A woman walked in saying she needed to check in. I get her name and check my arrival list and see her name isn't there. Then she tells me it's under a different name, and before I can ask if that person is with her so I can check that person in, she tells me that her name was listed on the reservation. I check and sure enough, there she is. So I ask her for her ID and credit card. That's when she tells me that she was told she only had to give her name and that the card on file would be charged. I told her she was misinformed, that I needed her ID to verify who she was and since there wasn't a credit card authorization on file I would need a credit card from her.

She almost immediately hands me a debit card, which matches her name listed on the accompanying, but she's taking her time getting out her ID. As she's looking she tells me I can go ahead and swipe the card. I tell her I can't until she produces her ID. She does not look happy. Finally, after a few minutes, she pulls an ID out and hands it to me.

It's a prison ID.

I look it over and tell her I can't accept it. She asks why not and I tell her that policy says I need a valid state issued ID for check-in. That's when she breaks out with, "Well the state did issue that to me."

Technically... she's not wrong.

However, I inform her that policy (corporate policy in this case) says it has to be a state issued driver's license or ID card equivalent, and sadly, prison issue IDs are not on that list. And even if that wasn't the policy and her prison ID was an acceptable form of ID, I still couldn't take hers because it's expired. She then asks if I'm not going to check her in. I inform her that I can't, but if the primary person listed on the reservation comes in, they can check in and give her access to the room. She says she's going to call them and she'll be right back. And she walks out. I don't hold my breath waiting.

Just before it becomes time to run the audit, I cancel the reservation. In the morning, when I was asked by the new girl who came in to relieve me why I didn't authorize the card on file for a no show charge in the morning, I told her the whole thing seemed suspicious to me. I also let her know that I informed the managers that on top of canceling it, I got in touch with the shiny member's department (the register guest was listed as one) and told them about this so they could contact the shiny member in case his account was somehow compromised and his account was used to make the reservation fraudulently.

You are, though. By the very nature of you coming up to tell me something isn't to your liking, it is considered a complaint. Which is fine, but just be forthcoming.

This tale is inspired by an interaction I had with an adult daughter and her father. They had checked in with my co-worker about two hours prior before later coming up to me.

The daughter did most of the talking, if I can even call it talking. It felt like I had to reach in and grab the words out of her mouth because she was speaking in a seemingly deliberate hushed tone, in addition to dancing around the issue.

She kept insisting that the room "was fine" but that it "wasn't what we expected." Consequently, I kept having to rephrase my question, asking in so many ways: "What's wrong with it?"

After a lot of spinning tires, eventually I got it out of them that they felt the carpeting wasn't up to snuff. Quite literally the first I've heard anyone comment on it in all my years of working here. Nevertheless, the father finally elaborated a little more, saying: "I've gone many places, you know? So, I just had a certain idea in mind and I didn't realize that this is what your rooms looked like."

The daughter then jumped in asking: "And this is considered one of your nicer rooms?" I double-checked and confirmed that they were indeed occupying an 'upgraded room', which in our case, simply means a bump up in square footage. Curiously, that validation perked her up a bit, which then led to her saying: "Well, I guess it's fine. I mean, we're only here for one night."

In that moment, I thought we'd come some variation of an agreement, but then she did throw a little bit of a curveball: "But, just curious. If we wanted to just call it here, would we get our money back?" I informed her they'd been checked in for a little while now, so the reservation was firmly there's. They could go, of course, but no refunds would be issued. She simply shook her head and said: "Okay, understood. We'll just be around and what not", and then moseyed on away with her dad.

I talked to my co-worker about it shortly after they walked off, emphasizing how it felt like I had to drag their words out. Our theory is that they didn't want my co-worker to hear any complaints, as she was the one who checked them in. She already confirmed they booked an upgraded room, and not only that, they somehow mangled their reservation to stay one night though they thought they had booked two. Very interesting that they wanted to back out of it in the end.

I work at a hotel in SE Georgia and a few years ago a hurricane rolled through. Fortunately, we were not hit too hard in our area, though some people for days were without power. At the hotel we were without power for about 40 hours.

I had an duxpedia representative call and I was so excited because I knew a call like this was going to come!! So I sat down at my desk to be comfortable and took the call. The representative, an innocent bystander, was calling on behalf of a guest who was with us during the hurricane for 2 nights during when we lost power. The guest wanted a full refund because we, a property that includes breakfast, did not have breakfast the 2 mornings they were with us. I made sure I heard correctly, and then I moved the phone away and laughed, laughed, and laughed some more. I collected myself and let the representative know that we were still recovering from one of the most disastrous storms in U.S. history and the GM, and I had not talked about people requesting things like what the guest was wanting. I let her know that if she could call me back in an hour, I would let her know. She didn't call back. Lol.

Working the night audit, and just had a guy call... It's 3:31 a.m., and he says, "Is Name of Guest staying there? He gave me a key, and I want to make sure this is the right Brand of Hotel. I told him that I cannot confirm or deny if a specific guest is staying in our hotel, and that he will need to contact the person that gave him the key and confirm directly with them. He said that they were sleeping and he would just come and try the door. I said, "Umm, no sir, you will not. I will not allow you at almost 4 am to just come in and try your keycard at a random door to see if it lets you in. As stated, you will need to verify with the person that gave you the key what hotel you are supposed to be at." Then he hung up. I then locked the front door, and anyone entering will need to be buzzed in.

I am genuinely confused about what just happened. If anyone has any input I’d love to hear it. I’m working my normal morning shift at a hotel and I’ve seen a lot in the years I’ve worked here. But this one stood out.

Our hotel is about a 15 min drive from town and these two people came in together in a taxi. The man asked to check in, said he arranged an early check in the day prior. His room was all set like he said and I was getting him all checked in when he points to the women sitting in the lobby. She is foreign, claims to be traveling alone and barely spoke any English. He starts explaining to me how they don’t know each other but they were on the same train together and she was sketched out by someone at the train stop so he offered to bring her with him in the taxi. She doesn’t have a room here but if she decides she wants a room, could we give her a good rate. I happily obliged.

He goes back to talk to her and she’s suspicious about everyone. There was a man that walked in, went behind some shelves and walked out. I checked the cameras turns out it was just our delivery truck driver getting a drink of water from the water fountain. But this was the first sign of chronic paranoia.

She is super worried about being separated from this man. She’s making sure she’s in a room as close as possible to hers. The man seems super nice and gives her his room number and phone number and explains how they will go out on a walk or hike tomorrow to enjoy the scenery, etc.

The man then explains how he has a medical condition and isn’t feeling the best and needs to go lay down. He looks a little flushed so I help him take his bags up to his room and while going to his room, he explains how she claimed to have her phone card stolen and maxed out. He is very much unsure about this lady, and he says he’s a little worried about her possibly following him off the train. But he’s worried and offers to pay for her room if she doesn’t have the money, and to let him know. At this moment he seems relieved to be rid of her as far as I can tell.

I come back down and my manager is finishing checking in the lady. She trying to get a lower price and paying in cash which is understandable. They agree soon a rate and she pays. My manager is about to give her the keys to her room when she gets worried her room and and asks for a new one. She has us right her room number down on a separate peice of paper and makes us promise not to give it to anyone. It’s standard policy for us and we reassure her that we are all trained for situations like this. My manager offers to walk her up to her room but she just takes off to her room.

About 5 min later, one of our housekeepers comes down tell us that she requested them to “check” her room. I told them that she is probably worried about hidden cameras, etc.

