night duty…

i think i've mentioned a few times in this blog about having to do night duties and rooms inspections... well, it's actually part of my company's policy imposed on most staff of the managerial levels and up. i said "most" coz not all managers or higher would be required to do this. positions deemed by the management to be too "busy" will be exempted. as if the rest of us are so free in the office? anyway, this post is not a ranting post about the unfairness of it all. it's about this "extra-curricular" job that i have to do, on top of my regular job functions.

every 2 weeks or so, or twice every month, i would need to stay back in the office until 11pm as the "executive on duty" (eod). the role of the person on duty is basically to represent the gm in cases of emergency or when a decision or signature from the highest authority is needed urgently and the gm is not around. other than that, we are also required to inspect some rooms at random as well as walk around the whole property, and then submit a report at 11pm. the report consists of our observations that we feel should be brought to attention, such as a burnt bulb, stained carpet, dirty floors, broken doors etc. or maybe some commotion caused by guests, loud voices caused by staff, complaints brought to our attention etc.

every member of staff required to do this job has his/her own style of doing, but basically the objective is the same: to ensure everything is in order and our policies are well-practiced.

for me, this is what i normally do:
6.15pm
- go down to the security office to get the eod handphone, which i've to carry with me the whole time i'm on duty, to be easily contactable.
- since i'm down there already, i start my rounds in that area.
- then make my way up to the front desk to get the keys for the rooms i'm to inspect. usual practice is 2 rooms, but if we're running full, we just need to inspect one or sometimes none at all.
- take the lift up to the highest floor, and walk around the public areas, staff only areas as well as the main corridors at random. at random meaning, i may walk along one corridor on this floor, then take the back stairs to one floor below and walk down the corridor in another direction or in another part of the building, then take the lift down another one floor etc.
- in the rooms, we check for any defects in there. if there's a scale in the room, i'd normally step onto it to weigh myself, to see if i've put on any weight the scale is working accurately :P
- once i finished checking the upper floors and the rooms, i go down to the ground floor and check the areas there.
- then i hang around at the lobby, sometimes chatting with staff at the front desk, the security guards, the bellboys etc when it's not too busy, or try to assist guests or my colleagues when it's busy.

3 phones to carry with me during night duty. as i’m the “emergency rep” for my department, i’d have to carry one phone that’ll receive any call/sms should there be an emergency, and i’m the one who would have to inform everyone in my department. so on normal days, i’ve to carry 2 phones, my own and this phone. but on night duty days, i’ve to carry 3 phones! like i’m running some big business hor? ;)

 

7.30pm
- make my way to the restaurant to have my duty meals.
- we're encouraged to take our meals at the restaurant, as part of our inspection process.
- normally i'll order something "asian" like nasi goreng, mee curry, char kueh teow etc. if you're my friend in facebook, you'll see that i've been posting photos of my "m'sian food fixes" on my wall.

8.15pm
- finished with dinner, i take a slow stroll back to my work station to do some work.
- this is the best time to get some work done, with no phone calls, colleagues or bosses to bug you.
- basically, after we've done our rounds, we just need to be physically in the office.

10.00pm
- do another quick round of inspection.
- hang around at the bar to hear the live band for a while.
- hang around at the lobby

10.50pm
- back to my work station to start on my report

11.05pm
- e-mail out my report.
- pack my stuff and shut down my computer.
- go down to return the eod handphone.

11.30pm
- catch the staff bus back to the accommodation.

*due to the late hours, we get to start work at 12pm the next day and not at 9am like usual, never mind that we've to put in an extra 5 hours for duty, but only get to come in 3 hours later the next day! like i said, this is not a ranting post... :D