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Life's Illusions - Chapter 2 - A New Life.
For nearly a year now I've lived in Torremolinas.
I came here from my home in the US after a bitter breakup with my ex and I'd never been back.
Josh tried dozens of times to contact me but for a long, long time I'd refused to speak to him, he'd emailed me almost daily for the first few weeks and I'd never replied.
He'd poured his heart out telling me over and over how sorry he was, what a fool he'd been, how he regretted hurting me, how he was praying that I would give him another chance to make it up to me to let him show me how I was his world his one love.
I'd read the first few then started deleting them as they arrived and I knew Josh sent everything with a read request so he would know I was deleting them without even reading them.
I tried to hate him but I couldn't, I thought about him constantly in those first few weeks, I wanted to talk to him, to ask him, why, was I a disappointment, a bad lover, did I do something wrong.
I had this feeling that somehow I'd caused him to hurt me so I was the one at fault, and it was getting to me, until I spoke to Gramps about it one day and he asked me as a favour to him to see a counsellor.
I came away from that first session feeling better than I had in a long time, after about 6 sessions I knew it wasn't me it was Josh, he was the one who chose to abuse the trust I placed in him, I understood then, even if we could get back to a place of friendship we would never be as close again there would always be that big thing between us, a gulf we would never heal.
My Father hadn't tried to contact me and as Gramps told me he'd never raised any questions of why I'd suddenly departed the States which was fine with me, I was indifferent to him, we'd never been close, even after the counselling sessions I felt no affection for my father.
The first couple of weeks I'd worked like a mad man and then I'd made a pact with Gramps to take regular time off.
Although I couldn't bring myself to hook up with any of the guys who went out of their way in the local nightclubs to offer a night of distraction, I did hook up with a girl I knew from college (Helena Wicklow) who had roomed on the same floor as me and Josh a few years earlier.
She'd been a fun flirt in college and was taking a tour of Europe with a group of friends before going home to the states to start work in her fathers law firm, after we met in Torremolinas she decided to stay on for a while when her friends moved on, we enjoyed many a night falling in and out of bars and clubs when I wasn't working.
I knew everyone looked at us and saw a couple but we didn't, Helena had escaped a stifling relationship and taken off on her tour of Europe, I'd escaped the nightmare I'd found that day of my birthday, we were kindred spirits having fun so she moved into my apartment for the duration of her stay.
Every Thursday evening Helena (Lenny) and I would have dinner then tour the bars and clubs until the early hours. It soon became the norm to end up together back in my apartment in the complex just across the road from the Woodruff.
Inevitably some of those nights we had hot sweaty tumbling sex, often without any thought of protection because Lenny was on the pill.
Lenny did more to help me relax than any therapy could, she would regularly breeze into my office at the Hotel and announce work was suspended we were going out for some fun and relaxation.
Back in the states I would have exploded at even the thought of someone disturbing my working day but with Lenny it was a waste of time she dismissed any objection reminding me she was a lawyer and could cite any number of precedents to quell my arguments, all this whilst the staff looked on trying not to openly laugh, and to be honest the moment she appeared I was itching to discover what adventure she had in store for us so she never had to try too hard to oust me from my work.
We had 42 hotels on the Spanish mainland, 12 on various islands so 54 in total.
Of those 54 hotels 31 were either under performing or returning no profit at all and all of the under performers were on the mainland not the Islands. I decided early on that I would visit every one of our properties and so gave Lenny her first mission to plan out a 2 day stay at each, my only stipulation was they needed to be surprise visits, not thinking Lenny would take it literally and not tell even me when or where we were going so on some of her surprise appearances in my office I would be led to a car and given map coordinates which resulted in our arrival at a Woodruff Hotel.
Unbeknown to me, she and Pip (my PA) were in league coordinating my calendar so there were no missed appointments or meetings.
Our stock (Hotels) were divided into sectors on every continent by size:
0 to 100 Rooms = Small 1
101 to 150 Rooms = Small 2
151 to 200 Rooms = Medium 1
201 to 250 Rooms = Medium 2
250 plus Rooms = Resort
The problem here was much bigger than I had faced back in the States but I knew it could be resolved.
I'd arrived mid July and decided to book into the Torremolinas Woodruff (230 Rooms) a Medium 2 size hotel, I wanted to gather first hand experience of Spanish hospitality without the fanfare of my arrival and this hotel was one of the many properties making a loss and returning poor customer reviews.
