Wednesday Sep 11 Educating Will

Bobbie got up and fed Fossie, showered, got dressed and went right into her office. She’d tidied it up the day before and was it was looking so organized. The sewing machine was packed away and there were no random knitting projects or yarn around. Will was coming over today and she wanted to look professional.

She took her laptop down to the restaurant and grabbed coffee and a biscuit sandwich from Mark and waited for Will. He got there around ten to eight. The restaurant was filling around her and she was pleased he was a little early. “Good morning Will, I’ll show you where you can help yourself to coffee and introduce you to the morning staff in the kitchen. Will nodded and followed into the kitchen.

“This is Mark, you probably met him at my party on Friday. He’s been with me since before we had a kitchen. He’s in charge of kitchen staff and all the food gathering and ordering and he works our Sunday omelette brunch. And this is Sipho. He’s from Sierra Leon and he’s a sous chef who’s good with computers and he’s the one who compiles and sends me the kitchen expenses. He also keeps Mark’s sourdough starter healthy and is the bread baker and morning coffee maker. Sipho’s little brother Denny comes to the break room after school and he sometimes helps if there are simple jobs to do. Mark keeps track of everyone’s work hours. We have full time and temporary staff. You can meet with him later and hear about how we handle that.

Mark wiped his hands and shook Will’s hand. “It’s good to see you again Will. Sipho and I are here most mornings and we work together to prepare the continental breakfast. We lost our dishwasher/morning helper, who went back to school. Maybe we can meet tomorrow after tea to discuss hiring someone.”

Bobbie smiled. “Yes Will, we take pride in our continental breakfast. We have lunch service in SPOKES and on the patio and Mark’s sourdough pizza is a great favourite along with other specials. Then we host afternoon tea and coffee service in the restaurant and SPOKES and everywhere from 1:30 until 3:30. We get some people who come to the Gallery and then have tea. We prep Chili, baked beans Garlic Bread and Brown bread to sell at the Saturday Market and we have a new Sunday Omelette brunch service. I have thought of expanding a dinner service into the main restaurant but there are plenty of restaurants around who do that and their customers sometimes have afternoon tea with us before they go to dinner so I want to keep my good relationship with the restaurant community.”

“You guys seem to a lot with not so much staff.”

Mark picked up his tablet. “Bobbie keeps us organized.”

“Again, we’ll talk about that later Will. We should let the boys get on with things.” Will got himself coffee and one of Mark’s sandwiches and they returned to Bobbie’s table.

“Restaurants are notorious for having small margins. It seems you’ve kept the profitable parts and I’m surprised skipping a dinner service doesn’t hurt your bottom line. So, this breakfast service seems busier than just motel guests.”

“Yes, some folks just come and pay for breakfast and the motel guests get it comped. Mink will be around to see us soon. They keep track of the paying customers. I guess Mink will be bussing the tables and doing dishes; we really need to find a dishwasher.”

As promised Mink came around, freshened their coffee and sat down with them. “Good morning William, I am Mink. The restaurant is mine. I make sure it all runs smoothly.” And left.

“I guess Mink needs to get used to you. They are under some stress; their long-term business partner and friend is sick. Chase worked in the bar in SPOKES mostly but takes care of coffee and tea for the afternoon tea. Lockland is there now, you met him already too. While I was working in IT, I managed people who had a lot of procedures and lists and orders and we implemented the ISO 9001 standard. I was a lead auditor and helped develop the system. Here at the motel, we are not ISO certified but I have taken the system to heart and have procedures and check sheets for most of what we do that we specially adapt to suit us. I store them on a server I’ve set up and we all access and can use the documents on our own devices.”

“I’ve heard some hotels use the ISO standard. Can I see where the documents are. I’d like to see a sample.”

“What I’m really trying to do is make sure we have good check sheets to keep everyone on track and keep making measurable improvements.”

Mark appeared at the table. “Hi, I’m sorry to interrupt but Rose is in the kitchen and she wants to see you. You too Will.”

Bobbie nodded and got up to follow Mark back to the kitchen. She hoped everything was OK with Rose. “Hi Rose, is school going OK? What’s on your mind?”

“Hi Bobbie, and you must be Will, I’m sorry, it looks like I may not be able to help as much as I thought around here. I’ll be living near the university and classes are going to keep me busy. I had an idea though. I was talking to my Aunt Jane about it all and Aunt Jane told me she’d love to work here as a dishwasher. Now, I know she’s a recovering addict and all that but she’s doing so well. And she knows what we do here and she loves to garden too.”

“That’s a good idea. I’d like to talk to Jane abut this. Can you give me her contact information?”

Rose hugged her goodbye and left and Bobbie turned to Mark. “I think hiring Jane is a good idea, what do you think Mark?”

“I’ve been to Jane’s place with Rose and we helped her plant a few things in her own garden. She’s nice and really funny. I think having Rose live with her was good for her. I’d like to see how she does, working here.”

Bobbie nodded and turned to Will. “It looks like we’ve found a dishwasher. I guess you and I should make a date with Frank to hire you officially, too. Let’s go meet Effie and Drey and Roger, they are my housekeeping and maintenance people and then we’ll go to the gallery and meet with Frank.

