Finally! Someone sent me their story. This is the first submission from a reader. If you make her mad while checking in, she just might put a tack in your underwear while she cleans your room.
I love it when people ask me what exactly I do at my job. I often get looks of superiority and disrespect from people, ‘guests’ albeit, and I sincerely try to have a good attitude towards them. Let me tell you though, working at a hotel, makes it DIFFICULT to be a loving Christian, not that that isn’t hard enough. The last 2 days have been particularly trying of my patience and through it I keep praying the Lord will help me be gracious and loving, patient and understanding. But I have a line. I shouldn’t but I’m human, and I do.
Woman comes up to me at 9pm, right as another man walks in. The woman beat him to the desk. I try and help her. The following is the gist of the night.
Woman in low cut cleavage bearing zebra print blouse says “Yeah, I’d like to check out of my room. it’s a dumb question, but I’d like to anyway.” Plays with her hair and cocks her hip.
Me…. Attempting to process. “Ma’am, I’m sorry but checkout was at 12 noon. It’s 9 oclock at night, I can’t let you check out without charging you for the night.”
“aw, do you have too?”
“Um, yes ma’am I do.”
“Oh, ok. Well, I want you to send someone to my room to change my bed and give me fresh towels.” Are you serious?
“Our housekeepers left at 1 Ma’am, I’m sorry but if you want your bed changed again, I can give you the sheets but I’m the only one here, and I can’t leave the desk.” Looks at me in shock.
Woman: “Oh well Fine, I am MORE than competent and capable of changing a bed! My toddler got cheetos everywhere and I don‘t want to sleep in it!”
“Well, here you are…., Have a GREAT night.”
“Can I help you sir?”
Man walks up….
“Yeah how much awe yo ooms?”
(Me… attempting to decipher the alcohol and the accent) “** dollars a night sir.”
“That’s the bast you can dooo.???”
“Yes sir, I can’t go lower than that unless you have a military ID”
“Well fine, buke me aw oom, closest to tha gurls. Closest to the lobay”
“Ok sir.” (note there are no girls. I proceeded to check him in… shockingly his credit card hadn’t declined (not trying to be judgmental but people who look and act like this guy have a really strong probability of having their cards declined. I had just finished getting harassed by a rude guest who had had his card declined and was livid about it. ITS NOT MY FAULT YOU DON”T PAY YOUR BILLS!)
So I check this guy in. put him in the closest room to the lobby I could. Apparently, it wasn’t close enough. After repeating his information back to him no less than 3 times, he finally leaves. My irritation level is high.
Within moments he is back.
“Is dat tha besz you gut? Babay I want to be closa to the gurls.”
Ok…. 1- Call me ‘Baby’ one more time. See what happens. 2- THERE ARE NO GIRLS!
“Sir I’m sorry but that’s the best I can do, its 9 oclock, we don’t have any rooms closer.”
“Well naw that ain’t right, in LA I would get what I wantad you know what tame it is in LA?”
“Sir, your in North Carolina. I’m sorry, but that’s the best I can do.”
“Do you knaw that I could gat whateva I wanted in LA right now? Do you knaw what tame it is there?”
“It’s 6pm in Los Angeles sir. We are not in Los Angeles. We’re in North Carolina, it is nine pm, our rooms are booked. I’m sorry sir that’s the best I can do.”
“Well naw that ain’t good nough. I want a refun.”
“Did you move anything in the room sir?”
“huh?”
“Is the room dirty?”
“naw I Didn’t even go to tha room.”…. (Are you flipping kidding me?)
“Ok sir, your card has not been charged. Have a goodnight.”
Man storms out.
That’s just a sample of my night.
Ask me again, in your special tone, what exactly do I do? Let me tell you. I work both desk and housekeeping. That means that several nights a week, I get to stand at attention at the front desk to greet arrogant, self-centered, belittling people, as they check in, attempt to badger me for better rates, cuss me out when they don’t have enough money, or their cards are declined, or the room is exterior entrance, or the towels aren’t folded right, or they found a speck of something somewhere supposedly. I also have to deal with asinine drunks, random people who like to wander around at night doing nothing, and lonely construction workers who attempt to sweet talk me into drinking with them or going back to their rooms.
As a housekeeper, I have the privilege of scrubbing the toilets of the upper middle class. Its such an honor. I also get to attempt to play acrobat as I navigate through the random piles of stuff you leave in your room, yet expect me to clean around. I clean up your spit cups, your beer cans, your condoms, trash, tampons, porn magazines, toys, games, goo and garbage. I scrub away the ring of skin and sebum you’ve left in the tub, I scrub your urine from everywhere it should not possibly be, your feces from the walls, floors, and you don’t want to know where else, clean up your shaved hair, and scrub your floors on my hands and knees so when the next person uses your room, they don’t vomit upon entrance. See, I like to think I do my job for those rare but occasional normal, decent people, the ones who make my job a pleasure; I serve and help them along their journey with a genuine smile upon my face. But for people like you, who do all of the above and then have the audacity to come up to me with your belittling attitudes, degrading myself and my coworkers as if we are nothing because we work at a hotel, let me ask you now. Have I adequately answered your condescending question you ego-maniacal pig?
For the normal people out there… thank you for being courteous and respectful. Its people like you that stop hospitality workers like myself from climbing over the desk and strangling the men hitting on us while their wives use the restroom with their own ties.
Lord forgive me my temper. You know I’m trying. Please grant us all patience, perseverance, and a good attitude.
I really do like my job. Maybe its just people I have a problem with. …..
EJP
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