Lunch Break

Lunch Break

*TW FOR GUNS* 

Sandra opened the microwave and took her lunch out to eat. She came in early this morning, around 8:00am. According to the job description, housekeeping starts their shift at 9am. No one comes in that late. Most of the crew makes their way in before 8:30, to give them time to prepare their cleaning carts. Everyday is a new battle for clean towels, sheets, and duvets. Sandra sighed wearily, thinking about the 2 duvets and 3 sets of towels she had for the 15 rooms on her list. She spooned up the liquid fire of mac and cheese, and stuffed it in her mouth, ignoring the searing heat escaping her mouth as she chewed. She would rather eat her lunch in the break room rather than stress trying to get some food from the outside. She only has 30 minutes after all.

 Dalton came in while Sandra closed her eyes while she ate, pretending she was somewhere better. Face buried in his phone, he didn't even look up as he found a chair and plopped down. Dalton is a houseman, he's kind of like help for the housekeepers. Housemen make sure the rooms are stripped and garbage emptied before the housekeepers come in to clean. It really makes a difference, especially when you only have 30 minutes or less to clear a room. Dalton is one of the younger of the staff. He's friendly enough, as long as you're not management. Although a decent worker, he's prone to hiding in the stairwell on his phone, and not afraid to speak his mind. Sandra likes him well enough, he always had her beds made and got what she needed when asked. "How is laundry? Are they still backed up?" Sandra threw the question out, gauging how her day will go after her break. She spooned more lava mac and cheese and sipped her coke. "There's a mountain of shit on the floor waiting to be washed and not shit on the table. It's definitely going to be a few hours." The news didn't bode too well. With all the checkouts this morning and the callouts from her fellow coworkers, they probably wouldn't be done until after 7pm. She sighed an even greater sigh. It was only Monday.

Suddenly, the door flew open with the flurry of another coworker coming through. Markesha flew to the sink and splashed cold water on her face. She was pale as a ghost, which is saying something, because she had a blemish-free mocha skin tone. Dalton shot his head up from all the commotion, suprised out of his zombie-like scrolling. Sandra jumped up, "Are you okay? You look whiter than a sheet of paper, girl." Markesha gripped the sink, eyes shut, trying to stabalize her breathing. "I just had a gun in my face." Markesha said obviously still trying to cope with the situation. "WHAT?!" They both exclaimed, rushing to her side to comfort her. "I was doing stay-overs. When I knocked on this one door, no one answered. I called and knocked 3x and then went to open the door with the keycard. It only opened a little bit. It had the deadbolt chain locked from the inside. By the time I realized it, a gun poked out of the crack of the door right in my face. The guy thought someone was breaking into his room. What if he would've shot me???" Markesha started to cry, realizing how easily she could've been hurt. "Oh my God, honey!" Sandra gripped her in a tight hug, rubbing her back in comfort. "Did you tell the manager??" Dalton pipped up, eyes huge with worry. "Yes, they went to talk to him. He didn't see anything wrong with what he did." She responded with her brow furrowing in frustration. "He tried to say I tried to come in without calling out, but that is a damn lie! I know he had to have heard me Sandra, you know how loud I call out." Sandra nodded in agreement, but her eyes seethed with anger. What if he would have shot her? Markesha has 2 wonderful children, and a heart of gold. It would tear her up inside if anything happened to her, Sandra thought to herself. "Take a seat girl, and collect yourself, they know you're in here right?" Sandra questioned about the manager. "Yeah, she told me to go ahead and take my break, then come back on the floor fresh. I don't know how I'm gonna do that. I can't even stop shaking!" Markesha sat down in one of the plastic chairs and laid her head down on the table, her long braids spilling over it. "You hang out there for a second, I'm gonna go grab you something to drink from the front." Sandra squeezed Markesha's shoulder, then made her way out of the breakroom.

