Mimi

I woke up early this morning and couldn't go back to sleep. I got up motivated to blog about Mimi.

On Monday night I took a taxi to a Holiday Inn in Vancouver, WA. Behind the desk was the most delightful, enthusiastic, energetic and cheerful hotel person I have ever met. She appeared to be in her 20s, Asian, very petite, using a thick accent, and LOVING her job.

Two or three times in checking me in she asked, me, "I tell you dis da BEST Holiday Inn in da WHOLE nort-west? (She talked very fast, but with LOTS of emotion).

She checked me in and told me all about the hotel. Offered me a chocoate macadamian nut cookie on the counter and at least twice she said, "Dis is a Quiet NOOOOO party hotel. After ten o'clock, you hear any noise, you call Mimi."

I set off to my room to get settled. First priority, ice. I grabbed my bucket and headed down the hall. Got to the ice machine and found it was broken. In the process of leaving the small vending room, I dropped and broke the ice bucket. I headed to the desk. She saw me coming, "ohhhhh. We very sorry der no ice. I find you ice. You like it I come to your room?"

I gave her the bucket and said, "sure you can bring it up."

A few minutes later she brings it up and comes in the room. "Dis is only half, like you say, but you sure it enough?" I assured her it was. She said, "Now, you remember, dis a NOOOOO party hotel. You hear any noise after 10 p.m., and you call Mimi."

Second priority: Internet access. But I was at the end of the hall and the signal was not coming in so I called the desk. "Hellooooooo Mrs. Fletcher." It's Mimi again. I explain my problem. She said, "Oh, I have just da thing. I have a cable. I come to your room?"

I said, "You were just up here. Are you sure you want to?" "Oh, Yes. I be right der."

Within five minutes she's at the door scurrying in the room. She has a plastic bag with an ethernet cable and a box with an antena. She says, "You a computer person." I said, "yeah, kind of." She said, "Good. I not a computer person. My husband come home all da time and he say, "I put new software on the computer and I say, "OH NO. Not AGAIN?"

I assured her I could figure it out. She noticed it needed to be plugged in and said, "I plug in for you?" and before I said yes she was on all fours crawling under the desk to plug it in.

She said, "Now, if dis not work, der a LAST resort. You come down to desk and I give you cord for business center and dat WORK!" And then she said, ""Now, you remember, dis a NOOOOO party hotel. You hear any noise after 10 p.m., and you call Mimi."

WIthin in a few minutes I realized that the box was simply an antenna to convert the wireless signal to an ethernet table, so it wasn't going to work. I finished eating my snack and headed down to the desk.

She saw me holding my computer and said, "OOOOOh.... You ready for da LAST resort." and handed me the cable. I went to the business office. Within a few minutes she's waving at me through the window and says, "Last resort working?" I assured her it was.

Later that night my "boss" showed up and we were talking in the lobby and he mentioned he hadn't eaten. I told him about the cookies so he went to the desk looking for some, but the plate was empty. Mimi looks at her co-worker and says, "I go and get the EMERGENCY cookies." WIthin a couple seconds she returned with cookies for Bill.

As I was heading up to the room for the final time she says, Now, you remember, dis a NOOOOO party hotel. You hear any noise after 10 p.m., and you call Mimi." By this time, I'm just picturing her, this tiny little thing, confronting huge drunk football players and I ask her, "So, if they are noisy, Mimi, what are you going to do, beat them up?" She responds:

"I do it Mimis way. I teach them Tai Chi and they calm right down."

We laughed and I headed off to bed, wishing that everyone I knew was that committed to their jobs, that enthusiastic about life, and that invested in making sure that their customer was completely satisfied.