tip your housekeeper

it is my observation that guests who tip are also those who leave their rooms the cleanest. guests in the stained, the hairy, the beer-soaked rooms leave nothing for your trouble, no solace for your discomfort. sometimes, kneeling in front of those particularly gnarly toilets, I wonder, “What brought me here, to this crusty toilet bowl? I have a goddamn degree.”

but I am here because I love the mountains, and I love the people who choose to live in them. and because cleaning rooms is honest work. and right now it feels good to be doing this kind of work.

my fellow housekeepers are teachers and engineers and linguists in their home countries. they came to montana to work on their English and have learned such important words as washcloth, bath mat, disinfectant, ice bucket liner, maid service requested…

please friends, throw them a dollar.