I'm coming back!

To many of ya'lls delight... I'll be back! I've taken some time from working the front desk to go back to school. But I'm going to  be picking up some shifts over the summer, and the good shifts too. Saturday nights! That's when all the freaks come out to play.

I've also been trying to get people to share stories, but no one seems to have the time to share a rant, or experience.

I guess we will see what the summer brings!

Sorry, didn't catch your name.

We all have them. We get to know them and sometimes we meet up with them over coffee or lunch. We talk on the phone, and text back and forth all day about stupid stuff like old men passing us in the pharmacy line.

I'm talking about online friends.

But for those of us that do choose to meet them in person, normally don't go into it blind. We know their real names (or at least the ones they make up to lead us on.) And we choose to meet somewhere public. Where there are people around to witness should Raven wants to practice her DIY Vasectomy techniques, or they turn out to be some creepy guy obsessed with lotion.

Tonight, this punk looking kid comes in the front door. He kinda reminds me of a friend that used to sit on his computer playing WOW all day. He and his friends thought a party was packing up your desk top computer and going to a friends house, so you and 5 other people can sit in the same room playing WOW. The best quote from this friend was "WOW is like real life. It's a new adventure everyday!"

So in comes this guy. I'd say early 20s if even that old. Wearing over sized pants for his straight lined waist and hips and a long stretched out black wife beater. He had a smooth face, so he mush have shaved, or hasn't yet gotten the gift of hair on his face, or chest for that matter. He looks like the guy that spends too much time in his mom's basement playing WOW or the old NES system.

He asked me where a room was. I found it hard to contain my look of "oh my god this is some kind of joke right?" I ask him for the name of the person in the room. Maybe he was at the wrong hotel? I didn't want to send him to someone's room after dark. He didn't know the name of the person he was looking for. Again... fighting the raised eyebrow of "you are a moron," while he scrolls through his phone looking for the guy's name. So I then call the room and ask the kid his name. He tells me his name but then says "He probably will know me by my screen name."  This time I know I couldn't hold back the "this is too funny!" look.

I gave him directions, and he fumbled with his cheap smokes and other random things he was carrying. I hope he realizes the room is non-smoking. I kinda feel sorry for housekeeping on this one. What if the screen name he was referring too is from an adult site? We don't need any more poo covered hotel rooms anytime soon.

Poor babies will have to walk.

We had been getting reports that the big white trucks had been slamming their doors into other cars. We couldn't prove who it was, as we have 3-4 groups here at any given time with big white work trucks. They are the kind with all the lock boxes on the back.

One of the groups comes to me the other night to tell me that their supervisor witnessed one of the trucks back into a car and drive off. He watched it to make sure it wasn't one of his guys.

After this, I told all the people with the trucks to stop parking in front of their rooms. We have a gravel lot they can park in and a larger lot that isn't as tight or as busy. 

Needless to say the company we are sure is doing the damage threw a huge fit. They started with the "we have 10 rooms for 2 months" blah blah blah song and dance. They belly ached about having to carry their equipment to their rooms, how they don't like the other cars hitting their truck, so they shouldn't be allowed to park there either, and that this was ridiculous.

I had one man after he had been drinking come back to the desk to tell on all the people with big trucks still parked where we asked them not to, and how someone was cooking with a gas grill and it smelled like they were cooking meth. By the time he stopped telling me all about his job, what they did and left the desk I couldn't find anything wrong.

They are so spoiled to us having outside rooms that they can just pull up to. They also thought this meant they got a discount on their rooms. HA! Not happening. They are not even paying for their rooms, their company is. I'm sure their company would love for us to call and tell them about this. I mean you've been causing damaging to any car that is parked near you! They are out of here in a couple of weeks.

The other 3 companies that stay with us and use these kind of trucks have never had a complaint on them before. I'm talking stayed with us for years and never hit other cars. It is this new group causing us grief. 

Make Believe Rooms

I hate them. Make Believe rooms are the rooms they book when they just book a room but not a room type.

