If a passing grade is based on frequent and regular updates of my working coop and life via this blog...I'm pretty sure I'm failing!
My celebrity sightings can be summed up by local news and sports broadcasters, el presidente de la Argentina, a B-list basketball player and John Lithgow.
I've spent any ounce of free time at the beach in English Bay, going to the PNE, watching our Canadians play baseball and trying all of the local restaurants. (NOTE: free time can only be defined as the three and a half minutes I have in between shifts).
I'm working two jobs now (booooo). Pan Pacific, which is still fun, and Joe Fortes, an iconic restaurant downtown Vancouver, as part of the hostessing team. I go from spending my day with a bunch of dudes to an evening of all gals. It's quite the contrast providing endless entertainment. My feet are constantly sore but the pay cheques come once a week between the two places which reminds me it's all worth it (almost).
Sad to say I'm not learning too terribly much during this coop other than how not to complain about working all the time. I am getting lots of incredible customer service experience though and between dealing with grumpy post-cruisers at the hotel and grumpy hungry people at the restaurant I'm pretty much learning how to handle a variety of angry people. I'm sure this will come in handy in life :)
Unfortunately that is all the time I have to report for now. Off to work, surprise, but more later.
C
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Time Flies
Hallo Guten Tag!
At the same time every day we have the Lufthansa German flight crew depart and, a mere few hours later, a whole new batch arrives from the airport. As this is an ongoing event I'm taking the time to learn a few words in German. The crew gets a kick from my broken attempts but it's a pretty good time.
I've not written nearly enough, I'm finding it impossible to find the time and the days are just flying by. I'm in week 6 of work already. Sometimes it feels like I started yesterday whereas other days, most days, it feels like I've been there the entire summer already.
Lately I've been finding that I'm not overly challenged at work and while the people I work with are amazing (as previously mentioned) today was the first day I was really challenged. With huge numbers arriving and departing AND two ships in I didn't get a chance to look at the clock until around 1:30 this afternoon. Even then it was just long enough to remember I'd had to go to the bathroom for about 3 hours and to get back to work until 5:00. In my last blog I mentioned that I was looking for another job but that's been put on hold temporarily as they've been good enough to keep me on until 5 during the busy days.
Initially I had been hoping that I would get the opportunity to job shadow or maybe do some cross-training in various departments but it appears that neither of these things are an option for me due to liability, etc. etc. I was starting to feel a little down on the slower days and then I remembered that the hotel offers online training for its employees for free! After a few conversations with the Human Capital Department I was all set up with a name and password and have started a series of online training in areas of study bizarrely similar to those in our program. I'm hoping this will lead to some kind of certification in the end but if not, at least it was something to do during the down times of the day.
So far the highlight of working at the Pan Pacific has been the opportunity to attend a number of industry events. I've had more free food and drinks and met more interesting people in the past month than I have the past year. The first was at the Chinese Gardens and it was a promotional event for Big Bus tours. I met a fellow who let me know that he could hook me up with after hours fudge (what?!?!?!)...one of many unique characters at these shindigs. The following week I attended two more events - the first was on the rooftop of Joe Fortes and the next night on the patio at the Boathouse down in English Bay. Both were a blast but, like most networking situations, our crew tended to stick together which actually provided a great opportunity to get to know the guys I work with on a more personal level. They're all am-az-ing!
The following week the group headed to the Hastings Race Track for horse racing and hot dogs! All these businesses trying to schmooze us so that when guests ask advice on what to do we send them their way...pretty powerful marketing tool, I'd say. Someone came round and taught us how to bet, about the odds and each horses history. I lost $2 that night...I only bet $2...but I lost $2. Proof that I should never gamble! I did, however, place bets on which jockey would win in a running race and took home a few dollars that way.
Last week I was feeling a lil homesick for Victoria so I headed back over to the island for my days off. It was fantastic catching up with my friends and visiting the restaurant (Pag's) but after just 2 days I felt I'd made the right choice moving to Vancouver. I believe I mentioned it in the last blog but truly honestly, the energy here is absolutely contagious.
Anywho, that's the latest from the Pan Pacific and my life here in Vancouver.
Hope everyone's doing well...miss you all!
xoxo
PS - check out Peter Chao..."guy that rubbed his crap on a building" and "Chinese guy eats sooo loud" on youtube.com - HEELARIOUS
At the same time every day we have the Lufthansa German flight crew depart and, a mere few hours later, a whole new batch arrives from the airport. As this is an ongoing event I'm taking the time to learn a few words in German. The crew gets a kick from my broken attempts but it's a pretty good time.
