My Old Blog

I had never been in a 5 star hotel before a few days ago. All 4 of my grandparents worked in mills and live/d modestly. My parents did not have much money while I was very young. By the time I finished High School I was probably middle to upper middle class. My father is an obsessive planner and saver, so even when we had more money, I always felt that it was an issue.

Luckily, by personality, I never really wanted that much. I have a few nice things and that has always been enough. Even if I have more money, which I sort of do now, I don’t really know what to spend it on. I have been working a year and a half and haven’t made one major purchase in that time….nothing over 100 bucks or so other than my vacation to Peru. I spend most of my money on frivol, like alcohol and going out to eat. (Perhaps I should buy more stuff….at least then I’d have something to show for my expenses.)

So now I live, comparatively, in the lap of luxury. I can’t count the number of times in a day that someone asks whether or not I need anything, if there is not something they can do for me. Labor is cheap in India. The hotel employs dozens of people to do essentially the same job…and not even that well by my reckoning.

Let’s take the hotel entrance for example. There are several gentlemen that always stand outside in bellhop outfits and turbans. There are greeters to ask you how you are doing, different people who open the door to your taxi (which the taxi driver will try to do as well, so its like a competition), someone whose job it is to call you a taxi if you need one, and several people to open the door to the hotel for you while bowing deferentially.

Then we go inside…..where there are several more greeters to ask whether anything has changed or if you need anything additional since the last person asked you that question several seconds earlier, and at least one very young girl in a green sari whose job it is to look pretty and bow graciously to foreign businessmen as you walk up the stairs to the lobby.

If that weren’t enough, once in the lobby there is guest services, guest relations, a concierge, the desk manager, and two check-in desks. I cannot figure out the difference between guest relations, guest services, and the concierge other than that guest relations is usually staffed by one of the young girls in the green saris.

I asked one of the pretty young girls what the difference is between all that stuff: In the US, If you nod your head forward and backwards it means ‘yes’

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 31st, 2005 at 4:00 am and is filed under India. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.