Mike wears his years like a well-cut suit. He manages the serving staff at Straits Kitchen and has been with the hotel for the past 25 years. His easygoing manner belies a sharp nose for sussing out slack practices and his focus on making customers happy makes him a firm crowd favourite. But, this is also a man who leads by example.
“I came to work at Hyatt 32 years ago. I was helping my family run a business in a teh tarik stall. After two years, I told my parents I wanted to go work on my own. First, I went to the hotel opposite Hyatt. They told me I had to shave my moustache, but I said, no way, I look cool! Then I walked into Hyatt. I followed a literal yellow line all the way to HR.”
At the interview, he was asked if he had any experience in the industry. And Mike replied, to raised eyebrows, that he had experience in coffeeshops.
“So he asked if I can do the job. And I said, yes, I can do a better job. And then he told me that my name, Ramakrishnan, seems too long for guests to pronounce. Well, you can call me Rama, or Krishnan, or Joe or Mike, I replied. And he agreed that Mike seems like a good name. So I was baptized as Mike. And after a few years nobody remembered my Indian name anymore.”
His origins, like so many of the Hyatt staff, are unprepossessing, yet what they all have in common are an indefatigable desire to work hard and thrive in their given roles.
