Doorman
Porter [ pɔrˈti̯eː ] ( Austrian [ … ˈtiːɐ̯] ) is a profession or the designation of a job-related activity in a hotel or a larger residential building. The word comes from French and is derived from the Latin word “porta”, which means “ door ” and indicates the activity that consists of paying attention to those coming and going, guiding them in and out and providing information. The name is also outdated for a caretaker .
In Austria, the term porter is also a synonym for porter . In the past, the functions of porter and caretaker were combined in the Austrian porter, as it was customary in Vienna since the first half of the 19th century that tenants of an apartment building did not have a key to the front door and therefore at night when it was locked , the caretaker had to ring the doorbell, so that he opened them, for which he received a tip (also barred money, because of unlocking and locking the door). This enabled the porter to control the comings and goings in the house; Since he, like the French concierge, also received the mail for the tenants, he was often suspected of monitoring the residents, especially at the time of State Chancellor Metternich when, after the Carlsbad resolutions, a police and spy state persecuted the opposition. Colloquially, Portierisch in Vienna still today refers to an applied, exaggerated courtesy behind which a somewhat dubious character is hidden. However, the actual power of the porter had already declined in 1922 at the latest when a regulation was issued in Vienna according to which tenants were granted the right to their own key to the entrance door.
Comparable to a concierge , a porter can still take on other tasks than monitoring doors and ensuring that they are opened and closed. For example, he can oversee reception activities such as in-house mail, telephone switchboard and visitor reception, as well as administrative activities such as keeping keys and keeping attendance lists.
The duties of a porter overlap with those of a caretaker , but are not to be equated with them. He differs from the doorman , who belongs to the professional field of security personnel, who only let selected guests into restaurants or event venues, in that he is also available for information and small services.
In Germany , these activities can be learned through training as a hotel manager , in Switzerland there is a porter as a training occupation .
Information and signposting boards that can sometimes be found in large residential or commercial buildings are named as “silent porters”. These can be showcases in which tenant information or a list of room or apartment numbers is housed, but also signs that serve as signposts through the main and rear buildings and through the floors.
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Portier in duden.de, accessed on March 21, 2012
- ↑ Asfa-Wossen Asserate: Manieren, Frankfurt 2003, p. 283.
- ↑ http://www.stadt-forschung.at/downloads/Hausmeister_in_Wien.pdf