Date: Mon, 12 Jan 2015 14:46:17 +0000
From: Allan Brettell <cfgw2000@aol.com>
Subject: Life's Illusions - Chapter 2 - A New Life - Adult  Relationships

If you enjoy this site which is free and relies on donations please donate
at the address below.

Http://Donate.nifty.org/donate.html

Life's Illusions - Chapter 2 - A New Life.



For nearly a year now I've lived in Torremolinas.

I came here from my home in the US after a bitter breakup with my ex and
I'd never been back.

Josh tried dozens of times to contact me but for a long, long time I'd
refused to speak to him, he'd emailed me almost daily for the first few
weeks and I'd never replied.

He'd poured his heart out telling me over and over how sorry he was, what a
fool he'd been, how he regretted hurting me, how he was praying that I
would give him another chance to make it up to me to let him show me how I
was his world his one love.

I'd read the first few then started deleting them as they arrived and I
knew Josh sent everything with a read request so he would know I was
deleting them without even reading them.

I tried to hate him but I couldn't, I thought about him constantly in those
first few weeks, I wanted to talk to him, to ask him, why, was I a
disappointment, a bad lover, did I do something wrong.

I had this feeling that somehow I'd caused him to hurt me so I was the one
at fault, and it was getting to me, until I spoke to Gramps about it one
day and he asked me as a favour to him to see a counsellor.


I came away from that first session feeling better than I had in a long
time, after about 6 sessions I knew it wasn't me it was Josh, he was the
one who chose to abuse the trust I placed in him, I understood then, even
if we could get back to a place of friendship we would never be as close
again there would always be that big thing between us, a gulf we would
never heal.


My Father hadn't tried to contact me and as Gramps told me he'd never
raised any questions of why I'd suddenly departed the States which was fine
with me, I was indifferent to him, we'd never been close, even after the
counselling sessions I felt no affection for my father.


The first couple of weeks I'd worked like a mad man and then I'd made a
pact with Gramps to take regular time off.

Although I couldn't bring myself to hook up with any of the guys who went
out of their way in the local nightclubs to offer a night of distraction, I
did hook up with a girl I knew from college (Helena Wicklow) who had roomed
on the same floor as me and Josh a few years earlier.

She'd been a fun flirt in college and was taking a tour of Europe with a
group of friends before going home to the states to start work in her
fathers law firm, after we met in Torremolinas she decided to stay on for a
while when her friends moved on, we enjoyed many a night falling in and out
of bars and clubs when I wasn't working.

I knew everyone looked at us and saw a couple but we didn't, Helena had
escaped a stifling relationship and taken off on her tour of Europe, I'd
escaped the nightmare I'd found that day of my birthday, we were kindred
spirits having fun so she moved into my apartment for the duration of her
stay.

Every Thursday evening Helena (Lenny) and I would have dinner then tour the
bars and clubs until the early hours. It soon became the norm to end up
together back in my apartment in the complex just across the road from the
Woodruff.

Inevitably some of those nights we had hot sweaty tumbling sex, often
without any thought of protection because Lenny was on the pill.

Lenny did more to help me relax than any therapy could, she would regularly
breeze into my office at the Hotel and announce work was suspended we were
going out for some fun and relaxation.

Back in the states I would have exploded at even the thought of someone
disturbing my working day but with Lenny it was a waste of time she
dismissed any objection reminding me she was a lawyer and could cite any
number of precedents to quell my arguments, all this whilst the staff
looked on trying not to openly laugh, and to be honest the moment she
appeared I was itching to discover what adventure she had in store for us
so she never had to try too hard to oust me from my work.

We had 42 hotels on the Spanish mainland, 12 on various islands so 54 in
total.

Of those 54 hotels 31 were either under performing or returning no profit
at all and all of the under performers were on the mainland not the
Islands.  I decided early on that I would visit every one of our properties
and so gave Lenny her first mission to plan out a 2 day stay at each, my
only stipulation was they needed to be surprise visits, not thinking Lenny
would take it literally and not tell even me when or where we were going so
on some of her surprise appearances in my office I would be led to a car
and given map coordinates which resulted in our arrival at a Woodruff
Hotel.

Unbeknown to me, she and Pip (my PA) were in league coordinating my
calendar so there were no missed appointments or meetings.

Our stock (Hotels) were divided into sectors on every continent by size:

0 to 100 Rooms = Small 1

101 to 150 Rooms = Small 2

151 to 200 Rooms = Medium 1

201 to 250 Rooms = Medium 2

250 plus Rooms = Resort



The problem here was much bigger than I had faced back in the States but I
knew it could be resolved.

