Exactly a year ago, done with my college life and passed the graduation ceremony, the long awaited so called gap year that I had planned the year before has finally arrived, a long travel before I stepped into next life, working life. I had all the tickets in my hand, Vietnam, Kinabalu, and India, till the end of 2014. Everything was planned perfectly except my the trip to India and Nepal which was cancelled due to my parents disapproval.
There were few months gap between my trip from Vietnam to Kinabalu, and Kinabalu to South Korea, yes I bought unplanned tickets to South Korea. Therefore, to avoid running out of cash, I looked for a job to earn as well. Short story, I got a job in a very nice hostel in Bukit Bintang, the heart of Kuala Lumpur City, it’s called Sunshine Bedz Hostel, owned by a super insane guy, Patrick.
I could say that life in the hostel was so colorful. Sunshine Bedz is one of the top hostel in KL, so almost everyday our hostel is fully booked. In a day, I could probably face 80-100 guests with different characters and craziness, mostly backpackers from all over the world. Germans, Dutch, Chinese, even Kazhaks. Here are some memorable experiences that I’m gonna share:
First Day Wasn’t As Smooth As Expected
So, normally first day working should be exciting, that’s how I felt after I absorbed all the training about booking system and how to check in guest. It was peak season, the beds were always full during that month.
If you have no booking through hostelworld/hostelbookers, we would say, please check the hostel next door. Well, it was only me during that day, like a baby, a beginner starting her first day and ALONE.
Everything was fine, until a group of three guys walked in and asking for beds. I checked the system, one room was empty but fit only 2 persons, what about the other guy.
So, I remembered a girl supposed to stay in a six bed dorms, she wanted to stay with her mom, in another room. one bed two people. So, there’s one bed left in six bed mixed dorms. I put him in.
Okay, few hours later I just realized, Patrick actually mentioned that room to the group of girls, it was female dorm, cause 5 of them were all females so we could just switched the room to female dorm, not mix. All of them were out at that time.
Patrick came back, and I told him. I could still remember clearly his expression at that time when I told him about that mistake. He took a deep breath, “I go for smoke”, he said.
“You still remember his face right? When he comes back, ask him to move his stuffs to staff room and say sorry”. Staff room is actually the same, a 6 dorm beds as well, but only for staff and there’s one empty bed at that time.
Finally problem solved. Patrick didn’t scold me at that time. “I know you wanna help people, but next time, see the system carefully and better reject.” It was a long day, my first day was not that smooth, but at least I learned something.
It’s Nice To Receive Gifts From Guests
Sometimes it’s normal to receive something from the guests if they are satisfied with our service. But there was a time where I got a gift from unexpected guest. Here’s the story. A guy came in during my shift and asked for a room.
He looked Spanish so I told him, “Yes, we have a room. Could you please fill up the form and let me verify your passport afterwards.” When he took out his passport, he’s an Arab with a strange passport. Suddenly I felt something was not right. I couldn’t say, sorry you’re passport look fishy, we can’t have you here, or suddenly say the room is full.
I felt so worry at that time, but he booked a private room and just for one night, so should be fine, but still I felt so worry. He paid and I showed him the room. I had a bad feeling so I told another staff, the night shift one, please pay attention to that guy because he looks suspicious.
The next day, check out time. He checked out and asked if he could put his stuff in the locker. Sunshine Bedz provides locker so anyone who still wants to have a walk after check out can store their stuffs in the locker.
I said okay, and he left for a walk. When he came back, he brought something for me. A box of Ferrero Rocher Chocolate. With his Arab accent he said, “For you, thanks for being nice to me.” I felt soooo bad at that time. I’ve been suspecting on him thinking negatively yet he actually was very kind and gave me chocolate.
Apparently he’s a student and it was his last day in KL before catching his flight back to his home. Thank you, sorry for the distrust. A guest made a special breakfast for me, and also I got other gifts as well from the guests. I think if we’re being nice to others, it will come back to us.
There’s A Thief In Your Hostel
I woke up tiredly from my bed, washed my face, brushed my teeth, and sat on the reception desk. My head was totally heavy, my eyes could barely opened. The night before I partied too hard until 4 a.m. and had to wake up at 6 a.m. to start my shift, can you imagine? It’s like half of my soul had not come back to my body yet.
Around 8 or 9 a.m. in the morning, this middle-age lady came to the reception desk. “There’s a thief in your hostel.” Like, seriously, why it has to be on that day, am I having such a bad day? “What happened?” I asked her in weak voice. “I lost my wallet, and there’s about 1000 dollar in that wallet.”
“Are you sure? Have you checked in your bag, everywhere?” “Yes yes, I remember I put my wallet and I always put inside that bag. I think it was stolen when I took a shower, I should have locked everything, but it’s okay, it’s my fault why I’m so careless.” She blamed herself.
She stayed in 6 bed female dorm at that time, I came to her room and checked around her bed again. “We’re so sorry but we could not check the other girls cause it’s offending.” Patrick was out of town at that time. I text Patrick and he said if it’s not found yet, we could only giver her free stay.
I kept ensuring her, please check again and check again. Damn, my head was hurt, I was having a headache plus this problem blew my mood away. In the night she came back. “Velysia, I’m so sorry. I found my wallet! After I checked it again, I put it in another bag.”, She laughed. I was speechless. Half of me felt relieve for that but, shitt…..
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