BONJOUR!

I recently joined Facebook, and I haven't decided whether I like it or not. It's kind of boring actually, but I have been able to find some people I worked with a LONG time ago.

Have you ever worked somewhere that you felt like all your coworkers were part of your family? In my early 20's I worked at the front desk at Hotel Sofitel Houston, and we were just like family. We would plan employee outings, if one of us had a party the entire front desk, bellmen, concierge and reservations staff was there. We looked out for each other. I worked at the Sofitel from 1996 - 1998 and it was probably one of the best times of my life. It was my first "real" job and my coworkers were the first friends I made outside of my high school friends.

I started working at Hotel Sofitel Houston in March 1996, I was 20 years old and all of my coworkers were between the ages of 20 - 25. My first day there I met Jeanette and she soon became one of my favorite people. In the months that followed, I became friends with Ricardo, Cynthia, Aaron, Delia, Wade, Ben, Ryan, Neil and Miryam. We would laugh and cut up during the lull between check in and check out. We would help each other not lose our minds or pull our hair out on sold out nights or checking in Continental Distressed passengers. On our days off, Jeanette, Cynthia, Delia and I would go shopping at the Galleria. The front desk agents, bellmen and concierge that worked the night shift would often go to Clayton's after work for a quick drink before we went home. And the Christmas parties...the Christmas parties were the best! The hotel management would assign each of the hotel employees a room so we wouldn't have to drive home after we drank at the party. I remember one winter, a cold front came through and all the roads iced over in Houston. My boss, Leo, told me that I was not to go home. So, I was stuck in the hotel for two days with only my uniform with me. Luckily, we were down the street from a mall so I could buy some makeup and Delia was nice enough to bring me some pj's. The only bad part of staying at the hotel was we were sold out at the time, so I had to stay in a room that was not available to guests...THERE WAS NO HEAT! But, I gladly shared my room with a coworker that I was "seeing" at the time. (Or a coworker that was using me at that time, I'll let you figure that one out.)

At that time, I still lived with my mom in Channelview and all the others loved making fun of my accent (which was a lot thicker than everyone else's) and teasing me about where I lived. I remember when King of the Hill first aired, Wade was nice enough to bring me some review or something that compared the residents of Arlan to the fine people of Channelview. Somehow, Cynthia found a Waffle House name tag and put my name on it. Now that I'm writing this, it sounds more mean than funny...but, I wasn't the only one that was teased, so whatever. We would all get together and do bowling night, night at the bar and we even did a scavenger hunt...Ricardo, Brian and I were the winning team and that's because I was the only one who knew where to find a french tickler!

I was at work in March 1997 when I got the phone call that Nanny had passed away. Leo (the boss) pulled me in his office and made me sit there until I calmed down. He found someone to come in and cover my shift and then drove me home. (He knew I was in no condition to drive, so he drove the 30 miles, one way, to take me home.) At that time, Aaron had moved to Chicago, but still found time to call me and send me a very nice note. My grandmother's death was probably one of the hardest things I've ever had to deal with and my friends at the hotel made sure I made it through.

You are probably wondering why I left such an awesome job, with great friends...well, I'll tell ya.

1. Hotels, as a rule, don't pay very well. I made less than $20,000 per year.
2. Hotels are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. I missed spending holidays with my family and I really wanted to see what it was like to have a weekend off.
3. I fell in love with a coworker, that didn't love me, who eventually became my boss.

And that, my friends, is how I learned that you don't mix your personal life with your professional life...NOTHING GOOD CAN COME FROM IT.

But, other than that, Hotel Sofitel was the best two years of my life!

Until next time...

Mandy