Growing up in a motel

When I was 5 or 6 (between kindergarten and 1st grade) my parents bought a motel from my grandparents and we moved into that. I grew up there and my parents still own it today, although now rooms are rented on a monthly basis instead of a nightly basis. Where we lived was the size of a house. The motel is L shaped and our house was in the corner of the L and extended into the backyard. There was a breezeway with the office on the other side.

This was the motel, before we moved into it or early on after we bought it.

Growing up in a motel was very unique and I didn't realize just how unique until I got my first apartment in college and then eventually my own house. I thought since most people have no idea what it's like growing up in a motel I'd just talk about some of the interesting/unique things growing up there.

The phone system was multiple lines with at least a personal line and a motel line. At one point we also had an 800 number, there was a fax line, etc. So from the time I started using the phone we had to dial a 9 before the number to call out. It took a bit to get used to just picking up the phone and dialing the actual number (especially considering when I went to college between dorm living and work study jobs there were other codes to dial out). Along with that, we had to think before we answered the phone, how to answer it. When I was younger I only answered the personal line but as I got older and learned how to help with the office and reservations, I also answered the motel line. In addition, my parents did some stuff outside of the motel for additional money; my dad tuned pianos, they both taught lessons, etc. So we got calls for those businesses. I remember I didn't even answer the personal line with "Hello." At one point, in college, I had to actively think where I was before answering any phone since I had a work study job in addition to another desk job on campus.

With the amount of garbage from all the rooms (daily emptying of garbage cans, etc.) we had a dumpster outside. I didn't understand the concept of "taking out the trash" each week until I had an apartment in college and even then the landlord had to explain what that meant. I'm sure he thought I was a bit crazy. They did empty the dumpster every week but since it was a dumpster we just took out garbage whenever a bag was full.

We had an ice machine, soda machine, and candy machine. In the summer I would take a plastic cup and just sit outside and eat ice. And my dad would go once a year to buy candy in bulk from one of those special stores and let us each pick a box of what we wanted. And if we wanted soda or candy we could just get it out of the machine- we had a bucket with the coins from the machine that my dad would empty money into every so often so that it wasn't filled in the machines and we'd just use that money. We didn't get candy/soda unless it was ok with my parents but that's how we would do it. Always had a decent selection to choose from...

Our doors to the house/apartment were marked PRIVATE but sometimes people would just walk in anyways. Even when I was more than old enough to be home alone it took awhile before I felt comfortable being home alone.

We had a big commercial laundry room with a commercial washer and dryer for the sheets and towels. When I'd come home from college I just threw ALL of my clothes in at once. Mutliple loads at one time. The washer was hooked up to dispensers for soap and bleach so you never filled them with soap, etc. And you had to be careful which cycle you chose so you didn't bleach out clothes if you were bringing home all your clothes from college to wash them. Luckily, I never made that mistake.

We always had to be more conscious of noise so we didn't disturb guests. Early on there was a motel room that was right behind our kitchen (shared a wall) and my poor parents, whenever my sister and I had a fight. The people in that room could hear everything. Ultimately, partly because of that, they turned that room into my sister's room and we built on another room that became my room. 

We had a big swingset outside but if other kids were out there we usually didn't go out. Although I did meet some kids that way, but most of the time we would stay away unless they were regular customers we got to know.

The motel really established work perspectives for me. When we first moved there, we had another company provide clean sheets and towels. When I was around 10 or so, to save money, my parents built on the commercial part of our laundry room and started doing laundry themselves. I helped fold towels for them. When I was big enough to handle sheets, I started folding sheets.  When I turned 14, I got working papers and started cleaning rooms. And when they decided I was old enough, I started help run the office if they were busy or had to be away and would take reservations over the phone. 

The motel was a 24/7 job so we took a week's vacation every year and it felt like we were a normal family. Eventually we got a time share condo and would swap weeks around, and buy groceries for meals.  It was so nice to eat a meal without the doorbell or phone interrupting. (Although I was a picky eater and that made it hard to hide that I didn't always eat everything on my plate.) My parents had to find someone to watch the motel for a week and would call back daily to make sure things were ok. 

If I think of more, I'll make another post someday. I actually wrote most of these to a friend describing somewhat what it was like growing up in a motel.