Are You Okay?

“Hey”

Blaire stopped arranging her cart when Ginny called her. She’s currently on the ground floor, inside the staff room, currently preparing all the things she’ll need once she started her shift. She looked up to see Ginny but when she looked directly into her eyes, Blaire immediately bowed down to avert her gaze.

“I’m going to study in the living room so I want you to stay out of there when I finished my shift.”

“Got it.”

“Good.”

After setting the deal, Ginny went out of the room. Blaire then continued arranging the things in her cart before proceeding to the 8th floor of the inn.

Blaire finishes her shift 2 hours before Ginny’s shift ends so the former arrives home earlier. Usually, Blaire would watch in the living room while waiting for Ginny to come home then she will have her dinner after Ginny arrives. They don’t eat dinner together, but Blaire wanted to acknowledge Ginny as her roommate so she wanted to wait for her to arrive before she could eat her dinner. For the past few months that they were staying together, she learned that Ginny isn’t that good at cooking so she decided to cook food for them and that they would share in the expenses for the food overall. The water and electric bills were also shared by the two and since they don’t consume so much water and electricity, their bills are mostly on the minimum amount.

They still are considered not friends, but they somehow learned how to get along. Their first month was mostly with Ginny, calling her names and pointing out how she hates Blaire so much without giving her any reason why, but for the following months, Blaire became accustomed to Ginny’s choice of words that she doesn’t pay much attention to the insults she’s receiving.

Anyway, today starts her shift on the 8th floor, since Margaret assigned her to be designated on it. Five days ago, she was promoted to be one of the assigned employees on the 6th up to 8th floor because of her great performance ever since she started working. In addition, Margaret believed that Blaire should be on the higher floors in the first place because she excelled on the preliminary test.

The ambiance of the floor as soon as she enters is quite different from the other floors. She had been assigned from the second up to the fifth floor, but this is the first time Blaire’s going to be assigned to the 8th floor.

“Quite breezy, yes?”

She looked at the person on the front desk of the floor and a man in his early 40s greeted her with a warm smile. He wears a long-sleeve beneath his uniform and even earmuffs. Blaire went to the front desk and bowed her head.

“I am Blaire Andoreal and had been assigned to work on this floor,” she said as she introduced herself.

“Oh, please,” the man stated while waving both of his hands, “no need to be formal at all. I am Lester, the front desk staff on this floor. Call me Les if you want, and don’t worry, Blaire, everyone in this area knew about your accomplishments so you don’t have to be stiff and formal in front of us.”

Blaire then smiled and bowed deeper to express her gratitude. Since there is no available room to clean yet, she stayed at the front desk together with Lester.

“Every one of us here on the 8th floor is in the mid-30s up to mid-50s. So we were all shocked when we heard from Miss Marge that a newly hired housekeeper in her early 20s was able to clean the room minutes before the time limit. We were so thrilled to meet you, you know. Because most of the young ones are, let’s say, working here because they just need a job to sustain their needs.”

She didn’t respond, but then Lester continued to speak. “It’s rare to see someone who is considered passionate enough in cleaning.” Then he looked at Blaire and smiled, to which the latter responds with a smile while lowering her head.

“Anyway aren’t you feeling cold? This floor is considered the most premium floor because the hallway is also air-conditioned. You’d barely see a housekeeping staff to not wear any long-sleeved top underneath the uniform, or on top of it.”

“I didn’t know that the hallway would also be air-conditioned so I didn’t bring any additional sleeved top with me”

“No one informed you about this?” Lester asked. Blaire shook her head as a response.

“Are you feeling cold now?”

“A little bit. But I think I can manage somehow. It’s just that… I’m not very fond of cold.”

“Do you want me to lend you some jacket? I have an extra in my locker, I can let you borrow it for the time being.”

She waved her hands while shaking her head. “No, thank you,” she says, “I swear I can manage the cold,” she added.

Lester sighed in disappointment.

“If you say so, but if you couldn’t bear the coldness you can stay outside, on that fire exit or the balcony at the opposite end of the hallway we’re facing.”

