Part 1

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GUIDE

TO

HOTEL HOUSEKEEPING

BY

MARY E. PALMER

1908

Copyrighted 1908,

BY

MARY E. PALMER

THE TRIBUNE PRINTING CO. Charleston. W. Va.

CREDIT TO THE HOTEL WORLD.

The greater part of the contents of this book was published, in instalments, in The Hotel World, of Chicago.

A FOREWORD.

My chief purpose in writing this book was to place a few guide-posts along the route of hotel housekeepers to warn them against certain errors common to women engaged in the arduous and difficult occupation of keeping house for hotels.

If anything that I have set forth herein shall make the work of hotel housekeepers easier, more inviting, or more efficient, thereby contributing to the satisfaction of proprietors and to the comfort of patrons, I shall feel amply repaid for writing this book.

MARY E. PALMER.

Hotel Ruffner, Charleston, West Va. March 1, 1908.

THE MANAGER AND THE HELP.

The average hotel manager is only too prone to complain of the incompetency and the inefficiency of hotel "help."

It is true that it is difficult to secure skilled help, for there is no sort of institution that trains men and women for the different kinds of hotel work. Each hotel must train its own help, or obtain them from other hotels.

Thus there is no uniform and generally accepted standard of excellence in the different departments of hotel-keeping.

A good word should be said in behalf of the Irish-American girls, who constitute a majority of the laundry help, waitresses, and chambermaids in American hotels to-day.

With a high regard for honor and rectitude, handicapped by poverty, they find employment, at a very early age, in hotels, and perform menial duties in a manner that is greatly to their credit.

The Irish-American girls are not shiftless, remaining in one place for years until they either marry or leave to fill better positions, which is the privilege of every one living under the "Stars and Stripes."

Some improve their spare time in study, thereby fitting themselves to become stenographers and bookkeepers. Some adopt the stage as a profession, one instance being that of Clara Morris, who takes delight in telling of the days when she washed silver in a hotel.

_An ex-Governor Peeled Potatoes._

Ex-Governor Hoard, of Wisconsin, boasts of the time when he peeled potatoes in a hotel.

The success of hotel-keeping depends largely on the manager. He should possess patience, forbearance, and amiability. He should know that the best results are obtained from his help by kindness, and that good food and good beds mean better service.

The manager should realize that the working force of a hotel is like the mechanism of a clock: it has to be wound occasionally and set going. No novice can operate this wonderful piece of mechanism; it requires a skilled mechanic.

The proprietor of a hotel should be a good loser; for there are periods of the year when the employes outnumber the guests, and the balance-sheet shows a heavy loss.

One of the most successful hotel men of the writer's acquaintance is Mr. Louis Reibold, formerly of the Bates House (now the Claypool), Indianapolis, Ind. Mr. Reibold's fame rests in his liberal, kindly treatment of his help. He never called them "help," but always referred to them as "employes." Reception, reading, and writing-rooms were furnished for their use, and he himself saw that good food was provided and that the tables were spread with clean, white table-cloths once a day.

He remembered his employes at Christmas, each one receiving a gold coin, some as much as $20.

When a girl in his employ lost her arm in a mangle, he presented her with a house and lot, provided her with ample means to furnish the house and to keep her the remainder of her lifetime.

Mr. Reibold is a multi-millionaire, and he has the admiration and love of every woman and man that ever worked for him.

FEEDING AND ROOMING THE HELP.

Employes, such as housekeepers, clerks, cashiers, stenographers, stewards--though few stewards use the privilege--and bartenders, are permitted to take their meals in the main dining-room.

Other office-employes take their meals in the officers' dining-room, from the same bill of fare used in the main dining-room.

Chambermaids, bell-boys, and other "help," are served in the "helps' hall," from a separate bill of fare. Their food is good, as a rule; when it is not, the fault usually lies with the chef in the kitchen. All proprietors want their help to have good food.

The housekeeper can do much to make the help comfortable. She can see that their rooms are kept clean and sweet, and free from vermin. She can give them soft pillows and plenty of warm covering. It is her duty to add to their comfort in every way she can.

In a majority of hotels, the help are roomed and fed equally as well as are the patrons.

REQUIREMENTS OF A HOUSEKEEPER.

Every profession or trade is made up of two classes: the apprentice and the skilled workman. The young woman looking for a position as hotel housekeeper should not forget that careful training is fully as important and necessary in her chosen vocation as it is in medicine or cooking; that she must learn by slow and wearisome experience what it has taken years for the skilled housekeeper to acquire.

The apprentice may stumble on the road to success and may even fall by the wayside. In order to succeed, she must give her time wholly to her occupation. She must be thankful for the successes that come to her and not fret over the failures, remembering that hotel housekeeping, like all other occupations, demands experience, patience, and perseverance, as well as skill, in its followers.

