Last night, coincidentally or not, I was fired. For what reasons I have not been told explicitly but I know of a few. I have covered them in the postscript of the entry.
I will be leaving Uvita on Thanksgiving to head for the Osa. I spoke with Craig today and he will be meeting me in Puerto Jimenez for a feast at 4pm. Today, I have been packing my things, and I have made arrangements until Thursday. For one night (tonight) I will be staying at a local cabina, and starting tomorrow I am staying with a local stained glass artist - Noah - a friend of a friend, to apprentice until I leave on Thursday. I have always wanted to learn stained glass. Noah lives just near the waterfall (which we swam in yesterday and it was swell). I am a bit relieved to not have to deal with Steve anymore, and look forward to having a boss that is personable. I will miss it here, but there are great people and projects awaiting me down south.
I have not spoken to my mother about this at all, and I don't think she reads my blog anymore. This I fret (and she thought I was isolated here...). I didn't even get to talk to her on my birthday! I will try to keep in touch with everyone as much as I can, though I don't know how often I will be in Puerto Jimenez (which is where I will have access to the Internet). For now, I'll post some pictures and will do my best to send another update before I leave.
Possible reasons for which I was fired:
1) Steve is insane, and the entire village knows it. Steve does not like the Ticos and the Ticos don't like him. Steve doesn't like people in general.
2)I had not yet mentioned to Steve the job offer proposed to me, though the way he fired me leads me to believe that he found out... either by eavesdropping, reading my blog, or being told by someone else. He did not mention it. He is in no way diplomatic. I am fairly certain that this is the primary reason.
3) He does not like the Ticos I hang out with. I have a friend Plancha that comes in many nights to drink a few beers and hang out with me. Obviously, when there are other patrons and guests at the bar, I talk with them and entertain them and my friend understands that it is my job and it is necessary for me to ignore him when it is busy. Most nights it is dead because it is still the low season, so often he is the only person there. Steve apparently thinks I'm a moron. After I returned from the beach with my aunt, uncle, and cousin, Plancha was sitting at the bar and had ordered food. Steve called me to the office and berated me about this and told me to tell him that he is not welcome at the hotel. I can tolerate many, but there was no reason whatsoever for this. I had never ignored other patrons at the bar because of Plancha's presence (which would have been understandable). So, Plancha talked to Steve and he said he is welcome only an hour before I close the bar.
Last night there were a few guests staying and two or three at the bar for a while. We had great conversation and they were all very happy and everything was swell, and then they all went to sleep or read on the hammocks. They had blatantly told me they were done drinking and were turning in. Plancha came in around 9:15pm and I was just sitting there by myself reading the paper and listening to music. Around 9:40pm Steve started walking around near the rooms and watching us talking and playing pool. 20 minutes later I was fired.
4) Every day I count the money in the drawer to figure out the sales from the day before. Every Thursday, I recount inventory and estimate the sales for the week. These numbers are supposed to match up. For the first few weeks, these numbers were off about 25,000 colones. I mentioned this to him and he said not to worry about it. About three weeks ago he yelled at me about this, and I explained to him that the accounting method is not accurate. The comps were not being accounted for, meaning the discounts that Camil and I receive on beer, as well as the sodas and ice creams that Steve eats every day. The week before my vacation, I started accounting for these comps, and the inventory was off 500 colones (about a buck). So, obviously this was the problem and it was fixed. But, last week (meanwhile I was gone three of the seven days) it was again off by 20,000 colones. This was the reason he stated for firing me. Both of the previous bartendings encountered similar problems with Steve, though neither of them was fired for it. I have never once taken or given anything for free from the bar...Steve also goes into the register and who knows what he does. He was in there when I was on vacation to put in coins from the pool table.
Everyone told me when I got here that Steve is crazy, and now I can finally see that.
Perhaps it's because he's uneducated, or maybe he's just an asshole.
Hasta luego!
I will be leaving Uvita on Thanksgiving to head for the Osa. I spoke with Craig today and he will be meeting me in Puerto Jimenez for a feast at 4pm. Today, I have been packing my things, and I have made arrangements until Thursday. For one night (tonight) I will be staying at a local cabina, and starting tomorrow I am staying with a local stained glass artist - Noah - a friend of a friend, to apprentice until I leave on Thursday. I have always wanted to learn stained glass. Noah lives just near the waterfall (which we swam in yesterday and it was swell). I am a bit relieved to not have to deal with Steve anymore, and look forward to having a boss that is personable. I will miss it here, but there are great people and projects awaiting me down south.
I have not spoken to my mother about this at all, and I don't think she reads my blog anymore. This I fret (and she thought I was isolated here...). I didn't even get to talk to her on my birthday! I will try to keep in touch with everyone as much as I can, though I don't know how often I will be in Puerto Jimenez (which is where I will have access to the Internet). For now, I'll post some pictures and will do my best to send another update before I leave.
Possible reasons for which I was fired:
1) Steve is insane, and the entire village knows it. Steve does not like the Ticos and the Ticos don't like him. Steve doesn't like people in general.
2)I had not yet mentioned to Steve the job offer proposed to me, though the way he fired me leads me to believe that he found out... either by eavesdropping, reading my blog, or being told by someone else. He did not mention it. He is in no way diplomatic. I am fairly certain that this is the primary reason.
3) He does not like the Ticos I hang out with. I have a friend Plancha that comes in many nights to drink a few beers and hang out with me. Obviously, when there are other patrons and guests at the bar, I talk with them and entertain them and my friend understands that it is my job and it is necessary for me to ignore him when it is busy. Most nights it is dead because it is still the low season, so often he is the only person there. Steve apparently thinks I'm a moron. After I returned from the beach with my aunt, uncle, and cousin, Plancha was sitting at the bar and had ordered food. Steve called me to the office and berated me about this and told me to tell him that he is not welcome at the hotel. I can tolerate many, but there was no reason whatsoever for this. I had never ignored other patrons at the bar because of Plancha's presence (which would have been understandable). So, Plancha talked to Steve and he said he is welcome only an hour before I close the bar.
Last night there were a few guests staying and two or three at the bar for a while. We had great conversation and they were all very happy and everything was swell, and then they all went to sleep or read on the hammocks. They had blatantly told me they were done drinking and were turning in. Plancha came in around 9:15pm and I was just sitting there by myself reading the paper and listening to music. Around 9:40pm Steve started walking around near the rooms and watching us talking and playing pool. 20 minutes later I was fired.
4) Every day I count the money in the drawer to figure out the sales from the day before. Every Thursday, I recount inventory and estimate the sales for the week. These numbers are supposed to match up. For the first few weeks, these numbers were off about 25,000 colones. I mentioned this to him and he said not to worry about it. About three weeks ago he yelled at me about this, and I explained to him that the accounting method is not accurate. The comps were not being accounted for, meaning the discounts that Camil and I receive on beer, as well as the sodas and ice creams that Steve eats every day. The week before my vacation, I started accounting for these comps, and the inventory was off 500 colones (about a buck). So, obviously this was the problem and it was fixed. But, last week (meanwhile I was gone three of the seven days) it was again off by 20,000 colones. This was the reason he stated for firing me. Both of the previous bartendings encountered similar problems with Steve, though neither of them was fired for it. I have never once taken or given anything for free from the bar...Steve also goes into the register and who knows what he does. He was in there when I was on vacation to put in coins from the pool table.
Everyone told me when I got here that Steve is crazy, and now I can finally see that.
Perhaps it's because he's uneducated, or maybe he's just an asshole.
Hasta luego!
posted by Jennifer at 4:05 PM
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