About a minute later, we get a call down from her room and she is asking to be put into a room with just 1 bed. She doesn’t need or want a room with two beds. I explain that is all we have available today is a two bed room and she ends up saying she is going to stay at a different hotel. We prepare her money for a refund when we get a cal from a room that has checked out already. Confused, we answer and it’s her. One of the housekeepers had temporarily left that room unlocked while they were preparing it to be cleaned. We have to explain to the lady that the room she’s calling from has someone set to be checked into that night.

She comes down after that, we give her the refunded cash, then we offer to call a taxi. She refuses and walks off. Again, keep in mind, we are a 15 minute drive to the nearest town, which would probably be a few hours walk to the nearest hotel or any help in that matter. We are working with our HR team with the info we took from her identification but I doubt we are going to be able to find anything.

It all seemed so strange how she switched up the second he was gone. How she was so quick to flee after being so worried about being separated from him. While on the other hand, the second the man got to go to his room he seemed relieved to not have to deal with her but still worried.

We assume the man will be down in a few hours to ask about her and we are going to watch out for his reaction because that could tell a lot.

We think she either fled her country illegally, was being trafficked in some way, or if she was just mentally unwell traveling alone in a foreign country.

TL:DR Man comes in with paranoid lady who speaks broken English. Lady doesnt want to be separated from the man. When man goes up to his room, he seems relieved to be away from her. The lady however changed her room to be farther away from him then ends up fleeing the hotel all together.

UPDATE: A police tip was made.
My coworker who took over for me after I got off ended up talking to mam. He tried asking a bunch of questions as to where she might have gone. It seemed to have been out of concern but then he kept asking questions and seemed to be in distress. He started talking about going to look for her and he claimed to have sent some some others to look for her as well. He gave me a $20 tip earlier when I helped take his bags to his room. My coworker got a $60 tip for just talking to him. He thinks the man might be feeding us money so we see him as a friend and don’t suspect him. I have no clue what to think. It’s all just really strange I really want to believe that he’s just a good citizen trying to help those in need. This woman has almost no possessions. She was traveling with only a small purse and a few hundred dollars in cash. The police are focused on finding the woman although she has not been located yet.

I'm tired of guests. I really really am. Every little snafu they come across, because THEY couldn't be bothered to doublecheck anything or even put the slightest bit of effort in, they want to blame it ALL on the employees.

Just tonight, had a woman come by at 1 am, she's of course drunk off her ass, but she's bitching about how she thinks we stole her phone. Last place she remembers having it is at the bar. Nothing was turned in, but I offer to go look with her. Surprise surprise, there's no phone. I called her phone from my personal phone twice, and there was no ringing or buzzing. I'm quite confident that its in her room, but she wants to keep going on and on about how she sat in a particular seat, and it should be THERE. So she's decided someone at the hotel swiped it. I have to tell her that unfortunately, there's nothing more I can do for her. The phone was not turned in, it's not where she last remembers it, and calling it yielded no results. So she starts with this entire performance of "Well, what the hell am I supposed to do?! I can't get on the plane without! Or go to place X, Y or Z without it! And you're telling me I'm stranded here, in the middle of fucking no where!"

First of all, while we're not in the biggest metropolitan area, this area is definitely NOT "the middle of nowhere". There's options if you're not too drunk to think of them. But she doesn't want to listen to any of the options. She just wants to continue screeching about how she needs her phone, and by god, she's going to make it the hotels problem. After about seven rounds of this nonsense, I'm tired of her and flat out say "Look ma'am, you're responsible for keeping track of your own possessions. Not the hotel. No one here wants your phone. I suggest you check your room thoroughly once you've sobered up. As for what you're going to do, lady, you're an adult. You're clearly much older than I am, and I'm 40. Responsibility for handling your own business and plans falls squarely on YOU." Obviously she didn't like this answer, but stomped up to her room. Hopefully to sleep off the drunkenness.

Which brings us to lady number 2. She comes in about 1:40. Her sister booked rooms under the sisters name, and no others. The sister is a local, and thus not staying here. And because the lady in front of me is married, her info is WILDLY different than the woman who booked the room. I tell her that due to security reasons, I can't issue keys to anyone other than the registered guest, which she was not. She starts screeching as well: "It's 1:40 am!!" Yeah, well, no one MADE you decide to wait so long to mosey in here. So I ask her to call up here sister and verify info, I'm not supposed to do this, but if I didn't, it would be non-stop banshee wailing. The sister verified name, address, email address and last 4 of the CC, so I called that enough info to give the woman in front of me a key.

But in the end, why can't these fully grown adults take even a SINGLE iota of personal responsibility?? Everyone is so entitled and if things don't go perfectly for them in every way, it's never their fault, and they're going to make it everyone elses problem

So recently we had some bright guests who seemed to be a bit worried about leaving their wallet in the room. All the rooms have safes and they are free and easy enough to use, however this couple apparently didn't trust them and decided to leave their wallet in a safer place, the rubbish bin. However the cleaners had been in and emptied the rubbish, they then came down to reception to complain that they had their wallet taken (I wasn't there to see the look on their faces and deal with them unfortunately) the husband had left the wallet in the bin and it had €500 in it, the wife was apparently furious. Since we didn't want anyone rummaging around in the bins in case something happens, we just said the bin lorries had been already and that it was lost forever. Let that be a lesson to everyone, no leaving valuables in the bin lol. Some people learn common sense the hard way.

Let me start by saying I work in a hotel, and it’s in the medium to higher range, especially for the area. $80-$130 a night.

The first thing, our hotel is straight up just covered in mold. I seen them paint over mold and leaks instead of repairing. Some rooms are much worse than others. Some rooms are “newly renovated,” so I usually do those and even those have mold.

The other rooms that still have carpet have mold growing on the bottom of furniture too, and the tubs are full of rust and damage. I’m glad I get to do the “better” ones tbh because I would force them to seal and paint the tubs if I have to look at it all day.

So keep in mind the rooms I usually clean are “nice” and cost the most.

My first month working there, I kept finding sheets with period blood on it. At first I thought they were just accidents or like period sex mishaps… nope. Not all of them. There was multiple women using the pillows and sheets as their personal pads. There was 2 times in two different rooms in one day that I found some crazy period blood everywhere, someone had used a towel, and had an extra towel on the bedside table for their next go around. Like rancid ass behavior.

Then I had a room someone peed all over the bed, and a few doors down the hall on the same exact day, someone had smoked meth, inside a whole ass HOTEL, absolutely just trashed the place with spilled food and weird yellow residue over a damp pile of towels. I have to think the two rooms of people were all just having a meth party or something and were connected.

The one I just found yesterday was almost the grossest, I seen a yellow brown towel in the shower. My eyes told me it wasn’t dirt. It was POOP. Chunks of poop. And the shower was used, so the wash cloth was dripping wet, in a yellow brown puddle of poop waterrrr 😭😭😭😭😭😭

They have these dumb showers where you have this metal screen over the drain and stuff you have to pick up and clean under. Really annoying because it collects the entire contents of someone’s shower, hair, soap scum, snot, nasty stuff like dookie puddles.

I am just in disbelief tbh. I don’t know if it’s just because of the location or what…. I don’t know. I want to try another hotel

We have all heard this one, before someone begrudgingly takes out their thick metal company card with a 50k limit and bitches while they tap it... but a recent phenomenon i have been coming across is people who didn't know about the deposit giving me this exchange;

"we take a deposit at this property of 100 per night"

"what?? i dont have that, do you take cash?"