I'd arrived mid July and decided to book into the Torremolinas Woodruff
(230 Rooms) a Medium 2 size hotel, I wanted to gather first hand experience
of Spanish hospitality without the fanfare of my arrival and this hotel was
one of the many properties making a loss and returning poor customer
reviews.

My arrival at the hotel had been traumatic to say the least.

I had a booking confirmation from a regular accommodation site and I knew
the booking cost had been settled because Pip my own PA had placed the
booking to avoid alerting the hotel to my arrival.

The only plus point during check in was that no one picked up on my real
identity though I doubt they would have acted any differently had they
known who they were checking in.

The front desk or reception as it's known in Europe was a nightmare, it was
a wonder anyone ever managed to survive the check in process, the staff
were slow, disinterested and unexplainably dressed in a variety of non
uniform items including a guy in shorts and tee, a girl in an almost see
through top and hot pants and an older male I assumed was possibly the
front desk manager dressed in part uniform including a dirty wrinkled shirt
without tie or name badge.

The room had a fantastic view over the gardens and pool area and onwards to
the sea.

Unfortunately that was the best I could say about the room. Under and
behind the beds was accumulated dust and odd items left by departing guests
including a bra, a sock and an unopened (thankfully) condom.

The wardrobes were devoid of any hangers and were thick with dust though
the room safe which cost 3 euros per day worked ( an interesting point
because we didn't charge for a safe, other than a €10 deposit
which was refunded when the guest returned the safe key at check out).

So someone was pocketing €21 per room per week a potential
€4,830.00 weekly.

The bathroom had mildew growing in numerous areas particularly as expected
around the bath and shower but also around the sinks of which there were 2
though only 1 had taps that worked the other had taps that just spun but
didn't dispense.

The toilet lacked a cover on the flush mechanism so the user risked
stabbing a finger in order to flush.

Neither of the bedside lights worked nor did the bedside switch designed to
extinguish the main light once a guest was safely into bed.

The paintwork was what I'd call dingy, faded, and there were really bad
areas of scuff marks and obvious loutish damage like kick marks to doors
and walls.

In my student days this was the typical state of a room we encountered on
stag does where we were interested only in somewhere to crash in a coma
after spending riotous days and nights drinking and from the noise coming
from the pool bar I guessed that was what this hotel was now attracting,
any self respecting family arriving here would be horrified.

A multitude of complaint visits to the reception desk ( necessary because
the telephone was never answered) resulted in the toilet flush being
mended, the lights finally all working and a cleaner spending an hour under
my direction to remove the accumulated crap from under the beds and in the
wardrobes, I reckoned the room was now struggling into a 3 star rating,
still way below what it should have been.

The following morning I sent an urgent message to my specialist team
advising I wanted all of them on the ground here within 24 hours.

"I had my own PA Philipa Irene Parker (Pip) arriving in the next couple of
hours along with Freddy Fellows and James Garret my Security Team.

I was certain now that I had struck pay dirt here in this first hotel.

There was one thing troubling me, I'd studied the last 12 month MI
(Management Information) of the stock (Hotels) presenting problems and they
all seemed to have similar revenue/cost streams which suggested that a plan
was being operated on a grand scale which meant some extreme digging to
uncover the size and scale of the management pyramid running the plan but
on the plus side once it's extent had been established it would be
relatively easy to take it out and concentrate on the rebuild process.



The room clean up was an opportunity to glean some housekeeping information
and Rozel the cleaner was candid on the working conditions, she apologised
for the state of the room telling me she was allowed only 10 minutes to
present (complete a room change and clean then present the room back to
reception for occupancy).

I knew immediately what was happening the staff bill for cleaning should
have allowed for a cleaner to properly transform the room from the mess
most guests leave to a fresh and inviting space ready for the next guests.

The staff lists I had seen showed 25 cleaners working a variety of
differing shift patterns which I would expect however Rozel told me there
were only 9 cleaners and they worked hard to keep up but couldn't do
everything that was needed, 7 of them started work at 6am and worked until
all the rooms and public area cleaning was completed, the other 2 started
at midday and worked again until all of the cleaning was done taking in
late room checkouts and public areas again.

It seemed she regularly started at 6 am and worked 12 or 14 hours and yet
she was paid a flat rate based on an 8 hour shift with a 1 hour break, she
had never been paid for extra hours, she seemed genuinely concerned that
however hard she worked the end result reflected badly on her and resulted
in guests being rude and invariably leaving no tips, one really endearing
point was that she wasn't complaining about the number of extra unpaid
hours she had to work just the fact that she felt bad about presenting a
poorly turned out room.