My arrival at the hotel had been traumatic to say the least.
I had a booking confirmation from a regular accommodation site and I knew the booking cost had been settled because Pip my own PA had placed the booking to avoid alerting the hotel to my arrival.
The only plus point during check in was that no one picked up on my real identity though I doubt they would have acted any differently had they known who they were checking in.
The front desk or reception as it's known in Europe was a nightmare, it was a wonder anyone ever managed to survive the check in process, the staff were slow, disinterested and unexplainably dressed in a variety of non uniform items including a guy in shorts and tee, a girl in an almost see through top and hot pants and an older male I assumed was possibly the front desk manager dressed in part uniform including a dirty wrinkled shirt without tie or name badge.
The room had a fantastic view over the gardens and pool area and onwards to the sea.
Unfortunately that was the best I could say about the room. Under and behind the beds was accumulated dust and odd items left by departing guests including a bra, a sock and an unopened (thankfully) condom.
The wardrobes were devoid of any hangers and were thick with dust though the room safe which cost 3 euros per day worked ( an interesting point because we didn't charge for a safe, other than a €10 deposit which was refunded when the guest returned the safe key at check out).
So someone was pocketing €21 per room per week a potential €4,830.00 weekly.
The bathroom had mildew growing in numerous areas particularly as expected around the bath and shower but also around the sinks of which there were 2 though only 1 had taps that worked the other had taps that just spun but didn't dispense.
The toilet lacked a cover on the flush mechanism so the user risked stabbing a finger in order to flush.
Neither of the bedside lights worked nor did the bedside switch designed to extinguish the main light once a guest was safely into bed.
The paintwork was what I'd call dingy, faded, and there were really bad areas of scuff marks and obvious loutish damage like kick marks to doors and walls.
In my student days this was the typical state of a room we encountered on stag does where we were interested only in somewhere to crash in a coma after spending riotous days and nights drinking and from the noise coming from the pool bar I guessed that was what this hotel was now attracting, any self respecting family arriving here would be horrified.
A multitude of complaint visits to the reception desk ( necessary because the telephone was never answered) resulted in the toilet flush being mended, the lights finally all working and a cleaner spending an hour under my direction to remove the accumulated crap from under the beds and in the wardrobes, I reckoned the room was now struggling into a 3 star rating, still way below what it should have been.
The following morning I sent an urgent message to my specialist team advising I wanted all of them on the ground here within 24 hours.
"I had my own PA Philipa Irene Parker (Pip) arriving in the next couple of hours along with Freddy Fellows and James Garret my Security Team.
I was certain now that I had struck pay dirt here in this first hotel.
There was one thing troubling me, I'd studied the last 12 month MI (Management Information) of the stock (Hotels) presenting problems and they all seemed to have similar revenue/cost streams which suggested that a plan was being operated on a grand scale which meant some extreme digging to uncover the size and scale of the management pyramid running the plan but on the plus side once it's extent had been established it would be relatively easy to take it out and concentrate on the rebuild process.
The room clean up was an opportunity to glean some housekeeping information and Rozel the cleaner was candid on the working conditions, she apologised for the state of the room telling me she was allowed only 10 minutes to present (complete a room change and clean then present the room back to reception for occupancy).
I knew immediately what was happening the staff bill for cleaning should have allowed for a cleaner to properly transform the room from the mess most guests leave to a fresh and inviting space ready for the next guests.
The staff lists I had seen showed 25 cleaners working a variety of differing shift patterns which I would expect however Rozel told me there were only 9 cleaners and they worked hard to keep up but couldn't do everything that was needed, 7 of them started work at 6am and worked until all the rooms and public area cleaning was completed, the other 2 started at midday and worked again until all of the cleaning was done taking in late room checkouts and public areas again.
It seemed she regularly started at 6 am and worked 12 or 14 hours and yet she was paid a flat rate based on an 8 hour shift with a 1 hour break, she had never been paid for extra hours, she seemed genuinely concerned that however hard she worked the end result reflected badly on her and resulted in guests being rude and invariably leaving no tips, one really endearing point was that she wasn't complaining about the number of extra unpaid hours she had to work just the fact that she felt bad about presenting a poorly turned out room.
So some one was pocketing the wages for 16 ghost cleaners.
