Lolly, Lolly, Lolly, Get Your Adverbs Here

Staffing has been an issue for me from the very beginning at the P's. I have a, relatively, stable staff; however, I am always looking to "upgrade". Some things I can train; however, there needs to be an inherent ability. The industry calls it a "Service Heart". An innate desire to please and see a job done, thoroughly.

One of neat things about my training was being in a room where the majority of the people had "Service Heart". It was comforting to be with people that also felt compelled to do a proper job, properly.

(It is funny, but apparently the only way I have to explain this ability is with the use of adverbs, precisely. HA!)

Title by: Grammar Rock

What's In A Line

I woke up this morning thinking about more lines from Training. Here, for my fellow students are some of our regulars.

• "I said FRENCH!!"
  
• "Get in the ~!@#@$ VAN!"
  
• "Are you still (Morman), (allergic to soy), (lactose intolerant), (a nanny)?"
  
• "Get my chews, my chirt, and my chihuahua..."
  
• "China tomorrow."
  
• "I will cut you."
  
• "FAH!"
  
• The sodomized poodle sound.
  
• Master the moment
  
• "It is what it is."
  
• "Yuummm"..."Uhnhua"..."Whorrah"
  
• Ms. EP
  

Please feel free to chime in with others. I am sure there's a bunch more.

Did It In A Minute

With formal training behind, it is now time to focus on a new position in my new career. The school provides lifetime placement services for its graduates. I intend to continue to "trust the process", at least for the time being. I have been asked for my feelings on a number of placement situations since early in June. Unfortunately, little has come about. I will be calling in Monday afternoon to see what has developed.
Money is getting tighter. I could pick up some IT contract work, if push comes to shove. Though, I really do want to leave that behind. I just might start looking for part-time work up north to cover some of our more pressing expenses. I would just as soon tend bar than do Q&A work.
It is good to be home. It will be a bit of a transition from attached single life back to family life. Add to that the silly vernacular that developed over the 8 weeks with the team (Yes, I have my chews, my chirt and my chinchilla in the chower. No, I will not cut you. Yes, she is still allergic to soy. Anyone up for "FAH"?) and fitting in gets to be a bit of a challenge. The littlest things bring on the giggles and I suddenly find that I am laughing all by myself. Nothing like absolutely no context for an inside joke to break a mood.
With today's weather in Milwaukee, I really miss Denver's low humidity. However, it does feel good to gulp lung-full after lung-full of heavy oxygen.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

These "fishbowl" experiences always stretch me so thin. It started at Deer Park Lodge when I was in college where 30 or so college students worked, ate, drank, slept at the resort for 11 weeks. Think "Dirty Dancing" without Patrick Swayze. We called it the "fishbowl". The guests would move through our lives, but we were so wrapped up in the NOW that it really mattered little.
The 8 weeks at Starkey were similar. We were so pushed and pulled by the day to day, it was easy to loose focus on what was really important. Suddenly, the parlor being out of hand-towels was cause for argument. Suddenly, someone sitting on a breakfast stool out of the way of the culinary team was disruptive just because they were there. Suddenly, the fact that the flags were not brought in before 7 p.m. was an example of someone's inability to be effective.
However, as was pointed out to us by our instructors, we persevered as a team. We, mostly, stuck together. Our differences annoying to each of us the way way your kid brother bugs you. You know you love him, but do always have to like him?
At the same time I felt myself getting "thinner". As with my DPL days, I built myself a temporary support team here. I found kindred spirits; people that despite geography and age spoke the same language with the same sarcasm and wit. Like me, these spirits drive forward, never straight. Old friends will know why. I found great joy here meeting friends that I have been chasing around the sun for many years. It is a blessing to finally catch up to them, even for a few weeks.
I miss ma chère and my boys. There are 24 grueling and cruel hours left until I have them in my arms. I am so so home-sick.

CONGRATULATIONS!!

Congratulations and best wishes to the Starkey Certified Household Manager class #92!
Press-tige!

Congratulations and best wishes to the Starkey Certified Personal Assistant class #2!
Second to None!

