Practicum - Day 10

Today was my first day working with food and beverages. I worked at Georgia Java. As with all first days, I went through a mini orientation to become familiar with all of the equipment. And, like every other department, I was told that I wouldn't be working at the computer (cash register) because it was unnecessary to train me. There were many periods of down time so during those times we discussed how to make different drinks, different food inspections and regulations, and all things coffee. There wasn't much I could do so I helped out in every way possible.

Today's completed hours: 4
Hours left to complete: 5

Practicum - Day 9

It was my final day working at the front desk. There were a normal amount of check ins scheduled for today but for some reason nobody was checking in. Needless to say, it was a very slow day. We finished stuffing the envelopes with coupons. I think I stuffed over 1000 envelopes total. Other than that, it was very similar to my last day: I answered phones and courtesy calls to those who had checked in. I scheduled a time to work at food and beverages to get my last hours in for my practicum.

Today's completed hours: 4
Hours left to complete: 9

Practicum - Day 8

Today was my second day working at the front desk. I continued to shadow my supervisor as she checked in people. All workers were also given the task of stuffing key envelopes with coupons so I mostly worked on that during any down time. I also began answering the phone today. I was really nervous at first but I quickly caught on. I didn't know the answer to any of the questions asked but it was still helpful to have someone answer the phones during high traffic times. Also, 20-30 minutes after a guest checks in, the front desk will send out a courtesy call to make sure everything is alright with the room. I was also nervous to do this at first but after the first one or two I got the hang of it.

Today's completed hours: 4
Hours left to complete: 13

Practicum - Day 7

It's been nearly three weeks since working on my practicum but I started back up today. Today, I began working at the Georgia Center Hotel front desk. I was told that I would not be allowed to do check-ins because it would require too much training for the little time that I would be interning at the Georgia Center. Upon arriving, I did receive a basic training over all of the tasks a student worker. I was taught how to make keys, how to make parking deck passes, and received a very brief training of how to check in a person. For the rest of the time, I shadowed my supervisor and learned more about working at the front desk and about the check in process.

Today's completed hours: 4
Hours left to complete: 17

Practicum - Day 6

Today was my final day working with housekeeping. I worked with a completely different supervisor again today and, like the previous two days, it was pretty much exactly the same. She said she fell a week ago and was having back problems so half way through we had to take a break. During the break, she showed me the computer system and how to use it. Being a housekeeper (especially a supervisor) involves a lot of walking between the different floors; they are on their feet all day. It doesn't seem like something I would ever really be interested in doing. Next week I think I begin working behind the front desk.

Today's completed hours: 2
Fake hours completed: 1
Hours left to complete: 21

Practicum - Day 5

Today was very similar to yesterday. Except that the supervisor I shadowed today was a bit more... eccentric? We went from room to room after they had been cleaned to inspect the different rooms. Instead of inspecting them by myself, we did it together and kind of created a system to inspect the rooms. It went by pretty fast and I've learned a lot about the behind the scenes work as I mentioned yesterday.

Today's completed hours: 2
Fake hours completed: 1
Hours left to complete: 24

Practicum - Day 4

Today, I began working with house keeping. I shadowed one of the supervisors mostly. We would go from room to room checking to make sure the housekeepers did what they were supposed to. Each room should be cleaned in less than 30 minutes they said. It was very interesting to get to see the behind-the-scenes work of hotels. I even got to watch someone clean a room. The precision, dexterity, and skill were pretty incredible. After that, the supervisor took me around the hotel and showed me the different suites (the Uga Suite) and all of the little cool things that many people don't get to see. There were times when she would even let me inspect the room by myself. A little over halfway into it, though, there was a VIP emergency. The Vice President of Uganda was staying in the Georgia Center so the supervisors and the housekeeping manager were checking his suite to make sure it was better than best. It was pretty interesting but I'm not sure I would want to do it for a living.

Today's completed hours: 2
Fake hours completed: 1
Hours left to complete: 27