Question: When is Enough

[EmptyNest]

So.... are you willing to tell us where this place is? I know we are all dying of curiosity

 

[Penelope]

I read the blog. You are a very witty person. I admire your writing skills, even though you are ranting to stay sane (that is something that I think only those in this profession understand).

 

[user 26]

TIME OUT! agreeing with all that has been said, i haven't even read all the responses but have blasted down here to answer you
absolutely you need time off! it is not enough to take one night off, you need two nights off so that you can recover ... it is scary to take time off when that means no money coming in the door but you are quickly burning out.
turn off the ringer at night. leave a BIG NOTE where you will see it in the morning so you remember to turn it back on in the morning. yes, even in cases of emergency, 11 pm, 3 am or 1 am or 5 am is not the time for someone to call. give family your cell phone or a private number but instruct all ... that calls between xyandz are only dire emergency calls. seriously
this forum could be a lifesaver for you ... just having a place to rant and commiserate with other people is so helpful. as one who worked alone most of the first year, i was desperate for others to talk to.
guests who deserve brutality? what is going on??
can you afford any help? do you have help? housekeeping or anything? if you do, and i am jumping ahead ... while that person is stripping beds or whatever ... you take a few minutes for you.
and, sorry to say ... if you are straight out and the guests are becoming your nightmare and there seems to be no way out, no time out, then you need to SOCIALIZE with your guests.
grab your coffee or your herbal tea or whatever and say 'may i join you?'
and SIT DOWN.
let them tell you why they are there.
they are people. some are beasts but many are beautiful .... i promise!
((hugs)) ... seriously
we are all here for you. tell us more

 

[user 26]

i can't understand how you have so much time to write (especially a blog) when you are out straight ALL the time .... are you pulling my (our) leg(s)?

 

[gillumhouse]

If you feel better writing a blog about guests/inn/owner/whatever - which I have no intention of reading by the way - as a vent mechanism please do not bother telling me where you end up or how. No innkeeper worth their salt is going to write a blog (where anyone in the world can see what is written) about guests. You have claimed to be "adult" and professional. To blog about guests is neither in my opinion. It is childish and reflects badly on the industry.
What my guests do is in the category of what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas and that is what most innkeepers do.
This thread no longer is of interest, worth reading, nor of use to anyone.

 

[GeorgiaGirl]

Let me play the devil's advocate. You state on your blog "As long as you don't ask me to make your dinner reservations, find a horseback riding center, or bring you a bucket of ice, I think we'll be just fine" I've stayed at many different B&B's and and most of them have always asked if I wanted dinner suggestions/help with reservations, etc. I've never taken them up on it since we like to just do whatever and eat whenever when we are on vacation. I would hate to think that the Innkeeper would resent me just for asking a question (s).....
I too am starting to wonder if your posts are truthful

 

[egoodell]

However, I'm the type of person that needs an outlet, a place to vent, so I've started a blog in an effort to maintain sanity. It's the sort of thing that I think a few of us might get a kick out of reading (and aspiring IKs might learn something from!) so I thought I'd post it here.

I am also not interested in reading a blog complaining about inn guests. This is very damaging to our industry. If you don't like working in a service business assisting the public, you should never have gotten into it. I hope guests don't find this childish tripe.
We are not only B&B owners, it is also a business of Concierge Service. This type of service to the public is regarded highly in many parts of the world, including Europe where I grew up. I run wine tours.I assist guests with planning wine tour itinerearies. I help them decide on restaurant choices. They are spending a lot of money for their vacation and I like to ensure they are getting their money's worth.
People are of course able to check their GPS and laptops. But our business is the business of assisting them so they don't have to waste their time doing so. We are the experts of our area and it's our job to make their vacation easier.
A side note - I have assisted guests because their GPS has given them incorrect directions and they had already gone far out of their way and no longer trusted the things.
I would not wish to be a guest at your B&B, and recommend you do not go into the restaurant business etiher.
Riki

 

[happykeeper]

Oh my goodness- if you give `em enough rope.....

 

[Don Draper]

Oh my goodness- if you give `em enough rope......

Yikes, I just read it. Honestly, I think a lot of folks on this forum (myself among them) really took time to read your posts and do our best to give you some viable options. I think you both had already made up your minds to quit and weren't looking for options, just sympathy. You'll get no more of either from me.

 

[SweetiePie]

Should reduce the competition. No one will want to go into innkeeping after reading this blog.

 

[EmptyNest]

Oh my goodness- if you give `em enough rope......

