living comfortably on the proverbial road
I'm staying for a few days in an 'extended stay' hotel, where the rooms have kitchenettes and the staff cleans each room once a week. That's fine; I can't imagine that most rooms actually need the daily cleaning that most hotels provide. I think most of the guests, though, don't actually cook, because the hotel doesn't provide enough equipment for me to keep the kitchen clean. I went out and bought a sponge, which has helped enormously, and today I went to the front desk and asked for something to clean the floor with.
This led to a pleasant encounter with the housekeeper, a warm and smiling man who I guessed was probably originally from southeast Asia, maybe Vietnam or Laos. He very kindly lent me his vacuum cleaner after I reassured him that I really truly wanted to clean the room myself (not just because I wanted to do something, but because there is a fee for extra cleaning). When I returned it I said, "This is really good!" referring to the machine, which had done an excellent job. He smiled and seemed genuinely delighted to provide me with sachets of dishwashing liquid.
I can't really put a finger on why that encounter was so nice, but it was.
This led to a pleasant encounter with the housekeeper, a warm and smiling man who I guessed was probably originally from southeast Asia, maybe Vietnam or Laos. He very kindly lent me his vacuum cleaner after I reassured him that I really truly wanted to clean the room myself (not just because I wanted to do something, but because there is a fee for extra cleaning). When I returned it I said, "This is really good!" referring to the machine, which had done an excellent job. He smiled and seemed genuinely delighted to provide me with sachets of dishwashing liquid.
I can't really put a finger on why that encounter was so nice, but it was.