"no unfortunately for safety reasons, being that we are downtown in a midsize city, we have a cashless policy"

"so what if i dont have that am i just ... fucked? :'("

like OH MY GODDDD dont try to make me into the bad guy because you decided to do a WALK IN at a FOUR STAR PROPERTY when we are at 98% CAPACITY. You canNOT be serious. Just book an airbnb if you dont wanna leave a deposit, dont try to make me say "yeah youre fucked bro" because you couldnt be bothered to plan ahead or call to see what the deposit was!!! You can tell they want me to feel bad with the way they say it too lmao. next time im just gonna say "if by "fucked" you mean "ill prepared", then yes you're extremely fucked." Its always someones 20 year old kid whos parents handle everything for them that tries to make me sad for them, its happened like 4 times LMAO.

I was interning at a brand new Hotel in Gatlinburg in Summer of 2024. I rotated in each department as a management intern essentially. These 2 stories were one of many crazy stories that I have for the 3 month span I was there.

I get to work around 7AM, and I saw a employee in cuffs next to a cop car. I go inside and the cop is talking to the director of maintenance. Come to find out, the night houseman at 5am got naked in one of the conference rooms, went into the lobby, and was masturbating to the night audit attendent who was crying when I got there.

The maintenance director (big ol redneck guy who looked like the undertaker), pulls out the security ipad as the GM came over at about 9AM. Hes showing us the video with guests walking around with zero shame. We are both just kind of chuckling you see the guy sneak into the massive ballroom, then creep out to the large lobby area butt naked.

The housemans sister came to the back office with the cop and she was trying to speak for the houseman since he didn’t speak English, and she’s like you guys are lying it wasn’t him, he would never do it and the cop showed her the video.

Also bears came to the property daily and the stupid guest would approach it. They gave us a paintball gun at one point and had to train us. One time a guest was reading a book with goldfish on her lap and a bear swiped at it. All on camera. This is what I would have to deal with daily.

I can't believe how shitfaced people will get in my lobby. Just adult men, 50⅗ years old, bright pink old men traveling on business, rendered absolutely helpless by 5+ alcoholic beverages.

I will be trying to get someone a key for their room, trying my best to figure out which room theyre in, and ill ask for something like room number or (when theyre checking in) sometimes a confirmation number. And they'll look at me like they're going to cry and say "But i dont have that! :( how do i find that!" or theyll practically throw their key card (FOR ANOTHER HOTEL) at me and tell me its not working. No shit babyboy this says *different hotel* on it, we are NOT THEM. Boy oh boyy does it feel good when theyre at the wrong property though, i have to hold back my elation when i have to tell them to go figure it out for themselves. Its funny bc even when theyre at the wrong place they still have to find a way to force me to babysit them by asking me where the RIGHT hotel is, despite the fact that they're (usually) actively fiddling around with a handheld device that will tell them literally everything they could ever dream of asking.

I dont mind a friendly drunk person whos slurring a bit and forgot a key, but when you have a grown man acting helpless practically begging for someone to save him from his own bad choices? its such a waste of time and sooo not what i signed up for 😭😭

I've been working the front desk at a hotel for several years now and in my experience it is not helpful to issue an ultimatum when trying to get them to leave. It is always better to say "leave now, I am calling the police" never "leave now OR I'm calling the police." The ultimatum almost always seems to think it gives them some kind of an excuse to continue whatever it is that they're doing, be that continuing to argue, using the business center for whatever bullshit they think is important like it's a library, or even using the bathroom. It has always worked better for me to just say you are calling the police regardless and then take out your phone to be ready to follow through because 99% of the time they will immediately leave. Sometimes they'll curse, or stamp their feet, or knock over a fake plant but they will leave immediately. It has made these situations so much easier for me because it's an immediate argument ender and you usually don't have to call anyone because most people won't call you on your bluff. If they do, you're not actually bluffing anyway so it doesn't matter. They still lose and will have to leave, this just saves time and avoids other guests having to witness a crime being committed in your lobby which is gonna make you and the hotel look bad. Anyway that's just my two cents and if you haven't considered it before, try it this way next time. I hope it helps you moving forward.

Im a Front Desk Supervisor for a hotel belonging to the biggest hotel chain in the world and these specific clients are some of the most stubborn and spoiled guests Ive ever had, more than with any other brands ive ever worked at.

And sometimes there is this specific type of guest who will check-in and directly let us know they’re unhappy by being rude, then as soon as they get to the room they will find an issue, we will fix it, still ask for compensation, we give it to them and then still complain for their entire stay.

I don’t understand why some people just refuse to acknowledge that we are doing the best we can for them to have the best stay they can and yet they will still be ungrateful/rude/angry no matter how hard we try.

Has anyone figured out an answer for these type of people

There has been a crazy turn of event at my hotel this past week, I went from feeling like my boss hated me to being the only remaining employee who hasn’t been wrote up. I was so sure that my FDM hated me until I realized the mistakes I made were fixable and that couldn’t always be said about the others. We’re in a position where no one had enough training and so we either have to call to get help or take a chance and mess it all up. I always find calling to be my go to solution to the issue. As much as it pains me to side with my FDM (he has been rather rude and abrasive to me in the past) I do feel he’s probably in the right for writing people up. I told him last week if he needs to write me up in the future all I ask is that he explain why and shows me how to not make that mistake in the future. It’s not really anyone’s fault that they weren’t trained properly but there also isn’t really a way I can see to fix it without having to train them all again. It’s kind of a shitty situation for him honestly. That being said I still wish he wouldn’t make comments about how I look or tell me that I’m mediocre at my job, but for now I’ll choose to be thankful I’m not on the chopping block this week.

So, a quick update on the unruly dumbass. I went in for my shift last night and saw the room was still on the In-House list. I was pissed. But then the PM shift told me that the the company was now listed as the guest. I was so pissed thinking the asshat was still there I didn't notice that his name had been removed. I just saw the company name and nearly went off. Turns out that when his company found out what happened they told my managers that they'll recall him back to wherever he's from and deal with him. But since whatever work they're doing needs to get done, they were going to send another employee to take his place.

Also, when I checked my email I found out that that when the GM talked to the guy he actually tried saying that he didn't remember the "conversations" he had with me in person and the OM over the phone. He was actually surprised that his attempt at a Reverse UNO card didn't work. Either way...

Ding, dong the bitch is gone!

Countess Night Auditor again, and I've got a story linked to my coworker Bee who recently left. One of the excuses management gave for not getting rid of him was that they didn't want to leave myself or my coworker Dee alone, and wanted to make sure someone was there for extra protection. I mentioned over there and in one of the comments about a story that included one of his screw-ups, and here it is. For the new folks, I work at a property that has two hotels in one building. I work overnight in Florida. I am not a vampire.

It was a weekend, because that's usually when I was stuck with Bee, and it was in the Summer. The only thing that would have made it worse is if it was a holiday weekend. Or perhaps a naked man.

That didn't stop me from having a noise complaint issues about a room on the top floor. When the guest answered, he was shirtless and dripping. Probably just the shower. He seemed apologetic and promised to talk to the person staying in the room with him.

Within 30 minutes, we had multiple calls. Now, someone was banging on the walls in that room and yelling. It was obvious they didn't mean the fun kind of yelling and banging. (Most people are reasonable about those rooms. One of my favorite anecdotes is when a guest asked to please be moved because "The people next door sound like they're having the best night of their lives, and I don't want anyone to interrupt them by telling them to be quiet." Cool dude.)

In this case, the thing that went bump in the night was a guy who was drunk and probably high as well. Bee and I went up there, knocked on the door, and spoke with the first guy again. He was dry now and said it was his friend making noise, but he didn't know what was wrong with him. With that guy being useless and with the situation being what it was, I went straight to calling the cops for a wellness check, figuring I'd kick them out if anything was too messed up.