So some one was pocketing the wages for 16 ghost cleaners.

Dinner on the first night was quite a surprise.

I went to the restaurant expecting yet another disaster but to my delight I
was met at the door, greeted warmly by the restaurant manager and escorted
to my assigned table, the room was clean, the paintwork blemish free, the
staff properly dressed, incredibly efficient, and best of all the food was
worthy of a 4+ star establishment.

Following dinner I asked the restaurant manager (Ramon Perez) to ask the
Head Chef if he could spare me a few minutes, Ramon seemed visibly nervous
and asked had he done something wrong?, was I offended for any reason?,
because if I was he sincerely apologised, I explained I had nothing but
praise to discus with Chef and he went off to pass on my request.

A few minutes later as I was finishing my coffee Chef approached my table,
I stood to greet him and he shook my hand warmly, introduced himself as
Philipe Perez (Proud father of the restaurant manager Ramon) and thanked me
for my kind words to his son, who he was training for better things, he
confirmed my suspicions, his staff didn't get many compliments though he
insisted his restaurant maintain its high standard in the face of some
rather adverse conditions.

I asked if he would join me for a drink on the terrace but he was nervous
and said the hotel director would not approve of him fraternising with a
guest.

I asked him if he could keep a secret if it were to his advantage which
intrigued him.

I passed him my business card and as he studied it his face lit up, first
into a smile and then he stated to chuckle which built into a full blown
belly laugh, he said it was an honour to be invited to take a drink with me
and even if it cost him his job he would depart a happy man.

I told him his job and that of anyone working directly under him were the
only ones safe at this moment.

An hour later Chef (Philipe Perez) joined me on the terrace and I went to
the bar and brought back 2 cold beers ( his request after a night in a hot
kitchen).

We chatted easily, I knew right there and then these were the calibre of
employees we wanted to keep, Philipe, Ramon and Rozel were conscientious,
caring, proud of their work, and giving by the bucket load.

I told Philipe if I could just duplicate copies of him Ramon and Rozel my
life would be so simple.

Philipe told me about a training process he had undertaken independent of
and unknown to the hotel management for both the kitchen and restaurant
staff offering incentives along the way for good results often paid for
from his own pocket, I was amazed.

His son Ramon the restaurant manager lost his wife in an automobile
accident a year earlier and his then 2 year old son ( he would be 3 in
September) had suffered massive injuries and was left handicapped, he
shared that he had been approached many times by our competitors and could
be working at a first class hotel for a much better salary but he had his
pupils to consider and he couldn't take them all with him so he was
basically stuck here (that struck home like a slap in the face).

Philipe saw my expression and immediately apologised for offending me, I
told him not to hold back, the truth is just that and if it hurts then we
need to deal with it and hoped I could rely on him to tell me as it is, no
sugar coating, he promised me just that.

I told him if I was ever unduly upset by what he told me to to use the
phrase "No sugar on this pill", it was a saying I heard my Grandfather use
frequently whilst I was growing up.

We had been chatting for about an hour when the Bar Manager came over to
our table and Philipe looked nervous, he ignored me and addressed Philipe,
speaking in Spanish he said "You should not be on my terrace, you have
stolen alcohol, get out now before I call the Hotel Director".

Philipe made to get up but I placed a hand on his shoulder and gently
pressed him back into the seat.

Addressing the Bar Manager I said "Señor I am a guest in this hotel
and I invited my friend Philipe to take a drink with me, I assumed I could
do such a thing so if you want to charge me for the alcoholic drink which
I, not Philipe, obtained from the bar then so be it and now if you would
please leave us to our discussion.

The Bar Manager replied "You may be a guest Señor but this is my
terrace and I make the rules".

By now I'd had enough, I stood up addressing myself directly to the Bar
Manager.

"You got that wrong Señor, this isn't your terrace it is in fact
mine and right now the only thing I require of you is to study very
carefully the business card I am going to give you, then leave this terrace
and summon your Hotel Director here, you may pass on my instruction that I
expect him to be here in front of me within 1 hour failing which I will
assume he has resigned his post now get out of my sight".

I knew that at least 3 of my team had already checked in and were sitting
listening on the terrace, 2 of the 3 (James and Freddy) dealt specifically
with security and were highly skilled dealing with a threat, the third was
Pip my PA who I noticed was fastidiously noting down the exchange word for
word.

