RLI Rant: May Contain Offensive Material
As some of you may know, the Red Lion Inn attempted to charge us for all of the rooms in our block for 3 nights, when they had previously agreed that us checking out of most of our rooms after Noon was ok. I visited them today to try and get this fixed. Comments heard (though not always directed at me) include:
"Checkout was noon."
"[He] told me to charge them for all the rooms for 3 nights."
"It was our mistake. We should have charged you for three nights on all the rooms because of the checkout time, but as she said it would be ok, we'll take it off."
This seriously irks me. This happens every year as I understand it. They see themselves the only place we can go and we see ourselves as their primary source of income outside of graduation events. One of these years they're going to tell us "take it or leave it" and we're going to get screwed over.
Based upon cost of function space alone, we could rent out most of Squires for a weekend and save money. I've done the math myself and had people check it. I'm willing to take the inconvenience of not controlling a whole building and not being allowed to carry anything that resembles a weapon if it means getting what we need.
I don't like being jerked around by anyone, least of all a business partner, because that's more or less what the RLI is to us. I'm very unhappy over the state of things with them, to the point that I'm cussing and raising my voice in person, just ask Ed. I've been told that several people had a problem with my attitude over the course of the weekend. Yes, I had an attitude. I felt I had a right to it. Tell me, not my roommates. There is no faster way to piss me off than to talk about me or my friends behind our respective backs and right now I'm very pissed.
If we cannot arrange acceptable conditions with the management of the Red Lion Inn and receive assurances that they will not be altered at the time of billing, I will not serve in any position on staff after Technicon 21 if the Red Lion Inn continues to serve as our home for our event. I know Donaldson-Brown didn't care for us years ago, but I think it's high time to see if they've changed. If they haven't, maybe we need to reconsider bussing students to Christiansburg or another location capable of supporting us, the Red Lion Inn is no longer a plausible option in my opinion.
Jesse "Tango" Stringer
VTSFFC Secretary 2002-03
SOAP Secretary 2002-03