I was following Jackson, the man I had been assigned to, around the hotel. In other words, I was trying to keep up with him as he raced around the premises trying to give me a detailed tour of the hotel. I’d only spent an hour with him, jotting down everything he was saying in a notepad, and already I could sense that he wasn’t too impressed with me.

I didn’t blame him. He was the assistant manager of the hotel, with several years of experience in the hospitality industry, and he worked at one of the premier hotels in the country. And now he had been assigned to train a twenty-three-year-old, fresh-faced country girl from Minnesota who had never stepped foot inside a place like this before. He was bound to be annoyed.

I tried my best to absorb everything he was saying and hoped that he would see in me what that kind HR lady had identified. I wanted him to know that I was hardworking and a fast learner. I was determined to know this hotel inside and out within a month or less. I wanted to impress Jackson.

“Yes, sir, of course, I understand,” were the kind of words I was using to address him as I followed him, up and down the stairs, chasing after him in and out of the elevator and trying to catch every word he was saying. I caught him rolling his eyes at me a few times, shaking his head at the decision of the HR Department. Now, I was beginning to worry that he would talk to the hiring team at the end of the day and ask them to let me go.

“What can I do today?” I asked him at the end of the tour. I wanted him to know that I was eager to learn and determined to prove myself. Jackson stood in front of me with his arms crossed over his chest, looking me up and down.

“Talk to reception and shadow the housekeeping staff today. I want you to learn as much as you can today from them. If you’re going to work here, you will need to pick up every detail of every department,” Jackson ordered. Bobbing my head up and down with agreement, I hurried over to the reception desk to ask if there was any housekeeping staff in the rooms who I could rush to.

“Room 401, Room 401,” I repeated in my head after I spoke to the girl at the reception desk. I ran to get the elevators, trying to work out which floor that room would be on. My best guess was that it was on the fourth floor.

The elevator doors pinged open and I stepped aside to allow the people to get off. I remembered to paste a wide smile on my face every time someone caught my eye. I’d seen Jackson doing it; he was polite and courteous with everyone whose path he happened to cross on the hotel premises.

The elevator was empty now and I stepped in. When I turned, I saw a man in a suit with a little girl by his side, walking across the marble floor towards the elevator.

“We’re coming!” the little girl squealed, running away from the man. I caught the man’s eye. He was older than me, perhaps in his early thirties, and he was in a suit that looked like a million dollars. He was a handsome man, in great shape, taking long strides with his muscular legs towards the elevator.

The little girl had slipped in and she looked up at me with a wide smile.

“Hello,” I said to her, just as the elevator doors slid close. The man hadn’t made it in time; I had already pressed the button for the fourth floor and the elevator started zooming up.

“Uh oh, Daddy’s left behind,” the girl said and I could feel myself beginning to panic. I’d messed up. I should have held the door for him. Jackson would slaughter me if he found out that I hadn’t thought fast enough.

“Don’t worry, we’ll go right back down to your daddy again, okay?” I said to the girl, who didn’t look worried at all. She nodded her head and stared at the lights on the board as they lit up one by one.

We arrived on the fourth floor and after the doors had opened and shut, I pressed the button for the lobby again. I was nervous, but I tried to keep smiling for the little girl’s sake.

The doors opened again and I sighed with relief, but when we looked out, the man in the suit had disappeared.

“Where is he?” I spoke to myself, peeping out from around the doors. He was nowhere in sight.

“Do you know where he could be?” I asked the girl and she shook her head. “Do you know where you were going?” She shook her head again.

I grabbed her hand and gently tugged her out of the elevator.

“We should go find your daddy, he’s probably really worried right now,” I said and the girl followed my lead.

“No, he’s not worried. He’s never worried about me,” I heard the girl say. When I turned to look at her, I noticed a hint of sadness in her eyes. That was a strange thing for a little girl to say, but now wasn’t the time to stop and think about it.

I rushed to the reception desk with the girl in tow, hoping that we could find her father soon. Jackson had given me a task to do and not only was I late for it, now I was responsible for a child who I had separated from her parent.

This was not the exciting start to my first day that I’d been hoping for.