Femme de Chambre

It’s nice when you can do a job that provides instant gratification.
It’s also nice to not have to worry about a lot of rules, or best practices – a chambermaid’s job is binary and unambiguous, either a room is clean, or it’s not.


Yesterday, I was doing some sys admin work for a friend of mine who runs a timeshare resort. In passing, she mentioned that two of her maids weren’t able to work today.
This particular resort has a Saturday check-in, and she was expecting a fair number of guests, so she wasn’t too happy about this change in staffing. I offered to help out, figuring it would be a couple of hours and I’d go on my way.
I ended up staying there the whole day. Even though these are fairly small units, it took me about four hours to clean a studio and a one-bedroom, and my friend had a few more chores for us, like hanging curtains and helping her stow supplies.
It was not a bad way to spend a nice Saturday, since the resort is near the ocean and it was warm enough that we kept the doors and windows open.
Unlike a “normal” hotel or motel, timeshare guests are usually resort owners, so perhaps they are more considerate than the average about not trashing a place. Also, it’s early in the season, so the units are still in pretty good shape.
Maybe if I decide to ditch programming, I’ll get into the cleaning biz – maids are in big demand, and the pay can be pretty good.
In any event, for today, it sure beat sitting in front of a terminal, feeling my muscles atrophy and my cardiovascular system turn into something resembling petrified wood.