So long, farewell – Clearing my throat
While it may not seem like a coincidence after such a crazy-ass weekend at the front desk and then working 3 days in a row of the front desk and baking thing, which is exhausting, mostly because it completely screws up my sleep schedule and I start getting a wee bit cranky at the front desk (never a good thing), I gave my 2-week notice early Sunday morning before I went home after baking. Sorry, that was a long sentence, but I don’t think it was a run-on.
Anyway, I wrote 3 nice letters, one for each of my bosses/supervisors, Jenny, Patty, and Inga (no particular order), and put them into their in-boxes. I had already told Patty a day before since it will impact her the most. There’s nobody to cover for her, so I offered to work beyond the 2 weeks until she had trained someone to replace me, which won’t be difficult since my commercial baking abilities are limited. I know she and Jenny have been disappointed with them, but I didn’t oversell myself at the interview last December. I was told by a mutual friend, great chef and cater, Diane Botica, that Jenny and Patty hired me because of my passion. I have been known to wear my heart on my sleeve 
And after it was obvious that my line cooking skills weren’t ready for the Bentwood Tavern, Jenny asked me to help her with the menu, picking and testing recipes, which is a great honor, usually reserved for the sous chef (she has 2 very good ones, Alberto and Francisco) or someone with more experience. She also knew I needed the hours at that point, so I am grateful for that as well.
I’m actually doing very well on the front desk and like it a lot, but I get overwhelmed very easily when there are screaming kids in the lobby, 3 groups at the desk and the phones won’t stop ringing. It felt like that’s what was happening for about 3 hours straight on Friday, and if I’m tired, it’s all I can do to keep from snapping at someone. I’m not the only one at the desk either, there’s always someone else when it’s that busy, but they really need to have someone in the back office who takes the first line of phone calls so the front desk doesn’t have to interrupt what they’re saying to the guests in front of them every 30 seconds (or even more frequently!) to answer phones.
Perhaps I’m not the only one who would get overwhelmed
I turned in my notice on Sunday morning because I wanted to stay through the 4th of July, which is going to be completely nuts of course, but John Havenaar, my new boss, said he’ll take me anytime after the 4th, so I’m not going to waste any time, I’m ready! Inga, the guest services director, is extremely good, we get along well, and I have a lot to learn about customer service from her apart from the technical aspects of the job. I’m sorry to have to leave her so soon, especially at this time of the year, but she has more people to cover for me than Patty does, so losing me at the front desk isn’t a full-blown crisis.
The funny thing is that all 3 of them, were out on Sunday, so the earliest they’ll see them is today.
