I've been working as a General Manager for my mom at her hotels since August 2007 after getting out of the Air Force. It's been over a year and a half of constant struggle and loads of conflict with different people. I'm glad to have influence that actually affects people lives rather than living a life of inconsequential existence. Of course, as Stan Lee states in Spiderman, "
With great power comes great responsibility."
As a junior officer in the Air Force that was heavily overmanned, I basically got away with doing nothing at work. Even if I wanted to actually do something worthwhile, I'd get stonewalled due to my lack of experience. So I spent my time doing random pet projects and volunteering as much as I could in the hopeless Chapel system. I hated feeling like I was a waste of life, but I got to meet and hang out with some really cool and interesting people my age. No power. No responsibility.
Since August 2007, I've been the General Manager at my mom's two hotels. Working under my mom as a General Manager, day-to-day, I'm the owner of the hotel. Other than depositing the checks/cash into the bank and stocking the vending machines which my mom does, I pretty much deal with the day to day issues, and overall strategy of the hotel. I don't want to go into the details of what it's like to own your own business as this'll get way too lengthy.
My linked in profile goes through the "professional" accomplishments:
www.linkedin.com/in/jeffersonmkimWhat it doesn't disclose are the personal conflicts that I've had to deal with:
- The meetings I had with the previous General Manager dealing with the over $20,000 in checks he embezzled.
- The numerous employees I've had to fire/discipline for not showing up, stealing money, making out with their boyfriend while on duty, watching TV instead of working their shift, not falling payroll procedures, etc. Some employees would chew me out while others would say completely nothing as they would just stop showing up to work without any explanation.
- Closing a $12.6 million sale of a hotel and (still) dealing with the legal disputes with the purchasers. . .
- Holding vendors accountable whenever they fail to meet expectations (which happens a lot)
- Going through the process of evicting employees/guests
- Getting verbally chewed out by guests for not refunding money, and just about every other reason you can think of
- Trying to communicate with your mother. . . who's also your boss.
And the list goes on. . .
20 employees. Business travelers. Tourists. Locals looking for someplace for a fling. Corporate. Vendors. The mortgage company. My accountant. Insurance audits. Federal Government. California State. Buena Park City. Orange County. Health Inspectors. The police. Lawsuits. Prostitutes. Guests trying to hustle you. Unpaid debts. The next door neighbor who's too loud at night. Hordes of telemarketers and salespeople. 131 hotel rooms. Your mom as your boss. And the profit of the hotel.Every single person above has their own personal objective and my hotel is a means to their end. A lot of times I have to say "no" in order to maximize the profit of the hotel, or I have to confront and terminate relationships for the sake of the profit of the hotel.
For some people I facilitate their life objectives well, and there's a certain level of professional respect (but never love). For others, I'm the only thing between them and their objective. So naturally, I take the heat because there's no one else to contend for the profitability of the hotel.
I'm seen as a means to an end by most, hated by some, and loved by none.
I've never really had a deep need to gain the acceptance of others, otherwise, I'm in the wrong line of work. I'd rather change the world and be hated by all, then be loved by everyone and get nothing done. This is not to say that there are a lot of days where I'm just completely emotionally drained from dealing with so much conflict, but then I think about the fact that I can't really see myself doing any other line of work except upper management. Plus, I'm just glad to have a job in this economy with my young age and lack of experience.
From what I understand of upper management, this is just the nature of the job.
Any of you in upper management that can recommend ways to help cope with the constant conflict and resulting isolation?
