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| Me at my desk as a sales associate at the Hampton Inn, Lionville, PA 2000 |
Yesterday I marked my tenth anniversary as a hotel front desk agent at the hotel where I work part-time in Lewes, Delaware.
Wow, time flies when you're (I'm) having fun.
I began my hotel career as the first job I had when I was discharged from the Army in January of 1963.
My first job was as a night auditor at the Pittsburgh Hilton Hotel in Pittsburgh (of course) Pennsylvania. I was paid $250 a month, payable on the 15th and the 30th. I could hardly survive on that pay, which was less than my Army pay of $389.00 a month which was payable once a month. And in the Army I had my housing, food and medical care provided free of charge.
I only had that job for three months before I quit and moved back to my family home in Downingtown, Pennsylvania. There I got a job for $80 a week as an accounts payable clerk at a local scrap yard.
I had that job for two years then I got a job at Girard Bank in Philadelphia which I kept for the next twenty-two years.
Then came the bank mergers. I left Girard Bank and worked at Fidelity Bank for the next seven years. I left that job because I was tired of working in the city and homophobia on the job.
I got another job in my hometown of Downingtown for the next four years. However, I ran into homophobia again and was fired from my job when a new boss (the homophobe) took over. That's when I returned to my hotel roots.
I applied for a part-time job at the Hampton Inn in Lionville as a night auditor. That job turned into a full time job as a front desk agent and sales associate. I had that job for four years also until we sold our house and moved to Delaware.
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| Me with one of my co-workers at the Hampton Inn, Lionvville, PA - Angelo Vasquez - 2000 |
After we got settled in Delaware I applied at all the hotels in the area and was very fortunate to get a job at a boutique hotel in historic Lewes, Delaware. And that folks is where I have been working for the last ten years as of yesterday.
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| The Hampton Inn, Lionville, PA - where I worked for four years - 2000 |
A few weeks ago one of my co-workers asked me how long I was going to work at the hotel. My answer was 'As long as I can walk into the hotel and I know what I'm doing.'
I enjoy hotel work. I like to meet people and I enjoy the challenge.
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| Me with 'Barbara and Bonnie' from NYC - two very difficult customers of the Hampton Inn but who LOVED me! - 2000 |
I also like working part-time. I could never work full-time again. I do have do recognize my age limitations after all.
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| Some of my co-workers at the Hampton Inn, Lionville, PA 2000 |
So yesterday, as I was checking in guests last night and taking phone calls for reservations I remembered that I've been at this hotel for the past ten years. Where DOES the time go? This means I've been working at hotels for the last nineteen years. Wow.
One thing about working at hotels, you'll never get rich. I make $12.00 an hour. I started at $9.00 an hour. Not much increase for nineteen years of hotel front desk agent employment but I make enough to pay for my trips to California and Canada.
Life is good folks.
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| Me with my co-worker 'Robert' at where I work now - 2015 |