Dinner on the first night was quite a surprise.
I went to the restaurant expecting yet another disaster but to my delight I was met at the door, greeted warmly by the restaurant manager and escorted to my assigned table, the room was clean, the paintwork blemish free, the staff properly dressed, incredibly efficient, and best of all the food was worthy of a 4+ star establishment.
Following dinner I asked the restaurant manager (Ramon Perez) to ask the Head Chef if he could spare me a few minutes, Ramon seemed visibly nervous and asked had he done something wrong?, was I offended for any reason?, because if I was he sincerely apologised, I explained I had nothing but praise to discus with Chef and he went off to pass on my request.
A few minutes later as I was finishing my coffee Chef approached my table, I stood to greet him and he shook my hand warmly, introduced himself as Philipe Perez (Proud father of the restaurant manager Ramon) and thanked me for my kind words to his son, who he was training for better things, he confirmed my suspicions, his staff didn't get many compliments though he insisted his restaurant maintain its high standard in the face of some rather adverse conditions.
I asked if he would join me for a drink on the terrace but he was nervous and said the hotel director would not approve of him fraternising with a guest.
I asked him if he could keep a secret if it were to his advantage which intrigued him.
I passed him my business card and as he studied it his face lit up, first into a smile and then he stated to chuckle which built into a full blown belly laugh, he said it was an honour to be invited to take a drink with me and even if it cost him his job he would depart a happy man.
I told him his job and that of anyone working directly under him were the only ones safe at this moment.
An hour later Chef (Philipe Perez) joined me on the terrace and I went to the bar and brought back 2 cold beers ( his request after a night in a hot kitchen).
We chatted easily, I knew right there and then these were the calibre of employees we wanted to keep, Philipe, Ramon and Rozel were conscientious, caring, proud of their work, and giving by the bucket load.
I told Philipe if I could just duplicate copies of him Ramon and Rozel my life would be so simple.
Philipe told me about a training process he had undertaken independent of and unknown to the hotel management for both the kitchen and restaurant staff offering incentives along the way for good results often paid for from his own pocket, I was amazed.
His son Ramon the restaurant manager lost his wife in an automobile accident a year earlier and his then 2 year old son ( he would be 3 in September) had suffered massive injuries and was left handicapped, he shared that he had been approached many times by our competitors and could be working at a first class hotel for a much better salary but he had his pupils to consider and he couldn't take them all with him so he was basically stuck here (that struck home like a slap in the face).
Philipe saw my expression and immediately apologised for offending me, I told him not to hold back, the truth is just that and if it hurts then we need to deal with it and hoped I could rely on him to tell me as it is, no sugar coating, he promised me just that.
I told him if I was ever unduly upset by what he told me to to use the phrase "No sugar on this pill", it was a saying I heard my Grandfather use frequently whilst I was growing up.
We had been chatting for about an hour when the Bar Manager came over to our table and Philipe looked nervous, he ignored me and addressed Philipe, speaking in Spanish he said "You should not be on my terrace, you have stolen alcohol, get out now before I call the Hotel Director".
Philipe made to get up but I placed a hand on his shoulder and gently pressed him back into the seat.
Addressing the Bar Manager I said "Señor I am a guest in this hotel and I invited my friend Philipe to take a drink with me, I assumed I could do such a thing so if you want to charge me for the alcoholic drink which I, not Philipe, obtained from the bar then so be it and now if you would please leave us to our discussion.
The Bar Manager replied "You may be a guest Señor but this is my terrace and I make the rules".
By now I'd had enough, I stood up addressing myself directly to the Bar Manager.
"You got that wrong Señor, this isn't your terrace it is in fact mine and right now the only thing I require of you is to study very carefully the business card I am going to give you, then leave this terrace and summon your Hotel Director here, you may pass on my instruction that I expect him to be here in front of me within 1 hour failing which I will assume he has resigned his post now get out of my sight".
I knew that at least 3 of my team had already checked in and were sitting listening on the terrace, 2 of the 3 (James and Freddy) dealt specifically with security and were highly skilled dealing with a threat, the third was Pip my PA who I noticed was fastidiously noting down the exchange word for word.
The Bar Manager looked visibly shaken as he took and studied my card realising who I was then left the terrace, as he left I signalled to my team to join us introducing Philipe to them in the process.
