During my recovery from my hip replacement I had to take it easy and leave everything to Team Neil ( Julz, Jake and Corleen) . Sometimes it was hard to sit back and watch them do all the work but at others it was very rewarding to see them grow and do tasks the way I taught them. Often the way I do things goes back to the way I was taught as a Trainee Hotel Manager in 1982, or the way my father did things. Sometimes I saw something they did and was so surprised and happy it took my breath away and I went "WOW"
So I just thought I would share my top 5 WOW moments:
1. Corleen got a bad reputation for burning things so for a while we banned him from cooking and I would get Julz to hide the recipe books before he took his day off. Then one Saturday I found Corleen had cooked the perfect cheese Omlette for his breakfast- WOW!
2. Julz said he wanted to learn to make a cake so I asked my Kuya, Chef Coco, the best cake maker in Bahrain, to come and teach him. I was so impressed how Julz noted everything Coco taught him , and Coco was brilliant as a teacher, explaining what had to be done and why and then letting Julz try. Finally the cake was made and served at our Farewell lunch for Mike and Nea, and everyone agreed it was a big WOW!
3. I had to keep chasing Julz to think ahead at first- "have you defrosted the chicken for tomorrow's dinner?", "did you start making lunch yet?", "when will this food be out of date?" and so on. I told Julz how this reminded me of when I was a Trainee Manager at the North Stafford Hotel in Stoke- on - Trent , UK, and my Manager, Joe Azzopardi, would check on me daily asking similar questions like "What is the main course for the Wedgwood luncheon? "What is served with Roast Lamb? ", "So where is the mint sauce?". I told Julz I got so fed up being told off I would go and check everything before he arrived!
One Thursday night, after our Farewell lunch. I was lying in bed, and we had decided just to have a snack for dinner in bed, so Julz came and asked "Shall I prepare the table for Breakfast, Boss?". I was so amazed he had finally taken on board everything I had taught him and started to think ahead, even though he was off duty the next day, Friday. It's all about team work and preparing ahead, rather than rushing everything at the last minute. When I walked to the kitchen later I smiled as I walked past the table.
As I said to Julz the next day "My father would have been proud of you". I then explained how my dad always laid up for breakfast after dinner.
It also reminded me of another great influence on my early life as a student when I was doing OJT / Industrial Release at the Cumberland Hotel in London back in 1980. I worked in the Banqueting department with the Manager, Patrick Jordan and one day we joined the "London Banqueting Manager's walk about".
We visited several hotels in our group and were shown around their Banqueting Facilities to encourage cross selling if we did not have the facilities the customer needed. It was all very impressive as we arrived at each hotel and the Café Royal and were welcomed like VIP's with Coffee and Pastries, Champagne and Canapes, and lunch as the day progressed.
Each hotel had set the rooms up for different events,- weddings, meetings etc. Then the last hotel had forgotten we were coming and so we looked around on our own. In the Ballroom there had been a wedding the night before and they had not cleared up, so we saw overflowing ashtrays, empty wineglasses etc. It was disgusting. Patrick smiled and whispered "That is why we always clear up after a function, not before a function, Neil."
Now , as soon as an ILM workshop ends I have the janitor set it up for the next event. It took a while at first as he would always say "But its not until next week, can I do it tomorrow ?" but after a few warnings to do as he was told Raikesh started to do it automatically after each event. If someone forgot to make a booking and just turned up the room was always ready for use, and it looked professional when our Manager was showing guests around.
When I wrote this Blog I realised how much of my early training in the Hotel Industry influenced my later life! Many thanks to Mark Johns and Kevin O' Connor who arranged such wonderful training experiences for me.
I now realise that I have passed on what I learnt to my houseboys, our Janitors at the Oil and Gas Academy and to my anaks in the Philippines.
I hope there are many more WOW moments to come!
Until the next time, Kita Kits, Ingat Palagi....
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Hello, I am The British Kabayan! Feel free to read my stories.
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