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So I wrote another thread about Minnie the Mouse a few days ago.
http://www.customerssuck.com/board/s...ad.php?t=96413
My boss actually joined the thread and said he'd create one for the Dragon Lady, but hasn't had time. So here it goes...
The Dragon Lady. Just one of her many names on this block according to the other businesses. Another nickname was "the Bitch". And she was actually proud of this.
As you can see from the last few posts on the link above, she worked one housekeeper up to 14 hours a day, 7 days a week, and kept any "overtime" as "rent" because the housekeeper was living on site. What I didn't tell you is that the room she was living in was the worst room in the house. Floor boards missing, tiles missing, problems with the air conditioning, and more. The room is currently undergoing a major overhaul by the new owner. It's also the smallest room that we have. And yes, she was supplied with board. But the "board" took the form of small breakfast things like pastries, bread, coffee and orange juice. Meaning, it wasn't warm food unless it was toasted.
But she wasn't the only employee. Another employee was a very nice older lady. Now this older lady has issues with computers (in that, she barely knows how to use them. We are having to teach her how. But she is absolutely fantastic with the guests. You can teach the computer stuff, you can't teach the personality stuff). Now, the way the shifts worked was that she worked 4 days a week up to 14 hours a day, and sometimes the owner would put her on anyway on what were supposed to be her days off so that the old owner could go out. But, at least she actually got paid and didn't live on site. But she also didn't get trained by the old "owner". When we came in, the poor woman knew nothing about hotel procedure and she outright told us that she was "a babysitter". All she did was give keys and have them sign, nothing else. And make sure no one was getting hurt or anything.
And those were her only employees. The office was open varying hours under her but usually 8 am - 10 pm.
Now, I call her the old owner, but she really isn't. She told every business around her that she owned the place, and she didn't. Even her employees thought she owned the place. No, she was renting with an option to buy for 5 years. The business has been up for sale for 2 years. She never bought it, so imagine her shock when my owner bought it. To say she was PISSED is putting it lightly.
She told the employees that they no longer had a job with us. That we didn't want them so to just walk out. She painted us as ogers coming in to take over and bringing a full staff with us. That we were big wigs from some major hotel downtown (not true, the owner, which is not my husband and I, we are just employees, owns one other hotel and is actually a pretty reasonable guy). The final day, she kicked the employees out (the housekeeper without a place to live). the old housekeeper wanted to clean the rooms of the guests that had left that day, and the old "owner" told her to just leave it, and leave the building.
Then the old "owner" went around and grabbed as much as she could. She took ALL the hairdryers, and irons in storage. She took almost every piece of extra bedding, including bedspreads. She nearly emptied the kitchen cupboards of dishes and food. She took paintings, and furniture. She even went in and took tv's from the bedrooms (though not all of them). She took all the working vacuums in the place. All of this stuff was to belong to my owner per the contract. My owner has had to pay many thousands to buy new stuff since he's decided it just isn't worth it to take a lawyer after her.
She had some doors installed with a dead bolt, and took the keys to the dead bolts. So if a guest uses the dead bolt, we can't get in the rooms. This could be a seriously deadly situation in the case of a fire or something.
One room was "the cat room" because she lived on site and brought her cat with her. It was empty except for the cat, the cats box, and a large human sized bed for the cat. We have already run an ozone machine in there three times, and the smell keeps coming back. The owner is talking about removing the carpet completely (he thinks this might be good to do in all the rooms) and putting in laminate.
Every time a guest spilled something on the carpet, the old "owner" would throw a rug over it. You have no idea how many rugs are in this building. We've been pulling the rugs up to find carpet damaged underneath all over the place.
Her girlfriend/significant other was a drug addict and known for punching holes in the walls. Apparently this was very common and she's been in and out of rehab 4 times by the time the place was bought by my owner. So we are having to repair walls.
We are going through all the storage areas and finding mostly garbage so we're throwing most of it out.
And the old "owner" is known as the "Bitch of the Block" by neighboring businesses. See, there's a small space in front of our hotel that's an unloading zone. And instead of doing the right thing and just calling the parking authority on the cars that keep parking in the area for a long period of time (that's almost stopped btw. Since we have been there, we have called the parking authority about a dozen times, and now it hardly ever happens), she used to walk into the doors of the neighboring businesses and scream at the top of her lungs "whoever is fucking parked in front of my fucking hotel is getting their car towed. Do not park in front of my hotel".