The profession is overcrowded with novices to-day; they are the ones that have demoralized the profession--if the word, profession, may be applied to hotel housekeeping. The failure of many housekeepers is due to the lack of proper training; it is only the skilled housekeeper that wins lasting approval.

A trained nurse must remain in a training school at least three years, possibly four, before she is given a certificate to care for the sick. The chef of the hotel kitchen, in all probability began his career as a scullion, serving at least ten years' apprenticeship in minor situations in the kitchen. The housekeeper must not be above gaining knowledge in the laundry and the linen-room. A woman that is ambitious to become a good housekeeper should first serve as a chambermaid. If she is wise, she will secure the good graces of the linen-woman by offering to help her mend the linen, hem the napkins, sort the linen, and mend the curtains.

In this way, a clever chambermaid may learn many useful things that will help her to a better position. From the linen-room, it is only a step to the position of a housekeeper. When a housekeeper leaves on her vacation, or is called away to fill another place, or drops out on account of illness, the linen-woman may seize the opportunity of showing her executive ability. After she has worked faithfully in the linen-room for three years, there is not much danger that a linen-woman of ability will fail to find employment as a housekeeper. If she should have any trouble getting a situation, one way out of the difficulty is to offer her services one month on probation to a hotel man in need of a housekeeper; and, if she is granted a trial and mixes brains with her enthusiasm, she will receive a housekeeper's salary at the end of the month.

Just what a housekeeper's work should be is a vital question. We hear of housekeepers meddling in the steward's department and with the affairs of the office. This is, at least, no less wrong than the idea that the housekeeper owes servile obedience to all other heads of departments.

The essential requirements of a housekeeper are the same, whether she is in a hotel with the capacity of a thousand guests or in a hotel of two hundred rooms. The young housekeeper, looking for a position in a first-class hotel, should read the following requirements, which were submitted to the writer by the manager of a first-class Western hotel a few years ago:

_A Housekeeper's Requirements._

Must be morally correct. Must have a dignified and respectable appearance. Must have executive ability. Must have a good disposition and try to get along with the help. Must be a good listener and not a talker. Must be quiet, giving orders in a firm but low tone. Must be loyal to the management. Must be courteous to guests. Must not worry the management with small matters. Must refrain from gossiping.

Neatness in dress is essential to the success of a hotel housekeeper. She should take great pains to be always well groomed, and neat in her attire. If she finds herself growing coarse or commonplace-looking, her fingernails in mourning, and her hair unacquainted with soap and water, she should at once set about to remedy the defects. It is her duty, as well as her privilege, to dress as well as she can, not by donning all the colors of the rainbow or by useless extravagance, but by modest and harmonizing shades and by appropriate apparel. It behooves the woman to make herself as good-looking as possible, for good looks pay. Obliging manners are also a stock in trade. Grit, grace, and good looks can accomplish wonders, especially the good looks.

Ignorance and ambition make an unprofitable combination. There are housekeepers filling positions to-day that have never been taught to do a single useful thing correctly; they can not darn the linens, they can not sew, they can not upholster a chair, they can not wait on the sick, nor can they settle the slightest dispute without sending for the manager. The housekeeper should know how these things are done, in order to impart her knowledge to others; for any housekeeper that has any respect for her calling considers herself an instructor.

There is no special hour set for the housekeeper's appearance in the morning. It is safe to say that she will make a greater "impression" and last longer by rising at 6 o'clock. Late rising is one of the rocks on which many a housekeeper has been wrecked.

_Cheerfulness and Good Manners._

Every housekeeper should make the "good morning" her bright keynote for the day. She should not say, "Hello, Mollie," to a girl named Mary. Though the girl may be only a scrub-girl, she knows a breach of etiquette; and a girl that bears the beautiful name of Mary does not want it changed to "Mollie."

A cheerful "good morning" should be the beginning of each day, by the housekeeper. It makes everybody feel pleasant, and the maids can work faster and easier when their hearts are full of pleasantness.

The successful housekeeper does not win her laurels by merely perfecting herself in her work, but also by careful study of the lives of others in her charge, and how to promote their happiness.

Getting along with help requires tact, poise, and balance. The housekeeper should bestow praise where it is due. She may give a gentle pat on the back to some faithful employe, and yet keep her dignity. A hard task may be made lighter by it, and monotonous labor robbed of its weariness. The old and persistent notion that housekeepers are an irascible tribe--if it was ever true--is not true now.

The question here arises--What qualities of mind and heart should a housekeeper possess to be successful?

