Mrs Maria José remembers well the day she arrived in Quarteira: September 6, 1973. «The bus stopped there, where the boardwalk is today», she points out. In the idea, she brought the vacancy for a telephone operator position which, after all, was already filled. She ended up staying the same, but in the restaurant of a Hotel D. José that was taking its first steps, in Quarteira. 50 years later, that's where she continues to work – and don't even mention her retirement.
«Dona Maria José has such a status that she only leaves here when she wants», jokes João Soares, director of D. José. We are at LOBBY entrance to the hotel, on a still hot afternoon with customers coming and going.
There are many that Maria José knows, whether or not she was a worker with 50 years of experience.
«I have friendships with people, clients, for years and years. Some even left me, for example, their address to visit them. Others have already asked about me,” she says.
The life of owner Maria José is intertwined with the hotel itself which, when it opened, was called “Toca do Coelho”. It was there that she arrived very young, 21 years old, and wanting to stay in the Algarve.
«I came from Lisbon with a three-month contract to work at Eurotel (Altura). At the end of that time, the contract ended, but I decided to stay in the Algarve », he says. He ended up discovering a vacancy for a telephone operator at the Hotel D. José, in Quarteira.
«When I arrived here, they told me that, that day, a telephone operator had already arrived, but Mr. Soares, owner of the hotel, told me that there were other vacancies and so it was».
That September 1973, Maria José started working at the restaurant's cashier. «At the time, it was called control: you had to make breakfast, lunch and dinner», she recalls.
Later, he moved into office services, where he still works today, at the age of 71, and where he was a colleague… of João Soares, grandson of the founder, who he saw grow up, and current director.
Therefore, it is not surprising that, for Maria José, working at D. José is like working «in a family home».
«It was here that I met my ex-husband, got married, had three children… People often ask me how I lasted 50 years in a house. This all has a reason. When I started starting a family, for example, everything was reconciled with my work schedule,” she says, smiling.
Over the years, owner Maria José collected stories. Some, she confesses, she can't count, but there is one that she immediately remembers.
«There was a client who wanted to take me to England because he liked me. I still had the ticket paid for, but I gave up. He was a client who already knew me and wanted me to take care of his wife. I still considered it, but I didn’t go,” he says.
The growth of the hotel – and of tourism in Quarteira – was also followed firsthand, as well as difficult moments (the Covid-19 pandemic was chosen as one of the main ones).
«Quarteira was a very different place when I arrived here. The hotel has undergone renovations for the better, but the essence remains. It's because? Because the owners are still here,” she considers.
This is the essence that makes her continue to work, combined, she confesses, with financial “necessity”. “But I don’t see myself standing still either!”, she says promptly.
«We have reached a point where we almost experience the hotel's problems as if they were our own», he concludes.
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