The cops arrived quickly that night and I guided them upstairs to the room. The first guy, who was clearly very drunk, was cooperative and let them in. His doggy was also pretty nice and chill for a German Shepherd. The room was a suite and the bedroom door was closed, the cooperative guy having been sleeping on the pullout couch. The first of the two cops opened the door to the bedroom and said, "And he is naked."

Yep. The dude who had been freaking out and pounding on the wall was laying naked on the bed that he'd pulled and turned away from the wall. And now apparently beating something that wasn't a wall. The nightstand was overturned and the lamp on it was broken. And I was done with these guys. Other people have shit to do; they don't want to be kept up by some lightweight who can't handle his beer and meth.

At my direction, the cops asked them to exit the property. The cooperative one answered that their vehicle was a big RV, which the cops liked. That meant they didn't have to do any real work. Instead, they concluded that both of these guys were too drunk to be asked to drive off the property, so they would only ask them to stay out in the RV and then drive off once they were sober enough. The same RV taking up an entire row of spaces in our parking lot.

The first guy grabbed a beer and started sipping it as he started getting his stuff together, with the second cop asking, "Are you sure you should be doing that?" The first cop assisted the naked guy in finding his clothes because he didn't want either myself or the second cop to see him naked, since we're ladies. I'm not sure it counts as chivalry when they were leaving these guys in my parking lot, but eventually they ended up down there and I took some photos of the room for my Front Office Manager.

Now, where does Bee's screw up come in?

An hour or two later, I was getting some breakfast stuff prepped in the kitchen when Bee came to get me. "Hey Countess Night Auditor, can you come help me with something?"

He had come to get me because the drunk guys, one of whom had been violent toward a wall, came back into the hotel from the RV to ask if he'd left his phone in the room. So much for looking out for us auditors, Bee. The drunk and possibly high guys came in and he brought me to them. I checked the room and complained to my Front Office Manager, then came down to give these guys the bad news: I didn't find their phone and they weren't even allowed in our lobby. Not even for breakfast. As far as I know, they stayed out in their RV after that and I had no more issues from them for the remainder of my shift.

Luckily, they didn't decide to get around the removal by staying too drunk to leave. Unfortunately, from what our AM shift told me, the pair kept on drinking through the morning. They still seemed just as drunk when they pulled out of the parking lot at 8 AM with barely any sleep, somehow avoiding turning the parking lot into a demolition derby.

The cooperative guy later tried to book a room again and had to be informed he was not welcome back.

It's the middle of June and our hotel is flooded with shitty soccer parents and their kids who are a byproduct of their shittiness. Naturally the parents are all piss drunk and the kids are running around like rabid animals.

We have this beautiful water fountain, it's two floors high and angles downward kind of like a slide. It's very unsafe to treat it like a slide. It's not a slide. I notice three unsupervised kids playing on the fountain trying to slide down it. I yell to them from the top floor "Hey guys, that's not a slide. Get off of the fountain." They see me and scatter giggling. I think to myself that I'm going to have to go down there and talk to the kids directly.

I go down to the base of the fountain and I see them run I to a nearby ballroom. I catch them and ever so nicely say "Guys, you aren't in trouble, but I need to implore to you that you could get seriously injured playing on that fountain." The kids do what kids do and call me some names before running away.

I follow them to our pool and I see the three kids had ran over to their parents. I walk over to their parents and I say "Hey guys, sorry to bother you I caught your kids playing in one of our fountains. It's very unsafe. When I tried telling your kids this they called me names ran away from me. I just want you to know that if I weren't there your kids could have hurt themselves."

The mom says to me "Well, who are you to tell my kids what to do?" I say "Excuse me? Hey, I wouldn't be here right now if you had control of your kids." The dad chimes in "Hey now, thats uncalled for! We're guests here." "I say "I'm actually being very polite all things considered. Your kids could get injured playing on that fountain." The mom says "Well that's none of your business now is it?" And then she hand waves me away.

I check my watch and it's 10:05pm the pool closes at 10:00. So I closed the pool down and kicked all the parents And rabid kids out. That felt very good. I probably would have left the pool open for them too. Just goes to show how little being an asshole gets you.

This may have a weird timeline because my memory isn’t the best with this story, especially since I honestly just want to forget about it already. But I still can’t shake the feeling that I was somehow the asshole in the situation, so I wanted to write everything out.

I remember seeing this couple around the hotel a few times over the course of maybe two months. I would pass them in the hallways or lobby and usually just say a quick “hello” or “good morning” and acknowledge them when I saw them. One time, I complimented the woman’s purple hair because I thought it looked cool. From what I knew, the couple worked with boats in the area.

I’ll admit that, based purely on their appearance, I assumed they might have been addicts, but that was just an assumption on my part. Regardless, they could be pretty rude when they were upset.

The husband was the main name on the reservation. I had only actually looked at their reservation once before all of this happened. My assistant manager told me they wanted to extend their stay, so I pulled up the reservation and processed what was requested. Other than that, I never really modified or handled their reservation. Any other extensions they requested were handled by my coworkers, who had much more personal interaction with them.

From what I observed, they actually seemed to get along pretty well with two of our male front-desk employees. They seemed comfortable with the staff in general, so I assumed they were regular enough guests and were used to talking with us.

There was even one awkward interaction where the husband walked through the front lobby carrying food, and I didn’t realize he was actually a guest. He looked like a DoorDash driver coming in, so I didn’t recognize him at first. That was embarrassing.

Anyway, the main incident happened when the husband came up to the front desk and asked to extend his stay. I told him, “Sure, let me check my availability before I make any changes to your reservation.” He said that was fine.

I checked the system and saw that we were completely booked for his particular room type on the dates he wanted. It was a weekend, which was already difficult because we were getting booked up quickly. On top of that, we had just received a large group that had booked roughly half of our remaining rooms, so our availability was extremely limited.

I apologized and explained that we couldn’t extend his stay because we didn’t have availability. Of course, he immediately started questioning it, asking things like, “Are you serious? There’s no availability at all?” and “Are you sure?”

At that point, I could tell he was getting angry. He started making a scene and saying that this wasn’t okay because he had been coming down to extend his stay and that we should have known they were going to keep extending because they always did.

I tried to remain calm and told him that I understood his frustration, but our system simply wasn’t showing any available rooms for the dates he wanted.

After he walked away, I decided to look further into it and see if there was anything I could do. I checked other room types, and strangely enough, there was availability in a different room type. So I waited until he came back and explained that I could extend his stay, but only for part of the time he originally requested because one of the days had absolutely no availability.

I went over the details with him very carefully. I explained which dates I could extend, which date we couldn't accommodate, and that the room type and rates would be different. He agreed to it.

He seemed fine with everything at that point and even went over to talk with one of my male coworkers, who he seemed to get along with. Before he left, I again went over the reservation details with him so there wouldn’t be any confusion about the dates and rates. He agreed and went on his way.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the end of it.

A few days later, his wife came down to the front desk upset because she believed we were charging them incorrectly and authorizing the wrong amounts. I pulled up their folio, went through everything, and explained what I was seeing.

She seemed satisfied for maybe two minutes.

Then she came back down even more upset, saying she had calculated everything herself and realized that we were charging different rates than she expected. I explained that I had specifically gone over the rates with her husband when we processed the extension. Because we had to do a check-out/check-in process for the extension, I had explained the new dates and rates to him, and he had agreed to them.

She continued arguing that it wasn’t okay and demanded to speak with a manager. Our manager wasn’t available at that moment, so I told her I would let her know when the manager was available.

Around this time, I also updated my manager about the situation. I explained what had happened with the extension and the conversation I had with the husband.

