My Mexicans

My relationship with Mexican workers began my first year (2002) here at the Dixie Belle. We had only been here a month when I drove into the parking lot one afternoon to see a van towing a flatbed trailer with a porta-potti on board. That particular group worked for a forestry service. I let them put 4 to a room and from them I had my first lesson on the habits of Mexican working men. #1 They will always cook. In those days, my rooms did not have microwaves, and they traveled with small charcoal grills which they set up outside the rooms.

Now that we have microwaves, I do allow nuking stuff, but still no serious cooking odors or grease in the rooms. Let me qualify this by saying that we only allow this in our smoking rooms. Non smoking rooms are off limits.

It has taken 7 years to discern which Mexican workers were going to work out here and I had to come up with my guidelines. They must be clean, respectful, and quiet and I make that quite clear. If a month or longer stay is needed, they have to go through a trial period where I decide if having them is going to work out.

That said, I have had 2 work crews since early February. They are working on our new deep water port. Their spokesman is Juan. He's a charming young man. There's another crew working on the hospital project. They come in from Mon thru Fri every week. The first week, they got white paint on a brand new bedspread, but after I went ballistic on Mario they have been towing the line. My newest 2 are also early week and very respectful.

Here's what I've learned about my Mexican men: They bathe faithfully with girly soaps & gels & use those big fluffy bath thingies, (extremely vain), they will burn up a stove cooking at high heat, they leave food sitting out unrefrigerated & then eat it! Hello???? They never refrigerate mayonaise, or raw eggs. They eat them & don't die. They never turn down the bedspread. They sleep on top. They wipe their butts with TP & put it in the trash can, not down the toilet.

These are not generalizations. These are facts & true across the board. I have not encountered an exception. I have, however, tossed out those who didn't fit in. We can never eat at the local Mexican restaurant, because when they first opened, one guy rented a room then moved several more filthy people in without asking or paying. I called the restaurant on opening day & made them come clear out the room. I'm sure they'd spit in our food.

Just this past winter, we accommodated 2 rooms of forestry workers & told them they could prepare their food at the fish cleaning station out back. They did that, but I found uncovered dishes of food in my dresser drawers. They were actually nice guys, but just could not get with the program around here. I felt bad when I had to send them down the road to the roach motel.

I'm grateful for the business my Mexican guys have given me during my slow months & I'm cutting Juan and his crew a break until their job is over at the beginning of June. One thing they don't know about me is that I really don't speak spanish, but I understand more then I let on. That gives me an edge.

Nascar Room

I know, I know, it's not HGTV worthy, but I do have a Dale, Sr throw coming for the futon. Karen & I finished a deep clean and checkered flag kitchen curtains on Monday. We were very proud.

Tuesday, a couple of workers checked in for a two night stay. Wed. morning, everything looked good, but this morning when we went to turn it over we found that the new bedspread on the twin was dotted with white paint. I tried to scrape it off with my fingernail, but no go. I washed it hoping the hot water would soften the spots, but no go. I put it back inside out. So, so depressing. The carpet was also spattered with paint spots and 2 water glasses were missing from the kitchen. These same guys have a reservation for 3 days next week in a different room. I'm going to let them know that guests who cost me money are really not welcome.

Catamaran Couple

A couple of days ago, Dan checked a couple into unit #6, but didn't say there was anything unusual about them and I didn't ask. I have very little curiosity. I'm pretty much a live & let live person.

Yesterday morning, I went in to collect the towels and was shocked to see the room jam packed full. Not just suitcases, but boxes, appliances, a computer printer still in the box and a table set up with a sewing machine, bolts of fabric and an ironing board. Now, my rooms are small to begin with, so I was wondering how this woman was actually doing sewing projects & why.

When I told Dan what I found, he, being the more inquisitive of the two of us, knew the whole story. These folks are from Washington state & they bought a used catamaran to travel on. It has a cabin for living and sleeping. But the boat was used & in need of refreshing. They are moored in the canal down the road while they paint, recover all the cushions (hence the sewing machine) and generally remodel the interior to make it liveable.

They've been working from dawn to dusk, so I haven't had the opportunity to talk with them. I went out this morning to try and find their boat, but couldn't, so in the meantime, I took a couple of pics at our marina which is about 2 miles from the motel.

Multipurposing

I don't check the pots & pans in my kitchen units after every check out. I sorta rely on my housekeeper. Today, though, I went in #11 to strip the beds, collect the towels etc. & one of the frying pans was in the dish drainer. I noticed that the teflon was pretty scratched, so I decided it needed replacing. When I picked it up, I saw that it was quite dented and the middle was pushed up from the underside.

I brought it in to Dan, showed it to him and asked, "how do you suppose this could have happened?" After one look he told me that someone had obviously used it as a hammer. I don't know about you, but I would never, ever treat someone else's property with such disrespect. Am I in the minority?

When we first bought this place, I wanted my guests to have the best I could afford, so I splurged on dishes, pots, flatware and linens. But today I went to the dollar store and bought a set of frying pans for $10. How naive I was then. I've learned the hard way, but am still capable of being shocked by peoples' behavior.

Love The Deep Clean

Karen & I have been bustin' our butts since Fri morning. Oddly enough, we were no vacancy on Thurs nite. 7 turnovers Fri morning and 5 this morning. This is not a complaint, although my back is screaming at me after making all those beds.

Our biggest pleasure is doing a deep clean & today was the perfect opportunity. #6, my "dolphin" room was vacated after a 7 week stay by a latino woman and her adorable 2 year old son. We stripped that room down to the bare walls, scrubbed everything, laundered everything, including the shower curtain, shampooed the carpet, washed the windows, light fixture etc. etc. This is a routine we do on a regular basis, but when there's a long term stay, we can't get in there to do so. Just imagine how you feel after a good spring cleaning. That's how I feel this evening.

All this room needs for now is the new lamp and benches I aquired from my dear friend Ed at Atlantic Liquidators in Hammonton, NJ. As soon as my dh clears a trail in the store room I can get busy on that project.