It’s been half an hour and still, none of the rooms taken had asked for housekeeping services. The cold temperature makes Blaire feel chills but because she doesn’t want to let Lester know it, she’s grinding her teeth to prevent the chills to take over her body.

“U-uhm…”

Blaire stuttered to speak.

“What is it?” Lester responded.

“Can I, can I go to the toilet?”

“Of course, it’s at the balcony. Look at your right side after you opened the door of the balcony, the peach door is the toilet for the housekeeping staff.”

Blaire stood and thanked him before going into the toilet.

‘Thankfully the toilet is outside. Gosh, this floor’s going to kill me due to this coldness.’ Blaire thought.

After using the toilet, she stayed for at least 15 minutes on the balcony, mesmerizing at the night sky and the colorful lights emitted by several nightclubs within the area.

She went back to the front desk when her smartwatch started buzzing, indicating that her assigned room is now asking for a housekeeping service.

“Did you enjoy gazing outside?” Lester asked her as soon as he saw her walking towards the desk.

Blaire smiled and answered, “Yes, it’s lovely.”

He then noticed that her smartwatch is producing red light. “Finally got your first room cleaning, eh?”

“Fortunately, yes. I was looking forward to this. I’ll just go ahead, Les. Thanks for your company, I enjoyed it.” She said then smiled.

“No worries, I feel the same way. Enjoy your work!”

She looked on her watch which showed room 8102 to be the room that asked for the said service. She pushed her cart and went to the said room. Before entering, the watch reminded her that the lodger is inside the room as well and requesting for a housekeeping service for half an hour while taking a shower.

This made Blaire more nervous than ever. Before starting her shift, Margaret gave her some reminders that most often, special deluxe or premium lodgers would make a request to housekeeping services while they are in the room, especially at the showers, so staffs should make a double effort in cleaning the room without causing any trouble for the lodger. Whatever we heard or saw in the room must not be disclosed with other staff or the consequence would be losing the job.

Housekeeping staff on the upper floors are given a smartwatch which serves as the commanding device. Only the staff on the front desk will have the walkie-talkie while the rest will use the smartwatch, each will be assigned in a room so no staff would be pointing another in case of trouble.

Smartwatches are connected to a device of each room where the lodgers could make requests regarding housekeeping services, stating their preferences or current situation when requesting one. They could even make some other requests such as ordering some foods or adding some linens, whichever they like.

“Good day. Housekeeping services,” Blaire announced after knocking on the door. No one responded. Using her card, she opened the door and started pushing her cart inside.

As soon as she entered the room, she could hear the water running off the shower so she started changing the linens. She carefully put all the candy wrappers scattered on the table in the trash bin, dusting off the table while maintaining the devices and other personal things as is on it. She then went to the closet to remove all the trash and put on a new bin when she bumped into someone. The trashes are now scattered on the floor.

“Hey, are you okay?”

Blaire immediately opened her eyes and saw that the lodger had just finished his shower. She then looked onto her watch which indicated that she’s just cleaning for 10 minutes.

“I’m… I’m so sorry, sir! I didn’t mean to!”

Blaire panicked and picked all the trashes immediately when the man sat in front of her and looked at her.

“Are you okay?” He repeated.

“Y-Yes, sir. I’m sorry I thought you’ll finish at a later time, I just went here to remove the trash, I’m so sorry!” She said while averting his gaze. She’s too embarrassed to look at the man in front of her since he’s just covering the lower half of his body with a towel while his upper body is naked.

“Did I startle you?”

Admitting the truth, Blaire blushed slightly while confirming that she was startled.

“I’m sorry. Please take your time cleaning the room, I’ll just return to the shower since I just came out to get something I forgot.” He then stood up and reached for the body spray in his cabinet before heading back to the shower. When she heard the running water once again, Blaire sighed deeply and continued cleaning the room in a swift motion. As soon as she finished spraying the peppermint air freshener, she immediately left the room and notified the man that she finished cleaning through her smartwatch.

“What an embarrassing first day,” She said out loud before sighing.