Saturday's Passage of the Week

In my upcoming book, Service IS The Business (working title) I share a behind-the-desk perspective of what it is like to work at a real San Francisco hotel concierge desk.

Enjoy this brief segment from the fourth chapter.

I called some assistant managers and bell captains I knew from hotels where I had done on-call work in between film jobs. One day I got a call from Vinny, my old bell captain from the Franklyn. He was now a bellman at the Hudson Hotel, one of Union Square’s grand dame hotels of the Jazz era where I had also done some on-call work. He said there was an opening for a bellman’s position and suggested I apply. I did, successfully, and thus continued my glorious career in San Francisco hotels.

The Hudson opened in 1926, stood about 30 stories, and had a great art deco design. If you are a person interested in architecture like I am, it was a pleasure just to walk in the front door. Unlike modern hotels of the post-war era, the Hudson was a Byzantine labyrinth of twisty narrow hallways that snaked through the bowels and back areas of the building, unseen by the guests.

It was also the first hotel I had worked in where there was more than one bellman on duty. The Vacation Suites (ironically across the street from the Hudson), where I had gotten my first hotel job, was also a large hotel. But since I had primarily worked the graveyard shift, I had really never worked with any of the other bellmen except when training.

But at the Hudson, I started working during the daytime and I found it allowed me to work side by side with other bellmen. A majority of them were career guys, mostly in their 50’s, and quite professional. I no longer had to put up with other bellmen who treated the position as a work-my-way-through-college job, many times not showing up for work because they partied too much the night before. I also noticed there was a prevalent work ethic: if you worked hard, they had your back. If you goofed off and left your work for others to do, you got the cold shoulder.

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