Nobody has discovered a rule--to say nothing of a principle--whereby a housekeeper's success may be determined. It is reasonable to claim that the permanent success of any housekeeper lies in her skill and in the confidence and esteem of her employer. She has learned that skill is acquired by serving an apprenticeship, and that esteem and confidence are won by character. Everybody who touches a sterling character comes at last to feel it, and the true hotel man has come to know that the housekeeper of skill and character is his friend. After the relation of friendship has been established between the manager and the housekeeper, a "go-between" has no place; to speak plainly, there is no legitimate function for a tattler.

The young housekeeper should not become discouraged, excited, or worried, but learn to "manage." She should sit down quietly and think it over. She should have a system about her most ordinary duties, and never put off till to-morrow what may be done to-day. Tomorrow may never come, and, if it does come, it will bring other duties equally as important. Every field of labor has its drawbacks. The greater the work, the greater the hindrances and the obstacles seem to be.

THE HOUSEKEEPER AND THE "HELP."

It is a truism that there should be no hostilities between the heads of the different departments of a hotel. Everything works more smoothly and satisfactorily when pleasant relationships exist between the different departments of any business.

A housekeeper feels stronger if she thinks that she is of sufficient importance to her employer to have her views receive some consideration. She takes up her daily tasks with an added sense of responsibility, and with a desire to do still better work.

No housekeeper is perfect. It cannot be wisely assumed that any housekeeper will possess all the requisite qualifications for successful housekeeping, nor can she develop them all, no matter how ambitious, industrious, and naturally fitted for the work she may be. But "Knowledge is power," and she that has the most of it, coupled with the greatest ability to utilize it, enjoys advantages that will contribute largely to her success.

_Keeping a Position._

A housekeeper studies not only to secure a good situation, but also to avoid losing it. "Good enough" is not her motto; "the very best" are her constant watchwords. Some one has said: "A housekeeper is born, not made." The "born housekeeper" is a spasmodic housekeeper. As a rule, she is not evenly balanced. A housekeeper with plain common sense, susceptible to instructions, willing to obey orders, is the housekeeper that leaves the old situation for one of better pay. There must be, of course, a foundation on which to build. The stones of that foundation should be self-control, self-confidence, education, neatness in dress, and cleanliness. None of these is a gift, but an accomplishment that can be developed more or less according to the individual.

Good manners are very essential. Politeness alone will not bring about the desired results in any profession, but it has never been known to be a hindrance. Manners that will be accepted without criticism in one woman, will be odious and objectionable in another. Too much familiarity breeds contempt. An employer would better be approached with dignity and reserve.

_The Charm of Neatness._

Few housekeepers realize the charm of the neatly dressed woman. The hair should always be neatly arranged and not look as if it was about to fall on her shoulders. The binding of her skirt should not show ragged in places. These are little things, but they weigh heavily in the general results. The well-groomed woman knows that the neglect of these things is full of shame to womankind.

In regard to "bumping up against" the bell-boys, clerks, stewards, and stenographers, the wise housekeeper is shrewd enough to "stand in." She "turns the other cheek," which may sometimes be a difficult task to perform.

Remember that no one on earth can ever succeed in life and hold a "grudge." The inability to forgive his enemies lost James G. Blaine the White House.

If a bell-boy is caught doing something detrimental to the success of the management, the housekeeper should write a note to the clerk, or the captain of the watch, and inform him of the bell-boy's misdeeds. This will be sufficient from the housekeeper.

On assuming the duties of a new field, the housekeeper may remember merely a few important duties; for instance, she must carefully scrutinize the time-book and learn all the maids' names and stations. Next learn the location of rooms and become familiarized with every piece of furniture in them. Then, step by step, she should build up the general cleanliness of the house. This is by far the most important of all the requisites pertaining to hotel housekeeping. Guarding against difficulties encountered with the employes and with the managers' wives is secondary.

A housekeeper that can not take orders is not fit to give them; if the manager asks for the removal of an offensive employe, the housekeeper should immediately get rid of the objectionable person. If the housekeeper fails in deference to the manager's wishes, is not that good evidence that she is not a good soldier? She should be eager to maintain the dignity of her position--must maintain it in fact--and do as high service as possible for the management. Yet she can not always carry out her own ideas. The manager has his ideas about matters, which right or wrong, must be respected. The housekeeper carries out the manager's orders. If the hotel fails to bring a profit or give satisfaction, the manager alone is held accountable.

_About Hiring Help._

To dismiss a maid is a very easy matter; to obtain a substitute that will perform the duties assigned her in a manner that will prove more effectual, is not so easy.

To fire or not to fire, that is the question Whether 'tis easier on the impulse of the moment To suffer the terrors and exactions of the haughty maids, Or take up arms against their impudence And with pen and ink end them. To lie, to sleep--

Worry no more, and by good management to dispatch The cares and thousand little details Housekeepers are heir to--'tis a consummation Devoutly to be wished.