Markesha breathed deeply as Dalton sat down at the neighboring table, unsure what to do or say. While his mind ruffled through what he could say to her, another houseman walked into the room. “Dude! Some guy left his whole dick print on the headboard, pubes and all!” He was directing his statement to Dalton, but Camrin saw Markesha in her current state, and lifted an eyebrow in confusion. "You all good? Did you pass out or something on the floor?" Dalton spoke for her, "Nah, someone pulled a gun on her!" Camrin looked down at Markesha, "Damn, for real? Well, at least they didn't pull the trigger on you." Not sure how to respond to that, Markesha just nodded her head. Camrin continued, “At least it’s over with, luckily you didn’t have to clean his room after.” He cracked the joke hoping to alleviate some of the tension, but it fell flat.

Sandra re-entered the break room, carrying bottled water and a candy bar. She handed both to Markesha. “I’ll see ya’ll out on the floor. Dalton, let me know when you come on, I gotta show you this dick dude.” Dalton lifted his head in a nod, indicating that he would most definitely do that. As Camrin made his way out of the door, Dalton turned his attention to Sandra. “Did you bring me anything?” Dalton questioned, eyeing Sandra’s pockets. “You got legs, and cash, you go get you something yourself.” Dalton rolled his eyes and then began to tap on his phone once more. Sandra sat back down beside Markesha. She hoped this encounter wouldn’t cause her to quit. They needed as many workers as they could get their hands on. It seemed like the Hilton’s revolving door kept bringing in new hires and tossing them right back out. Not everyone is cut out for the hard work of housekeeping, but at least no one had a gun pointed in their face, before now anyways.

Cindy, the department manager, stuck her head in. “Are you doin’ alright hun?” Markesha raised her head up and began to open her water. “Yeah, I’ve just never experienced that before. It was so scary!” Cindy came in the room fully now, and glanced over at Dalton. “What are you doin’ in here? Do the girls have what they need on the floors?” Dalton hopped up, his phone miraculously out of sight. “Everyone is waiting on laundry, I heard what happened to ‘Kesha and wanted to make sure she was alright.” Dalton smiled, steadily making his way out of the room. Sandra had a sneaking suspicion that he wasn’t on his scheduled break. “I can handle it from here, I’m sure there’s something else you could be doing, like making beds.” Cindy said, eyes slightly narrowing. “Gotcha! See you later!” He fled from the room, making a hasty exit before Cindy decided to continue the conversation.

Cindy came to sit down across from Markesha. She put her hand on hers and gave a squeeze for comfort. Cindy is usually breathing down necks when it came to work, but occasionally, she could shed her hard exterior and could be empathetic sometimes. “I know that was quite a shocker, but break is almost over and I’m going to need you to get ready to get back out there.” Ah, there’s the real Cindy. Markesha’s eyes widened, “I don’t think I’m ready to go back out there just yet.” Cindy lips upturned into a sad smile. “I know, but we have a job to do, and if you went home we would just be here longer.” Markesha lowered her eyes to the table. Sandra felt for her coworker. Honestly, she didn’t want her to leave either. If Markesha dipped out, that would leave the rest of her rooms for everybody else to finish. If people worked together to knock the rooms out, it wouldn’t be so difficult. However, there are a couple people on shift who won’t help the rest, leaving as soon as their own rooms are done. The managers could make them stay of course, but they would have to catch them before they made it out the door.

Cindy and Sandra sat with her a moment longer, comforting her however they could. Before too long though, break time was over. Cindy stood and patted Markesha on the shoulder. “Just don’t be too long, we gotta knock this work out.” As Cindy made her way out, Markesha let out one last long sigh. “Well, I’ve wasted enough time. Let’s just get this over with so I can go home.” Sandra gave her one last big hug. “I’m here for you girl, and don’t worry, I’ll help you knock your rooms out. If we work together, we will get done sooner, and then I’ll treat you to a stiff-ass drink!” Markesha let a small smile spread across her lips. “This really is a thankless job, but somebody’s got to do it.” Sandra got up to walk out of the room with her. “Hey, at least you can say your job isn’t boring!” Sandra jested, poking her in the rib. Markesha’s smile widened, “Lord only knows what these people are gonna throw at me next.” They both exited the room, making their way to their respective floors. The room rang with silence after all of the commotion, and then the lights flicked off, waiting for its next guest to enter.