Stumble It!
Jan 18 2009
Baked Red Wine
I was invited to speak to the graduating class at the nearby hotel school. There are only two on the island and this is considered the better one since it’s government-run and sponsored by the UNDP. It is essentially a vocational school providing training to high school graduates.
The classroom was dim with low ceiling. Air-conditioning was nowhere to be found. When I entered a waft of stale sweat and adolescent hormones enveloped me. A room of more than 80 students awaited me. Curiously, more than half of them were girls. They ranged from 17 to 20 years of age and it was a refreshing sight to see so many young eager faces, in comparison to my general staff meeting with the average age of 48.
I began with an overview of what to expect when they go into the industry. I advised them not to expect to become a manager on Day One.
“We all had to start from the bottom. I worked as a waiter, a steward and an income auditor before I started to climb up the ladder,” I encouraged them, “If you are good at what you do, you WILL be promoted and eventually you will become a general manager! That’s what you want to become, right?”
Blank faces.
True, I thought, with the economy as such and hotels laying staff off everyday, where would these 80 young people go? Would they ever find just a job, let alone in the hospitality industry?
Or was I speaking too fast?
I shifted gear and asked several students what was their ideal job after graduation. Girls unanimously voted for reception. I can see why. Reception girls get the best looking uniform and if they are lucky they get a sitting job like behind the guest relations desk. And the job is considered a lot less dirty than, let’s say, a restaurant waiter who touches half chewed food, a housekeeper who cleans an unflushed toilet or the job no one wanted: dishwashing steward who never even gets to meet a guest.
Boys, on the other hand, mostly chose F&B. I can totally relate since when I was about twenty years old all I could think of was how not to feel hungry all the time, and to get my hands on as much alcohol as I could.
As the discussion got carried away we came to the topic of beverage cost control. I threw in some beverage theft examples just for the sake of telling a good story. They didn’t react when I mentioned how a bottle of Chateaux Lafite was nearly lifted by a waiter or when I gestured some outrageous serving size of a single malt whiskey.
“OK, who can tell me the difference between a white wine and a red wine?” I threw the question in just to see if they were still awake.
Seeing no response, I pointed to a boy with spiky hair and asked, “Can you tell me, then, why is the red wine red?”
“Uh, because the red wine is in the oven longer?” he answered with a question, hoping I would concur.
I could use a double shot of whiskey then. Yep, this bunch of graduates will have to start from the very bottom of the ladder, like, go to a real hotel school.
