Chapter 3 Make a Few Changes….

The next morning we all went to the beach, the others to swim and me just to walk. I had enough of water to last me a lifetime. I told them I would meet for lunch and we pinpointed a meeting place on the promenade and I went off to explore.

My real reason was that I needed to find work and a seaside resort is one where there are a lot of seasonal places. I had done a lot of toilet cleaning and even a bit of waiting back home so was no stranger to the menial tasks that needed to be done. I was prepared to take as long as it took because there was no way I would be going back to Rawson with them and end up working in a fish factory. It all came together a lot quicker than I expected.

There was a huge, old hotel facing the main beach, with its frontage on the main road on the inland side. The road, the Avienda Maritimo Patricio Peralta Ramos, was even longer than its name, running all the way around the small bay. As I walked through the main doors I went up to the reception of the Gran Hotel Provincial and asked if they had any job vacancies. The receptionist rang someone and sent me down a corridor to the administration office. I was shown into the office of the HR manager who asked me if I was serious about working with them because they did need a few people who were prepared to last the whole season. He explained that so many came down from Buenos Aires for a few weeks to make a little money but mainly find a boy or girl to have fun with.

I told him that I was, indeed, serious and was here to find a good paying job as I was very short on cash. When he asked why I told him that I had arrived yesterday with some friends from Rawson, way down south. I told him that my parents had died when I was younger and that I had gone to live with my last remaining relative, my Uncle Moralis. He had promised that he would leave me the house and his money when he died so I had been his nurse until he died recently. I explained that the problem was that when he died, I found out the house was not his and that he had gambled away all his money years ago so I was left with nothing.

The guy then asked if I was prepared to live in-house and work odd shifts and I said that it would be wonderful. I said that I could do cleaning, waitressing or whatever they needed. He asked for identification and I said that I did not have any. I had never worked in a paying job so had never needed one. I had no driving license, no passport and that the only thing I owned was my old bill-fold with my name on. He said that it was not a great problem and that they were used to employees over the season who were trying to avoid paying tax so he would set up a file in my name as a new tax-payer, starting on the twenty-five percent level.

He then showed me where I would sleep. It was an attic room no bigger than a shoe-box but had a single bed, wash basin, wardrobe and dresser. I was told that I would have all meals provided in the kitchens and that I could start the next day if I wanted to bring my belongings this afternoon. Before I left he took me to the laundry where I was measured for my uniform. I was to get a couple of simple shifts to wear when I worked in room cleaning; as well as a black dress with the white apron and cap for when I did waitressing or room service. Luckily a pair of the shoes I had been given were black flats so I did not need to buy any.

That all sorted I walked some more before meeting my companions for lunch and told them that I was starting work at the big hotel tomorrow so needed to bring my belongings down this afternoon as I would be sleeping there tonight. Emilio kissed my cheek and told me that he was glad for me and Gabriella looked relieved that I was no longer going to be hanging around as I was sure she thought that her father had his eye on me.

So Emilio took us all to the La Marina seafood restaurant and then we went back to the chalet where I packed up all my meagre belongings. At the hotel I kissed them all and thanked them for their friendship and help and went through the main doors to my new life as Haley. I checked with HR and was given the key to my room and told to get acquainted with the hotel layout this afternoon and that I would get my uniforms in the evening. He gave me a map of the place and sent me on my way, saying that I needed to report to the room cleaning office at eight in the morning but that I could get breakfast in the kitchen from six.

That afternoon I walked the entire hotel, past every room in the place. I found the kitchen, the dining rooms, the lounges, the bars, the pool, the gym and the business centre. It was a huge place and looked, in places, if it needed a make-over. It was certainly grand but that grandness that comes with age. I made sure that I found the room cleaners office and had a chat with the lady there who asked me if I had any problems with changing beds and cleaning up guests’ rubbish. I told her that I had done a stint cleaning railway station toilets so that made her smile and she said that there were very few who came to work here who were as prepared to do what was needed.

Next morning I joined a crew of ten, cleaning out fifty rooms, two of us to a room, taking ten rooms each. I had a portable vacuum strapped on my back and cleaned the floors while my partner stripped and remade the bed. We then both cleaned the bathroom and toilet and finally restocked the lotions, soaps and towels. We had a big bag on a trolley which took the old sheets, pillowcases and towels. It was not arduous work and we finished about half past eleven. I was then told to go and put on my waitress uniform and report to the dining room.

I served on the tables until three when I was told that I had a couple of free hours but to report back at five for the dinner seating. It was harder than the room cleaning as many of the men wanted to touch me or chat me up and it was something I had never known before. I did, however, draw on my own memories of rejection and managed to finish the day without slapping anyone. I was dragging my feet when I went to bed and the next day we did it all again.

At the end of the Friday dinner I was told that Saturday and Sunday I was not needed in the dining room over the weekend as I would be working on room service from five to after midnight. When we finished with the room cleaning on Saturday morning I was given a small can of pepper spray in case any of the guests got extra frisky.

That evening I was delivering trays to rooms and was glad I had explored the place fully before I started. It was a case of take the tray to the room, be friendly and lay out the meals if required, then go back to the kitchen, picking up any trays left outside rooms on the way. It was a lot of walking between short bouts of being sociable and I found that a little of my old hyperactivity was showing itself, not in a bad way but in a way that kept me going back and forth all evening.

I then realised that I was working more hours than I had ever done before and was, strangely, enjoying working as a woman as it gave me much more leeway with my interactions with customers and my fellow workers. I was getting used to wearing dresses and skirts; had already bought myself some hose, and was now using the small supply of make-up I had been given in Rawson. No-one had pegged me for a guy and, as time wore on, I was becoming one of the girls with both the cleaning and the dining room crews.

One Monday I was waiting on tables in the dining room when I took a tray of drinks to a table where three suited gentlemen were about to order. One looked at me and asked me if I was local and I said that I was currently living in the hotel. “Excellent” he cried “we need someone to make up numbers next weekend at the Fiesta. I will talk to the hotel management and I am sure they will allow you to join us.” I was at a total loss as I had no idea what he was talking about so I just smiled and said “That would be lovely, sir; thank you.” He wrote my name on a notepad and said that he looked forward to seeing me.

I forgot all about it until I had a memo given to me when I finished the room cleaning that Wednesday. It said that I was to report to HR before I started my waitressing shift. The HR manager was all smiles and he told me that the hotel was very happy that I had been asked for on the weekend as it was a good public relations coup for them. I just had to ask what it was all about and was told that it was the Fiesta Nacional de Mar weekend – the sea festival - and I had been chosen to appear as one of the entrants in the beauty contest to pick the Sea Queen and her Princesses. My first thought was so girly it made me giggle, “But have nothing to wear!” I cried.

Marianne G (C) 2021