When we started going around to neighboring businesses and introducing ourselves, several of them nearly jumped for joy. I don't know all the stories but for them to be that happy, I'm betting that there was alot more that she did and we just don't know about it. In fact, one of the neighboring businesses general manager gives us any orders for my husband and I at cost and has been to our business several times to arrange different things like room deliveries and having a party room with catering for guests (our hotel is too small for that, so having them with one is absolutely awesome). And the day before yesterday, the tavern across the street gave me lunch for free.
The old "owner" barely had anyone here. Her policy was full prepayment in advance non-refundable. She wasn't up on any of the third party sites except for Bookit. Her rates were really low (around $79 a night) and rate changes made no sense. She gave rates around $159-$189 for the Superbowl when rates should have been more around $400 a night. Meaning, she was totally screwing herself over. Unfortunately, we have been stuck with some of her insane leftover reservations that we have to keep.
So... the Dragon Lady was a complete nutbag.
Our first few weeks, my husband and I were working 10-14 hours a day (no other employees) each. Now we've hired employees. Still waiting for one more for the desk, but we're waiting for a potential to contact us. I really want to start working relatively the same hours as my husband. I really miss him. I'm working the mornings on his off days, he's working mornings on my off days, and we're working opposite shifts on the other days.
Damage is being fixed. Proper policy and procedure established. We have a new hotel computer system and new website (including a mobile version) due to start within the next week or so. New employees are being trained (some of them from the old owner, including Minnie the Mouse). No one is being asked to work insane hours (though my poor husband is still having to do it). Hopefully we will eventually have a 24 hour desk at some point soon.
We have a new ice machine for the guests (which the old "owner" didn't have). We should be having an ATM installed within the next week or so. The Courtyard has been totally emptied and has had major work done that makes it look so much better.
By this time next year, I expect that it may be a totally new hotel with all the renovations and changes. It is a very beautiful hotel (it was built in 1897 as three townhouses and joining in the early-mid 1900's to become a hotel) with 27 rooms.
The insane leftover reservations are slowly trickling out, and we are getting alot more business. Most of the people that leave have talked about how wonderful the stay was, with maybe a few leftover glitches here and there (mostly issues with rooms we didn't know existed, liking broken heaters).
It's getting better. Slowly but surely.
I may have forgotten some things about the Dragon Lady. If I remember them, I'll post them here. I'll also ask Crucible to take a look since he may remember some things I don't.
http://www.customerssuck.com/board/s...ad.php?t=96413
My boss actually joined the thread and said he'd create one for the Dragon Lady, but hasn't had time. So here it goes...
The Dragon Lady. Just one of her many names on this block according to the other businesses. Another nickname was "the Bitch". And she was actually proud of this.
As you can see from the last few posts on the link above, she worked one housekeeper up to 14 hours a day, 7 days a week, and kept any "overtime" as "rent" because the housekeeper was living on site. What I didn't tell you is that the room she was living in was the worst room in the house. Floor boards missing, tiles missing, problems with the air conditioning, and more. The room is currently undergoing a major overhaul by the new owner. It's also the smallest room that we have. And yes, she was supplied with board. But the "board" took the form of small breakfast things like pastries, bread, coffee and orange juice. Meaning, it wasn't warm food unless it was toasted.
But she wasn't the only employee. Another employee was a very nice older lady. Now this older lady has issues with computers (in that, she barely knows how to use them. We are having to teach her how. But she is absolutely fantastic with the guests. You can teach the computer stuff, you can't teach the personality stuff). Now, the way the shifts worked was that she worked 4 days a week up to 14 hours a day, and sometimes the owner would put her on anyway on what were supposed to be her days off so that the old owner could go out. But, at least she actually got paid and didn't live on site. But she also didn't get trained by the old "owner". When we came in, the poor woman knew nothing about hotel procedure and she outright told us that she was "a babysitter". All she did was give keys and have them sign, nothing else. And make sure no one was getting hurt or anything.
And those were her only employees. The office was open varying hours under her but usually 8 am - 10 pm.
Now, I call her the old owner, but she really isn't. She told every business around her that she owned the place, and she didn't. Even her employees thought she owned the place. No, she was renting with an option to buy for 5 years. The business has been up for sale for 2 years. She never bought it, so imagine her shock when my owner bought it. To say she was PISSED is putting it lightly.
She told the employees that they no longer had a job with us. That we didn't want them so to just walk out. She painted us as ogers coming in to take over and bringing a full staff with us. That we were big wigs from some major hotel downtown (not true, the owner, which is not my husband and I, we are just employees, owns one other hotel and is actually a pretty reasonable guy). The final day, she kicked the employees out (the housekeeper without a place to live). the old housekeeper wanted to clean the rooms of the guests that had left that day, and the old "owner" told her to just leave it, and leave the building.
