A busy day at Well House Manor - so come in and make it even busier!
Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2012-08-10 06:46:40 - Graham Ellis
By 8 O'Clock in the morning, it sometimes feels that the day is half done. That's certainly the case at Well House Manor on the "early shift", where the two hours from opening shortly after 6 a.m. through breakfast from 7 a.m. to early departures at 8 a.m. mean that whoever's on duty needs to hit the ground running. During the week, there's an opportunity at about 9 a.m. for the team member on duty to take a mid-shift coffee / food break before tidying the kitchen, cleaning and changing rooms, and starting to prepare for whatever's happening later in the day.I've done a lot of "earlies" in my time - and I enjoy them. I've had several opportunities this week, with staff taking holidays in what we incorrectly forecast to be a quiet period. But I couldn't do them regularly on top of the training and other things I do too, and I'm aware that the team we have to do the hotel shifts (all of the shifts!) now do a far better job than I can, and in a far more efficient way too. And I'm proud of the team for that (for lots of other reasons too!).
Today, I'm not on earlies - my computer confirms that the front door screen has said "Come in" since 06:12, and I can write up notes from yesterday and prepare for today's Perl Programming Course. It needs a little more preparation than usual, as the course is being updated and this is the first run with the new running order and some new examples.
During the morning, we have a meeting in the museum, and at lunchtime we're expecting a party of around fifteen for a light lunch - ploughman's or soup has been pre-ordered, with seating in the garden requested if the weather is fine, otherwise inside. As it's Friday, most of the guests will be checking out (so that gives us a number of room changes to do), and in the afternoon the museum will be open, and we'll have the cafe open for Cream Teas. Finally - let's add to the mix that there's major work being done on our patio.
"If you want something doing, ask someone who's busy". Yes, we can take bookings, serve you coffees, check you in for tonight, show you the museum. Love to see you. For "we are busy" please read "we are having an exciting time and would love you to share our excitement". I had best get going. When I get to "The Manor" there will be the smell of fresh bread ... and tables to move, and laptops to clear from the large function room in case we get rain at lunchtime!