The issue at hand had been brewing for more than three years, even before Cathy had been appointed as Vice President of Corporate Communications. It was definitely time for this issue to be addressed. Placing a concealed nanny-camera had been the last resort after numerous heated debates about individual privacy.
Melanie Gunadi had joined MoonStar Jakarta as a Public Relations Manager in November of 2003. When the General Manager of the property had interviewed her, he had found her more than presentable in appearance. Besides possessing outstanding credentials, she had executed a series of successful communication campaigns, in previous positions she had held. In addition, her references seemed to have checked out. Each had offered glowing recommendations for her past work performance.
After her appointment, as the months wore on, Cathy who was then the Corporate Communications Manager suspected something amiss and alerted the General Manager of MoonStar Jakarta. Monthly reports were being submitted weeks after the deadline. All things considered, the submission process had been simplified to the point of ticking boxes on an online form and writing text of no more than one thousand words. Public Relations Managers and their assistants were not expected to be rocket scientists but they were expected to be punctual.
Another issue that constantly irked Cathy was Melanie’s habit of refusing to receive phone calls during the day. Instead, she returned and made queries well after 9:00 p.m. Cathy was aware that in any hotel chain, no one expected to finish work before 10:00 p.m. Additionally, she always assured her communication teams they could contact her at any time, regarding their respective properties and departmental issues they were facing. But Melanie called Cathy's mobile with questions pertaining to manuals and charts, knowing full well no one carted them around all day. Even matters easily resolved well within working hours such as press releases were done late at night. Cathy had seen her share of demanding properties. Even high strung Public Relations Managers were able to keep an assistant for six months or more, but MoonStar Jakarta fell nowhere near the category of "demanding", let alone hectic.
Positioned as a business traveller's ideal spot for rejuvenation and meetings, the biggest convention ever held at this property had been for a group of two hundred insurance agents who had attended a one day seminar. The property was usually busy with luncheons, dinners and smaller events but none that required two assistants, as Melanie insisted on having. This was the sole reason Cathy had placed the property on her inspection list.
Melanie's assistants left the property from as quickly as six weeks to three months. Cathy was even aware of two girls who did not show up for work and then refused to come back to collect their salaries. The longest assistant had stayed for a year but had begged the General Manager for a recommendation to be transferred to any MoonStar property in the world, as long as she did not have to face Melanie again.
Two months ago, it had been the Food and Beverage secretary, Atika who had alerted the executive office that a remedy was needed as quickly as possible. Having worked at MoonStar Jakarta for more than eight years, she was used to seeing people come and go for personal reasons or even when they felt their expectations differed about the job they were doing. But she was not at all used to seeing her associates mistreated at any MoonStar property. She had gone to Melanie's office to find her latest assistant, Rini crying while scrubbing the wall and picking up pieces of a broken mug.
"What are you doing?" Atika had probed gently. She knew that in Melanie's office, anything was possible.
"Ummm ... I spilt something," came the soft, shaky reply.
"This isn't where you sit. Tell me what happened. Now!" Atika had demanded. She had instantly recognized the shakiness in the girl's voice was nothing but fear.
"I got careless and I ... I mixed the wrong coffee for Ms. Melanie and she's told me so many times before she hates decaf ... I just forgot, you know. The first button on the machine is decaf and I ... really don't bother about me, it's my fault Atika. I'll be fine," Rini had sniffed and continued to scrub the wall as Atika had looked on and tried to piece the incident together.
Something very wrong had taken place and she needed to know what it was.
"No Rini, wait ... tell me EXACTLY what happened. You brought the coffee to her. It was the wrong coffee. What did she do? I've given Mr. Endy wrong coffee plenty of times. Too much sugar. Too much milk. What did she do, Rini?"
The younger girl broke down as she described what had taken place, earlier.
"She threw her mug against the wall and the coffee splashed on the wall. She said if I couldn't even get a cup of coffee right, I'll never have a good job. Then she asked me to get the stain off the wall, but I can't."
"Here, let me help you clean up and then I'll see what we can do about the stain, okay?"
Atika was exactly the person, Rini had needed to assist her with holding on to her job, for a little longer. The previous two assistants had submitted their resignation letters just before Christmas and Rini had proved herself a useful resource with planning media schedules and marketing plans, on behalf of Melanie.
Cathy knew each time Melanie changed assistants for the simple reason that her proposals and reports differed in tone. Some seemed far more intellectual while others had an amateurish quality but all had Melanie's name signed at the bottom.
When Atika had tipped off the General Manager and his secretary in a private discussion, it was his decision to place the nanny-camera in the Communications Office. Its location was known only to himself and the Security Manager. The less people knew, the more impact the truth would have when it was finally uncovered.
