Struggling with surprises

Every day here is surprising. When you think everything is going fine, something new arises. Today has been a hard day. Since my boss hardly is around since the other hotel is opening next week, it’s been very difficult to find the time to talk to her. I don’t consider myself an egoistic person, but I do believe that when a person takes an intern from another country, that person should also accept the fact that that intern will need more guidance than one from the hosting country. Here this rule doesn’t apply though since I was told today with a very firm voice that I should not expect any special treatment. My boss even compared me to my Italian colleague and said that I should be more like her and know how to do things without being told. I should also know what to do, even though nobody has told me. This after a week. Nice.

This all came up when I despite my tries this week, have failed to talk about my working hours with my boss. She is always in the company of other people or in a rush, and therefore I didn’t know when my first free day would be. Since my colleague G works different hours than me, I knew for sure that she would meet my boss in the morning and therefore I asked her to ask my boss if this could be my free day. I know it wasn’t the best way to go about, but I didn’t expect G to tell me the answer. Seeing as I live in the hotel, my boss could easily pick up the reception phone and call me to give me the answer. Instead she decided to have G to call me and tell me that my boss wants to talk to me. When I came down to the lobby, I got a fair doze of orders. Now afterwards I feel really bad since I’ve tried to do my best here. My boss even said that if I don’t like the way she works in, I can take the next airplane back home. The funny part is that I would gladly do that if it would be possible. The harsh truth is that for these people I am merely a worker, nothing more, nothing less. Maybe a friend to G, but for sure I’m not a friend of my boss.

But I have decided not to give up. It would be too easy, and I need the credits for this internship. It’s always like this in the beginning in Italy. One should never think that being here is easy. It is a hard mental test. You have to deal with a lot of things on your own, and it’s for sure not easy. But I know I can do it, I’ve done it before. Once we get used to each other in the hotel, it will become easier. I get along with everybody else, and I am sure that my boss didn’t take this conversation as hard as I did. Once before she said something mean to me, and later she was normal again. It’s just her way of acting. I can understand seeing as she is a hard working entrepreneur, but she will never be a good boss if she fails to admit that she errors.

The ironic part of it all is that the things I do wrong are the things I don’t know. Now she agreed to sit down with me tomorrow and go through my working hours and days, something she should have done from the beginning. I have just not been a high priority here since the other hotel is opening. I’m really excited to meet my new colleague who will work side by side with me when she arrives. From Tuesday, I will work alone in the reception with my boss until my colleague arrives I think in the middle of May. We’ll see how it goes.

Thank God I have a good boyfriend. I don’t know what I would do without him. It’s impossible to describe in words how much I miss him. His support has been priceless.