The employment-agency is the housekeeper's recruiting station. She gets most of her help from this place. The housekeeper should always consult the manager when other help is to be hired. Everyone knows that old employes are always best, even if they do spoil the new ones. The housekeeper endeavors to keep the help as long as she can, using persuasion, kindness, and forbearance, striving to teach them the best and easiest way to do their work, bearing with their imperfections, overlooking a great deal that is actually repulsive, not expecting to find in the hard-working individual the graces of a Marie Antoinette, or the inherent qualities of a Lady Jane Gray.

The housekeeper should not only be scrupulously honest herself, but should insist that the maids be honest. It is true that almost irresistible temptations and opportunities to steal are constantly thrown in the way of the maids; and those that are steadfastly honest deserve great credit.

If a maid is neat and clean in appearance and does her work well--these qualities cover a multitude of sins. From the standpoint of many housekeepers, too much curiosity and gossiping are the chiefest and quickest causes--next to the neglect of work--for a maid's dismissal. A housekeeper is usually disliked by the maids that do not want to do their work, just as a stepmother is hated by some stepchildren, regardless of her kindness and her consideration for their welfare. Employes in any business prefer to take their orders from the person that pays them their money. For this, they are not to be blamed; but if the proprietor or the proprietor's wife wishes to retain the services of a good housekeeper, and be relieved of the trying ordeal of training the help, he or she will not encourage tattling from the housekeeper's inferiors.

THE HOTEL PROPRIETOR'S WIFE.

Implicit confidence should exist between the housekeeper and the proprietor's wife. This does not mean that the proprietor's wife should take the housekeeper automobile riding. Any proprietor's wife that enters into such a degree of intimacy with any of her husband's employes distinctly displays the hallmarks of plebeanism. The writer does not want to become an iconoclast, but she believes that all business should be conducted on a business basis. There must be an unwavering loyalty to the interests mutually represented, at all times and under all circumstances.

The proprietor's wife that goes to the help's dining-room or to the laundry, presumably to press a skirt or a shirt-waist, but in reality to see what she can see and to hear what she can hear, is disloyal to the management. She will always have poured into her ears stories that will annoy her and keep her worried. There are maids in a hotel always ready to "keep the pot boiling." Such a proprietor's wife not only encourages malicious slander and tattling, but she will soon be asking questions of the inferior help about the housekeeper's management. Soon the inferiors will be giving the orders instead of the housekeeper, and the discipline will be spoiled. Besides, the proprietor's wife will be told imaginary wrongs, and exaggerated stories concerning some maid employed in the hotel, which will necessitate the maid's discharge. Whether the story is real or imaginary, the proprietor's wife is not benefited by the stories she has heard. She should ask herself: Is this loyalty? Isn't it unmistakably the earmark of commonality?

No housekeeper will object to taking orders from the proprietor's wife. The progressive housekeeper is always polite to her employer's wife, though not to the extent of being deceitful. The housekeeper must bear in mind that what is of vital importance to the proprietor of a hotel is of equal importance to the proprietor's wife. The housekeeper tries to work in harmony with them both, which means success of the highest order. To do this, the housekeeper must retain her dignity, often under the most exasperating circumstances. The proprietor's wife is privileged to frequent any part of the hotel she may choose to, but how must a housekeeper feel to see her conversing in the most familiar tones with the waitresses and the chambermaids, and to know that she is listening to malicious slander of the lowest kind. A housekeeper can have no control over the employes where the discipline is thus ruined, or where there is so much unpleasantness arising from unwise interference over trifles, by the proprietor's wife, or from officious meddling by the families of the prominent stockholders.

_Tact Can Not be Taught._

"Bumping up against" the proprietor and proprietor's wife or family is one of the most perplexing problems that the housekeeper has to solve. The ability to combat with such a problem can not be imparted by teaching. It has to exist in the housekeeper herself, in the peculiar, individual bent of her nature. No amount of preaching and teaching can ever endow a housekeeper with the ever ready wit characteristic of the "Irish tongue."

The savory reply, "O, Mrs. B., you are a dream of loveliness!" would be sweet to some ears while to others it would be a "harsh discord." It is impossible to teach which ear would or would not be the receptive one. Any attempt on the part of the housekeeper to work up these qualities, "by rule" would only be a failure Even the "Golden Rule" fails sometimes to bring about desired results. The better plan, perhaps, for the housekeeper to adopt is to live her own life, and not try to imitate others. If she tries to be great, she will be nothing; if she tries to be plain, simple, and good, she may be great.

CHARACTER IN THE HOTEL BUSINESS.

There is no royal road to success for the hotel clerk, steward, manager, or housekeeper. The hotel business is peculiar in many respects; it teaches conspicuously the great importance of character.