Shower the People

The Friday formal went off without too much ado. It's good to have that pressure off of us. I spent Saturday working on my book and attending the last of our Wine & Spirits classes. This week was the digestifs Cognac, Armagnac, Calvados, Scotch (highland and an Islay), ruby port, tawny port and a cream sherry. It's amazing I made it back downstairs to keep working on my book. I can tell you, though, while the Calvados was a very yummy first, the Lophraig Scotch was brilliant and the Armagnac fantastic. It took great self-control to only sip at the glasses.
As you might have seen in my previous posts, the process here includes a rather in-depth autobiographical look at who you are, where you came from and what your influences are. My attitude is I have to be very honest with myself and my employer if I am to justify entering their home on a daily basis. Some of the exercises were exhausting at both the spiritual and emotional level. The result of all this work was, for me, a 20 page examination of my past, experience, values and style and standards of work.
The Placement Team then creates a Curriculum Vitae for us based on this work plus several interviews with us, our existing resumes and job experience.
I got to see the draft of my CV last Monday. I was surprised to see excerpts from the transcripts taken during the school's check of my references. These are added to the end of the CV.
Here is the hard part. I was stunned. I still find myself crying at the memory of the responses. I cannot explain the wash of emotion I felt at seeing the wonderful words used by these people. I can only say that I am humbled and blessed to be surrounded by such generosity and love. Thank you all.

This just in...

A number of articles have run in the past few days with regard to "butlering". Let us be clear that what I am training for is a Household Manager. The distinction is important. A House Manager provides a service. Butlering is a style of service. The perception is that "Jeeves", or worse "Alfred", is the only way to manage a house. (Both, by the way, were Gentleman's Gentlemen or Valets, not really Butlers.)

In any case, the Wall Street Journal has an interesting article. You might actually recognize someone in the pictures. The Independent features another article sighting the apparent shortage of Butlers.

It was another long week, but I am finally finished with the kitchen rotation. Now it is time to kick the studying into high gear. I am doing fine on the tests and quizzes , so far. Now I have to focus on my HM Book. I am VERY far behind the rest of the class on this part. My goal is to have it finished before we have our Formal Dinners.

The Formal Dinners are our opportunity to practice entertainment service with real guests in the Mansion. Local or regional VIPs are invited by the Principal. The pictures in the WSJ show us practicing serving at the table. We will also have to work on everything from floral arrangements, seating charts, 4 different styles of serving (French, Russian, English & American Plated), formal table setting (though we had a lot of practice the week before last with all the media here), door greeting and announcement protocols, cocktail service, after-dinner coffee service, etc. And, that is just the "front of the house" stuff. The list for the "back of the house" is equally as long.

The Principal and a close associate have separate evenings to invite their guests to these events. For our class, the events will be in 3 weeks. We have a lot to get done in 3 weeks.

Values, Standards & Morals

Here is what I spent the weekend working on. This is the first draft of what will become my Personal Statement.

In today’s advertising environment, phrases like “providing service over and above expectations”, “generosity” and “consideration” have become watered down. While I believe in these concepts, I believe further that only through example can these values be measured.

At Quigley Preparatory Seminary, I was taught that Christians in every walk of life are called to demonstrate love, generosity and consideration. Everything we do is to be done for the glory of God, including our work. I believe that honest work should be performed honestly. This means that all honest work can be a Christian vocation or calling. We do our jobs as Christians when we do our jobs as effectively and honestly as possible.

At seminary, I also understood that my vocation was not to the priesthood. I felt called to a different fatherhood. This decision was tested when we moved away from Chicago after my freshman year. I was given the opportunity to choose to live in the dormitory full-time or move to Milwaukee with my family. I did not return to Quigley.

I place great value in my family. I am thankful for the conscious effort my parents took to raise their children differently than they were raised. I take pride in providing a nurturing environment to my wife and children. In this environment, they are given the tools to materialize their visions; praise for their successes and sincere support for their failures. I cherish my time with Amy and the boys. After my faith, these are God’s greatest gifts to me.

That Was The Week That Was

I knew it would happen. Things would get hectic and the newest habits would be the first to be sacrificed. I will not make promises to do better. However, I might try to make smaller posts more frequently.

Last week was equal parts recovery from week 1, super busy in different ways and then a long weekend. A crew from NBC was on site with us most of Monday. CNBC and the Today show are doing articles about our school. First, we were filmed presenting our "Mirror" exercise. This is a self-evaluation done at the beginning and end of the course. We are challenged to measure our abilities against what we feel is the ideal. Afterwards, we had a crash course on setting a formal dining table for 12. After Sment Christmases and 8 years in dining rooms, this was not too much of a stretch for me.

