8 Days To Go...
Most of my customers lately have been grouchy old farts who seem to think a hotel room should run about $6 like in the 1960s. Get with the times, people!
Seriously, they are about the rudest assholes I've ever dealt with:
-Yesterday, a guy came in with a reservation for a room with two queen beds. I gave him a key for 216 and he snapped "I want a first floor room!" So I gave him 111 instead. He went down to the room and stormed back, saying "I wanted a handicap room!" I told him he booked a regular room and I didn't have any accessible rooms available that night. He was furious and demanded a refund, which I couldn't give because it was prepaid on Expedia. Why is his fuckup my fault? You can't get mad that a hotel doesn't have a room that you didn't even reserve.
-A man called me from his room today and said "There's a lightbulb burned out in my room. I don't really care if you fix it; I just think this is ridiculous." So... you don't want me to fix the problem; you only called to yell at me? Lightbulbs burn out. It happens. I will gladly come down to your room and replace it, but why do you have to be obnoxious?
-A couple came in recently and I told them the price for a room was $79.99 plus tax. The husband said "That's too much! Forget it!" and stalked out. Look, I don't set the fucking prices, so quit blaming me if you think they're high. It's like going into a Chevron and yelling at the clerk because gas went up to four bucks a gallon. (Though come to think of it, there's probably people who do that.) If you want a $50 room, go down to the crappy Esquire or Key.
-The new graveyard shifter was on her second day of work when a woman came in with a reservation for a room with three beds. We only have these on the second floor, and we have no elevator. That night, we were sold out of all other room types. She was furious that we had no first floor room available, because she had to haul her walker up the stairs. (Logic would dictate that if a certain feature of a room is that important, you should call ahead and make sure we have it available. We are not mind readers.) My coworker Melissa said this lady was calling her repeatedly until 4 am, bitching about various things. She was having trouble accessing the wireless, so she called Melissa stupid. (I don't think Melissa is the one who's stupid, because the internet is really fucking easy to get to.) Then she complained about a Ram truck with an Arizona license plate that was taking up two spaces, even though there was plenty of other parking available. She demanded that Melissa call all rooms with an Arizona address to find out who the truck belonged to and make them move it.
-A lady from the NVAR checked in and called me from her room, angry that she'd reserved a king and gotten two queens instead. I couldn't find anything in her reservation indicating that the room type had been changed, and I had no kings available. What was I supposed to do? So I just apologized. (Really, what's the big fucking deal? So she got two beds instead of one. It's not like she reserved two beds and got one instead, forcing someone to sleep on the floor. Yes, a king is 16" bigger, hardly worth shouting about, especially at their absurdly low group rate.) According to my coworker, the lady complained in the morning that I was rude and nasty to her. Excuse me, who was the one being rude and nasty? It sure as hell wasn't me. Way to throw a temper tantrum.
Of course, my rude customers aren't limited to the geriatric:
-A lady came in with a reservations for two rooms, one queen bed each. She said, "Those are adjoining, right?" and my heart sank, because adjoining rooms with one queen bed each do not exist at this property, and we were pretty much sold out of all the other adjoining types. (Fuck you, CRS, for promising rooms that we don't even have.) The lady went into a tirade. "This is ridiculous! I am disgusted! I'm going to write to all sorts of people!" By the way? A request is not a guarantee. I repeat, A REQUEST IS NOT A GUARANTEE. You can request a free Jacuzzi in your room and it sure as shit ain't gonna happen. I had people in the rooms that adjoined; was I just supposed to kick them out? Also? A customer can request something, and CRS won't even tell us in a way that makes sense. Instead of putting a request in a place where hotel clerks can actually see it, they bury it deep in the CRS Notes tab. When I have 20 reservations coming in and 20 walk-ins waiting, I don't have time to hunt through every reservation.
Anyway, I took care of her, and the woman behind her checked in, smiling sympathetically. When she left, she called out "I hope your day gets better from now on!" Later when she came down asking for extra towels, she told me I handled the other customer well, that the lady was being ridiculous and rude, and that she would defend me to my manager in the morning in case the bitch complained. And the nice customer did come down in the morning and talk to management, not that I was in any trouble. It's people like her who make my days here a little more bearable, so wherever you are, TM, thank you.
Goddamn, I'm so glad I'm leaving.