By morning the rest of my team would be here and all told they consisted of :
My PA : Philipa Irene Parker (Pip)
Secretary to Pip : Anton Dubrac
Finance : Husband and wife team David and Sylvie Baker
Front of House : Marciana Dawlish
Catering : Rene Leferve
Housekeeping : Husband and wife team Bryan and Brenda Bridge
Hospitality : Partners Phil Dean and Gary Winston
Property Maintenance : Graham Dawlish
Security : Freddy Fellows and James Garret
Guest relations and HR : Marie Turner
IT Techies : Twin Brothers Gareth and Gerard McConnel
I'd asked Pip to inform the Guardian Civil Commander for the region of our presence and also out of courtesy to inform the local National Police, Freddy and James who'd arrived earlier in the day made themselves known to the local police chief, the Comisario Principal (our equivalent of Chief Superintendent) Marion Lopez Covas giving him brief details of what we suspected and he had called me to offer his assistance.
As I expected the Hotel Director to turn up any time now possibly with his own security personnel I placed a call to Señor Covas explaining I expected there was potential for trouble and he advised he would ensure we had backup from his officers within the next few minutes.
I finished the call and for the next few minutes we enjoyed lighthearted chatter.
I heard a commotion as a group of 9 men came out onto the terrace, amongst them was the Bar Manager who pointed to me.
The group moved towards me, I waited to see which one would identify himself as the Hotel Director.
In the lead was a short fat bald man who was sweating profusely and looked rather angry, to the sides and rear of him were 7 of what could only be described as bruisers plus the Bar Manager who currently had a smirk on his face.
As they approached my phone rang, when I answered a voice I recognised said quickly with authority "Don't identify who you're talking to" it was Señor Corvas, "if you look discreetly to your left you will see me but hopefully your Hotel Director and his mob of crooks won't, I'm going to ask you to help me out here, I want you to let him threaten you, don't worry I have an armed team with me, you will be safe at all times". I agreed and ended the call.
The Hotel Director identified himself "I am Carlos Andreu, Director of this Hotel, how dare you summon me like some common cleaner, you will leave my Hotel immediately".
Normally this would have served to piss me off completely but I'd had two very pleasant beers with Philipe and I started to laugh which caused him to get angrier.
I could see he was actually shaking.
I looked straight at him with a grin and said, "Señor you are a fool, did you not study the business card I provided?".
He was fuming now and I thought on the verge of a stroke.
"I don't know who you are but you are not Peter Thorn the immediate superior who I answer to.
Now, I'm giving you one minute to leave my hotel before I have my companions beat you to a pulp and drop you off on the mountain to spend your last night on earth".
Finally he'd managed to piss me off, " I leaned in close so only he would hear, his companions smiled obviously thinking I was apologising.
"Listen to me you thieving piece of shit".
I hadn't realised that Philipe could also hear me until he almost choked on his beer.
"You don't know who you are dealing with, you think your gang of petty crooks will intimidate me, I could have you sliced and diced with a single phone call, the man you mentioned is my very easily fooled father, but believe me this apple didn't fall close to that tree, I'm savvy, I can spot a crook, a thief, when I see one and I'm going to have you, your life and your financials inspected by experts, I hope you don't have anything to hide because I'm going to display you warts and all for everyone to see".
At this point Señor Corvas spoke up loudly from behind the Hotel Director, "Señor Andreu I am arresting you for threatening to harm Mr Thorn, I advise you to be sensible and come quietly, I have a squad of armed officers who would love to engage in some target practice"
Señor Andreu looked beaten and was led away.
Noticeably his gang of heavies had melted away soon after the Comisario Principal had appeared.
I asked Señor Corvas to join us for a drink and since he had been on his way home when he took my call he agreed but said he needed to first place a call to his wife who I gathered from his expression was giving him grief.
I asked if I could talk to his wife so he introduced me and passed me his phone I strolled away from the group and told his wife how her husband had saved me from a potentially dangerous situation and I wanted to show my appreciation.
I asked if she and her husband could join me later in the week for lunch and hinted that being new here I would rely on her to name a good restaurant where we would enjoy good food and friendly company.
By now I had her eating out of my hand and when I returned the phone to Señor Corvas he chatted for a few minutes and then ended the call grinning, "You Mr Thorn can come live with us, I may even get lucky tonight, my wife thinks you are a saint".
