Priceless...
Heard the best story today.
One of the local hotel owners was in, positively giggling to herself. When we asked why the good mood, she was only too enthusiastic to tell.
Apparently she had two suites of young guys, all around 18-21. They were just being the biggest pains in the ass. Every day, when they’d head out mountain biking for the day, their rooms would be absolutely filthy. Each room was housing four mountain bikes, and would they DARE store them on the tile? No. It’s much easier to store them on the carpet. So each day, the housecleaning staff has to scrub the carpet clean BEFORE they can get around to the room itself. Each night, they go out drinking, and come back at 3 or 4 AM. Each night, they lock themselves out, so they call the owner to come let them in. (Most hotels here, you see, are little mom-and-pop places, albeit very nice ones, where the front desk closes at 11, and you can use your room key to get in and out.) Each night, they come home and continue partying, until one of the other guests complains, waking the owner up again to shut them up.
So.
These punks were up partying last night, and smoking out the window to be sneaky, since they didn’t want to pay the extra $5 for a smoking room. They thought they would be fine if they just tossed their butts out the window. No problem, right?
Unfortunately for them, there was also a group of about 40 “motorcycle enthusiasts” staying at the hotel last night. At about 7:00 this morning, they all came out to saddle up and continue their roadtrip. They had suited up, and were firing up their Harleys, when two of them noticed something on the seats of their bikes -- which happened to be parked under these young punks’ windows. That’s right kids, two cigarette butts landed on the seats, with another half dozen stowed in various other parts of the bikes. As they brushed the butts off, they discovered that the smoking butts had burned holes in the custom-wrapped seats. Custom wrapped seats that cost $600 each.
These gentlemen went inside and politely complained to the owner. She said that there wasn’t much she could do, no vehicles in her lot were covered under her insurance, and their tenancy agreement said she wasn’t liable -- but she’d be happy to call the police for a vandalism claim. They insisted that wasn’t necessary, and headed upstairs to the kids’ rooms.
Thus, at 7 AM, these two rooms of kids found themselves face-to-chest with about 40 very unhappy bikers. Wisely, the owner called the police anyhow.
Strangely, the kids felt safer once the police arrived. Apparently, the police arrived, and asked the bikers if they wanted to press charges. The bikers insisted that wouldn’t be necessary, as these nice boys would be compensating them for the $1200 cost. The kids, emboldened by the police presence, told them they would do no such thing.
At that point, the police officer stepped in, and informed the kids that if the bikers didn’t want to press charges, he would be leaving, and that if they didn’t pay up, well, the officer couldn’t predict what might happen. Oh, and he was very busy, and might not be able to come back to deal with any other complaints until several hours later. And by that time, these roadtripping bikers could be anywhere. And it could be very hard to ID someone, when they’re described as “tall, dressed in leather, and riding Harleys”, you know, should they decide to take matters into their own hands. And since he’d already had several complaints about these kids’ behaviour in the few days they’d been here, he probably wouldn’t feel too motivated to look for a couple of irritated bikers anyhow.
Long story short, the kids paid up, but at about $150 per kid, that pretty much sapped their budgets for hotel rooms and booze, so they were forced to cut their holidays short and head home. Tragic, really.
I’d love to hear them explain THAT story to their parents when they get home.
One of the local hotel owners was in, positively giggling to herself. When we asked why the good mood, she was only too enthusiastic to tell.
Apparently she had two suites of young guys, all around 18-21. They were just being the biggest pains in the ass. Every day, when they’d head out mountain biking for the day, their rooms would be absolutely filthy. Each room was housing four mountain bikes, and would they DARE store them on the tile? No. It’s much easier to store them on the carpet. So each day, the housecleaning staff has to scrub the carpet clean BEFORE they can get around to the room itself. Each night, they go out drinking, and come back at 3 or 4 AM. Each night, they lock themselves out, so they call the owner to come let them in. (Most hotels here, you see, are little mom-and-pop places, albeit very nice ones, where the front desk closes at 11, and you can use your room key to get in and out.) Each night, they come home and continue partying, until one of the other guests complains, waking the owner up again to shut them up.
So.
These punks were up partying last night, and smoking out the window to be sneaky, since they didn’t want to pay the extra $5 for a smoking room. They thought they would be fine if they just tossed their butts out the window. No problem, right?
Unfortunately for them, there was also a group of about 40 “motorcycle enthusiasts” staying at the hotel last night. At about 7:00 this morning, they all came out to saddle up and continue their roadtrip. They had suited up, and were firing up their Harleys, when two of them noticed something on the seats of their bikes -- which happened to be parked under these young punks’ windows. That’s right kids, two cigarette butts landed on the seats, with another half dozen stowed in various other parts of the bikes. As they brushed the butts off, they discovered that the smoking butts had burned holes in the custom-wrapped seats. Custom wrapped seats that cost $600 each.
These gentlemen went inside and politely complained to the owner. She said that there wasn’t much she could do, no vehicles in her lot were covered under her insurance, and their tenancy agreement said she wasn’t liable -- but she’d be happy to call the police for a vandalism claim. They insisted that wasn’t necessary, and headed upstairs to the kids’ rooms.
Thus, at 7 AM, these two rooms of kids found themselves face-to-chest with about 40 very unhappy bikers. Wisely, the owner called the police anyhow.
Strangely, the kids felt safer once the police arrived. Apparently, the police arrived, and asked the bikers if they wanted to press charges. The bikers insisted that wouldn’t be necessary, as these nice boys would be compensating them for the $1200 cost. The kids, emboldened by the police presence, told them they would do no such thing.
At that point, the police officer stepped in, and informed the kids that if the bikers didn’t want to press charges, he would be leaving, and that if they didn’t pay up, well, the officer couldn’t predict what might happen. Oh, and he was very busy, and might not be able to come back to deal with any other complaints until several hours later. And by that time, these roadtripping bikers could be anywhere. And it could be very hard to ID someone, when they’re described as “tall, dressed in leather, and riding Harleys”, you know, should they decide to take matters into their own hands. And since he’d already had several complaints about these kids’ behaviour in the few days they’d been here, he probably wouldn’t feel too motivated to look for a couple of irritated bikers anyhow.
Long story short, the kids paid up, but at about $150 per kid, that pretty much sapped their budgets for hotel rooms and booze, so they were forced to cut their holidays short and head home. Tragic, really.
I’d love to hear them explain THAT story to their parents when they get home.