You can learn the dirty secrets of rich people by cleaning up after them

By YVONNE HOLT

last updated: June 28, 2008 01:00:26 AM

If there's one thing I learned while working as a maid at the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite National Park, it's that everyone makes a mess -- and someone has to clean it up.

It used to crack me up how wealthy hotel guests would treat me like I was invisible. I knew their trash better than they did. I was the one who cleaned up after them; I was the one who found and disposed of the truths they left behind.

Rich people, yeah, they can make a mess like everyone else -- sometimes even bigger because of their privileged status. Like the time I helped another maid clean up after a wedding party. Someone had prepared the bouquets in that room and left petals, stems, leaves, wrappers and more than a few bottles of champagne behind. They left the room well after checkout time, giving us about 30 minutes to prepare it for the next guest, whose bags had already been delivered. It took the two of us almost an hour to strip the beds, sweep up the flower parts with a broom before vacuuming, collect all the wrapping papers and put the furniture back where it was supposed to be.

I'm glad I never had to clean up after any rock stars.

Even my poor mom taught me to clean up after myself, hurry or no. She would make us pick up our trash around our campsites as we were packing to go home -- and not just our own trash, but the litter everyone else had left as well.

So when I had to clean up after hotel guests at the most expensive hotel in the park, I lost my awe of wealth and privilege. Décor magazines give false impressions of perfect rooms in their perfect worlds. In real life, rich people make just as much of a mess as regular folks. Their kids leave their toys all over the place; their teenagers leave their clothes on the floor, the chairs, the beds, in the bathroom and everywhere else except in the closet.

Not every guest was a slob. Japanese tourists, I loved them. Not only were their rooms barely used, but their beds were remade on checkout and they left tips for the maids. Older couples in smaller rooms on the lower floors were also nice and tidy. For some reason, I never had huge messes to clean up in the bungalows, either, though they were outside and usually held families with small children.

The work was tiring. For minimum wage, I cleaned about 15 rooms, getting barely 20 minutes per room if the guest had checked out and 15 minutes for those who were staying over. We had to make or straighten the beds, scrub the bathroom, add fresh towels, vacuum, dust, replace all the advertising, replace the laundry bag and the signature bathrobes.

Cleaning up the trash took the longest because we had to make sure there was none under the beds.

Now, when I stay at any hotel, I try to be nice to the hotel maids. I know how hard the job can be, and for minimum wage. But I can't help but judge a room according to the cleanliness standards I had to meet while working at the Ahwahnee.

Holt is a wife, mother and student at Merced College. E-mail her at columns@modbee.com.

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