After having been in France for just over 10 days now, I have discovered that trying to fit everything into the limited time I have has been more difficult than I expected. On the days that I am working, my hours are 8:00am – 3:00pm, which has presented a challenge in more ways than one. Not only is it difficult to wake up every day at 6:00am to account for the 45 minute commute, but since many of the other interns work different hours, it is not exactly a straightforward process trying to make plans during the week. In addition, I did not expect to have to make so many tough decisions regarding what I will do with my limited free time in Paris. I have made many friends through the programs, and while we want to visit numerous countries and cities over the weekends, we realized that it would be impossible to hit every spot we want to see. This weekend, we explored the Île-de-France region in which Paris is located and took advantage of a few special offers. There was an art history conference happening in the nearby town of Fontainebleau, which meant that we got free admission to the château on Saturday. In addition, every first Sunday of the month, many of the major Parisian museums offer free admission, so we were able to check out the Musée d’Orsay free of charge.
Needless to say, I have come to realize the immense value of time management skills, both in and outside of work. Fortunately, due to the nature of the hotel business and the particular structure of the hotel in which I work, I have several benchmarks throughout the day to manage my time and tasks. For one, the check-out time for guests of the hotel is 11:00am. This means that my priority until that time is the finalization of the charges and transactions of the guests who are to check out that day. Once a guest’s check-out process is completed, it is then my priority to communicate with housekeeping to ensure that their room is cleaned as soon as possible. The second major benchmark during my shift is the beginning of check-in at 2:00pm. While guests can notify us if they plan to arrive later than that, we generally aim to have all rooms prepared for check-in by that time. Therefore, before 2:00, I prioritize the verification that the rooms are cleaned properly after housekeeping is done.
The second set of metrics that I use to organize my tasks and manage my time are guests’ check-in dates. The hotel receives numerous reservations in their inbox every day, and for each one, I must input the details of the reservation and verify the guests’ credit cards. The easiest way for me to prioritize these tasks is to organize each incoming reservation by the guest’s check-in date. Those that are earlier are to be completed before those that are farther away, in case I am not able to finish all of them in one sitting. It is also based on check-in dates that the hotel’s documents are organized, which helps me to save time as I can quickly determine which order to place them in.
However, I have found time management to be a bit more challenging in France than in the US, as French culture is polychronic rather than monochronic, meaning that the French do not have a problem mixing their work tasks with more leisurely activities. My supervisor will wait until I have finished my morning coffee before giving me a task, which I found strange, as in the US, it is more normal to eat or drink while beginning work as soon as possible. In addition, if there is not an especially pressing task, my coworkers will frequently take anywhere from 10 minutes to half an hour to converse about anything from politics to the education system. They often include me in these conversations as well, which, while it is a great opportunity to practice my French, it often makes me sidetracked.
Fortunately, despite feeling a bit uncomfortable with the mix of professional and personal activities, I have found that both myself and my coworkers are able to complete all of our tasks each day. It is definitely a different way of working, but personally I find it better, as it prevents me from losing my focus after working hard for a long period of time. Overall, I hope that learning to work in a more polychronic culture can teach me to slow down and enjoy life a bit more, even after I return to the US.