Happy days in Reception

Photo time!

Reception is such a serious place where responsibilities aren't taken lightly but we needed to have some fun so I would like to show you what we do when we don't help guests or answer phones...

Meet Moira, when a camera pops out, she pops a smile.

Bothering Sumi while she's marking my PoE...

Best training ever.

Those are for the customers!

Looking professional but not me!

I actually look like the dumb one in the group...

Women call this multitasking, men call this impossible.

Reception had Moira on her knees.

Sondela owns me...

Our three managers, Martin, Sumi and Divan.

And they can be cool too...

Lost & Found
If nobody comes and claims these shoes within a few months, we can have them.
I hope I'm the lucky one since they're my size!

If  you're in reception, this is your best friend...

First cup of the day.

Yummy coffee...

Yes, it's that 'lekker'.

Caught again.

Reception and coffee go hand in hand...

Tea break around the copy machine.

I'm not sure what's supposed to happen in this photo...

Be sure to wear your name badge in Reception!

Actually doing some work for a change, on my PoE.

Reception (1st weekend on duty)

Let me just tell you, I have never been more grateful that heaters exist than ever before...
I know what it feels like to stand outside in the cold until 9PM for welcoming so when I had to do my first weekend shift in Reception, I didn't mind the long hours so much since I wasn't cold at all and in Reception, the time flies.

My first few check in's, Sumi kept an eagles eye over me until I got used to the rhytm and the rhyme you need to remember.  When she was happy that I could do it on my own, I was allowed to check in guests.  In the corner of her eye, I know she was watching me because before I even said 'uhm' to a guest she was there to give her assistance.

The most important thing that I've learned over this whole weekend is not something in the workplace, but I gained a little insight on myself.  I am a person that has trouble taking information in when given class but I learn really fast when you show me something and the next time I do it by myself.  Over the last couple of days I have learned how to book activities and charge it to guest accounts, then receiving the payment for it.  On Monday, I had my first till, where I accepted money and at the end of the day, I had a cash up.  Unluckily, I didn't balance but we found the problem easily enough the next morning.

One thing I didn't need to learn, which came pretty naturally, was my customer interaction skills.  I can read a guest very quickly and I can adjust myself towards their mood and mindset which helps with knowing if you can crack a joke with the guest or to help the guest as speedy as possible without any delays or hiccups.

Elsie, my Head of Department, told me that in Reception it's not always wise to make jokes with guests because you never know in what mood their in or how their journey to you was, so it's better to not make jokes just in case you make it with the wrong person but I handled it very well.

In the end, I absolutely LOVE reception, I'm learning so much and funny enough, only a small bit of that is actually about the work itself, but I'm growing within myself.  I'm growing more confident and it has a lot to do with the motivation and good feedback I'm receiving from both Elsie and Sumaya.  I love it so much here, I wish I could do my nine weeks in Reception!

One thing I should probably mention, I have a problem with remembering things, like this weekend I forgot to give guests their keys and when they arrived at the chalet, they only realized it, so mistakes do happen but I won't forget to give keys again and I've worked out a very good system for remembering messages that I need to give over to specific persons.  At the end of the day, a job is what you make of it and you need to make your job your own, each person has a different way of doing things, doesn't mean yours is right or wrong but as long as it works for you...

Taking photos right when I'm asking for help...

Overall, I am happy with my progress so far and these weeks are flying by faster than I would have wanted...

First week in Reception

Let me start off by saying, we're three girls!  Moira, Tarine and myself...

 On the first day, Sumaya, our training manager had her hands full with the three newly transitioned bush babes.

She shows us how UniRes works.

She listens when we have questions.

Shows us the correct way of answering a telephone.

Shows us how the copy machine works.

She's a mentor, a trainer and a friend.

Sumaya is the light (not at the end of the tunnel) but all along the tunnel.  As our transition was a bit hectic, coming from bush and khaki to heaps of papers and the shrill sound of the telephone ringing, Sumi made the transition as smooth as it could get.  We fell into the motions and procedures fairly quickly and this weekend, I'm on duty.  I have to check people in and I still don't have an idea how to...  Hold on, I'll be right back, the phone is ringing...

Hallooooooo!

I have finally arrived in my chosen part of the year, the hospitality part!  I'm so glad that I no longer have to carry sun block around with me through the entire winter, I don't need to carry a 2kg Leatherman with me and I don't need to wear boots that weigh more than me.  It was fun (not always) but I'm happy to experience something new!  First up...

Reception

Goodbye

Well, it's the last week of Resource Guardianship and overall, conservation...  In some ways I am soooo happy to be finished with the boy jobs and in some ways I am absolutely petrified and heartbroken to say goodbye, not to the course but to the people.  These aren't just any people, these are my friends and in many ways my work family.

Elani, Johan, Morne and Arno, the last 18 weeks were scary at first but I grew to love you all and build friendships with you that I would like to maintain for the rest of my life.  Hopefully we'll be in some courses together in the next half of the year.

Moira, Zanderi, Karen and Sulize, at first I was very sceptical about you guys since  you were the competing team but we meshed together instantly and it was fun to have more estrogen on the team and together we showed the boys that we can do it, most of the time even better than they could.

I will seriously miss you guys...

The best RG group ever...

Mulching

We were sent to help the second years with one of their projects, Sheet Mulching. In this you pick a piece of ground that you would like to make a garden or grow vegetables in, now make your garden.  No, it's not the kind you're thinking of, working over the ground, wetting each day, this is an INSTANT garden.  You choose your spot, chop down any big plants in the way, if there are small plants you can build the garden over it, it's more compost which means more nutrition for the ground.  Next you throw a layer of compost or fertilizer in the shape you want your garden, try and stay away from obvious shapes like squares and circles since bugs tend to target these shapes.  Next put greens in, which means live plants that you've chopped down.  Cover that layer with a layer of cardboard which overlaps each other in order to keep moisture inside the mulching and older plants don't get oxygen and die.
Add more layers, one layer that's easy to decompose and one that's a little more difficult but remember your layers need to be biodegradable material.  On the last layer, throw lawn clippings or leaves as a 'cosmetic' layer to hide the chaos underneath.

Now in order to plant things, make a hole from top to bottom, only wide enough for the plant you are planting and watch it grow...

Kitchen scraps can also be used but if you have wild animals or pets that have access to the garden, avoid doing this.

REMEMBER!  Water each layer before adding the next and give water throughout but if  you do forget, it's not the end of the world since the layers seal in the moisture.

We planted pizza seeds.

The finished project, well almost, they still need to plant the plants.

Poaching

No, we didn't actually poach anything, we were taught how to walk through the bush and look for clues and snares and even the poachers themselves.  Elani, Arno, Moira and myself were in a team.  We had our very own hand signals and everything.  We walked in a line, with about three or four meters between each of us and we all looked right. If I needed their attention since I was the first person on the left, I would make a calling sound that sounded something like a bird.  We found a bunch of snares and even markers in trees and we found a poacher in a tree.  Now you might wonder what we as first years did against a poacher but don't worry, it was a pretend poacher, our second year, Monica was having a lot of fun with her role.  We followed the steps exactly like the book says, we questioned her before making any assumptions and once arresting her, we read her, her rights.  A few photos for you to see what we found and our signals.

The poacher tried to make a run for it but she did not succeed.

Hand signal for stop.

Hand signal for look.

Hand signal for danger.

Hand signal for snare.

Asking questions.

Markers in trees that we found.

The poachers hands need to be secured.

Four students and IT.