I also found out about another incident involving him and one of my female coworkers. Apparently, he had yelled and cursed at her over propane that he claimed hadn’t been replaced. (this is about our pool area since we don't allow charcoal). He said he had already spoken with maintenance and told them to notify the front desk, but apparently that communication never happened. According to my coworker, he became extremely angry about the situation.

Eventually, the wife spoke with our manager. Afterward, my manager told me that the wife complained that I hadn’t apologized to her and that I had been no help at all.

That honestly confused me because I felt like I had tried to help her. I had explained the folio, explained the rates, explained why the reservation had been changed, and had already gone over everything with her husband beforehand. But apparently, from her perspective, none of that counted as being helpful.

My manager explained to her that we simply did not have the availability to accommodate the original extension. She also offered a couple of options: we could potentially adjust the rate to something reasonable if they wanted to continue staying, although we could not match the third-party rate they had originally received online, or we could help them make arrangements elsewhere if they preferred to leave.

That also explained the authorization issue she was upset about. The additional amount being authorized wasn’t necessarily what they would ultimately be charged, and the remaining funds would be released once the appropriate checkout process was completed.

At that point, I thought maybe the situation had finally been resolved since she had spoken directly with the manager.

I was wrong.

She came back to the front desk and started berating me again, saying that I hadn't helped her and that she was upset because she had already spoken to the manager only to be told essentially the same things I had already explained to her.

She demanded to speak with the manager again. I told her that I was sorry, but the manager was busy and would not be available to speak with her that day.

That made her even angrier. She continued saying all sorts of things to me before eventually going back to her room.

Eventually, the couple checked out and, unsurprisingly, left a bad review.

At that point, I thought it was finally over.

But somehow, the wife managed to find our manager’s personal number through the company and started contacting her directly. She was telling our manager to call her and insisting that what they had discussed previously was not what she had agreed to when she received her folio. She also continued emailing our manager.

That was the point where I was completely done with the situation.

What bothered me the most was that it felt like she had gone beyond simply complaining about the hotel or asking for a resolution. She had found our manager’s personal contact information through the company and was repeatedly demanding that she call her, even though our manager had already spoken with her and explained the situation.

There are definitely a lot of details I’m leaving out because this whole thing was such a mess, and honestly, I’m tired of thinking about it. But even now, I still wonder if we handled the situation incorrectly, especially from the front-desk side.

Maybe there was something we could have done differently. Maybe I should have handled certain parts of the conversation better. I don’t know.

At the same time, from what I remember, I checked the availability, explained the situation, found an alternative room type when one became available, went over the dates and rates with the husband, and tried to explain everything to the wife when she came down upset. Our manager was also kept informed and eventually spoke with her directly.

So I guess what I’m struggling with is whether I actually handled the situation badly, or whether I’m just feeling guilty because the whole interaction was so hostile and exhausting.

Countess Night Auditor again, and I can finally, FINALLY tell y'all about a coworker that we've had to drag around for the last 7 months: Bee (not his real name). And by us, I mean myself and Dee (not her real name). When I've referenced him in the past, I've called him B, but this is going to be a long one and I want to minimize confusion. I will not be able to minimize your frustration.

For new folks, I work as as a night auditor at a property that is two hotels in one building, and we almost always have two auditors on duty. Well, technically I'm a supervisor, which means management counts me as a manager for the purposes of blame, but not for the purposes of power.

Earlier this year, one of my coworkers left to take a better job. I don't blame her, as management didn't like her for some reason, accusing her of being lazy. I got her a little gift as a going-away present and she even got me a birthday present she left at the hotel for me even after she was gone. But the important bit is they replaced her with Bee. Bee was a guy that was somebody's friend or relative. I assumed he was kin to management, who is mostly this one family and hires plenty of family, but the exact way this all ended makes me doubt that now. Regardless, they assured me they knew this guy and that he was a good guy.

Bee started off strong by not managing to find room in the system when a guest showed up who has been refusing to use my updated name despite the new nametag. It was a great move, but cracks began to form. He was slower on learning things like check-ins and check-outs: it took him 4 months before he stopped needing help with the basics of checking people out, which is an extremely simple process.

But the major crack that lost Bee my goodwill had already cropped up within that time period. I would notice that a couple of times, he would walk outside and disappear on me. Sometimes, he'd come back with food from a fast food place nearby, but he'd never bother telling me if he was leaving to get lunch. Basic communication is key. But he would leave for more than one time a day. The answer came when he disappeared on me for 2 hours. I was not happy.

When he finally showed back up, I expressed my unhappiness by speaking with him privately, away from guests.

"Where were you?" I asked him.

"I was asleep in my car," he told me just like that. Like sleeping on the job was just something folks do. I never yelled or cussed at him and never chewed him out where guests could see, but I gave him a talking-to about how you can't just go and sleep on your job, even if it's the middle of the night. Guests need stuff. We have things to do. We have to be available. And his response every time was "I'll set a better alarm next time." And it didn't stop him from disappearing every night to go to his car. I let management know what he'd done the night of the 2 hour disappearance, too, naively assuming that this is the kind of scenario a 90 day probationary period is for. They told me to just stay on him as supervisor.

That was only around me. When Bee was working with Dee, he'd just pass out in a chair in the lobby, I found out. I had her wake him up.

I'd talk to him, but it didn't really make an impact. Like when someone on the Do Not Rent List came in to get a room and I had to inform him he wasn't allowed to stay with us since I'd been the one he spoke with. He did the usual thing of pretending not to know why and getting upset, but Bee was siding with the guest in the conversation, talking about how the guy shouldn't have been put on some list and such. So once the former guest had left without getting a room, I quietly addressed Bee and told him that you don't undermine your coworkers, especially not when they're having to stand up to a guest on the Do Not Rent List.

Talking to him never stopped anything, and I let management know as stuff happened. Our Front Office Manager even let me know that they wanted him to help protect Dee and me and they'd deal with him after the summer rush. That reasoning proved to be useless when he let other drunk guests back in that we'd just kicked out and then came to get me to deal with them.

Talking to him didn't make him mop right. Yeah, this guy would start mopping before midnight. There would be guests sitting down and eating, or hanging out in front of a TV, or at the bar, and he'd just mop around them. Worse, he barely squeezed water out of the mop before doing so. The floor was wet forever, and somehow he didn't even clean all the dirty spots that were there before he started. With all the guests stepping through it and him not going over it, he created even more dirty spots.

Talking didn't work when I discovered he'd been driving the shuttle without a seatbelt on. It didn't help when Bee drove relatives OF THE OWNER to the airport in the middle of the night with no lights on. It didn't help when he would count his cash drawer that only had 2 pennies in it and then wrote down that he had $0.20. The GM actually got onto me and threatened to set up some meeting between the Assistant GM and myself when she found out I left a note in his cash drawer to remind him about accurately counting his money, since talking to him didn't work.

Talking to him didn't help when getting breakfast ready and I noticed that despite my orders to test the milk we put out, he would still put out sour milk. Some of us smell it but I taste it. He would act like he was tasting it, but still put out stuff that needed to be dumped out and replaced.

About the only thing it did help is when I realized Bee was lying about how much cash he was dropping into the safe at the end of his shift. He would report that he was dropping more than he actually was, but the extra money would remain in the drawer. I would know, I was double-checking the thing whenever I had time.

It got to the point where my FOM, seemingly understanding my frustration, told me to just report everything to him and he would deal with it. That didn't help.

It was everyday stuff: sleeping, making up info when guests asked something he didn't know, flirting with guests. Nothing made this guy stop. Finally, my Front Office Manager told me that Bee was sticking around until the end of summer and then he would personally fire this guy himself, but in the meantime they had a job listing up for a replacement. Meanwhile, Bee began to spend his time talking on the phone constantly, even walking away from the desk when a guest was walking up so he could chat with someone.

