When we are asked what we want to be when we grow up we all give the generic answers.
Police man.
Fire Fighter.
Rich.
Vet.
Teacher.
Artist.
Dancer.
There is nothing wrong with those answers and cudos to any and all kids that have achieved their dreams and have become vets, teachers and so on.
In high school I wanted to be a dancer and to dance for as long as I was able. That turned out to be halfway through high school thanks to a dislocated kneecap and a desire to be able to walk under my own power when I’m older.
My dream from the time I was 6 was over. So with junior year coming up, I really needed to choose what I wanted to do now that dance wasn’t on the table anymore.
The whole reason for wanting to dance was that it made me happy and others enjoy watching people perform. I liked making people happy. I liked serving others and making sure they got what they paid for and what they came to a performance for. I liked serving.
That’s how I chose to take up a Major in Hospitality Management. Hospitality is the “People Business”, you work with people everyday, and your job is to make sure they have what they came to you for. Be that the room arrangements they need, or a specific food restriction, your job is to make it work to the best of your abilities.
Hospitality is being constantly flexible both in situation and time constraints. Some days you may be running overtime because you can’t get clients out the door, and other days an event is moved from Friday to Wednesday and everyone shows up an hour early.
Hospitality professionals are practically invisible to the normal consumer or the normal patron. The really good ones are completely invisible. Hospitality is not glamorous. It is holidays, weekends, and late nights working because that's when others play. It's working for months for a 3 day event.
Choosing Hospitality is choosing to be part of the background and making sure everything runs as smoothly as possible, and never expecting a thank you. Because you know, if we did an amazing job, the person who hired you never has any clue anything could have gone wrong.
But isn't that kind of magical? You are the reason an event was everything a client wanted. You fixed any problems that came up so the host wouldn't have to worry. You made someones dream come true, no matter how small or large that dream was. You worked your butt of and got to physically see everything you worked for come together in front of you. It is a tangible kind of magic.
Just the kind of magic I want to be a part of.