I had a guest come in last night with two booked, but had in the traces that he wanted both rooms to be smoking. We only have a handful of smoking rooms, and we keep those for our regulars that smoke.

He was getting pissy with us that he wanted smoking and he put that in his comments when he made the reservations. I had to tell him over and over again that he didn't book a smoking room, and we don't have any smoking rooms to give him. Then he tells me, "What are comments good for then?" Well if there had been a smoking room available when you made the reservation then you could have booked a smoking room.

He goes on to argue that he made the reservation last week and blah blah blah. Well our smoking rooms are booked every week by our regular guest tough luck.

A few hours later the guy he was with calls me and starts saying he can smell chlorine in his room from the YMCA. We have a small YMCA attached to our building. They don't have a pool or anything else that uses chlorine. I just walked past the area not even a minute before he is whining about this. I didn't smell a thing. His room isn't even attached to the YMCA just next too it and it is the Racket Ball room next to that outside wall.

We will be changing his address in the system so he can't send in a bad survey.

My Babies Shouldn't Have Been Prevented.

I try not to bring up my personal information with my guest, but sometimes small talk does happen.

I was talking with a guest that was standing at the desk. She was telling me how she went to Walmart, and forgot her hair spray until after she was already out on the road. I just said back to her that I do that quite a bit. but when it happens I never go back, not even if I'm just in the check out line because I have a herd of kids with me, and that is probably why I forgot what ever it was in the first place.

She then looks at me and says "You know we've figured out how to prevent that?" Say what now? My gm and I both looked at her and she clarified what she was saying. "You know, we have ways of preventing babies." I was just standing there with a look of WTF, and my GM looks at her and tells her my kids are awesome.

How can someone say to you that your children should have been prevented? She then goes to say I'm contributing to over population. My best guess is that she has her head up her ass too far to read a book or articles on the fact that the population is declining around the world. Just do a quick Google search.

How do you respond to a customer across the desk? I have a pocket full of responses for when this happens with people I can tell off. I can't tell her to go prevent herself and she could easily reduce the global population by one tonight. People come to hotels to that quite a bit, but no. I can only stand there and think "Did you really just say that to me?"


I have four children. We are not in a race with the Duggars.

Where do people get off on being able to comment on the amount of kids they have? It's not like I'm hoarding babies or having them by the litter like Octomom. But can you even say those kids should have been prevented? They are deserving of life just as much as you are. 

My kids rock, and if I could have more I would.

Taxes

Guess what? I don't have control over TAXES! Yes, the state and the county will charge you taxes for your stay. Don't get mad at me. No, I will not remove them from your bill, and yes you will have to pay them. Just like anything else.

Let me guess, you are the asshat that calls up to your phone company and whines about the taxes and the 911 fee on your bill.

Get over yourself.

Dude turned into an ass when he realized he had $5.00 in taxes on his room from the county. His wife kept talking to me normal and I stopped dealing with him. I think she wanted to smack him too. 

You are not the boss of me!

We are next door to a large mall type store. The building is owned by the same people that own us. Yesterday around 4pm I get a call from someone at one of the stores. He asked for my GM. I told him she was out sick. He then ask for the manager on duty. That's me. He then started in on wanting a room comped, and that he was corporate of something at the mall. There are more stores than I can count in the mall.

I tell him I can't comp a room and the best I can do is direct bill it to the mall. He gets mad at me and starts saying he's been trying to get in touch with the GM since Friday evening. It is Tuesday and the GM doesn't work weekends. If he was someone of importance he would have known this, and would have gone the proper channels. You can't reach a GM on the weekends.

I only comp rooms when the owners or GM tells me too. I don't know who this guy was, but he was really trying to act like he could tell me what to do because he was corporate over something. I doubt the owners would want to comp a room with how busy we are. I told him to call back and talk to the girl on 1st because me giving him the GM's email wasn't good enough for him.

I also doubt that if it was one of the owners calling I would have been talked to so rudely. You can really tell when someone is trying to throw their weight around but have nothing to throw. I don't care if you are the Queen. I'm not giving you a free room.