The Bar Manager looked visibly shaken as he took and studied my card
realising who I was then left the terrace, as he left I signalled to my
team to join us introducing Philipe to them in the process.

By morning the rest of my team would be here and all told they consisted of
:

My PA : Philipa Irene Parker (Pip)

Secretary to Pip : Anton Dubrac

Finance : Husband and wife team David and Sylvie Baker

Front of House : Marciana Dawlish

Catering : Rene Leferve

Housekeeping : Husband and wife team Bryan and Brenda Bridge

Hospitality : Partners Phil Dean and Gary Winston

Property Maintenance : Graham Dawlish

Security : Freddy Fellows and James Garret

Guest relations and HR : Marie Turner

IT Techies : Twin Brothers Gareth and Gerard McConnel


I'd asked Pip to inform the Guardian Civil Commander for the region of our
presence and also out of courtesy to inform the local National Police,
Freddy and James who'd arrived earlier in the day made themselves known to
the local police chief, the Comisario Principal (our equivalent of Chief
Superintendent) Marion Lopez Covas giving him brief details of what we
suspected and he had called me to offer his assistance.

As I expected the Hotel Director to turn up any time now possibly with his
own security personnel I placed a call to Señor Covas explaining I
expected there was potential for trouble and he advised he would ensure we
had backup from his officers within the next few minutes.

I finished the call and for the next few minutes we enjoyed lighthearted
chatter.

I heard a commotion as a group of 9 men came out onto the terrace, amongst
them was the Bar Manager who pointed to me.

The group moved towards me, I waited to see which one would identify
himself as the Hotel Director.

In the lead was a short fat bald man who was sweating profusely and looked
rather angry, to the sides and rear of him were 7 of what could only be
described as bruisers plus the Bar Manager who currently had a smirk on his
face.

As they approached my phone rang, when I answered a voice I recognised said
quickly with authority "Don't identify who you're talking to" it was
Señor Corvas, "if you look discreetly to your left you will see me
but hopefully your Hotel Director and his mob of crooks won't, I'm going to
ask you to help me out here, I want you to let him threaten you, don't
worry I have an armed team with me, you will be safe at all times". I
agreed and ended the call.

The Hotel Director identified himself "I am Carlos Andreu, Director of this
Hotel, how dare you summon me like some common cleaner, you will leave my
Hotel immediately".

Normally this would have served to piss me off completely but I'd had two
very pleasant beers with Philipe and I started to laugh which caused him to
get angrier.

I could see he was actually shaking.

I looked straight at him with a grin and said, "Señor you are a
fool, did you not study the business card I provided?".

He was fuming now and I thought on the verge of a stroke.

"I don't know who you are but you are not Peter Thorn the immediate
superior who I answer to.

Now, I'm giving you one minute to leave my hotel before I have my
companions beat you to a pulp and drop you off on the mountain to spend
your last night on earth".

Finally he'd managed to piss me off, " I leaned in close so only he would
hear, his companions smiled obviously thinking I was apologising.

"Listen to me you thieving piece of shit".

I hadn't realised that Philipe could also hear me until he almost choked on
his beer.

"You don't know who you are dealing with, you think your gang of petty
crooks will intimidate me, I could have you sliced and diced with a single
phone call, the man you mentioned is my very easily fooled father, but
believe me this apple didn't fall close to that tree, I'm savvy, I can spot
a crook, a thief, when I see one and I'm going to have you, your life and
your financials inspected by experts, I hope you don't have anything to
hide because I'm going to display you warts and all for everyone to see".

At this point Señor Corvas spoke up loudly from behind the Hotel
Director, "Señor Andreu I am arresting you for threatening to harm
Mr Thorn, I advise you to be sensible and come quietly, I have a squad of
armed officers who would love to engage in some target practice"

Señor Andreu looked beaten and was led away.

Noticeably his gang of heavies had melted away soon after the Comisario
Principal had appeared.

I asked Señor Corvas to join us for a drink and since he had been on
his way home when he took my call he agreed but said he needed to first
place a call to his wife who I gathered from his expression was giving him
grief.

I asked if I could talk to his wife so he introduced me and passed me his
phone I strolled away from the group and told his wife how her husband had
saved me from a potentially dangerous situation and I wanted to show my
appreciation.

I asked if she and her husband could join me later in the week for lunch
and hinted that being new here I would rely on her to name a good
restaurant where we would enjoy good food and friendly company.

By now I had her eating out of my hand and when I returned the phone to
Señor Corvas he chatted for a few minutes and then ended the call
grinning, "You Mr Thorn can come live with us, I may even get lucky
tonight, my wife thinks you are a saint".