For the moment I had a couple of problems, I had effectively sacked the Hotel Director which wasn't too much of a problem since I would assume that position for the time being, I enjoyed doing what I called 'back to the floor refreshers', but I was determined the Bar Manager was also a goner so I needed someone to step into that position.
I asked Philipe if he had any suggestions on that front and he grinned, "your restaurant manager is by now serving the guests as he does most nights after finishing his duties in the restaurant, by which time the Bar Manager is either drunk or AWOL leaving Ramon to run and close up the bar, cocktail lounge and terrace and place the order requirements for the following days stock replenishment.
I strolled into the bar and sure enough there was Ramon directing staff, serving drinks and chatting happily with guests.
I caught his eye and asked him if he could spare a moment out on the terrace, he told me he would be with me in a few moments and asked whilst he was coming out to me did I need any drinks. I asked for the full round and told him to get one for himself as he might need it, for a moment he looked panicked and then went about pouring the various drinks.
Out on the terrace the group was enjoying chatting and as I joined them Ramon followed me with a tray containing fresh drinks for everyone.
After serving all of the drinks Ramon turned to where his father and I sat and said, "Papa did I do something wrong, I need this job for Rauls sake, I can't get his leg without it".
I stepped in, "Ramon, calm yourself your father recommended you to help me out of a rather difficult situation".
Ramon sighed and looked visibly relieved, " I'm sorry Mr Thorn, I need this job so much I panicked when I thought I might lose it".
I told him he was in fact losing his job at which I thought he was going to cry so I quickly followed it up with my offer that he take full control of the Bar and all other bars and beverage outlets in the capacity as Bar and Beverage Manager with the appropriate salary, at this point he did cry, there were tears streaming down his face as I told him his first job was to appoint a replacement to look after the bars and also someone to manage the restaurant and once he'd got the bars sorted I'd fill him in on what I expected.
As he walked away to make sure one of the other bar personnel took charge, the whole terrace gave him a round of applause and several guests slapped his back in congratulation.
Philipe thanked me and told me I wouldn't regret my decision, I told him I knew that and I knew I was acquiring a gold mine in his son who would have a brilliant career with me if he wanted it, by which time even Philipe had tears in his eyes.
Whilst waiting for Ramon I asked Philipe what Ramon meant about needing the job for Rauls leg and Philipe explained that Ramon was saving as much as he could to buy a prosthetic leg for his son who had lost his left leg in the accident that killed his mother.
The State Health Care System wouldn't provide prosthetics for a child under 5 years so they were faced with Raul missing out on learning to walk or play like other children and Ramon was determined to change that.
I asked why Ramon had not made use of his private health plan and Philipe told me that none of the staff had the private health plan because they didn't work the minimum number of hours required.
I was at a loss to understand this because I knew Ramon in particular worked at least 12 hours a day.
Philipe explained that the hotel director made sure that most employees worked several different roles like Ramon who was employed to work 5 days each week in the dining room for breakfast and dinner 3 hours for each meaning he was paid 30 hours each week for his dining room duties though in practice he worked many more than 30 hours that he didn't get paid for.
He worked 6 nights each week on the bar and terrace and was paid for 4 hours each night, again he often worked many more hours such as afternoons at the pool bar but he only got paid for the 24 hours.
I pointed out that meant he worked a minimum 54 hours a week so he qualified for private health cover under our minimum 31 hour working rule and there was always the management discretion clause which allowed a manager to amend the rules in individual cases.
Philipe told me that the hotel director had everyone sign a separate contract for each job role so that they didn't qualify under the minimum hours working rules.
Pip had been listening to Philipe and as I looked to her she said "You want me to tell Marie to amend all of the contracts don't you?" I nodded in agreement.
I was appalled that these people had been so badly treated like slaves and I wanted to know if the same were true in the rest of our Spanish properties.
I knew this property had been drawing the correct amount for every employee to have private health care so here again was a large chunk of cash being siphoned off by someone.
My last action that night was one which for the first time in a while made me feel happy.
I asked Pip to get our legal team to set up a trust in the sum of €250,000 from my personal funds for Ramons son Raul with Ramon as the legal guardian/executor and no restraints on how the fund and it's capital were used.
TBC
Constructive comments, good or bad to cfgw2000@aol.com please, headed "Life's Illusions" in the subject box. Thanks for giving your time to read this.
Author ARB