12 months ago I decided to take the plunge and get a "real job".

I decided on hospitality, like most artists I need the flexibility for my "real" work. Being a Vegetarian Food and Beverage was a no no, so I got me a little job in the front office of a 3 star Hotel. I found that I actually like being around people and the contrast to my secluded, self-absorbed life in the studio was good for me. Recently I transferred to a 5 star and was surprised by the lack of procedure especially when it came to things like money.

I got the phone call when I got home from work. . .

Guest Services Manager:

"Hi Lada, I was hoping you could tell me how much you dropped (money in the safe) the last few days?"

"I didn't drop any money today, but yesterday would have been around the $850 mark. Why?"

"What about Saturday?"

"I really can't remember, It could have been $3, It could have been $350. is everything Ok"

"It seems some money is missing, Do you know anything about it?"

So and so forth, this conversation went on for a while. I got off the phone very stressed. This is a new job and I really like it. I haven't stolen any money and hate the idea of people suspecting me.

Each person’s takings get placed in a separate envelope and dropped into the safe at the end of the shift. An audit is done before this but it isn’t as detailed as the other hotels I’ve worked at, and therefore there is a huge window for error.

I got another phone call from work. . .

Front Office Manager:

“Lada, could you please come in at 10:30 on Wednesday?”

“Has the money turned up? How much is missing?”

“We have Armourguard and the hotel Accountant looking into that right now. We’ll talk about it on Wednesday”

He didn’t seem too worried and I explained that if they looked at my audit paper work, they’d see exactly how much I dropped and if there were any problems that they’d be clerical and that the money should be there.

Well I stressed for that whole night and all of Tuesday. At 7:30 this morning I got a phone call to come in on Thursday instead, so I now have another night to stress.

I didn’t steal any money. I may have made a small clerical error which should be easy to trace. I hate that the whole hotel is involved now. I hate that I don’t know what’s going on. I’m terrified that this bad first impression will taint the fact that I am actually very good at my job.

Little Lada Blue