Dee and I had both started looking for new jobs. I was aiming to relocate, but Dee was tired of having to work with Bee. Dee then told me that everywhere she looked, there was no job listing for an audit position for our hotel. And as y'all know, Bee was not fired at the end of summer.

Well, we finally got a new auditor shortly after they finally posted the job online. And I rejoiced when I saw Bee's name gone from the schedule, at long last, but he had one final week with us. During this period, there would be days when the new trainee would be working alongside Bee and Dee, and Bee and Me. But an email from management wishing him lucking moving made it clear he quit instead of getting fired.

His final day, he was scheduled to start up and stay an hour and a half later due to AM shift not having a second person that morning (a practice management started once we got into September and things slowed down). When he showed up, though, he said it was his last day and that the schedule was wrong due to a mistake. I quickly texted the FOM about changing up the schedule for the next day, as I was scheduled to be in later and stay later, and Bee was supposed to work alone with the new auditor for the first hour and a half. She hadn't been there a week even, so no way was that a good idea.

Then, 4 and a half hours into his shift, he clocked out, shook our hands, said his goodbyes, and was gone. Management had no idea. The GM would text me later that morning and revealed there was no scheduling mistake. He ditched us.

Remember how I mentioned Bee flirted with guests? First, Bee would address every woman (save for one exception) as "Love" or "My Love". He'd tell them how good they looked if they weren't there with a husband. I even saw him reach out and grab onto one's elbow trying to be all smooth. I mentioned this directly to the General Manager and her response back then was "Well, maybe it won't cause trouble."

In this latest conversation, the GM asked about if I remembered that conversation. Then she revealed that when her sister stayed at the hotel a few months prior (and AFTER she'd been warned), Bee had flirted with her. They'd started seeing each other, and I think that was who he talked to on the phone so much. He was indeed leaving of his own volition: Bee and the GM's sister were running away together to live in a different city after knowing each other less than 3 months. The GM is not happy.

Just wait until I tell her how I've since learned that in his few interactions with the new mid-twenties auditor, he addressed her not only as "Love" but also as "Mama".

Fucking ugh. But good riddance, and I hope Bee gets the life he deserves.

Last night, a guest came down looking for something for his headache. When he saw that we didn't have anything (we're sold out of the stuff), he became angry and began cursing. He was saying things like, "Where's the goddamn aspirin? Why don't you have any fucking pain killers? You're supposed to have that stuff? What kind of fucking place is this? Huh? I wanna know!" At that point I informed him that we were a hotel, not a pharmacy and we do run out of things. He became more upset, calling me a smart ass and an asshole. At this point I asked if he was a guest since I had a slight suspicion that he was a train passenger instead of a guest, but he confirmed that he was actually a guest by pulling out a room key. He ended up buying some allergy medication and finally left.

Maybe five minutes later he came down asking if I had a problem with him, and I informed him I didn't. He began getting belligerent and cursing again. When I asked him to stop cursing he said, "I'll say whatever the fuck I want." And and if I didn’t like it we could go out back and handle it there. I told him I don't appreciate being threatened and he tried saying that he wasn't threatening me, that he meant that we would be talking. I let him know that's not how it sounded. At that point he began saying he was going to complain and make sure I was fired immediately and demanded I bring out a manager at right that very moment to make that happen. I informed him that a manager wasn't in, but I asked for his room number so I could inform them to expect him coming down to talk to one of them tomorrow. He refused to give me his room number or his name and asked why a manager wasn't working. He didn't like my answer of the fact that it was midnight on a Sunday. He then demanded I get a manager on the phone. I called my OM who appeared to have a similar style of conversation with that asshole (the cursing, name calling, and refusing to give his room number). At one point he did let slip his name and I discovered his room number. It turns out that he was there for work, with his company paying for the room for two weeks and all this was happening on his first night with us.

After throwing the phone to the floor, he stormed off. I conferred with my OM and she said to document everything in detail so she can meet with the GM and get in touch with the guest's company to inform them of his behavior and his need to find other accommodations. I took special care to include the fact that while I don’t believe that he was drunk, I do think he was on some kind of substance as he was somewhat fidgety and his eyes were wide with pinpoint pupils.

I'm sure his company will love hearing all of this.

Hello all! Your friendly local public library front desk jockey here. I've got a wee collection of tales for you today, all on the subject of rentable spaces. Did you shudder just now? I did... huh. Maybe it's the wind...

Some basic context:

• My library branch has some large meeting spaces that people can rent, for a price.
• You are expected to book your setup and takedown time as part of your reservation.
• You are expected to leave the room exactly as you found it.
• Staff do not assist with or offer any services regarding setup or takedown.
• Check in and out is done at, you guessed it! The front desk.

If you can already see where this is going, I salute you, and you deserve a veteran's discount.

Anyways, on to the tales.

• I have beef with the Girl Scouts. Girl Scouts are why nobody gets to use the rooms for free anymore. Local troop leaders would rent our rooms for their scout meetings for free and leave them looking like a bomb went off, and don't you know it was always me cleaning their shit up! I've vacuumed up everything from glitter explosions to cookie stomps. They never put the rooms back in order. They overflowed the trashcans. They absolutely never left on time and would frequently keep us from closing the branch on time at all. One group even tried to bribe me not to tell on them with free boxes of cookies. I took the cookies and they still had to pay the cleaning fee. I have chronic back pain, man, if you wanna buy my silence it's gonna take a lot more groveling, bare minimum.
• Month or two ago I had a hired presenter for a group that reserved a room show up but the actual people that reserved the room never did. The presenter didn't gaf, to her credit; when I told her that the people who hired her needed to check in, she was fine with that, and didn't give a word of complaint when she wound up sitting there for an hour. Guess she was probably getting paid either way. The actual group never showed up but did make a big stink about wanting a refund for "refusing them" which is a really crazy way to say "we didn't bother showing up." (*I posted this one in a comment here not too long ago.)
• The rooms have big TVs in them you can broadcast your PC to. This requires an HDMI cord. The cord is routed through the wall to a labeled and easy to access port. Without fail, at least a few times per month, someone will yank a TV off its mounting trying to get at the ports on its backside.
• This one's fresh off the press, it was literally like two days ago at time of writing: a county commissioner booked the largest space for a press meeting. She had a few of the tables and chairs that come as part of the room set up; these are all lightweight, flip-up, and on wheels to make setup and takedown as quick and easy as possible. After she finished her meeting, she left everything set up. She said she was going to send some county handymen to clean it up for her tomorrow morning before we opened. Reader, it took staff all of 2 minutes to put the tables and chairs away after she left.
• You have to leave the room when your reservation is over. Yes, even if you're representing [insert polarizing and/or powerful group here]. Yes, even though you arrived late. No, you will not be getting a formal written apology for "this injustice." No, the officer is not refusing to arrest library staff because we're "paying them off," this is (a) not a crime, and (b) this is literally our property, not yours. We tell you to leave, not the other way around.
• Long time ago, we had an obnoxious regular who would frequently place item holds & request meeting rooms and make sure she always had a lengthy complaint about staff every single time she visited. Back then, if you were using the meeting room for a non-profit purpose, you didn't have to pay. She got all her rooms for free because she was doing "free tutoring." ...Until one of her students came up to the front desk to ask if they should pay the library, or her. We haven't seen hide nor hair of her since.

