My Dadager Profile Essay

Michaela Bertram

ENG 1101 09

Professor Maltman

02/06/17

Dadager

When we think of a hotel manager we might think about The Suite Life of Zack and Cody on Disney channel. Jumping on beds, taking naps in the room, and even ordering room service. In reality, that is not the case. Working 70 plus hours a week on their feet. Not taking the time to sit and eat lunch because they are busy running around. Missing holidays and birthdays to have the hotel fully staffed is what being a hotel manager looks like in today’s life. 

            A Dadager is a mix between a dad and a manager. The trick if finding that fine line. The line between being a great dad and a great manager. Being able to fully devote yourself as both all the time is nearly impossible. This is something Rick has accomplished in his 25 years in the hotel industry. He has been a dad for 23 out of his 53 years of life. Being fully engaged with all six of his kids while running his hobby farm and being a present husband. He is the world’s greatest dad, farmer, husband, and hotel manager but it is starting to show. You can see the exhaustion that lives deep inside him as he sits down for a minute. You can see the gray hair beginning to sprout from the stress of running a hotel. You can see the worry lines forming around his face from the worry it takes h to raise six successful humans. This is the look of a Dadager.

“Would I recommend this career too someone? Yes, I absolutely would. But be prepared. It takes a lot. Be ready for some hard decisions, long hours, and great memory’s. Trust me the positives out way the negatives.” 

            With any job, there are bad days this includes being a hotel manager.  The hotel can flood causing the need to evacuate. The laundry room can start on fire in the middle of the night when a sheet gets stuck in the dryer. Employees can hit rough spots leaving the manager with a tough decision. Do we let go of this employee? Do we keep them around and pick up their slack? All while in the back of their head they know this employee needs this job to support their family. These decisions can break your heart. Wanting to do what is best for your employees while keeping your hotel in business. Bad days exist. “One of the worst days of my career was getting called in on a weekend to help clean up after a football team decided to go to the bathroom on the bed. Yes, you heard that right. That will probably forever be marked as my worst day on the job”

            Everybody on this planet has good days and bad day. It is how we handle these kinds of days that show who we are as a person. Do you see the cup as half empty? Or half full? Seeing the cup as half full with room to improve is the way hotel managers think. When you feel like you have hit your peek, when you are the best person you can be keep going, there is more room to improve. There is always a way to better yourself, your employees, and your company.

            Being with a company for over 25 years can provide you with some unique and amazing opportunity. “ The Best moment of my career was when President Bush was coming to Minneapolis for a town hall meeting and based on our location and for security reasons our hotel was chosen for the event after several weeks of review by the Secret Service, White House Police etc.  Preparation for the event was very exhausting with all employees completing back ground checks and working through logistics including communication lines being brought into the hotel.   The day of the event was very exciting, and stressful!!  Individual employees were given pins that granted them different accesses to the building.  All vending machines were removed for security reasons.  All windows were blacked out to prevent a coordinated attack from the outside.  A bomb sniffing dog, and a soldier who had recently returned from Afghanistan completed a search for bombs in the building.  Heavily armed security was given access to the roof tops.  I had a chance to walk through the room and stand behind the podium that the President would speak at.  The only thing that was missing was the Presidential Seal, which is only placed on the front of the podium when the President is about to speak.

The event went perfectly.  Towards the end of the town hall meeting, I was approached by the lead Secret Service agent that I was needed in the back hallway behind the ballroom.  I was told to stand in a very specific place.  Within a minute the President of the United States exited the ballroom and approached me to thank me and the team for all of our efforts.  I had the opportunity to engage him in conversation for a couple of minutes before it was time for him to leave.   As the President walked away from me, surrounded by the Secret Service, one agent with an automatic weapon, walked backward, maintaining eye contact with me until the President was safely in his motorcade.  An event that I will never forget.”

            The small moments, the big moments, the good moments and the bad moments are what make this job so amazing. Who know running a hotel with over 300 employees while raising 6 kids and being a devoted husband could look this good on a man. Yes, there are struggles. Yes, some days are better than others. But the gray hair, worried lined, exhausted man that wears so many shoes while playing so many rolls is my very own Dadager.