir. (seeing the Alert) We will have to let you know in the morning if your stay can be extended sir.

Mr. Crank: (points at his platinum card) Well, I'm on that level so I should not really be asking. Anyway, I have 2 questions for you. Has my room been upgraded? And where is the Four Seasons Hotel?

Owl : (with a very fake half smile) We will let you know in the morning about the extension sir. Your room has been upgraded into a deluxe category, however it has 2 beds. Would you prefer a double bed?

Mr. Crank: (with a frown and some kind of look of unbelief) Yes, i prefer a room with a queen sized bed.

Owl : Certainly sir, let me change your room to a queen sized room. Here are your keys, have a goodnight.

Early in the morning Mr. Crank came to desk with his now becomingly familiar frown and asked one of my colleagues if he can speak to one of the sales guys. He was upset as his headboard fell (ha!ha!), he does not seem to be hurt and I thought "JUSTICE!," again what goes around comes around, and swift for some than the others!

More to come....

I Hate Mr. Fuckston Club - join for free

2011-11-19T10:29:00.001-08:00

Another normal night and i was just beginning my shift and had a call from this english chap whom I detest and have managed to avoid speaking to or having any kind of interaction until now! Anyway, the conversation went like this.

Me: Good Evening, this is Owl in Dublin, how may I assist?

Mr. Fuckston: Oh hi, I'm staying in Room 443 and I just want to say that I have stayed in this room before about 3 months ago and have had the same issue since then.

Me: What seems to be the problem sir?

Mr. Fuckston: The flush is not working properly. Now, I dont want to be difficult but, I want to be moved to a nice room tomorrow, preferably the Presidential Suite, and I just want to say that this is unacceptable for a 5 star hotel.

Me: (thinking you probably deposited a big load of you junk in it, that's why) I would have a room blocked for you tomorrow sir and I will address the issue to the the management, (this is said in a really calm manner although when you look back at the cameras, you will see very different person swinging one of her hand with her middle finger risen up like it has been suddenly called upon by her evil master!)

He was still ranting on about things that he did not like and since my tolerance is really short for this kind of people and crap I told him that he can speak with the manager on duty, which to my relief, he declined. My relief , by the way, is based on the fact that my poor duty manager would not need to listen to this kind of horseshit! Note that this guy is a very regular guest who has duped us into thinking that he was leaving and has requested to be upgraded to the presidential suite, which at the time he got and has been very happy with(very clever!), only to return back week after week and find something to complain about." Can you please ask Housekeeping to iron my shirts, but please ask them to iron it this properly, a man of my position should not have to explain this to someone who only cleans for a living." as if the air coming out of his butthole is something freaking precious! Arrrrgggghhh!!! I hate this guy, to the core of my being! And my fellow workers feel the same. I swear, if he orders room service and I happen to be the fortunate one doing his food, I would whip up something "EXTRA SPECIAL" for him!

I don't understand "Why Oh Why?" if people are not happy with most of our services, do they come back and give our people grief! I hope he leaves and not come back ever.

AFTER A WEEK:

Hooray! God do sometimes hear our prayers! This dude has been transferred to another area!!!

Early Morning and MickyDs

2011-11-15T13:51:00.001-08:00

Right, so it was one of this nights when people are in the brink of boredom and we ask each other "So lads, what the fuck do we do tonight?!?" and the immediate answer is "We eat something greasy!" So yours truly, volunteered to go to the friendly neigborhood McDonalds and what do I find?!? A bunch of teeny boppers who just got out from binge drinking over the night and plenty of them. Anyway, I decided to queue up to what I thought was the shortest line only to wind up in the middle of a row between one of the lads who was just standing beside me and a knacker who jumped the queue. I thought at first that they knew each other however as their conversation progresses, their body language became more aggressive and then verbal abuse seemed to just fly out of the air. "Boy Wonder" beside me threatened to smack the head off of this bitch and was shouting obscenities which did not seem to faze her so when she got her order she came flying back to this guy and was going to give him what seems to be a really good knackering, one of her hand curled up in a fist, ready to give "boy wonder" a good blow in the face,only the security dude, bless him, stopped the would be drama! Shame! This happened in a matter of three minutes and while people looked on, other people continued ordering their food like nothing is happening. So as I was about to stand next to the counter, one of this teeny boppers tried jumping in the line yet again and I met the eyes of "boy wonder" and we just turned our heads in disbelief. Thank be to God that i'm sober and have to get back to work as I would have joined in the show and made a really good performance of it. It sounds sad, but i'm afraid that, my friends, was the only interesting part of my week.

Hunky Dorys & Britney Dancers

2011-10-31T09:57:00.000-07:00

Another week! No travels this time but had some Britney dancers at work. Not sure why but when they gather around in the lobby, they always seem to speak on the top of their voices and groups wouldn't bother me much but on this occasion, they really got into my nerves! Anyway the hotel was buzzing with life for a Monday night and there was a lot of foot traffic.

