Sometimes you meet someone, and you are immediately drawn to their personality.
When we first got to Costa Rica and started working at the hotel, the Wi-Fi at the hotel was sketchy at best. It made it difficult to get any work done. For those first few weeks we found ourselves heading down the mountain to a local restaurant, Sibu, to use the internet. There, we could send a few emails, work on our website or make WhatsApp calls.
While we were there, a server with a million-dollar smile named Andrey waited on us more than once. Knowing that we weren’t local, he asked us our names. We told him our names and that we were the new owners of the hotel up the mountain. Andrey spoke conversational English, was always friendly, and the next time we returned, he remembered and greeted us by name.
Driving back to the hotel that day, Mark commented that if we ever needed a new server at the hotel, Andrey would be the type of person we would be looking for! He seemed to care about his work, was friendly with customers, and remembered their names!
Fast forward a year to our remodel of the hotel. We knew that with a newly redesigned hotel and hopefully, more guests (fingers crossed!) that Vianney (the best bartender in the world) and our other server could not possibly continue to cover all the shifts. We set out to find Andrey, but he no longer worked at the restaurant down the mountain. Darn!
We asked AJ, our manager, if he knew if Andrey was still in town. AJ said he was and went to ask Andrey if he wanted to interview for the new server position at our hotel. They set up a meeting for Andrey to come up to the hotel and interview with me.
On the day of the interview, in the middle of construction, Andrey arrived at a muddy, messy shamble of a hotel. He was dressed well, interview ready, with nice shoes and clothes. I was dressed in my construction attire - yoga pants, a t-shirt and knee-high rubber boots!
I welcomed Andrey and invited him in to ‘see’ the hotel, the view and the dining area. To get to the dining area, we had to climb over a big pile of construction material and walk through the mud, and as usual, it was raining. I felt so bad asking Andrey to walk over all this stuff as we spoke. Andrey was unfazed.
As we spoke, he was excited about the possibility of working with us. I had already contacted his reference, and we of course knew him from our visits down to the in-town restaurant. I hired him on the spot! Andrey confessed later that he was so nervous during the interview that he thought he had blown it!
Andrey started with us mid-November 2018, a few weeks before we reopened the hotel for business. Like all of us, he helped with the final weeks of construction and getting everything back together to reopen.
Andrey is one of those very special people. He is ‘made for’ the service industry. His level of customer service is beyond compare. Just like in those first days of meeting us and remembering our names, Andrey NEVER forgets a name. From the time we hired him to the day Mark and I left the hotel as owners; we could always count on Andrey to remember a guest’s name. And remember my last post? As Dale Carnegie said, “a person's name is to that person, the sweetest and most important sound in any language.”
One time, we had a group of 14 visit the hotel. There were 7 couples. The first night, Andrey asked each of them what their names were one time. He was working again the next morning when the group came for breakfast. This time, they sat down randomly – not next to their partners. Andrey greeted them with his dazzling smile addressed each person by name. They were shocked he remembered them all, but he shrugged it off. He said, “I also know who goes with who.” They didn’t believe him until he proved it. “Jack, you go with Susan over there. Beth, you go with David …etc.” The guests were blown away!
If we had a guest return for a repeat visit, all I would need to say to Andrey was ‘remember guest so-and-so?’ and he would tell me all the details he remembered from their last visit. Andrey was genuinely interested in people. What better person for the service industry than someone interested in people?!
Andrey flourished as a server over the years. He initially learned English when he was a working at a hotel as a student learning the hotel industry. He knew this skill was very important, and he crafted it over the years.
Our restaurant did not have printed dinner menus, and our dishes changed nightly. It was the server’s job to verbally present the menu to the guests. He had a special way of presenting our menu that was unforgettable.
I’m not exactly sure, but I think Andrey went home each night and learned every English adjective he could. Each night, when presenting the guests with the dinner choices, Andrey brought out every adjective to describe our meals! Some of his favorites were: marvelous, exquisite, and the best one - a surprise!
He had the guests on the edges of their seats, waiting to know what the next choice was! As he explained the choices, he would roll his fingers with the flair of a magician to demonstrate one choice vs the other. You half expected the dish to suddenly appear in his hands out of thin air.
There is more to Andrey than his work ethic. As mentioned, Andrey is a people person. Never had that been truer than with his family. Like many Costa Ricans, Andrey’s commitment to his family was one reason he worked so very hard. Even though his family lived in a different town, he was the main breadwinner for them. He is also loyal to his friends.
When you work with someone and see them in one role most of the time, sometimes they can surprise you with a special talent. Like me, Andrey has a passion for music and can be found humming or singing to many songs. But Andrey’s real musical talent is as a dancer! At a party, Andrey, always dressed to the nine’s, usually in a colorful shirt, would own the dance floor. Women would literally line up to partner with Andrey to dance! He was smooth on the dance floor. In only his late-twenties, Andrey knows how to dance like a seasoned professional.
I asked Andrey once to show me how to dance the Bachata. (Mainly because it seemed like the ‘easier’ partner dance, and I thought I could catch on!) Well… let me tell you, learning the steps by themselves was ok, but the partnering part?! Not so easy. I had fun nevertheless!
A few times, I asked Andrey to show a guest how to Bachata. Yes, there were many times we had dance parties after dinner. Does that seem strange for an impromptu dance party after a nice, quiet dinner at a luxury boutique hotel? Maybe, but it was us.
There were many things that made our Costa Rican experience quite challenging. But I’m forever touched and grateful for the special and unique people that came into my life during this experience.
Maybe this post should have been filed with the others titled, ‘Things I miss’.
Te extraño Andrey. Pura vida!
Have you met Andrey or someone who has touched your life? Leave a comment if you have!
His smile (and personality) is electric! We are both so fortunate to have had the opportunity to travel and meet incredible people along the way! Thanks Kristi!
Now I love Andrey, too. You're right about that smile. When you meet a person like this, you never forget them. Do you keep in touch with him?