I came to London on the 6th of October, 2015 so it is now half a year, and I can’t still believe that it was so smooth and without problems.
After my arrival, as well as all the other program participants, I had an appointment with Gabriela who helped me to contact Job Centre Office due to my interview for NIN, which is essential for working in the United Kingdom. I planned just for myself very naively, that arranging everything would last forever – probably my experience from my homecountry’s offices, and I would have plenty of time for travelling in London and orientation. I was wrong!
I came to London on Tuesday afternoon, and Wednesday was actually my only one free day . On Thursday, I went for an interview to an Agency, where I now work, on Friday, I had a trial shift in one of the most famous hotels in London. I can say that I haven’t stopped since the time I was accepted. I can’t wait for summer, when I take the time for the City as I planned from the beginning.
My trial shift in a hotel endep up well, so from the next day I could choose normal paid shifts. A few first weeks were the hardest part, everything was new and I had to learn quickly. Here nobody takes you aside to explain you how it works, what you are supposed to do, you just have to learn on the go and as fast as you can.
To my astonishment (I have never done a similar job before), I grappled with it because one month later, managers started to pick me as a teamleader. It means that you are responsible for work of 5 – 6 people, your tables, which you have to take care of, you have to remember the special orders of guests and know, who from your team is serving that specific guest. What is the most important thing? Whatever the guest from your table dreams up, you have to satisfy. In a five stars hotel, words as “no”, “we do not have” or “we can not” don’t exist. You must be able to arrange everything and if it is possible – immediately. Fortunately, all the time, there is your manager around, who will help you, especially if you are still training.
Regarding managers, it is a story of its own. When you arrive to work, they welcome you with a warm smile, they give you a hug, they are interested in you. Usually they try to advise you with a London life and in general, they seem to be interested in other people. Often they organize special topic’s evenings with an entertainment or from time to time, they go out to have some beer with us. I am not saying that you could hardly experience this in the Czech Republic, but personally, I have never experienced attitude like this.
Thanks to the work in this hotel, I took part in the events I could have never dreamt about. For example during the last event, we went out of London for the whole weekend to have an etiquette workshop and the other day, we served the family of Sultan of Brunei. I don’t even mention the other celebrities and famous personalities who visited the hotel. I warmly recommend the programme to all people considering travelling abroad. Backward I really don’t understand why I hesitated for so long, if to go or not. Definitely everything was much easier than I expected. Finally, the hardest part was to say goodbye to my family and get on the plane.
