Guide to Hotel HousekeepingPalmer, Mary E. (Mary Elizabeth)
General
Guide to Hotel Housekeeping
Palmer, Mary E. (Mary Elizabeth)
Home economics; Hotels
A housekeeper that can not take orders is not fit to give them; if the
manager asks for the removal of an offensive employe, the housekeeper
should immediately get rid of the objectionable person. If the
housekeeper fails in deference to the manager's wishes, is not that good
evidence that she is not a good soldier? She should be eager to maintain
the dignity of her position--must maintain it in fact--and do as high
service as possible for the management. Yet she can not always carry out
her own ideas. The manager has his ideas about matters, which right or
wrong, must be respected. The housekeeper carries out the manager's
orders. If the hotel fails to bring a profit or give satisfaction, the
manager alone is held accountable.
_About Hiring Help._
To dismiss a maid is a very easy matter; to obtain a substitute that
will perform the duties assigned her in a manner that will prove more
effectual, is not so easy.
To fire or not to fire, that is the question
Whether 'tis easier on the impulse of the moment
To suffer the terrors and exactions of the haughty maids,
Or take up arms against their impudence
And with pen and ink end them.
To lie, to sleep--
Worry no more, and by good management to dispatch
The cares and thousand little details
Housekeepers are heir to--'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished.
The employment-agency is the housekeeper's recruiting station. She gets
most of her help from this place. The housekeeper should always consult
the manager when other help is to be hired. Everyone knows that old
employes are always best, even if they do spoil the new ones. The
housekeeper endeavors to keep the help as long as she can, using
persuasion, kindness, and forbearance, striving to teach them the best
and easiest way to do their work, bearing with their imperfections,
overlooking a great deal that is actually repulsive, not expecting to
find in the hard-working individual the graces of a Marie Antoinette, or
the inherent qualities of a Lady Jane Gray.
The housekeeper should not only be scrupulously honest herself, but
should insist that the maids be honest. It is true that almost
irresistible temptations and opportunities to steal are constantly
thrown in the way of the maids; and those that are steadfastly honest
deserve great credit.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account