hell hath frozen

i'm debating creating a twitter account for the same reason that i created both a blogger and a livejournal account: following people in the biz. but i'm also wondering if that's overload. i'm already following about 20 blogs between here and lj, and the info (while wonderful and helpful) is sometimes overwhelming. to be honest, it's just a LOT of reading, and while i don't want to be accused of not putting forth the required effort, it's just exhausting, though typically entertaining.

i have a lot of questions i can't seem to find answers to, more or less because every agent/author is different (duh) and likes different things as a result. some of them think a writer needs to build a platform through blogging/myspace/facebook/twitter, while others know that at the end of the day, it's all about the book, regardless of how awesome the author is as a person. thanks, Nathan. really helpful interview.

but yes. i know that authors tend to be reclusive hermits who don't do so well with the whole people thing. i love people (to an extent), and while i don't hate spending 4-8 hours of my day surrounded by them, i'm not entirely a fan. but i can turn the charm on and off as required by my situation. not bragging, just a fact. to work the front desk at a hotel, as my managers put it, you need to be able to act. act happy when you're having a bad day. act interested in their stories. act sympathetic and sorry when you don't have the exact thing a person needs. sometimes, this level of bonding isn't an act. we do have guests who frequently stay with us and have a rapport with us, or sometimes we have a guest who is genuinely fun to have a conversation with. but for the most part, that shit-eating grin we have when you walk through the door is a job requirement. the perkiness, the sympathy when we don't have the exact kind of toothpaste you use or when we've run out of chocolate foods in the vending machine... act.

the other portion of acting comes when you, as a guest, scream your head off at us for something insignificant. as a concrete rule, we CANNOT yell back at you without losing our jobs. so restraint comes into play here as well, when you make a snide comment about not getting the exact room you booked through the call center, even though they don't pay attention to our inventory and WILL force through reservations for room types we may not have available; or those days when you take your frustration out on us because we can't retaliate. i'm not your boss. i'm just the person behind the counter. i will do everything i can to ensure that your stay at my hotel is a pleasant one, but that doesn't give you the right to demean me or use me as your verbal punching bag because something hasn't gone your way. things haven't gone my way in about 3 years, and they don't pay me enough to make me the target of your insult. so go upstairs. now. do i say any of that? no. i get that puppy dog look on my face and swear that i will do everything in my power to make it right.

only when you have a genuine concern (i.e., non-working toilet, room smells like smoke, etc.) do i feel genuinely bad and will genuinely try to rectify the situation. when you come at me because the quilt on your king-sized bed is for a full-size (since they are actually over-sized to begin with) and let that ruin your stay do i hold zero remorse. no, i don't know why that is because i am not in charge of purchasing. it's moot. you just want to complain.

did i mention that i'm a people person?