Our departure from Long Beach was a swift and uncomplicated affair.
After my explosion at Laura, I told her in much more measured tones that there were some things that would have to be changed if they decided they wanted to keep us on, and we left for our next weekly escape to Pasadena leaving a summary of points behind.
There was nothing earth-shattering in the document, just a calm (I thought, and I hoped) evaluation of what had gone wrong in our relationship, and how I believed improvements could be made that would make the Lord Mayor's Inn finally profitable.
It was not about spending money to change anything--some of the rooms were a little run-down and needed some superficial TLC, but generally, this was a 12-room operation with almost unlimited potential.
Given the fact that Long Beach's tourist office is a hive of energy and good ideas and the Convention Center has become one of the most successful in the country, we figured that a sensible occupancy target for the LMI was 65-70% year round.
Given that when we arrived, the old place was barely managing 10%, that might have seemed preposterously optimistic. But we had learned that the only thing holding back the business was the attitude of the owners. Potential guests were out there in their hundreds--thousands!--but something was going seriously wrong twixt intitial phone contact and that critical decision-making moment when a reservation was made, at least when Jenny and I were not around.
Working together, the two of us had already made measurable headway, but we needed to be given a free hand, along with the owners' respect and appropriate reward for our labors. Nothing greedy, just an increasing paycheck as business improved, building towards an industry standard $3,000-$4,000 a month vs. the $2,000 we were currently being paid.
We came back from our break and were told that our proposals were "not acceptable"--how soon could we leave? Tonight, we said in unison and without hesitation, and that's how fast matters progressed from then on.
Please understand this: Jen and I could demonstrate from greatly improved revenue figures and from customer reports that we had made a very significant improvement at the Lord Mayor's Inn during the few weeks we had been there (it was a little over four months on the day we left). There had been no complaints from guests--not about us, at least! The only bad vibes had been from guests outraged by the treatment they had received from Laura and Reuben...all manner of spiteful, unprofessional, self-destructive conduct by the couple who said over and over again "We're the owners here!"
So this was not a case of uppity employees trying to blackmail the bosses into bending to their will. We had proved ourselves. We were willing to devote even more time and toil to making the LMI a success for the first time in its 15-year history. We were simply not willing to be treated badly any longer, or to suffer guests being abused.
Laura said she was not sure that an occupancy rate above 60% was a good idea--could the old house stand such a thing? We laughed and said that with a healthy cash flow, the old house could stand pretty much anything.
So, we left. And the next thing we heard was that a guest I had signed up for five nights was turned away at the door, with the explanation that there was "no record" of his reservation, and the managers had been "let go" because of incompetence. I felt worse for the poor guest left stranded on the porch with nowhere to spend the night than I did for the libel that Laura had heaped upon our good name...by then, we were resigned to the poor woman's insanity and oblivious to her mean spirit.
Please note: No names have been changed to protect the innocent, because in this story there are no innocents. Running a bed and breakfast can be an enjoyable experience for all concerned and guests can sense when they are welcome and when they are not.
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