Room service: She turns the sheets, beats the odds Rosie's Reflections GUEST REQUEST

By PAMELA GOULD

In an industry where about half the front-line employees turn over every year and some people barely last a day, Rosie Bumbrey obliterates the statistics.

Bumbrey, who turns 50 this week, has worked in housekeeping at the Days Inn-Fredericksburg North for decades--essentially, longer than her general manager has been alive.

The hotel, off U.S. 17 in southern Stafford County, opened in 1972, and she's been there--apart from some child-bearing breaks--since 1973.

"She is extremely dependable, and that is a quality you don't find in this area," said general manager Duke Abu-Gyamfi, who is 33.

"In 30 years, I can look back on schedules, and if she's not here, she's not scheduled to be here."

Hotel housekeeping is the only work Bumbrey has ever done--though she was asked to leave her first job.

As a teenager, the Fauquier County native started at a downtown Fredericksburg hotel, which has since gone out of business.

Her first day, she was assigned 14 rooms and completed them by 1 p.m. When she told her manager she'd finished, she got a surprising response.

"He said, 'I can't use you anymore. You work too fast,'" she recalled last week.

"I said, 'Are you kidding me?'"

He wasn't.

In her decades on the job at Days Inn, Bumbrey has cleaned rooms, risen to head housekeeper and now works in the laundry.

She enjoys her co-workers and begins each workday with the same attitude.

"My approach is, come here every day, try to keep a smile on my face and do what I've got to do. That's my goal," said Bumbrey, who now lives in Hartwood.

CONFOUNDING THE STATS

Abu-Gyamfi has been Bumbrey's boss for five months and said she goes beyond simply pleasant.

"She helps me out," he said.

Bumbrey's saved him money on linens because of her ability to deal with challenging stains, and she's given him insights on resolving staffing problems.

"This is a very, very high turnover industry. Everybody knows it," he said.

In the U.S. lodging industry, studies have found a roughly 50 percent annual turnover rate for nonmanagement employees, according to Bruce Tracey, an associate professor of management in Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration.

Still, Abu-Gyamfi said he was "going crazy" with his inability to hold on to personnel and some who just didn't show up.

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Rosie Bumbrey answered the following questions last week during a break from the job she's held for roughly three decades.

Why did you stay with one job so long?

"It's never boring. I can tell you that."

A few examples:

"One year, we had this lady come in and somebody did an abortion."

"I was here when we had a SWAT team up on the roof."

Several times people have failed to lock their doors and she's intruded on what one would call "private moments." "I say, 'Whoops. So sorry.'" Then she quickly backs out of the room.

What's the most interesting thing someone left behind?

Not something generally discussed in a family newspaper.

What happens to things left behind?

"We'll bag it, tag it and keep it 90 days."

Apart from unmentionables, what do people forget?

"From pillows to dentures and anything in between."

Why is it that you've lasted all these years but some don't make it through a week?

"They think they can do it and after one day they don't come back because everybody ain't cut out to do this."

Want to help everyone's travels go a bit smoother?

Bumbrey says making it clear to housekeeping that you're gone is key to getting rooms clean for the next guest's arrival. She offered two simple yet helpful steps to signal you've checked out:

Leave the curtains open.

Remove the "Do not disturb" sign from outside your door.

Date published: 8/31/2008

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