I've not written nearly enough, I'm finding it impossible to find the time and the days are just flying by. I'm in week 6 of work already. Sometimes it feels like I started yesterday whereas other days, most days, it feels like I've been there the entire summer already.
Lately I've been finding that I'm not overly challenged at work and while the people I work with are amazing (as previously mentioned) today was the first day I was really challenged. With huge numbers arriving and departing AND two ships in I didn't get a chance to look at the clock until around 1:30 this afternoon. Even then it was just long enough to remember I'd had to go to the bathroom for about 3 hours and to get back to work until 5:00. In my last blog I mentioned that I was looking for another job but that's been put on hold temporarily as they've been good enough to keep me on until 5 during the busy days.
Initially I had been hoping that I would get the opportunity to job shadow or maybe do some cross-training in various departments but it appears that neither of these things are an option for me due to liability, etc. etc. I was starting to feel a little down on the slower days and then I remembered that the hotel offers online training for its employees for free! After a few conversations with the Human Capital Department I was all set up with a name and password and have started a series of online training in areas of study bizarrely similar to those in our program. I'm hoping this will lead to some kind of certification in the end but if not, at least it was something to do during the down times of the day.
So far the highlight of working at the Pan Pacific has been the opportunity to attend a number of industry events. I've had more free food and drinks and met more interesting people in the past month than I have the past year. The first was at the Chinese Gardens and it was a promotional event for Big Bus tours. I met a fellow who let me know that he could hook me up with after hours fudge (what?!?!?!)...one of many unique characters at these shindigs. The following week I attended two more events - the first was on the rooftop of Joe Fortes and the next night on the patio at the Boathouse down in English Bay. Both were a blast but, like most networking situations, our crew tended to stick together which actually provided a great opportunity to get to know the guys I work with on a more personal level. They're all am-az-ing!
The following week the group headed to the Hastings Race Track for horse racing and hot dogs! All these businesses trying to schmooze us so that when guests ask advice on what to do we send them their way...pretty powerful marketing tool, I'd say. Someone came round and taught us how to bet, about the odds and each horses history. I lost $2 that night...I only bet $2...but I lost $2. Proof that I should never gamble! I did, however, place bets on which jockey would win in a running race and took home a few dollars that way.
Last week I was feeling a lil homesick for Victoria so I headed back over to the island for my days off. It was fantastic catching up with my friends and visiting the restaurant (Pag's) but after just 2 days I felt I'd made the right choice moving to Vancouver. I believe I mentioned it in the last blog but truly honestly, the energy here is absolutely contagious.
Anywho, that's the latest from the Pan Pacific and my life here in Vancouver.
Hope everyone's doing well...miss you all!
xoxo
PS - check out Peter Chao..."guy that rubbed his crap on a building" and "Chinese guy eats sooo loud" on youtube.com - HEELARIOUS
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
The Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing
"Sometimes you're loved because of your weaknesses, she said. What you can't do is sometimes more compelling than what you can do."
Had I had access to the internet from day one I could have started this blog at a more appropriate (read more assignment-deadline-friendly) time...but here I am, curled up in sweatpants, coffee in hand, in a hole-in-the-wall coffee shop on Davie Street starting my online journal. Initially viewing my lack of internet and cable in the homestead as a problem, I've started to see it as more of an opportunity to get to know my new neighbourhood.
The diversity of the West End's inhabitants is as electric as the ethnically diverse cuisine offered in every other store front and in between those...more fetish stores than I've seen in the entirety of my life. Instead of the ongoing battle of price wars on gas it's who can offer the cheapest peep show (25 cents to the lowest bidder, in case you're wondering).
It takes me exactly 25 minutes of downhill power-walking to arrive at work at the Pan Pacific Hotel on the beautiful Vancouver waterfront and precisely 35 arduous minutes of uphill, traffic- dodging labour to return home...and I love every, single second of it.
I lucked out and got a position with the bell services team at the front doors of the hotel. I work with a group of amazing bellmen and doormen whose experience with hotels ranges from 3 to 30 years. They granted me admission to "the boys club" immediately and it's been a hilarious and pseudo-professional journey since my first day, May 6th, 2010.
