UNIQUE LOVE (G X G) Completed

CHAPTER: 5

There wasn't much to look at, from a guest's point of view, outside the gym and spa area. She then went to the cafe and found it charming, next she walked through the gourmet restaurant and wished it were dinner time, so she could hear the guest's comments. Back in Manhattan in Sheraton-2, she often chatted with guests and treated staff to snacks. She wondered how long it would take to build rapport in Michigan.

Just then, she heard flustered voices in the hallway leading to the conference rooms.

"This is completely unacceptable," spat a tall man with thick glasses and shaggy hair. He wagged his finger in the face of another, more submissive man who cowered before him in the shadows of the hallway. "Is this how you think we should run a hotel? The new manager will be here tomorrow, and she is the chairman's niece! Anything that goes wrong here will go straight to the chairman!" He then cornered the submissive man, "Do you want to be the one responsible for us getting fired? No? Good. Then do something about the mess!" The man, who could only be the assistant manager with a commanding presence like that, tossed his hair and caught sight of Zeenia at the end of the hallway. He went pale, turned, and ran in the other direction.

Well, that's strange. So much for that welcome, Zeenia thought. She went after the submissive man, whimpering against the wall.

"Are you okay?" she asked. "Is something wrong?"

The verbally beaten man cleared his throat and pulled his hands off the wall. He glanced over his shoulder, revealing wide, scared eyes and a face more trusting than a schoolboy's. He must be about twenty years, Zeenia thought. He must be an intern from the local hospitality school. Zeenia made a note to speak to that assistant manager first thing the next morning.

"Maam, don't worry about me," the man sounded shaken, but he quickly reclaimed some of his statures as he stood and straightened out his dark gray suit. "Just one of those days..." he said.

"The new manager sounds like a b***h, huh?" Zeenia said.

The man frowned as if Zeenia said that to the manager's face. "I...I don't know. No one has met her before or even knows what she looks like. But she is from the family, so she must be strict." 

"The family" was a nice way to put the Mascarenhas. Zeenia supposed that her kin had a reputation for perfection. So did she, but she liked to think she was nicer about it. "And the last manager? All she knew about him, besides his name was, was that he was an old family friend.

"He wasn't so bad." As if a spark lit him up, the man shot up straight and tried to claim a sense of authority around him. His face was so innocent-looking, he couldn't even scare an Aunt. "Can I help you? Guests shouldn't be wandering in this area. And if you are one of the new temporary workers, you need to be authorized," he said to Zeenia.

"Don't worry about me. But I wouldn't mind talking to the assistant manager," Zeenia said.

"Oh?" the man suddenly looked very pale.

"Yes. The new manager needs to have a few words with him."

"The new..." Realization suddenly dawned on the man's face. He quickly collected himself, however, as he stood to attention and bowed his head in front of Zeenia. "Hello, Maam," he said, his voice echoing in the hallway. "I am Henry Jackson, assistant manager of the hotel. I look forward to working with you from this day, Manager!"

Zeenia sighed.

                                                               ******************

The next two days sped by faster than a bullet train. From the moment Zeenia introduced herself to Henry, her cover was blown and she was thrust into the role of a manager a day early.

As she suspected, there was much to learn and do in her new establishment. Her first official day on the job she had to meet every employee there and attempt to learn their names and faces. In Manhattan, she had many years to build up those relationships, but now it was like being the popular kid in school again. Everyone knew her, but she hardly knew anyone. Henry gave her a full tour of the hotel, from the back kitchens of the restaurant to the suites at the top of the building. By the end of the first day, Zeenia passed out dead in her bed.

The staff was abuzz with the excitement of a new manager. Especially a new female manager, which was a first for almost all of them. The man shared their surprise at how young and virile she looked, even if she dressed masculine. The women expressed a hope that she would go easy on them and not be the sort of Mascarenhas they heard horror stories about. Zeenia wondered if they ever heard of her aunt who was infamous for being a hardass in the California branch, of the hotel.

On Thursday she had individual meetings in her office with various leaders in the hotel, from the head chef to the cafe manager, to Charlotte Steven from the front desk and to Catherine Dickson, the night auditor. This was how Zeenia learned that the man accosting Henry on her first day was the visiting assistant manager from the New Orleans branch. He apologized to her for creating a scene and promptly left the city.

Zeenia had no idea how this 33 yrs, anxious man, Henry, ever became assistant manager of a high-class hotel. On paper, he was an ideal candidate for the assistant manager. In-person, he was a wreck, though, he went to the best hospitality college and worked his ass off in the industry.

Henry walked into Zeenia's office on Friday morning, carrying a file in shaking hands. After apologizing profusely for interrupting her private time, as Zeenia was still in the process of personalizing her office, he approached her desk, hands sweating and chest palpitations, as if Zeenia was about to rip his head off. She motioned for him to proceed, summoning the friendliest aura imaginable.

"You need to sign off on the temporary employees for next week, Manager." For once he did not stutter though and clapped the file onto Zeenia's desk.

Zeenia turned the file around and saw the letter for the temporary local agency awaiting her signature and stamp. "Temps? What is that about anyway?"

"Many of the part-time staff in the foodservice section are from a temp agency, as the turnover was too high for us to keep up with ourselves. Is it okay?" Henry answered.

Zeenia shrugged. "If it's working, why not?" She signed off on it. She would look into that later.

Henry bowed when he took the file back. "How has the first week been so far?"

The other files Zeenia was seeing lost her attention as she looked up. "Eh?'

"I am sorry!" He jumped back. "I shouldn't pry like that."

"It's fine. Everything is fine." Zeenia maintained an air of acceptance as she thought of her circumstance. It would be her first weekend away from home, in which she was not on vacation or a business trip. She wondered what was going on at 'Fire & Ice,' bar and club. Was Tina throwing a last-minute party? Had Imara and Yana broken up again? Was Rhea really getting married? In Manhattan, she would text a friend or gone to a party to score some s*x. Hell, even in California she had her connections. She had no idea what to do in Michigan, about her needs. f**k herself with a toothbrush she thought.

Henry bowed once more. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

Zeenia said, "Do me a favor and get hold of some local real estate companies. I need to look for an apartment. Make sure they are higher end and furnished." 

"Yes, Maam!" In reality, Zeenia thought Henry should have been her personal assistant as opposed to her assistant manager. 

"Excuse me," he said and left the room.

For the first time since coming to her new job, Zeenia was alone in the office for more than fifteen minutes. She finished her paperwork and went about redecorating her office from the plain tastes of her predecessor.

"No," she said, ripping down printed pictures of airplanes and sports cars. As soon as her packages from Manhattan came in, she would put up some classical calligraphy to keep her mind calm when she was overworked and holed up in her office. Nothing was more soothing than looking up and seeing the paintings of a talented calligraphy artist. Though she thought it was an irony that she was more traditionally minded than her sixty-year-old predecessor.