Confessions of a Hotel Housekeeper

[celeb_2006]

Confessions of a Hotel Housekeeper - Manage Your Life on Shine

Allison Rupp worked at Yellowstone National Park's historic Old Faithful Inn in 2004.

The best guests sleep in

Three simple letters could inspire the "Hallelujah" chorus: DND, or do not disturb. One sign hanging on a doorknob, and the day's work was shortened by half an hour. Two signs? Pure heaven, but only if they remained there until my eight-hour shift ended—otherwise I'd have to circle back and clean the rooms. My daily list of 15 rooms (out of 325 in the hotel) consisted of DOs (due out) and Os (occupied), which in housekeeping lingo meant the guests were scheduled to check out or were staying another night. An occupied room was less labor-intensive (making the beds rather than changing the sheets saved me 20 minutes), but there was always the possibility the guest would stay in the room while you worked. One man watched me clean his entire room, from scrubbing the toilet to emptying the trash—and told me at the end that I was "building character." Condescension is not nearly as encouraging to a maid as a couple of dollars.

As long as it looked clean

I cut corners everywhere I could. Instead of vacuuming, I found that just picking up the larger crumbs from the carpet would do. Rather than scrub the tub with hot water, sometimes it was just a spray-and-wipe kind of day. After several weeks on the job, I discovered that the staff leader who inspected the rooms couldn't tell the difference between a clean sink and one that was simply dry, so I would often just run a rag over the wet spots. But I never skipped changing the sheets. I wouldn't sink that low, no matter how lazy I was feeling.

A bacterial wonderland

I was disgusted by the many guests I came in contact with through the things they left behind: the hairs on the pillow, the urine on the toilet seat, the half-eaten cookie, the stained sheets. One woman had soiled her sheets so thoroughly that we had to toss them in a biohazard bag—they could never be used again. Rooms where young kids stayed were the worst, with food ground into the carpet and piles of used diapers in the trash. That kind of demoralizing mess could take 45 minutes to clean up. Most maids wore rubber gloves when they worked, but mine were too big, so I discarded them. Unsurprisingly, I got the flu twice.

Not for love—or money

I didn't know maids received tips, so it took me weeks to realize that the coins left in rooms were an intentional gift. My tips were paltry: I almost never received more than $1, and at times guests left religious pamphlets. One day, however, I was shocked to find a crisp $100 bill lying on a table. Although the generous tip put a little spring in my step and compelled me to do a better job that day, it didn't change my work ethic for long. I apologize to you now if you ever stayed in one of my rooms. You deserved better. But if housekeepers were paid more than minimum wage—and the tips were a bit better—I might have cleaned your toilet rather than just flushed it.

[Beeyotch]

HA. They must looove me & my husband. We ALWAYS sleep in, and even if we don't, we still put up the do not disturb sign. Plus I'm pretty anal retentive so we don't make a mess, if we do I clean it myself. All we really need is new towels and the bed made. Sometimes I'll make our bed.

My mom is a housekeeper so maybe that makes me try to be more considerate, but mostly I just like to be left alone.

[McJag]

I always leave them a tip. Most of the housekeeping staff has always been very kind. If I needed more shampoo or handcream, they would load me up!

[Tati]

I'm a big fan of Do Not Disturb, and I don't really need to have my bed made every day, so I'll leave the sign up more often than not. We also reuse our towels and clean up after ourselves, and always tip. I'm not sure what would be difficult about diapers in the trash can though... just tie up and grab the whole trash bag, no?

[VenusInFauxFurs]

I never want to be disturbed. I'd rather sleep than have my bed made.

[LynnieD]

Well....what are you SUPPOSED to do w/dirty diapers? They pile up for sure, but hello---they go in the fucking trash. Just like everything else that is garbage...
That makes no sense to me.

[choozen1ne]

I am the type of person that doesn't want house cleaning in my room at all during my stay , this past summer in Vegas the people came twice during my week there ans I only had them replace the towels , normally I have clothes laying all over the place and I really don't want to shove everything back in my suitcase I always make sure that before I check out I clean up my mess

[eeyore0101]

I was disgusted by the many guests I came in contact with through the things they left behind: the hairs on the pillow

Hwo do you not leave ANY hairs on your pillow? If I left a big clump obviously I would clean it up, but it would be hard not leave the occasional stray hair....

I am also a DND person - I usually just ask for new towels. And I leave what I have heard is the standard tip of $2-3 a night.

[sprynkles]

I always hang the dnd sign out.
Last year I checked into a room at 11pm and stayed up late drinking and probably reading stuff here! I love to have a few beers after a nine hour drive. I was freaked to have heard a knock on the door at 8am. I could not believe the maid showed up so damn early. It kind of pissed me off. But I had forgotten to hang the damn sign on the door. But alas, the sign meant nothing to her as she returned the next morning. I declined the cleaning and this chick came back 2 more times that morning wanting to clean the room. It started becoming funny to me. The poor toothless lady hardly spoke English. I left her $5 and a bunch of candy. She was really just trying to do her job and probably didn't understand anything I was saying.

[Kittylady]

A dollar tip is pretty miserable. I nagged/shamed a friend of mine into leaving $40 following a stay he had in Santa Rosa after his final night involved an incident with an Italian takeaway, a bottle of tequila and a bag of catnip.

[Grimmlok]

Omg, i barely leave a mess when I stay. I feel guilty. The only thing that needs doing is the bed needs to be made.

[*DIVA!]

I never leave a mess. I always leave a nice tip.

[ConstanceSpry]

Ugh, I cannot stay at hotels any more, I get so grossed out. I mean, really, you are sleeping in a bed where 100's or 1000's have slept before, disgusting!! I have a friend who is equally grossed out, but has to travel for business. So she bought a couple sleep sacks and feels better.

[Lenny]

I only let the cleaning maid in when the toilet paper is empty.
I hate when the cleaning lady comes because I always feel the need to clean the room myself before she enters so it won't be too messy. So everytime the toilet paper is empty and I have to let her in I spend all morning cleaning the room myself.

[Melyanna]

I travel a lot for business and I usually stay in the room only for a few hours, to get some sleep, but I like to keep it super tidy.
Hotel rooms tend to be gross, though, so I let the cleaners in as much as possible.

I cut corners everywhere I could. Instead of vacuuming, I found that just picking up the larger crumbs from the carpet would do. Rather than scrub the tub with hot water, sometimes it was just a spray-and-wipe kind of day. After several weeks on the job, I discovered that the staff leader who inspected the rooms couldn't tell the difference between a clean sink and one that was simply dry, so I would often just run a rag over the wet spots.

I notice when that happen... Eeew