Cathy was informed of the plan. While not enthusiastic, she knew that if any kind of employee abuse was going on, it was their duty to end it, by whatever means they possessed. Confronting Melanie without absolute proof would mean a dramatic session of how "the girls" had too much time on their hands and were concocting stories about her. Either she had become an expert at covering up her actions or she was really delusional about the person she was.
Cathy had arrived at the property the night before, well past 9:00 p.m. She had placed her belongings in her room and she had gone for a quick walk to the office suites of MoonStar Jakarta. A light in the Communications Department had given her the impression that Melanie was hard at work and she had decided say a quick hello to Melanie, seeing that she was already there. However, the only person she had found was Rini, sitting by the fax machine with a stack of papers in her hands looking as though she would drop to the ground at any minute.
"Hi, what are you doing? It's pretty late isn't it?" Cathy had asked. The younger associate had wheeled around in shock.
Every property was advised to keep an organisation chart of all vice presidents and heads of departments for times like these. It took a moment for Rini to realise who had addressed her, but she managed a warm smile as it dawned on her.
"Ms. Dixon, hello ... I, wow ... I didn't know you were coming. Ms. Melanie is not around at the moment. I'm just sending out the press releases for next month's food promotions ... I was busy today and it had to be sent today ... so ..."
"Rini, relax. One more day isn't going to change the response to next month's food promotions. You've already sent some today, send some more tomorrow. For now, go home and get some sleep."
Rini stared at Cathy not sure if she had processed the instruction correctly or if things had finally turned around for her. "But my boss said ..."
"I will talk to Melanie. Go and have a good dinner, sleep well and we'll talk tomorrow," Cathy had reassured the girl.
The walls at the Communications Department had been painted a pale sunny yellow after the coffee incident. As Cathy waited for Rini to pack her things, she had looked around and wondered what other secrets were tucked away between the walls of this office. When she had gone up to her room, the Security Manager had met her with a flash drive that contained the videos from the nanny-cam. He had warned her she would need a strong stomach and had ass
ured her again that other than the General Manager and himself, no one else had viewed the recordings.
Melanie had been busy at the office, there was no doubt about that. But it was unrelated tasks that had kept her at the office past midnight. On the nights she was manager-on-duty, she had enjoyed ‘working’ on her desk with one of the newer associates from Concierge lying on top of her. This was one of the few sexual positions the two of them enjoyed. Two videos showed her in a passionate kiss with a female lover, whom they would later discover, was one of the references on her resume.
Some nights Melanie had come into the office, drunk and unsteady. She would then call Rini after work hours, to pick her up from the hotel and drive her home, which was nowhere in the girl's job description. There were numerous clips of her repeated tantrums, each louder and more harsh than the previous one on the nanny-cam. She had thrown papers and files at Rini. Once, she had even flung a paperweight and another time she had made the girl polish her stilettos while she still wore them. The most revolting of all were the two occasions when she had made the girl sit on the floor, while taking notes.
All through the videos, she was heard screaming for one thing or another. The words "please" and "thank you" did not exist in this person's vocabulary. In the mornings, she screamed for coffee and during the day she screamed for her own work to be carried out faster, while she occupied herself with Facebook, Twitter and entertainment news.
Cathy hardly slept for the rest of the night. Everyday so much was done to protect each MoonStar property from negative media attention. A lot of money and effort was poured into making sure each property outshone their competing properties. And yet, here they were, caught in their own web, tangled in a situation none of them could have anticipated. The next day, the General Manager and Cathy discussed the options that could be laid out for Melanie. She would be asked to stay on a little longer to supervise some immediate changes in the Communications Department. Pending an internal inquiry with Human Resources, Melanie would definitely be suspended but second chances were always available for any hotelier.
A small bit of Cathy wanted Melanie to rot in hell but setting personal emotions aside, Cathy would recommend a transfer to another MoonStar property and a position with less authority, one where she would not be able to throw her weight around as much. Cathy also recommended that Melanie be placed on an extended probation period where she would report directly to Cathy. If all that did not help in making Melanie a team player and treating her subordinates with respect, she would be asked to resign.
Misused power encouraged some people into thinking they were far above others without ever realising that the more power you have, the greater your sense of accountability for your actions.
HANOI, VIETNAM
April 2009
Having been established as a city for more than one thousand years, Hanoi is an immensely popular tourist attraction in South East Asia. It is also one of the fastest growing cities in the world. Currently, it enjoys a strong economic growth from tourism and other service sectors such as banking and finance. But these achievements have not come easily for Hanoi.
The city, alongside the rest of Vietnam had been dominated by Chinese dynasties in its earlier years. The French occupied it in 1873 and the Japanese occupied it in 1940. The French, however, came back to occupy Vietnam in 1945 which split the country into two sections, North Vietnam and South Vietnam. Hanoi became the capital of North Vietnam in 1954.
