Capitalism really is forcing me to work in a ghost ridden hotel. Here’s how to deal with your haunted workplace.
I currently work in a hotel and combination casino and gas station on the edge of a smallish town (the only hotel) in Oklahoma. This town’s slogan is “Where the Osage and Cherokee meet”, what they left out is that they “met” here by white oppression onto the reservations, and also to fight each other to the death on a plot of flat land we now use as a soccer field for the kiddos.
We have a “witches grave” somewhere in the backwoods, a traditional place for teens to pack into their crappy cars on Halloween late at night to creep each other out. A ghost woman morning her husband on the railroad we converted into a walking trail. On the same trail a man was sadly murdered in cold blood a few years ago. Several sightings of certain Native American cryptids (I don’t say the word, no thank you) that closer you get towards our man made lake.. that has a ghost town on the bottom of it.
I could go on and on about how my town is for many reasons WEIRD. Ask anybody that has successfully escaped that this town is just bizarre, and they’ll probably have a few stories or know a relative that has a story of supernatural junk happening at their job.
Let’s narrow it down to just my current workplace for now. The hotel is close to the before mentioned soccer field. Everyone that works here has had something happen, and it happens so often that these events are seen as mundane. New coworkers quickly get used to the eerie feeling of being closely watched. Voices telling them “have a nice day” down the hallway, or answering cleaning workers with an “I am” when calling into the bathrooms to inquire if someone was currently occupying it. Shadow people walk in front of the doorways of the hotel rooms. We’ve had guests ask to change rooms in the middle of the night because they couldn’t handle the activity on the third floor.
I’m always assigned the third floor. Here’s how to cope with working in a spiritually turbulent environment:
- If possible, let in as much natural light as you can. Immediately turn on some kind of sound, the TV is best bet because sometimes the radios are…yeah.
- If talking eases your stress feel free to say out loud what you’re doing in the space. Ex, “Sorry, I need to clean in here real fast then I’ll be out of your way.” Just be aware while using this method might trigger a response.
- Bring a coworker with you.
- Keep an eye out for the weather before going to work. Storms and rain seem to agitate activity, at least around here it does.
- Ignore the Shadow people. I know, I know. Just know that being in a haunted place coworkers will think it’s funny to try and scare you so best response to either of those things is to poker face it.
- Know when a situation is too much. If it gets overwhelming, walk away and get a coworker to accompany you.
- Bring a small trinket that comforts you.
- Try to be the most efficient you can be in high activity areas to spend less time there.
- Go outside on your breaks to get fresh air.
- Talk to your coworkers about it. It’s comforting to know when you’re not the only one dealing with encounters.
- If religion is your thing, do that, whatever “that” is.
- DON’T PURPOSELY AGITATE THE UNSEEN INHABITANTS! Like come on, please be respectful.
- Educate yourself on items, symbols, or actions that are used to provoke spiritual events. Ex, my coworker found a Hex bag behind a room’s mirror and poured out the contents.
- Set boundaries. Be clear when you don’t want to deal with this ghostly bullshit.
Hopefully you start getting the idea with that list. Coexisting with the weird takes getting used to, but I promise the intrigue of it doesn’t last. Especially when you work there a long time, you see the same people every day, even the Shadowy ones in your peripherals. There is nothing to worry about.
I’m hoping to collect some stories from my coworkers and maybe post them with their permission sometime. Anyways, bye!
(｡･ω･｡)ﾉ♡