For the moment I had a couple of problems, I had effectively sacked the
Hotel Director which wasn't too much of a problem since I would assume that
position for the time being, I enjoyed doing what I called 'back to the
floor refreshers', but I was determined the Bar Manager was also a goner so
I needed someone to step into that position.

I asked Philipe if he had any suggestions on that front and he grinned,
"your restaurant manager is by now serving the guests as he does most
nights after finishing his duties in the restaurant, by which time the Bar
Manager is either drunk or AWOL leaving Ramon to run and close up the bar,
cocktail lounge and terrace and place the order requirements for the
following days stock replenishment.

I strolled into the bar and sure enough there was Ramon directing staff,
serving drinks and chatting happily with guests.

I caught his eye and asked him if he could spare a moment out on the
terrace, he told me he would be with me in a few moments and asked whilst
he was coming out to me did I need any drinks.  I asked for the full round
and told him to get one for himself as he might need it, for a moment he
looked panicked and then went about pouring the various drinks.

Out on the terrace the group was enjoying chatting and as I joined them
Ramon followed me with a tray containing fresh drinks for everyone.

After serving all of the drinks Ramon turned to where his father and I sat
and said, "Papa did I do something wrong, I need this job for Rauls sake, I
can't get his leg without it".

I stepped in, "Ramon, calm yourself your father recommended you to help me
out of a rather difficult situation".

Ramon sighed and looked visibly relieved, " I'm sorry Mr Thorn, I need this
job so much I panicked when I thought I might lose it".

I told him he was in fact losing his job at which I thought he was going to
cry so I quickly followed it up with my offer that he take full control of
the Bar and all other bars and beverage outlets in the capacity as Bar and
Beverage Manager with the appropriate salary, at this point he did cry,
there were tears streaming down his face as I told him his first job was to
appoint a replacement to look after the bars and also someone to manage the
restaurant and once he'd got the bars sorted I'd fill him in on what I
expected.

As he walked away to make sure one of the other bar personnel took charge,
the whole terrace gave him a round of applause and several guests slapped
his back in congratulation.

Philipe thanked me and told me I wouldn't regret my decision, I told him I
knew that and I knew I was acquiring a gold mine in his son who would have
a brilliant career with me if he wanted it, by which time even Philipe had
tears in his eyes.

Whilst waiting for Ramon I asked Philipe what Ramon meant about needing the
job for Rauls leg and Philipe explained that Ramon was saving as much as he
could to buy a prosthetic leg for his son who had lost his left leg in the
accident that killed his mother.

The State Health Care System wouldn't provide prosthetics for a child under
5 years so they were faced with Raul missing out on learning to walk or
play like other children and Ramon was determined to change that.

I asked why Ramon had not made use of his private health plan and Philipe
told me that none of the staff had the private health plan because they
didn't work the minimum number of hours required.

I was at a loss to understand this because I knew Ramon in particular
worked at least 12 hours a day.

Philipe explained that the hotel director made sure that most employees
worked several different roles like Ramon who was employed to work 5 days
each week in the dining room for breakfast and dinner 3 hours for each
meaning he was paid 30 hours each week for his dining room duties though in
practice he worked many more than 30 hours that he didn't get paid for.

He worked 6 nights each week on the bar and terrace and was paid for 4
hours each night, again he often worked many more hours such as afternoons
at the pool bar but he only got paid for the 24 hours.

I pointed out that meant he worked a minimum 54 hours a week so he
qualified for private health cover under our minimum 31 hour working rule
and there was always the management discretion clause which allowed a
manager to amend the rules in individual cases.

Philipe told me that the hotel director had everyone sign a separate
contract for each job role so that they didn't qualify under the minimum
hours working rules.

Pip had been listening to Philipe and as I looked to her she said "You want
me to tell Marie to amend all of the contracts don't you?" I nodded in
agreement.

I was appalled that these people had been so badly treated like slaves and
I wanted to know if the same were true in the rest of our Spanish
properties.

I knew this property had been drawing the correct amount for every employee
to have private health care so here again was a large chunk of cash being
siphoned off by someone.

My last action that night was one which for the first time in a while made
me feel happy.

I asked Pip to get our legal team to set up a trust in the sum of
€250,000 from my personal funds for Ramons son Raul with Ramon
as the legal guardian/executor and no restraints on how the fund and it's
capital were used.

TBC

Constructive comments, good or bad to cfgw2000@aol.com please, headed
"Life's Illusions" in the subject box.  Thanks for giving your time to read
this.

Author ARB