Then the old "owner" went around and grabbed as much as she could. She took ALL the hairdryers, and irons in storage. She took almost every piece of extra bedding, including bedspreads. She nearly emptied the kitchen cupboards of dishes and food. She took paintings, and furniture. She even went in and took tv's from the bedrooms (though not all of them). She took all the working vacuums in the place. All of this stuff was to belong to my owner per the contract. My owner has had to pay many thousands to buy new stuff since he's decided it just isn't worth it to take a lawyer after her.
She had some doors installed with a dead bolt, and took the keys to the dead bolts. So if a guest uses the dead bolt, we can't get in the rooms. This could be a seriously deadly situation in the case of a fire or something.
One room was "the cat room" because she lived on site and brought her cat with her. It was empty except for the cat, the cats box, and a large human sized bed for the cat. We have already run an ozone machine in there three times, and the smell keeps coming back. The owner is talking about removing the carpet completely (he thinks this might be good to do in all the rooms) and putting in laminate.
Every time a guest spilled something on the carpet, the old "owner" would throw a rug over it. You have no idea how many rugs are in this building. We've been pulling the rugs up to find carpet damaged underneath all over the place.
Her girlfriend/significant other was a drug addict and known for punching holes in the walls. Apparently this was very common and she's been in and out of rehab 4 times by the time the place was bought by my owner. So we are having to repair walls.
We are going through all the storage areas and finding mostly garbage so we're throwing most of it out.
And the old "owner" is known as the "Bitch of the Block" by neighboring businesses. See, there's a small space in front of our hotel that's an unloading zone. And instead of doing the right thing and just calling the parking authority on the cars that keep parking in the area for a long period of time (that's almost stopped btw. Since we have been there, we have called the parking authority about a dozen times, and now it hardly ever happens), she used to walk into the doors of the neighboring businesses and scream at the top of her lungs "whoever is fucking parked in front of my fucking hotel is getting their car towed. Do not park in front of my hotel".
When we started going around to neighboring businesses and introducing ourselves, several of them nearly jumped for joy. I don't know all the stories but for them to be that happy, I'm betting that there was alot more that she did and we just don't know about it. In fact, one of the neighboring businesses general manager gives us any orders for my husband and I at cost and has been to our business several times to arrange different things like room deliveries and having a party room with catering for guests (our hotel is too small for that, so having them with one is absolutely awesome). And the day before yesterday, the tavern across the street gave me lunch for free.
The old "owner" barely had anyone here. Her policy was full prepayment in advance non-refundable. She wasn't up on any of the third party sites except for Bookit. Her rates were really low (around $79 a night) and rate changes made no sense. She gave rates around $159-$189 for the Superbowl when rates should have been more around $400 a night. Meaning, she was totally screwing herself over. Unfortunately, we have been stuck with some of her insane leftover reservations that we have to keep.
So... the Dragon Lady was a complete nutbag.
Our first few weeks, my husband and I were working 10-14 hours a day (no other employees) each. Now we've hired employees. Still waiting for one more for the desk, but we're waiting for a potential to contact us. I really want to start working relatively the same hours as my husband. I really miss him. I'm working the mornings on his off days, he's working mornings on my off days, and we're working opposite shifts on the other days.
Damage is being fixed. Proper policy and procedure established. We have a new hotel computer system and new website (including a mobile version) due to start within the next week or so. New employees are being trained (some of them from the old owner, including Minnie the Mouse). No one is being asked to work insane hours (though my poor husband is still having to do it). Hopefully we will eventually have a 24 hour desk at some point soon.
We have a new ice machine for the guests (which the old "owner" didn't have). We should be having an ATM installed within the next week or so. The Courtyard has been totally emptied and has had major work done that makes it look so much better.
By this time next year, I expect that it may be a totally new hotel with all the renovations and changes. It is a very beautiful hotel (it was built in 1897 as three townhouses and joining in the early-mid 1900's to become a hotel) with 27 rooms.
The insane leftover reservations are slowly trickling out, and we are getting alot more business. Most of the people that leave have talked about how wonderful the stay was, with maybe a few leftover glitches here and there (mostly issues with rooms we didn't know existed, liking broken heaters).
It's getting better. Slowly but surely.
I may have forgotten some things about the Dragon Lady. If I remember them, I'll post them here. I'll also ask Crucible to take a look since he may remember some things I don't.
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