Unfortunately, I was only able to secure 30 hours with the team and have since been searching for additional, part-time employment. It's a fine balance between working for school experience and much needed funds and maintaining some kind of sanity via my days off. I've had incredible support and assistance from the hotel group and they're currently trying to find a way to get me into the hotels restaurant, Cafe Pacifica, for my remaining hours. This current battle has already taught me so much about the labour standards rules and regulations. Like did you know you can't exceed 40 hours a week? Simple, right?! BUT did you also know that you can't exceed more than 8 hours a day, even if those hours are split up between entirely separate departments? Still easy. Okay okay okay...how about this: Did you know that you can work a split shift, for example 4 hours with the bell services team and 4 hours with the restaurant but if and only if those two shifts are distanced by exactly 4 hours?!
This making money thing is proving more challenging than I'd anticipated.
I just read a book called The Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing, a collection of short stories told from a woman's perspective on life, love and work. She spends her life becoming an editor and after realizing how much she dislikes judging other people based on their written word she quits and starts a new adventure.
"How was the first day of the rest of your life, he asked. It was okay, she said, but I think the second day of the rest of my life will be better."
For some of us this coop experience is going to be flawless, exactly what we'd hoped for and an amazing opportunity to learn new skills in the work place. For others, perhaps, it will just be a lesson in patience and anger management. For me, it's been a great way to get outside my comfort zone. I started to fall asleep in Victoria but for more reasons than one Vancouver is reenergizing my life and teaching me how to start from the bottom again. How to work my way up through respect and hard work. I've got the unfailing support of my family but am starting from scratch with friends. It's daunting and at times I just want to run back to Camosun and laze about Dunlop with my classmates. My friends.
But, for now...I forge ahead. So to those of you who read this, thank you and good luck. I miss you.
xoxo
Had I had access to the internet from day one I could have started this blog at a more appropriate (read more assignment-deadline-friendly) time...but here I am, curled up in sweatpants, coffee in hand, in a hole-in-the-wall coffee shop on Davie Street starting my online journal. Initially viewing my lack of internet and cable in the homestead as a problem, I've started to see it as more of an opportunity to get to know my new neighbourhood.
The diversity of the West End's inhabitants is as electric as the ethnically diverse cuisine offered in every other store front and in between those...more fetish stores than I've seen in the entirety of my life. Instead of the ongoing battle of price wars on gas it's who can offer the cheapest peep show (25 cents to the lowest bidder, in case you're wondering).
It takes me exactly 25 minutes of downhill power-walking to arrive at work at the Pan Pacific Hotel on the beautiful Vancouver waterfront and precisely 35 arduous minutes of uphill, traffic- dodging labour to return home...and I love every, single second of it.
I lucked out and got a position with the bell services team at the front doors of the hotel. I work with a group of amazing bellmen and doormen whose experience with hotels ranges from 3 to 30 years. They granted me admission to "the boys club" immediately and it's been a hilarious and pseudo-professional journey since my first day, May 6th, 2010.
Unfortunately, I was only able to secure 30 hours with the team and have since been searching for additional, part-time employment. It's a fine balance between working for school experience and much needed funds and maintaining some kind of sanity via my days off. I've had incredible support and assistance from the hotel group and they're currently trying to find a way to get me into the hotels restaurant, Cafe Pacifica, for my remaining hours. This current battle has already taught me so much about the labour standards rules and regulations. Like did you know you can't exceed 40 hours a week? Simple, right?! BUT did you also know that you can't exceed more than 8 hours a day, even if those hours are split up between entirely separate departments? Still easy. Okay okay okay...how about this: Did you know that you can work a split shift, for example 4 hours with the bell services team and 4 hours with the restaurant but if and only if those two shifts are distanced by exactly 4 hours?!
This making money thing is proving more challenging than I'd anticipated.
I just read a book called The Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing, a collection of short stories told from a woman's perspective on life, love and work. She spends her life becoming an editor and after realizing how much she dislikes judging other people based on their written word she quits and starts a new adventure.
"How was the first day of the rest of your life, he asked. It was okay, she said, but I think the second day of the rest of my life will be better."
For some of us this coop experience is going to be flawless, exactly what we'd hoped for and an amazing opportunity to learn new skills in the work place. For others, perhaps, it will just be a lesson in patience and anger management. For me, it's been a great way to get outside my comfort zone. I started to fall asleep in Victoria but for more reasons than one Vancouver is reenergizing my life and teaching me how to start from the bottom again. How to work my way up through respect and hard work. I've got the unfailing support of my family but am starting from scratch with friends. It's daunting and at times I just want to run back to Camosun and laze about Dunlop with my classmates. My friends.
But, for now...I forge ahead. So to those of you who read this, thank you and good luck. I miss you.
xoxo
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