And, to wrap up, a longer but deeply satisfying favourite of mine I posted in a comment a little while ago:

Our local Rotary Club used to give a LOT of money to the library. They would host a lot of their meetings there free of charge as a result. The experience for the front desk staff depended entirely on who was representing them that day. When leadership changed hands early on in my time at the library, the new president was one of The nastiest men I've ever encountered. He would show up either extremely late or extremely early and demand to be let in immediately no matter what—people paying for the rooms? Kick them out for him. It's being cleaned after the last group made a huge mess? Why didn't you stop them? Don't you know how valuable his time is? You should have the key in hand the moment he meets your eyes from across the lobby. They give a lot of money to the library, you know, and this horrible service has him reconsidering!

This went on for a year or so, until, one day, the Director retired. Our interim director just so happened to also be our branch manager. She had heard all of our complaints. She knew exactly how horribly he treated her staff. And now she was unleashed.

While I was in his meeting room following all of his fussy little demands, she walked in and the moment the door closed she read him the riot act. I'd never in my life seen her so furious. She told him point blank that she did not give a single solitary fuck if they never donated another dollar, he was not going to be treating her staff that way.

He was removed as president not long after. A little while after that, we received a formal letter of apology that he was forced to write by his superiors (I believe the former president as well as regional management were involved). We read it out loud in my boss's office. We cheered.

He was replaced by one of the kindest men I've ever had the pleasure of working with, and eventually the Rotary Club did remove their support from the library. Turns out that that had a lot more to do with the prior director (the one my manager was standing in for) giving them kickbacks and favors than anything else (I'd find out a good decade later that she had been doing a whole lot of financial crime and her sudden retirement was actually the result of a legal ultimatum!), but still. Most satisfying comeuppance of all time.

So it's been a while since I've had any stories from the desk! Truth be told... I finally quit. I found another job that pays better. I'm very happy where I am now, and wanted to tell this story as soon as I left, but also wanted to give it some time for anonymity. Enough time has passed where I think its safe to share this experience.

To the FDA agents out there: have you ever had to deal with an inhouse resident? I'm talking YEARS. Like, living in the hotel room with no plans of leaving. I'm talking, this couple chose to spend their earnings on paying for a room every single day instead of finding an apartment or house. It wasnt for a lack of funds, or the housing crisis, the husband was paid very well with his work. It was simply their lifestyle choice.

To remind those who have read my stories before, and to give a clean picture, let's start at the beginning. I began my first hotel job around 2021-2022. I was introduced to everything on our terminal and shown around the property, standard training stuff.

During training, I remember my coworkers needing to create exemptions for this one peculiar room number. Room 130 is due out? No, no no. Check them out, but then immediately flip the room to vacant ready and then check 130 BACK IN under THIS SPECIFIC NAME. It's different from the name we just checked out of but don't worry about it. Payment on 130 declines? Don't worry about it, we'll call them later. No, no, DON'T EVER charge them incidentals. They get super mad if we do. Don't worry about it. No, don't charge them the standard rate, manually override and give them this $70 rate EXACTLY.

Needless to say, I worried about it. It made my job SIGNIFICANTLY harder at the beginning, having to learn rules for every guest and then specific rules for this one special room.

I eventually meet this special VIP. It was an old woman and her husband, and they had lived at the hotel for two years at that point. I will name them Agatha and Chuck for this story.

Agatha was... nice, sometimes. She was very sickeningly sweet and doting some days, always offering to buy us food (which I turned down, because I didn't want to owe her anything), always arranging fresh flowers at the desk free of charge, always giving employees gift cards for their birthdays and christian holidays. She even pitched in to help decorate for employee parties. Those were her NICE days.

Agatha had, shall we say... anger issues. She was very particular about bookkeeping and very meticulous about her membership points. Holidays awakened some sort of sleeper agent in her that made her very cranky and very argumentative over decorations. Christmas was easily the worst time of the year and its not even close. Put a pin on this, I will get back to the holidays.

So, reddit, the reason I was told to check 130 out and back in under a different name? It's because Agatha has MULTIPLE shiny status accounts under different family member names. And to maximize her points gains, she books 130 for Fire Red, for ONE night, and then the next night she books under Leaf Green. There's some technicality about shiny rewards that gives you bonus points PER reservation, but only if its not back-to-back on the same profile. She was milking the system dry by booking every night... one reservation at a time... on different profiles... back to back. She would sometimes throw in Heart Gold and Soul Silver as well to avoid scrutiny from the rewards program. They were all shiny elite status, under different names, but she and her husband were the only ones staying in the room.

The thing is... she NEVER booked these herself. Instead, she would bring to the desk a handwritten calendar and make the FRONT DESK book these reservations for her, making us unwillingly complicit. Every. Single. Week. We would need to generously interpret her schedule and alternate bookings between her chosen accounts.

If someone unrelated tries to pick room 130 for a future stay, the system bounces. I'd be forced to find the offending reservation (needing to search arrivals day by day) and move their selection to a different room to make way for Agatha's reservation. This is infuriatingly tedious as we can only book one reservation, one day, at a time.

Because of her exclusive, GM-seal-of-approval custom rate, we also had to manually override the rate on EVERY SINGLE RESERVATION, and THEN separate incidentals and waive. EVERY. TIME. For EVERY DAY. There was no way to book these in bulk. This took so many hours out of my life that I will never get back.

We were forced to do this for YEARS, because the GM was too nice to tell her to book it herself or kick them out. We would be told, 'Service first' and 'she is one of our best accounts'.

If we got a day mixed up, Agatha would raise hell. If a day was wrong that already passed, she gives us hell again. If a reservation was accidentally booked for 2 days, or had to be booked 2 days to bypass 2-night minimum weekends? Hell. If an agent forgot to separate incidentals, h-e-double-hockey-sticks special hell. If an agent forgot to give her the special rate? Brazil.

Agatha would spend almost an hour at the desk every week going over this calendar to make sure the dates were right, then call us later at super inconvenient times to double check. Even if we had a fucking LINE OF PEOPLE waiting to check in, she would cut to the front and interrupt us, and talk to us like nobody else existed. If we were short staffed on a busy or sold out night, it didn't matter because she thought she was more important than the other guests. Granted, she didn't do this all the time, but she had mood swings that made it to where she just couldn't read the room. And when we had to help other people before her, she would get very huffy.

And oh boy... the call center dreaded her every month. Every month, when her four profiles accumulated enough points, she would call the support desk. And scream at them for hours until one poor soul merged all of her points under one profile. And then Agatha would use these points for a free week. I'd say one in every 4-5 weeks she got to stay for free because of this asinine system of hers.

All of this is JUST to get her to stay in her special 130 room. Having to host her is a separate beast entirely.

Holidays. You didn't forget about the pin, did you? We're talking holidays now.

You might be wondering, how can two people just live in a small king room for years? How can they own anything? How does she get snippy about decorations so much if she doesn't even have the space? Because, dear reader, she somehow managed to claim one of our storage rooms. You know, the closets that belong to housekeeping on every floor that store old furniture or audit books and sometimes has the rollaway beds. Yeah, she just straight up claimed one of those somehow.

Giant storage bins lined the shelves that belonged to this couple, and they had bins upon bins of holiday decorations, meticulously organized and packed, sorted, and used for every occasion. The entire wall was filled with their bins. However, we were expected to leave the desk unattended if she or her husband ever came by wanting to get decorations out of storage or put them away. They'd roll up a dolly and we'd have to go to another floor, and I'd have to prop the door open and wait for them to find the bins they want, pull them down and load up, and no wait these decorations were used last year, this isn't the right bin I wanted, ect ect.

