My father has only worked with one company his entire life. He started as a dish worker at a local restaurant in the small town of Frankenmuth, and moved up the ranks. When the restaurant decided to expand and open a hotel across the river, they asked my Dad to come and aided in the building of not only a hotel, but a brand. Thirty-nine year's later, my dad is Chief Operating Officer of the largest Bavarian-themed hotel in America.

Since a hotel doesn't close, my dad has worked strange hours since the day I was born. If the fire alarm goes off at 3 in the morning, our home phone rings at 3 in the morning. He works on Easter, Christmas and Christmas Eve, and my birthday. He couldn't come take pictures of me before prom, and can't get off to travel for my competitions. If I need to call him during the day, he's often in a meeting and I have to ask somebody else to have him give me a call later. A pipe once burst during the daddy-daughter dance that we were attending in one of the banquet rooms as a kid, and my dad had to take care of it because he worked there. You give up things when your dad runs a 24 hour, successful hotel, but you also sit around the dinner table and get to hear all the movie-like stories that he has to tell.

So, my brother and I teamed up and decided to make a list of the top 5 things we have learned from being a COO's child.

1. What Makes A Good Employee

Dad will come home and tell us stories about how one of his amazing employee's went out of their way to make sure that a guest's stay was absolutely phenomenal. And he's also told us about a horrible thing that an employee did at work, and told us why that was unacceptable in his establishment. I have learned that being truthful, honest, and straight forward is the best thing to do in the workplace, and that being deceitful and bringing your personal life to work just brings everyone else down.

2. How To Treat Other People

My dad has some amazing stories, and if you come to dinner at my parent's house with me, I'll force him to tell you the best ones. However, we've learned the correct way to treat other people. I've learned that if you want something, you can't treat people badly. If something is wrong with your room, and you want a discount, but you yell at the front desk person, they probably aren't going to give it to you. Treat people the way you want to be treated.

3. Business Skills

Having a COO as a father means he is constantly professional, and honestly, everyone likes my dad. I once asked him how he gets everyone to like him so much, and he told me "I lead the conversation to be about them. People love talking about themselves, and when I lead the conversation to be all about them and I listen to them talk about themselves, they like me more." Yes, my dad has taught me about how to be professional, but that secret has been one of the best things he's ever taught me.

4. Hospitality

My dad is in the hospitality business, so of course, that's what our life is focused around. The correct definition of hospitality is "the friendly reception of guests and strangers." If you think about it, that can be more than just the hotel industry. Everywhere we go, my father treats everyone like they are a guest in his hotel. Always friendly, always opening conversations, always looking to bring a little light to everyone's day. They don't have to be a guest in his hotel to be friendly to them.

5. Hard Work Gets You Places

Like I said earlier, my dad worked up the ranks to be where he is at today. 39 years ago, he was a dish worker, still in high school, and didn't even have a degree yet. Today, he's the Chief Operating Officer and it wasn't the "degree" that got him there. It was hard work, dedication, believing in the brand, and his positive attitude that got him to be where he is today.

Yeah, my dad might not have been there for a prom picture, or has to work on Christmas, but I've learned extremely valuable lessons from him just doing his job.