Parlez-vous Franglais? Studying French in Paris, Part II

During my first few weeks here in Paris, I naturally assumed that the French word embrasser meant “to hug”. When I discovered it actually means “to kiss”, my mind raced back to all the times I had misused the term, and I prayed I would never see those people again. In fact, “to hug” in French is serrer dans les bras, which literally translates as “to squeeze in one’s arms”. It sounds a bit cold and clinical, which pretty much sums up how French people react when I try to hug them. Parisians prefer to turn cheeks and make fake kissing sounds. In North America that’s considered pretentious.

To further confuse things, the French word for “kiss” is baiser, which also means—pardon my French—“to f**k”. Either these people are deliberately trying to baiser with my mind or they don’t see a difference between kissing and boinking. Considering this is the land of “French kissing”, I’m leaning toward the latter. If jamming your tongue down someone’s throat isn’t a precursor to sex, I don’t know what is. To be safe I avoid using these words altogether.

Parisians aren’t big on gratuitous smiles either. As a hotelier, smiling is one of the basic tools of my profession. As a Canadian, smiling is how I try to make people like me. When I first arrived here I didn’t have any friends, so I smiled a lot. Since then I’ve learned that Parisians perceive smiling at strangers as a bit desperate. It’s not that they’re unfriendly, they just reserve smiles for people they know and like.

So You Want to Work in Hotels, Part II: The Interview

When I last wrote a post about how to get a job in the hotel industry, the economy was booming and hotels were so desperate for staff they were stopping just short of dragging passersby off the street and slapping uniforms on them. These days, occupancy rates have tanked, room attendants are dozing on beds rather than making them, and it seems the only place to find job vacancies is in the obituaries.

Are job prospects that bleak? Absolutely not. Hotels are always in need of great people, but competition is fiercer than ever. Taking the time to understand the unique culture of the hotel industry will give you a leg up on other candidates. Here are a few insider tips to help prepare you for that elusive hotel interview.

Martyrs need only apply. What’s the quickest way to get an interview with a hotel? Highlight “love working graveyard shifts” on your cover letter. The quickest way to end an interview? Say you’re looking for something nine-to-five. Hotels are a 24-hour operation, and most entry-level positions involve shift work. Your best chance to get a foot in the door is to apply for a high-turnover position like room service attendant, busser, dishwasher, line cook or any graveyard position. Be specific, and be keen. Not like the young lady I interviewed who explained that graveyard shifts would give her time to work on her personal art projects.