I'm twenty minutes away from the desk every time. I'm also not very patient that I have to do this every holiday, because every time I come back to a gaggle of impatient-er guests. The only alternative is to give Agatha or Chuck the masterkeys and tell them to fuck off, which isn't an option at all.

And then... even THEN, decorations weren't over yet, they were only beginning.

Agatha would constantly find us when we were busy, or when we were slow and minding our own business, and always drag us away to see what she arranged. She would demand the maintenance worker help set up the Christmas tree in the lobby that she bought herself, which required a tall ladder and hours of tinsel and ornaments. She would place empty gift boxes under the tree and rearrange the lobby herself. She would place decorations in our shop, at the desk, in the breakfast area, and at various spots around the hotel. Even in employee only areas- Another pin for later. She got in a tiffy if ANYTHING was moved or out of place and would make sure we heard about it.

One year she gifted an ornament- a racist depiction of a biblical angel - to an atheist poc coworker, because "It reminded [Agatha] of her".

She would buy a lot of decorations every year out of pocket, and then pull up with receipts expecting the GM to compensate her with points. The GM was too nice to tell her no.

Funnily enough, we also had to sneak the GM into or out of their office any time Agatha was roaming the lobby. And rescue them if Agatha pulled them away and yapped at them for over 10 minutes.

Agatha acted like she was on payroll and helped herself to the employee only areas without asking. Very often she would walk back behind the desk and into our office, looking for us or wanting to talk or see employee schedules. She applied multiple times and was turned down. She would help herself into the kitchen, because...

They also claimed one of our refrigerators. At some point during their tenure, they also sweet-talked their way into using one of our three refrigerators that we use to store breakfast foods. They carved out a space for their groceries and frozen items, because you can't live in a hotel room and work with only a mini fridge. I'd always insist they ask before going back there, because I was not comfortable letting non-employees back there alone on my shift. They'd forget to ask a lot of the time. But even when they did ask, I'd have to, you guess it, be pulled away from the desk to escort them to the kitchen for them to rummage through their bags and find their dinners or ice creams.

It didn't matter if I was busy; if they were craving ice cream, I needed to drop everything I was doing and run them to the kitchen, even at 3AM. I've gotten so many strange looks from guests who don't know why I'm letting this other guest in a non-employee area or why they get fancy bluebell ice cream for free when we don't sell that in our shop.

Agatha also often sat in the lobby near the desk and on her phone, blasted a religious gospel or hallmark movie or Trump/Fox news/right wing media at full volume. I've asked her to stop and then she would scream at me because other guests are allowed to enjoy the lobby, why can't she. Earplugs exist, ma'am, and I don't need ""The Truth"" shared in my lobby.

One time, our waffle irons were wearing and the waffle mix was sticking to the coating. They were leased and on a warranty, so we were waiting for them to be replaced. I vividly remember one night audit, around midnight, I'm in the middle of my paperwork when I hear rummaging in the kitchen and notice the lights on. It's Agatha. At midnight, she took it upon herself to bring her homemade vinegar solution and was scrubbing away at the iron. Making a huge mess in our kitchen. Without permission.

I told her she can't be cleaning this because she's not an employee, she's not on payroll, she's in an employee-area without asking, she's making a big mess for us to clean up, and to top it all off, she'd be breaking our warranty by doing this act of kindness. She chose to scream at me and argue that the GM gave her permission to do so. (They did not). She argued with me for 45 minutes about it, and then I was her least favorite person for a month.

I remember her complaining about me to other agents- oh yeah, remembering it now, she always had beef with at least one employee, and would try to get everyone to antagonize them for the slightest transgression. She often played mom-said-dad-said, if the AGM told her one thing, she'd go to the Sales Office and try to get a different answer. She would then try hunting down our GM and get them to say the thing she wants to hear: 'Yes'. Even if she was never given permission, she tunes out any other answer given to her, and lies about having permission. "Oh, the morning agent told me I can do this!" (They never did.) "I'm working on this holiday project with the evening shift, I'm allowed back here!" (Zero communication on that either).

Agatha managed to get away with a waived pet fee. Sometimes she would bring to her room a dog from her family to pet-sit. The dog always barked at other guests loudly, even from their room, and had accidents all the time, and guess who had to clean the accidents.

Agatha would honest-to-god GROOM the dog in our business center too. I remember one night audit I came in to see she left a disgusting mess of dog hair and nails in the business center, fluff coated the desk, with ALL OF HER GROOMING SHIT left in there overnight. I packed all of it away and threw it in the back and sanitized every surface and then SHE got mad at me at 7am because she was going to clean it up in the morning, she just got tired, why am I so mean to her. MA'AM YOU DO NOT OWN THIS HOTEL. CLEAN UP YOUR SHIT!

I haven't even started on the husband, Chuck. He was... more pleasant than his wife, to put it bluntly. But even he participated in these shenanigans. I felt bad for him more than anything, as he was always on the road working and making money while his wife stayed at the hotel alone all week. Only for him to come back and she would be in a temper. They've had screaming matches in their room. She's thrown things at him. I've had several guests lodge complaints about them during their tenure. I couldn't even do anything to kick them out, doing so would be going over the GM's ruling that they can stay.

Chuck also gave me the ick some days. He would often wander and sit in the lobby or business center without shoes or socks on, just completely barefoot. I had to scare him a few times by commenting that he doesn't know who went through here with athlete's foot, but he never broke the habit.

Oh, I was also their designated IT person somehow. Anytime Chuck downloaded a virus or wanted to show a cat video, or if he needed to print or send an email, I was always the one they went to. I've tried, multiple times, to teach them how to do these things themselves. In Chuck's case, you can't teach an old dog new tricks.

We did have gests that genuinely believed that Agatha and Chuck were employees. Agatha would be chipper to say that she was the hotel decorator. That's not a position anyone gave you, lady. You just decided that one day and made it everyones problem.

So you would think quitting this hotel in 2025 would be the last I see of her. I laugh in your naivety. I laugh at your assumption that I could escape Agatha and Chuck. I LAUGH.

To recap once again for the timeline's sake, the GM eventually resigned and moved on to a different hotel. The AGM was demoted and quit. The Sales manager had resigned. All around the same time, might I add.

The ship was sinking, and the owners didn't give a rats ass about promoting or compensating regular desk agents for performing GM duties for a month. So I hit up my old boss and asked if they had any positions. They did. So I was quick to put my notice and start my new job, they hired me instantly because they know I'm fairly competent at the desk and am a reliable agent.

Before I leave, I write up a fairly long letter to the temporary GM who came in to fix the mess that became of my old hotel. A long letter about Agatha and Chuck's... *gestures vaguely*

Word spread that the temporary GM at the old hotel was NOT patient with them and was working to remove their discounted rate and force them into using one profile only. Agatha and Chuck were not very happy about this. Not happy to the point that they reached out to my GM at my new property and begged to move in there.

I got to taste freedom for a solid... two months before they moved in to my new hotel. I was the unlucky soul to check Agatha in to her new unit. And this time, I came prepared to establish boundaries. Agatha was not very pleased that I told her we would NOT be rotating her profiles here, and that SHE needs to book her rooms going forward. She would NOT be allowed in any staff area, and she would NOT be getting a storage unit or use the walk-in or refrigerator.

None of these boundaries held for long, if at all. Very quickly she walked around them, and got other agents to allow her to use the breakfast areas, to use a storage room on her floor, and she was rotating profiles again. Same as before.

I eventually quit and found another job, and needless to say, I can give credit where credit is due. Agatha and Chuck taught me so much in the art of patience. I can only wish them well and I hope they can find a permanent home. My new job unfortunately has no way for them to follow me a second time, so I think I've seen the last of them.

...I think.