Guide to Hotel Housekeeping Part 9

Keep busy. Improve each moment. Do not be afraid of too much work. The office-boy that sits around watching the clock, as if he might be waiting for his automobile to take him home, will never own the hotel.

The superintendent that has not enough patience to instruct properly a beginner may lose valuable a.s.sistants and can not hope to achieve a great enterprise.

Do not become discouraged and resign your position because it is not up to your ideal. It may be better to bear with the ills you have than fly to others you know not of.

SUGGESTIONS IN CASE OF FIRE.

It is hard to tell a housekeeper what to do or what not to do in case of fire. No two hotels are alike, and no two fires occur in the same way.

Circ.u.mstances are to be considered first. Much depends on the location and the progress of the fire, and whether it is night or day. It is an old maxim "that fire is a good servant but a hard master." Shakespeare wrote: "A little fire is quickly trodden out, which, being suffered, rivers cannot quench." It is bad policy to delay sending in the alarm to the fire department. Many persons put off this important duty until it is too late. They reason that it might alarm the guests and cause a panic and that they will be drowned out. Thus they battle with the flames with the incomplete fire apparatus belonging to the hotel, refusing the pet.i.tion to turn in an alarm to the fire department until the fire has gained such headway that it is impossible for even the skilled firemen to put it out. Thereby jeopardizing the lives of the hotel guests and also the lives of the firemen. No general in command of an army, no hero in battle deserves more praise than do these courageous men who hourly risk their lives to save lives and the property of others. Minutes count for something in a fire. The fire department can quickly and quietly put out a small fire, and the guests of the hotel may never know that a fire has occurred until it is all over. Panics usually follow when the people are face to face with the flames, and not at the sight of the fire department in front of the hotel. To a sensible mind, the fire engine and firemen should bring a feeling of safety. A feeling that if the hotel is on fire, the fire will soon be extinguished. Keep cool; don't run, and don't talk or give orders in an excited tone. Should a fire occur in a single room, close the door of that room to prevent the flames from spreading, and go to the nearest fire hose rack, and attach the hose to the plug and take the nozzle end to the door of the room in which the fire is started, then go back and turn on the water. If the water is turned on before the hose has been carried it will make the hose too heavy for one person to carry, especially if you have to climb a stairway or go any great distance; a fire hose when full of water is very heavy. The housekeeper should never desert the hotel in case of fire. She has in her possession keys to all doors. She is familiar with the location of windows and fire escapes, and the location of the fire extinguishers and axes. She knows the position of all stairways, particularly the top landing and scuttle to the roof. She knows where all fire proof doors are located, where the water pails are kept and she can render the firemen great service in directing them to a more advantageous position. All doors should be unlocked so that the firemen can have free access without breaking them in and causing delay. The doors, however, should be kept closed to prevent the fire spreading. The rapidity with which a building is consumed by flames is due to the wind and the draughts from stairways, open doors and windows and elevator shafts. The walls of elevator shafts and all vertical openings should be built of non-combustible material, such as brick and mortar and all elevators should be equipped with automatic traps. In case of a fire on the first floor, the automatic trap would fall when a certain degree of heat was reached and thus prevent the fire from reaching the second floor, and the progress of the fire would be delayed.

All fire hose should be tested every six months. A leak may have caused the hose to become worthless. All hose should be attached to the fire plug at all times and the little wrench for turning on the water should be tied to the rack where the hose is kept. All these essentials should be examined and carefully scrutinized by every housekeeper and chambermaid. A fire can make great progress while some inexperienced person is fumbling with and trying to attach the hose and turn on the water. There should be a red light in the hall in front of the fire escape window; a red light can be seen better than a white one. The view of the fire escape window should never be obstructed by any kind of a curtain.

All hotels should have a stand pipe, it will reduce the rate of insurance one-third.

Although few people know how to escape down a rope fire-escape, every room in the hotel should be equipped with one. All fire departments should have a life net; dropping into a life-net is not so hazardous as sliding down a rope when one is ignorant of the proper way to do it. The life nets are made of woven rope with springs, and are 10 feet in diameter. The firemen hold this net and persons dropping into it can be saved.