On Tuesday, we began our Culinary courses. During the 3 hours, we were introduced to kitchen safety, hygiene and cleanliness. My zones so far have all been in the kitchen. It will be almost 3 straight weeks of dishes, sous chef and chef work. I will be very glad when this Friday rolls around and I will be finished with the kitchen zones. I cannot remember ever looking forward to dusting and vacuuming in this way. It is not that I mind working in the kitchen. Point of fact, I love it. However, it adds about 6 hours onto my day. By comparison, the non-kitchen zones are 2-3 hours extra per day. After 8 hours in class, the 2 hours of dinner prep, preparation and clean-up pretty much take the wind from my sails. I am not complaining, but I am looking forward to being in a different part of the mansion next week.

On Wednesday, we began our Wine & Spirits courses. During the 5 hours, we were introduced to the course layout (once per week for 3 hours). The instructor walked us through aperitifs: cocktails, sherries and other before dinner drinks. We also spent time in the kitchen mixing cocktails or trying aperitifs. We sampled a Manhattan, Lillet, a traditional Martini, Pernod, Margarita and a few others. No one really liked the Pernod, it is fortunate it is one of my favorite summer drinks. It went very well with dinner.

On Thursday, the camera man from NBC was back for some additional footage for the NBC spot. Otherwise, we were busy with in-class instruction and time to prepare our HM Books due at the end of June.

On Friday, the Wall Street Journal was in the mansion. WSJ is also doing an article on Starkey. Apparently Starkey is mentioned rather favorably and at some length (the entire second chapter) in an upcoming book about service. We spent the better part of the day with a photographer for the WSJ. The article is being written by the same man that wrote the book.

Friday night, Mr. B, another student and I went out. There's a punk bar around the corner. Johnny Cash was playing when we walked in. We took our beer to a booth, plugged the predominately country music jukebox with $5 and kicked back.

The weekend was quiet. Mr. B was out all day Saturday and most of the day Sunday. I went for a long walk on Saturday morning (6 miles) and then worked on my HM Book for the rest of the day. On Sunday, I walked the 2.5 miles to Christ Lutheran Center, a WELS mission in Denver. The 45 minute service was not quite enough rest for the 2.5 mile walk back though the 2 tacos asada y coca did provide the energy for the stroll home. Man, I love authentic Mexican food!

On Monday, we hung low. Mr. B and I changed our bedding, cleaned up the room and mostly just hung out. We have a big assignment due in the morning, so we focused on that when we weren't resting.

That's all from Denver. Have a great week.

It takes every kind of people

Of course, one of the most interesting aspects of the training is the other people in the class. There are 9 students in the class for all eight weeks. Five of the students are living on site, the other three are Denver natives and commute daily. The class relationship dynamics started taking shape around Thursday. Everyone was feeling the stress of the upcoming test. Yet, everyone rallied in their own way to be supportive of the other members. There was no "reality TV"-esque tear-down of people in the group. Thankfully, we seem to be well rounded both emotionally and in experience and no one has snapped, yet.

I was considering introducing you to the class. However, it will be difficult. Our ability to stay behind the scenes is of great value to our potential employers. I hope you can appreciate my respecting their privacy.

There is no need to mess that up for them.

Oh, oh big ol' jet airliner

I apparently left out the part where I am leaving town for training. Looking back over the past 14 days of posts, it might be obvious. But here is the lowdown. I flew out last night to Denver to attend Certification in Household Management training for 8 weeks. Classes are held in an actual late 19th century mansion. The 13,000 square feet include the school and school and placement administration. Rooms are also provided for the students. (That actually covers last night's post. Sorry, I was too tired to do it after the flight.)

The mansion is of fair size, comparable to Milwaukee's Pabst Mansion, though completely different in design. My first surprise was a roommate. I really came here with no expectations, so it was not an unwelcome surprise. Mr. B is a very nice man. As the roommate, I am sure he will be a recurring character. Dinner was provided on arrival; and, there was informal chatting among the resident students.

Class started today at 7:30. No problem, the time change and nervous jitters left me wide awake at 5:30 anyway. Continental breakfast and hit the classroom in the basement. The morning was filled with weekly assignments (zone assignments), an introduction to the code of ethics, an introduction to the staff and a presentation by the school founder. After lunch, we were introduced to the management system and the software. Some homework was assigned and the impression that yesterday was not too soon to start memorizing the important points of the training. After dinner, a number of us met in the classroom to work through the homework and start building the structure for our major projects.

That was the day. I am beat, so I will add more later. I am glad to see people peaking in. Drop a comment or email, I would be glad to hear from you.