Corn Country.

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A few months ago my friend R, who is Vice President of Operations for a Hotel Management company, called me and told me about a hotel they were going to take over. The hotel was going into foreclosure status and the bank had asked their company to rebrand and get it back in shape. R asked me if I would be interested in helping. I thought it would be fun, an adventure and exciting. Well I wasn't far off.

R emailed me pictures of the hotel and I immediately responded that I thought I had a couple of root canals scheduled over that time period. The pictures were overwhelming. I arrived in Omaha the 4th July and was at work on the 5th. The first week was insane. We have dealt with an alcoholic who walked sideways and fell all over the place. A guest missing presumed dead. A sleep walking tweaker who was found in another guest bedroom. A husband who punched his wife in the face. A staff member who walked out on her shift as she didn't approve of the schedule I had written up and my personal favorite the maintenance person who had a couple of beers with his lunch as he didn't know he couldn't drink while on the job. After working a 12 hour shift I turned to R and said "Okay, where are the cameras because this isn't real, it can't be real."

I have had many WTF moments and there have been days were I wanted to just give up, but R has kept me laughing and giving me the Benz to drive has been a definite plus. We are now staffed and I think we have a great team in place. Everyday is like Christmas as we receive more packages from corporate to bring the hotel back up to brand standard. When the housekeepers received new vacuums I thought they were going to cry. At the end of every work day I look back at the lobby and I can see what we have accomplished.

We have a long way to go, but seeing things progress helps me deal a little bit better with crab walking drunks.