Airing the Dirty Laundry
Rose, the hotel’s controller, and Ian O’Toole, the general manager, decided to bring the
executive housekeeper, the laundry manager, the chef, and the dining room manager together
to discuss the increasing amount of linen loss. Mr. O’Toole opened the meeting:
“Linen is one of the major line items in our budget, one that is constantly growing. We need
to find ways to bring these costs down.”
“I’m not sure why I’m here,” said Shari, the dining room manager. “My people are
much too busy serving guests to worry about whether the napkins are getting too dirty.”
“Or even to make sure the napkins get to the laundry,” Laundry Manager Adrian
muttered.
“It is my hope,” the general manager said, “that we will work together, because we all
can contribute to lowering linen expenses. I’d like Rose to explain some of the reasons we
have a large linen loss.”
“Glad to,” Rose said, taking the floor. She began ticking off on her fingers sources of
what she described as linen abuse:
1. Room attendants used washcloths as rags.
2. Laundry workers ran carts over dirty linen on concrete floors.
3. Laundry workers used too many chemicals, or too much ironing on linen.
4. Dining room employees used linen napkins to clean out ashtrays.
5. Banquet employees wrapped ashtrays, silverware, or broken glassware in linens.
6. Cutlery used food and beverage napkins as pot holders and rags.
7. Banquet servers wrapped all the linen in tablecloths and then dragged the bundles
down the service hallways, leaving the linen torn and permanently concrete stained.
8. The chef sent one of his cooks to wash grease rags after hours; the cook put the rags in
the dryer, igniting a small fire.
9. Dining room staff members packed their linen in plastic bags and dumped the bags
outside the laundry rather than using laundry carts.
List several ways to reduce the linen abuses listed by the controller