Funny thing was a group of them came back in the early hours of the morning and asked for a taxi for one of their friends as they were saying their "byes" they left a bag of Hunky Dorys on the lobby so one of my workmates picked it up and was telling me. "Look at they left in the lobby. So i was like "give it to me and i'll eat it!" just for spite. No sooner that I opened the bag, maybe about 5 seconds, and started munching on the crisps, that these guys came back down and was asking for their bag of crisps. I mumbled some excuse to them for a bit of time while my workmate quickly got a new bag on the vending machine, which thank god had the same exact bag with the same flavor! When i was handing it to them, one of them told me "oh, we were thinking, someone might have eaten it already." And my thoughts are "Oh, sir, if only you know, part it f it is already being digested." Lesson learned, yet again! :-)

Amsterdam

2011-10-19T19:32:00.000-07:00

OK, this was meant to be written last week but i felt caught up with work and did not feel my creative juices flowing mainly because of exhaustion from all the traveling and interacting with people. I need a little bit of a break and am glad that i do not have any plans to go anywhere for the next few weeks.
Anyway, let me tell you about our trip to Amsterdam. This is not my first visit there, its actually my third, and i will probably visit more times cause I like the atmosphere and people over there. So we started off with the the plane again, giggling like little girls on their first trip somewhere exciting, some of us stopped being silly in the middle of the trip as others felt the need for a little snooze to get some energy for the long afternoon ahead, no sooner that it stopped(the giggling) and the plane is landing and as we were getting off there was an announcement from the cabin crew looking for a Mrs. Looney, which started the fit of giggling again as one of the passengers looked at one of our friends and said that "they're calling you," she was not very impressed and chided the man as "cheeky." Off to the hotel then which was thankfully in the airport, checked in, had a cocktail and then headed off to Amsterdam.
After a chaotic rush to get a tickets for all public transport and museums, everyone agreed to leave the museums for the morning as it was rainy day and all agreed on a hearty meal of tapas.

Went to a coffee shop afterwards and after eating some space cakes and smoking went on another restaurant for another round of drinks and a whole new level of laughing and snickering about people who are muttering to themselves and about how rotten the nachos we were eating was and how we are still eating it cause we were hungry gits.
Went to the Van Gogh museum in the morning and i wished i could have read more about this artist, apart from the known facts that he has cut his ear off and being famous for his painting of The Sunflowers, before coming to the museum just to get a feeling of what his life has been during those times. I liked his more colorful artwork where he seems to have experienced the lighter side of life, my favorite is the Starry Night. As I listened to the audio that we rented, i realized how creative people have one thing in common, that all off them seems to have a unique delusional twist embedded on their brains that some ordinary people will not be able to fully understand, which results to their great works of art.

Went to Heineken museum afterwards, nothing like a bit of fun after a serious museum and this is a very good one, a lot of fun things to see and do. Its the first time I stirred hops from what seems to be a beer barrel complete with an old fashioned leather apron that the the folks before used and experienced how to be made into a beer, i will not describe this by words and just encourage people to go as there's no better way to experience it. Two glasses of beer right after the tour made us relax before planning the next bit of our tour in the city.
After meeting up with some acquaintances we had a bit of time to freshen up and had a nice dinner in a Argentinian restaurant and to relax went for another smoke. I urged some of the girls to go to the Red Light District just to have a look and see, as i planned to go back to the hotel for an early flight in the morning. We all ended up going back together in a bus as the train is out of service for maintenance.
Went for a big long snooze after arriving home and woke up well after noon time...

Galway

2011-10-05T13:44:00.000-07:00

Went to Galway over the weekend upon request of one of my good friends who is going back home for awhile. I am going to miss hanging out with her so i am making the most of it. The four of us went on a rainy Saturday and one of our Irish girl friend offered to drive, only for us to realize how wacky her driving is, its a cross between going on a roller coaster ride and having some kind of mild motion sickness. Thankfully the ride seemed short enough as everybody was trying to catch up on what was happening with each others lives.

We grabbed some lunch in town which was busy enough for a weather that can only be described as crappy. We walked along town, had some lunch and went window shopping. We went into this small street were some folks are selling homemade and organic stuff and we had a shot of wheat grass (sweet). The girls went for more window shopping and as they were doing this I got intrigued by the fish spa so I told them that I will meet up with them while I try to feed my tired feet to the fishies. It was very ticklish in the beginning but it became relaxing after awhile.

Then went for some tapas for dinner and for a little pub crawl. The Kings Head had the best live music and atmosphere in my opinion and the rest was just a blur to me as i was so tired from my lack of sleep from the day before. Even the jagerbomb we had only did my body some justice for just half an hour. The night certainly felt long and although i felt like it was really late, when I looked at my watch the night is still too young to go to back to our travel lodge, my body was screaming for rest and quietude and after one more pub where I struggled to rack my deranged brain for some conversations with youngsters(ugghh, felt like a cougar!) and as the final reserve of my strength failed, my party mates finally granted me my wish to got to bed.
The next day, after a restful sleep, we went and got ourselves a late breki and went on what girls cant get enough of, more window shopping. We went for a late lunch in Barna called O'Gradys where they serve fresh and good seafood. All well anyway. Next week Amsterdam! Yihaaa!