Yikes, I just read it. Honestly, I think a lot of folks on this forum (myself among them) really took time to read your posts and do our best to give you some viable options. I think you both had already made up your minds to quit and weren't looking for options, just sympathy. You'll get no more of either from me.
.

TO answer your original post...NOW....THIS IS ENOUGH.

 

[Penelope]

I think what gets me (I am a big softy) is that the first time inkypr posted way back in January, she was SO excited to be where she was. Her posts were bubbly and enthusiastic and "up". To see the difference between then and now is startling.

 

[happykeeper]

Oh my goodness- if you give `em enough rope......

Yikes, I just read it. Honestly, I think a lot of folks on this forum (myself among them) really took time to read your posts and do our best to give you some viable options. I think you both had already made up your minds to quit and weren't looking for options, just sympathy. You'll get no more of either from me.
.

TO answer your original post...NOW....THIS IS ENOUGH.

.

LOL!

 

[swirt]

I just read the coffee cup vs cozy rant and to me it sounds like you are bashing the wrong people. You should maybe be bashing thw owner who has nothing better to do than count that some guest took two coffee cups instead a cup and a cozy. Who knows what he wanted the second cup for...maybe he had plans for it (sharing half the cup with his wife, putting his pills in it so he could carry them down to eat with his breakfast... ). The person who has time to count cups as a guest walks by is probably missing something much more important.
You may not have a great situation there as you have described it. It seems to me you are directing your anger at guests rather than the person(s) that put you in or create that situation. Either way I'm not really seeing how that blog is going to help you. If you rant here, you may get sympathy or suggestions for improving the situation. If you rant on your own blog all you do is create an atmosphere where you want to rant more ... nothing breaks the cycle. You'd be better off using your writing talents to write green innkeeping tips or something else that radiates more light than heat.

 

[DaisyMae]

wow! you know, i have checked in here & there on this thread and while i had thoughts/opinions on different points i just didn't sit down to write them. I'm not even quite sure what to say after reading what amount i read of your blog . i read to where it talks about the sleeves for the coffee cups...
when i first started checking in on this thread i wondered what in the world you thought innkeeping is about & the duties/chores it consists of anyway? Exactly what jobs have you held before you were an innkeeper? All jobs i have ever held involved working with the public. no it is not always pleasant but you pretty much know that when you get into a public service job. I waitressed for 15 years and, believe me, i would not trade my innkeeper life to go back to waitressing. I am 31 now and when i was your age i was holding down 2 jobs, a 40 hour week job waitressing and part time job that usually ended up as a full time job. No job is easy & stress free. is that what you are looking for? Are you one of the folks that thinks innkeeping is a relaxed, hang around & drink coffee all day job?
I feel too that you went into this innkeeping thing REALLY unprepared & uneducated/uninformed on just what a day in the life of an innkeeper entails. It doesn't help that you apparently have a sucky boss too. been there done that, so i can relate. Man, it seems as though you have not just annoyance for your innkeeper job but outright ANGER. (that't what I came away from your blog feeling, anyway)
As far as your blog goes, great that you need a place to grip/vent/cry, what have you however, even though you have chosen to keep your identity anonymous, has it ever crossed your mind that one of your previous lazy guests could possibly stumble across you blog and put 2 & 2 together? Yes, cyberspace is a big world but it's also a small world in some respects.
If you do ever choose to run your own inn, at some point, i hope you are not expecting that it will necessarily be any easier & stress free. i feel like i have more comments but i just don't know how to say, what i want to say. I'm having a hard time having sympathy for your situation. not because of my reading the blog but, because it was up to you to educate yourself on innkeeping before you dived in. i

 

[Penelope]

I just read the coffee cup vs cozy rant and to me it sounds like you are bashing the wrong people. You should maybe be bashing thw owner who has nothing better to do than count that some guest took two coffee cups instead a cup and a cozy. Who knows what he wanted the second cup for...maybe he had plans for it (sharing half the cup with his wife, putting his pills in it so he could carry them down to eat with his breakfast... ). The person who has time to count cups as a guest walks by is probably missing something much more important.
You may not have a great situation there as you have described it. It seems to me you are directing your anger at guests rather than the person(s) that put you in or create that situation. Either way I'm not really seeing how that blog is going to help you. If you rant here, you may get sympathy or suggestions for improving the situation. If you rant on your own blog all you do is create an atmosphere where you want to rant more ... nothing breaks the cycle. You'd be better off using your writing talents to write green innkeeping tips or something else that radiates more light than heat..

