Some People Call This Work

​I know this is going to make you roll your eyes. I am rolling my eyes just thinking about typing it. Work you say? After reading about your typical day? Catered meals and reading on the beach? 
I can't help rehashing that tired and overused quote about doing what you love means you'll never work a day in your life. (Not to be too Pollyanna, because heaven knows that's not me, it doesn't mean that doing work you enjoy doesn't come with difficulties and challenges. I have certainly experienced a lot of both even doing jobs that I really, really loved.)
However... more please!  I absolutely adore what I am doing and even more the people that I get to work side by side with. 
My purpose in coming here was somewhat vaguely defined as "professional organizer." Since that sounds exactly like me, it seemed like a good fit, and it has been! More specifically (though still a little vague) the managers were looking for someone to help improve organization and processes in the kitchen and housekeeping areas. Both actually function very well, but the idea was to find opportunities for better organization and professionalism. 
My first week was primarily spent with the kitichen staff, observating and asking questions. There is nothing quite as "helpful" as rushing in and fixing something that isn't broken just because you don't understand how it  works. I also introduced the Stop/Start/Continue process to try to spark communication with the staff. This can be a real challenge cross-culturally, and I was treading very lightly at first.  I am happy to say that once I was able to build some rapport and get them talking -- they kept talking! So in addition to improvements that I saw, I began a list of improvements that THEY saw and helped them solve some problems. I think that's the accomplishment I feel best about. I hope that this communication continues after I am gone, building collaboration and reinforcing the sense of ownership and pride that the staff clearly has. 😀 
More tangible activities in the kitchen include clearing out unused items from the storage cabinet and moving things around to make them more accessible and easier to keep clean; finding ways to repurpose wasted space and get clutter off of countertops; create a cleaning schedule that is easy for the staff to implement; making a few sanitation improvements in the prep area.
In the housekeeping area, my primary task was to inventory the current supply of linens, assess the condition, and recommend appropriate counts for future purchases. This sounds like a perfect task for a spreadsheet...which it is...putting me right in my happy place. It also involved physically counting and measuring all the beds on the property, counting all the sheets, pillowcases, and towels, and checking them for stains, tears, and general wear. Physically this was not particularly demanding, but did I mention that it is over 95 degrees here? And while all the rooms have a/c, they aren't running when they are unoccupied so it was almost always hotter inside than out. The laundry room where the linens are kept is also not air conditioned. I quickly learned to wear my swimsuit under my clothes and head for the pool as soon as I was finished. <Insert eye roll here; yes, there are great perks to this "job."> All that counting sent me back to my spreadsheet to build a linen "calculator" to estimate their needs based on occupancy, bed size, and laundry turn around. Can you see the smile on my face?
Probably the best part of this task has been sitting down with the housekeeping staff and hearing their perspective on what needs updating and what the priorities should be. They care so much about their contribution to this beautiful place. I didn't find much to change about the housekeeping process itself, but I hope I was able in a small way to help the housekeepers find their voice and know that what they are valued not just for what they do but what they know.
A final area I was asked to help with was in updating the "guest information system," previously known as the in-room guest book. The managers feel that the content needs some updating but also that they way guests get their information needs to be more in sync with how we access information generally. What a great vision! I can't say that I am leaving with a whole new system in place, but I took the managers through a short ideation session (one of my favorite things in the world) and other discussions about how to build on their ideas to design a creative and manageable way to not just inform but also inspire guests during their time here. We'll see where this goes!
And that's what I did on my workation in Thailand.