Having wrapped up our night in Vegas, we woke up early to continue on the road. The city may never sleep, but checkout is still at 11am. Ten hours in Las Vegas was plenty, but we were glad to experience it. We took advantage of our last access to showers for a few days and got our things together. As we prepared to check out, Nate suggested we recognize our housekeeping staff for the work they do.
Earlier, we had discussed how difficult it would be to do housekeeping in a hotel. Each day they work to serve people who often do anything they can to ignore them. We’re probably all guilty of avoiding eye contact or conversation with the very people who keep our rooms clean while we explore new places. These workers receive all of the blame when a room isn’t up to your standards but usually no recognition when a room exceeds your standards.
We found an envelope in the room with the name of our housekeeper, Stephanie, and wrote her a note. Inside the envelope we placed a Project Wildness sticker, her note, and some cash. Our only option was to leave the envelope on the side of the bed and hope the right person found it -- until Chloe noticed a woman cleaning the room right next door. Nate grabbed the envelope and approached the woman. “Excuse me, are you Stephanie?” he asked. “Yes, that’s me.” she responded. She looked a little puzzled as to how we knew her name.
Nate handed her the envelope and explained that we wanted to recognize hard working people like her who don’t often receive the recognition they deserve. Stephanie opened it up and her jaw dropped. “Wow, thank you so much!” she said. Stephanie agreed that her work goes unnoticed by the vast majority of people she works hard to serve every day. “I’ve been working here 18 years and nothing like this has ever happened to me. I’m going to have to tell my supervisor about this one. He won’t believe it!” she said as she laughed. We told her she could do whatever she wanted with the money, but immediately she suggested she was going to do something for her grandkids. The selflessness of the people we come across has been overwhelming. So often someone will receive what we’ve given and tell us how they will share some or all of it with others.
The timing was perfect and Stephanie’s supervisor came walking down the empty hallway. He noticed our conversation and didn’t hesitate to say, “If anyone deserves something like this it’s Stephanie. She is a great worker and a great person.” She came in to give each of us a hug -- a perfect ending to “Sin City.”
To Amy J… You helped show a deserving woman she is appreciated after 18 years of hard work. You gave not knowing exactly where your donation would go but held trust that we would find someone special. Know that on this day we found her with your help.
To Duane H… You’ve showed support for all we do. When I raised money for a sleepout for homelessness in college you were one of the first to step up with a donation and a story. Thanks for being there, and thanks for the support you give me and all of your family.
To Sue H… You exude hard work every day and I’ve been fortunate enough to work alongside you and see it firsthand. Know that what you gave helped recognize someone who works equally as hard and maintains a positive attitude above all of it.
Trust that those you should recognize deserve your recognition.#ProjectWildness