During this period, any hope for peaceful living was short lived when the city's transportation facilities were continually bombed. At the time, South Vietnam was embroiled in bitter battle and North Vietnam was forced to take a side in a war that would later involve nineteen countries.
Initially, North Vietnam fought against France to maintain its independence. But eventually, it pointed its weapons towards South Vietnam who publicly called it a "puppet state" for allowing talks and negotiations with Western countries. The United States government rallied its involvement as “necessary”. It was their intention to prevent South Vietnam from becoming a communist state. However, this resulted in numerous controversies especially over the use of repeated chemical spray from 1961 to 1971.
Different types of these sprays were formulated to destroy rice crops and other plantations by the South. The world would come to know of these incidences when the strongest chemical spray, Agent Orange was sprayed across South East Asia. It is estimated that twelve million gallons of Agent Orange were used in an effort to weaken the opposition. The Vietnamese government has made recent claims that the Dioxin in this spray was so potent it still affects at least four million of its people. This claim, however, has been vehemently denied by the United States.
Almost thirty-five years later, 30th April holds bittersweet memories for those involved in the Vietnam War. It marked the end of a war that claimed the lives of more than one million soldiers and two million civilians, in the course of nineteen years and two hundred days. It also marked the beginning of a new country, as North and South Vietnam came together.
For the whole months of April, May and June, selected MoonStar properties had worked with a group of independent photographers to feature selected war-time exhibitions, commemorating war veterans and current serving military men and women, around the world. Each photographer received a function room they could convert into their studio, showcase their work there and allow viewers to purchase the pieces while receiving media publicity, courtesy of the MoonStar Communications team. Hundreds of photographers had pitched their portfolios and tributes, each with a different angle. However, only twelve photographers had been selected. Each would be given one week in a different MoonStar property with complimentary accommodation and meals.
Walking around the photo exhibition at the Ha Dong Room, Cathy stopped at one particular shot that tugged at her heartstrings. A young, good looking soldier was seen hugging his family at an emotional farewell in 1971. His wife clung onto him for dear life. Tears streamed down her face while his two toddlers held onto the soldier's legs. The picture on the right, showed the same soldier in present day. He was now a decorated war veteran. A short write-up from the photographer who had pieced the exhibition together, accompanied the photo. A landmine had blown off both the soldier's feet and he had returned to his family, bearing no resemblance to the person who had left them. Unable to cope with the change that war had unleashed on him, the soldier spiralled towards what he was now, a broken man of sixty-three, without family and living on a measly pension. All sentiments from the first picture were definitely long gone.
That was the theme of this particular exhibition, "Vietnam's Heroes, Yesterday & Today". Each picture was a glimpse into the past, where a hopeful soldier fought for his country accompanied by a picture and a write-up of how the war had affected the person's life and family. Most pictures came with gripping stories of loss. Mothers who lost sons; wives who lost husbands; newlyweds who had barely made it past their honeymoons and most moving of all children who barely remembered their fathers, found this exhibition as another way to piece together the loss they had experienced, but not necessarily remembered feeling.
Heroic pictures of soldiers who survived places like the "Hanoi Hilton" were also on display. This had been the nickname given to the most notorious prisoner of war camp, otherwise known as Hao Lo which translates to Hell's Hole. There were also images and write-ups of soldiers who had fought off every demon in themselves to overcome the aftermath of war, resulting in business ventures, real estate development and a war veteran who had started a flying school.
Amidst the tragedy and soul tearing pain of disaster, there were also pictures of friendships formed and lovers found. Young soldiers who had joined the army, found themselves sealed within a brotherhood that would last a lifetime.
An especially striking photo of a young nurse captured Cathy’s attention. This nurse had joined the Red Cross on her twenty-first birthday. In the two years she had served as a field nurs
e and after attending to more than three hundred wounded soldiers, she fell in love with a flight sergeant whose plane was gunned down and had come to her with a broken leg.
Now her husband of more than thirty-two years, the soldier was quoted as saying, "She saw a broken leg, I saw my saving grace."
Some pictures were a depiction of two cultures coming together, soldiers who found new roots amongst Vietnamese families. Some returned for marriage, while others strengthened their bond through continual visits and the introduction of their respective younger generations to each other.
As Cathy looked across the room, she caught a glimpse of the photographer deep in thought as he answered questions from a reporter. Even as he answered the question and smiled, his eyes crinkled up as it always did. Cathy had told Thomas about the exhibition but had stressed that she would not be involved in the selection process, so bias was not a concern. She knew he deserved a big break.
He had been given his first camera at ten. It was a chunky gadget using film and he had raced across the street that Christmas morning as soon as he had figured out how it worked.
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