Ho-Spell-Tality
A humorous look at the magic, madness, and survival skills of hospitality.
After more than twenty-five years working in hospitality, I discovered two things:
First, every hospitality worker develops skills that would be considered magical in any other profession.
Second, most people outside the industry have absolutely no idea what goes on behind the scenes.
Ho-Spell-Tality is a humorous and often painfully accurate journey through the world of hospitality, where patience becomes a superpower, common sense is frequently endangered, and every shift brings a new opportunity for chaos.
Written by someone who spent decades working with guests, customers, colleagues and managers, this book celebrates the people who keep the industry running while surviving the daily absurdities that come with it.
Whether you’ve worked in hospitality yourself or simply wondered what happens on the other side of the counter, you’ll find stories, observations and moments that are funny because they’re true.
This book was written as both a tribute and a farewell to an industry that shaped much of my working life.
Some lessons were valuable.
Some were exhausting.
Most were unforgettable.
Who This Book Is For
✓ Hospitality professionals past and present
✓ Anyone who has ever worked with the public
✓ Readers who enjoy workplace humour
✓ People who know that “the customer is always right” is often tested in practice
✓ Anyone who has survived a shift and thought, “Nobody is going to believe this happened”
Why I Wrote Ho-Spell-Tality
When I left hospitality after more than twenty-five years, I realised I was also leaving behind thousands of stories, observations and lessons.
I didn’t want them to disappear.
Ho-Spell-Tality became my way of preserving that world: the humour, the frustrations, the people, and the strange situations that only make sense to those who have lived them.
It is a thank you to the industry, a tribute to the people who work in it, and a reminder that sometimes the best way to survive the absurdity of work is to laugh at it.