One should never take one’s job for granted. A small mistake can put one in big trouble. I learnt this lesson in a hard way.
It was the morning shift and I was busy cleaning one of the rooms when a contract worker engaged for polishing marble floors approached me. He wanted one of the guest rooms to be opened for floor polishing.
As per the Standard Operating Practice (SOP) of the Orchid, employees of the hotel are not allowed to give their key cards to outsiders. As I was engrossed in doing my work, I thoughtlessly gave my key card to the contract worker.
Later in the evening, I was summoned to the floor manager’s cabin and told about the jewellery missing from a guest’s room which I was assigned to clean.
In the six years of my service at the Orchid, this was the first time that my name was being entered in the complaint book. The saving factor was that my seniors were very supportive while the enquiry was on.
Moreover, the camera placed in strategic areas of the hotel helped in detecting the culprit. It was none other than the contract worker to whom I had given the key card. We saw him opening the guest’s room instead of the adjacent room, where the marble polishing was required.