Bobbie got a text from Frank and called Jane. “Ok, that’s all set up. We’ll meet the staff and after lunch we’ll hire you and Jane.”

They left the restaurant and Bobbie led Will up the stairs to the laundry room. Roger was in there folding towels. “Hi Roger, this is Will, he’s going to be working here with us. He’s going to be my number one helper so you’ll be able to ask him questions and he can help, if you need anything.”

“Hi Will, I do laundry and I help Effie put clean towels in every room and I like to dig potatoes in the garden and I help Johnny sometimes.”

Hi Roger, it’s good to meet you. When I get my telephone, I’ll give you my number.”

“I know how to text.”

Effie came in the room. “Hi Bobbie. Roger, we need towels for 3 more rooms and then we’re done.”

Hi Effie, this is Will he’s training to be my assistant manager. He’s Quinn’s brother.

Roger came over and started to shake Will’s hand vigorously. “I thought you looked like Quinn.”

Will smiled. “Yes, we’re twins.”

Effie just smiled. “It’s nice to meet you Will. Rose told me that her Aunt Jane might be our new dishwasher. I’m sorry to see Rose go but it’s nice to see some new faces around here.”

Drey came in pushing the cleaning cart. “Hello everyone. Effie, I’m finished the cleaning and Roger Dodger, we need towels in room 3,4 and 7.” Roger was counting out three piles of clean towels and he picked each of them up and walked out saying 3,4,7 under his breath.

“Hi Drey, I’m Will, I’m starting here today. It’s good to meet you.”

Drey grinned. “Hey man, that’s cool.”

“Drey’s our maintenance guy and he drives the minibus. He and Johnny keep it running. He helps housekeeping in the mornings when he can.”

“I’m like the jack of all trades.”

“It’s nice to see you all. Will and I have things to discuss and we have to go get all his stuff.” They went out the back door of the laundry room and down the stairs and then headed up the stairs into her apartment. Fossie greeted them and Will bent down to pet him.

“Come on into the office I have some things for you. When they got in the office, Bobbie handed him a phone a tablet and a computer. “These are all yours, and all compatible and the charge cords are interchangeable. You can use your own personal phone if you like but the tablet has all the links for our document system, and reservations system. The laptop has admin privileges for the reservations system and has the financial stuff loaded onto it. Eventually I’ll show you what I do for Frank; for his financial reports. She laughed a bit. “I also made you this case for all the things.” She used the insides of a laptop case from the thrift store and covered it in a grey corduroy fabric, made custom pockets and sewed the motel logo on the front.

Will sat in her guest chair. “Thank you Bobbie this is great. I appreciate the investment you’re making in me.” He started putting things in his bag and the phone dinged. “Oh, I got a text from Roger; he says Hi.”

Bobbie laughed. “I’ve got to get a tablet and phone set up for Jane. I have them plugged in and charged already. She got out the tablet and showed Will where to find the base programs and links to set up the phone and the tablet. She handed him an uncontrolled copy of the step-by-step instructions. “Do you think you can follow this procedure and set things up?”

“I’m not sure, he took the instructions and in 20 minutes he had the phone and tablet set up. That guide was so helpful. I never thought of having stuff like this all written down.”

“It’s a simple task but it’s not something you do every day. As versions change and new links are relevant, I will change the master copy and write little executable subroutines to keep everyone’s devices up to date.”

“So, I can read everyone’s custom instructions and check sheets on this tablet?”

“You can see how it’s all organized on your home screen and you can use the links to drill down. light reading when you have time.” She showed him a smaller grey corduroy bag with a motel logo. “This is for Jane; it has pockets for the tablet and phone and stuff too. You’ll find a master key for the motel on a lanyard in one of your pockets. Jane doesn’t get one of those. We should go get some lunch.”

They walked down to SPOKES and Lockland took their order and brought ice tea and water. Bobbie had the tomato soup and ½ grilled cheese and Will had a pizza. As they were finishing up Jane approached them holding a cup of tea. “Hello Bobbie may I join you?”

“Sure Jane, have a seat. The is is Will, my cousin, he’s joining us today too and will be my assistant manager so he’ll be available for any questions you have.” She handed Jane her bag. “There is a phone and tablet in there, Mark will show you everything tomorrow.” Then Bobbie explained about their RRSP matching program, their sick time policy and how they earn vacation. They went upstairs to see Frank and he had them sign several forms and when he was all done, he suggested Will stay back and learn a bit more about the finances. 

Bobbie thanked him and she and Jane headed back downstairs. Bobbie noted that Jane looked different than when they first met. She had cropped her hair off and had a smooth short slightly greying hairstyle. It showed off her fine features. Bobbie hadn’t thought of it before but was surprised when she learned she was only 40 years old.

They got outside and Jane walked over to the bike rack. “Thanks for everything Bobbie, I have a meeting to go to and Rose is coming to make me a special meal tonight. So, I can start tomorrow at 7. I got my old bike back from Rose. It’s great, I think Mark fixed it for her.”

Bobbie said goodbye and went to Skype Trixie and talk about their new hires.