If you rant here, you may get sympathy or suggestions for improving the situation. If you rant on your own blog all you do is create an atmosphere where you want to rant more ... nothing breaks the cycle. You'd be better off using your writing talents to write green innkeeping tips or something else that radiates more light than heat.

VERY well said.

 

[happykeeper]

I just read the coffee cup vs cozy rant and to me it sounds like you are bashing the wrong people. You should maybe be bashing thw owner who has nothing better to do than count that some guest took two coffee cups instead a cup and a cozy. Who knows what he wanted the second cup for...maybe he had plans for it (sharing half the cup with his wife, putting his pills in it so he could carry them down to eat with his breakfast... ). The person who has time to count cups as a guest walks by is probably missing something much more important.
You may not have a great situation there as you have described it. It seems to me you are directing your anger at guests rather than the person(s) that put you in or create that situation. Either way I'm not really seeing how that blog is going to help you. If you rant here, you may get sympathy or suggestions for improving the situation. If you rant on your own blog all you do is create an atmosphere where you want to rant more ... nothing breaks the cycle. You'd be better off using your writing talents to write green innkeeping tips or something else that radiates more light than heat..

I just love that you stepped up with some useful suggestions, thanks! Much better than where I wanted to go.

 

[NW BB]

Your blog has given us a new insight. You'll find quickly that the tide has changed here. What you are ranting and raving about is nothing abnormal for an innkeeper. Yes, guests can be annoying and take a lot of your time, but I haven't seen anything out of the ordinary. One of the problems is that you're not proactive. All of that information that you spent 2 hours to google should be information already at the guest's fingertips. Each room should have this information and all then you would have to do is point the guest to the place to look. Setting up the inn so that everything is at the guest's fingertips takes time and experience. When I was getting numerous requests from guests for ice, I bought an ice machine for the guests to use. Each room now has their own ice bucket and they can get their own ice when they choose.
As an innkeeper, you should have known if the sleeper beds are made up.
Now that I see more of what you're disturbed about, it's pretty clear that the two of you didn't know what life as an innkeeper is all about and it's definitely not the life for you. Your next job should not be in the hospitality industry.

 

[swirt]

I think what gets me (I am a big softy) is that the first time inkypr posted way back in January, she was SO excited to be where she was. Her posts were bubbly and enthusiastic and "up". To see the difference between then and now is startling..

I think what gets me (I am a big softy) is that the first time inkypr posted way back in January, she was SO excited to be where she was. Her posts were bubbly and enthusiastic and "up". To see the difference between then and now is startling.

That's a good observation. I agree, it is pretty startling/scary.
Its an important example of how new innkeepers have to create situations they can be happy with. Feeling out of control and uunable to change it in the place where you both live and work is not a good thing. (now that I've written it, it is also true for exisitng innkeepers too) It also goes along with something many of us have said before (though it hasn't come up recently) you have to have an exit plan for if things go sour. Going sour has many potential forms, could be financially, could be familial, could be lifestyle or attitute.

 

[JBloggs]

I think what gets me (I am a big softy) is that the first time inkypr posted way back in January, she was SO excited to be where she was. Her posts were bubbly and enthusiastic and "up". To see the difference between then and now is startling..

I think what gets me (I am a big softy) is that the first time inkypr posted way back in January, she was SO excited to be where she was. Her posts were bubbly and enthusiastic and "up". To see the difference between then and now is startling.

That's a good observation. I agree, it is pretty startling/scary.
Its an important example of how new innkeepers have to create situations they can be happy with. Feeling out of control and uunable to change it in the place where you both live and work is not a good thing. (now that I've written it, it is also true for exisitng innkeepers too) It also goes along with something many of us have said before (though it hasn't come up recently) you have to have an exit plan for if things go sour. Going sour has many potential forms, could be financially, could be familial, could be lifestyle or attitute.
.

I think what gets me (I am a big softy) is that the first time inkypr posted way back in January, she was SO excited to be where she was. Her posts were bubbly and enthusiastic and "up". To see the difference between then and now is startling.

That's a good observation. I agree, it is pretty startling/scary.
Its an important example of how new innkeepers have to create situations they can be happy with. Feeling out of control and uunable to change it in the place where you both live and work is not a good thing. (now that I've written it, it is also true for exisitng innkeepers too) It also goes along with something many of us have said before (though it hasn't come up recently) you have to have an exit plan for if things go sour. Going sour has many potential forms, could be financially, could be familial, could be lifestyle or attitute.

Much worse for those who own their inns - they cannot just quit or walk away, it could be years and years and years.