The Kirker Bender spiral tube fire-escape is the best and safest. In one minute 200 persons can slide through the Kirker Bender, to absolute safety. It is a very expensive fire escape, but expense should not be considered when building fire-escapes. There should be a fire-alarm box in every hall. Should a fire occur, on a floor where there is no fire-alarm box, a messenger would have to be dispatched to the office before the fire company could be notified. Some hotels have no fire-box at all. The fire-box being located a block away from the hotel.

Fire-boxes can be put in hotels with very little expense. It is an old saying--"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." This is especially true in the case of fire prevention. If the following precautions are taken, fires from accident or spontaneous combustion seldom occur.

_Fire Prevention._

Keep your hotel clean and never allow rubbish, such as paper, rags, cobwebs, old clothing and boxes to acc.u.mulate in closets and unused rooms. Don't allow coal oil lamps to be used by women patrons for the purpose of heating curling irons. Never put up gas brackets so they can be swung against door casings or immediately under curtains. Never keep matches in any but metal or earthen safes. Never keep old woolen rags that have been used in oiling and cleaning furniture, or waxing floors, unless in a tin can with a tin lid.

_Origin of Fires._

Fires are the results of accidents, of spontaneous combustion, and of design. If they have been accidental, the cause can generally be discovered, and it will be found, that they might have been prevented.

Carelessness and negligence are the cause of over two-thirds of all fires.

Electrical fires are caused from electric light wires lying against wood or iron, or coming in contact with water. A stream of water thrown on a heavily charged electric light wire will give a shock and may even kill the fireman holding the nozzle. This is one reason why the electric lights are cut off when a fire is raging and thus leaving people to grope their way out through darkness. All hotels should have hall-ways lighted by gas, and especially should a gas light with a red globe be placed in front of all fire escape windows.

Should a fire occur at night the housekeeper should give orders to have all doors unlocked and the gas lighted in the halls.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE HOUSEKEEPER.

The greatest wonder to my mind is that more women that must of necessity earn their livelihood, do not adopt the profession of hotel housekeeping. What nicer or more profitable way can a woman earn her living. Standing at my window of a stormy morning, I see many women going early through the wind and snow, sometimes rain, to their work, and I can not help comparing my daily tasks to theirs. Many of these women stand all day behind the counters of some large dry-goods store, where they are designated only as No. 1, No. 2, and so on. Some of the women are going to work in silk mills, where the looms keep up a deafening roar, and where, at their noon hour, they must eat a cold lunch. These women get a small salary, on an average $8.00 a week, and out of this they must pay their room, board and laundry bills.

I could not refrain from contrasting the hotel housekeeper's position with that of other women-workers in cities. The housekeeper has a good, warm room, clean bed, hot and cold bath, and the best eating that the hotel affords. She may command the respect of all other employes in the house, and may make many life-long friends. My advice to any young woman seeking a situation is to start right at chamber-work, to keep her wits sharp, and her head on her shoulders. To be sure, there are many temptations, all of which the average girl should be able to resist. But a chambermaid with a modest and reticent disposition may never meet with any pitfalls, at least, no more than would be encountered in a dry-goods store or factory. From chambermaid, she may get promoted to the linen-room, where she will be s.h.i.+elded and protected from interlopers, and will have plenty of leisure to sew or to mend for her own benefit.

She can save money, for she will have better pay in the linen-room. She will also have better food, and will learn something of the executive management of the hotel. Naturally, she will see more of the proprietor or the manager, and will learn his ideas and principles, which knowledge may be useful to her in later years. Time brings about many changes, and hotels change proprietors, as well as housekeepers and managers. Often, when a new manager makes his appearance, he will bring his housekeeper or linen-room woman with him; in this case, the linen-room woman may have to secure another situation. Now is her chance to take a step higher on the ladder, by obtaining a position as housekeeper.