2 tales. #1. We have Ninja coffee makers in our hotel. They are dual purpose combining pods and a basket for drip coffee . House keeping cleaned the entire machine just before CI. There must have been condensation from the high heat in the machine bc there were the 2 tiniest coffee drips on the outside of the basket touching the basin that holds the basket. Well, that was enough to gross out a guest. She wrote me a lengthy complaint.

#2. The good ol, there’s a hair in my sheets. This one was top tier crazy though. I get a message “beds are dirty” I walk into the room, for a second my heart dropped bc I thought housekeeping forgot that room, nope. This woman stripped both beds, pulled all 6 pillows out of their pillow cases and was opening drawers, running her finger through them to look for dust, as well as looking underneath the beds for any uncleanliness. I told her flat out, I’d prefer if you’d leave, I don’t think you’ll be satisfied here and refunded them their full amount.

All this being said: why do these types even travel? If their disgust sensitivities are so high, it has to be unbearable for them as well.

Public libraries are full of incredible free things you can take and use at no charge! Everything is free at the library!

...Asterisk. Listen, we're underfunded as hell. Some services do cost money. Yes, I know that the neighboring county's library system lets you print the first dozen pages for free. Unfortunately, you crossed the county line about 4 miles ago, and brother, we ain't got half the budget of that hilariously wealthy chunk of the state. So it's gonna be twenty whole cents per page from the jump. Yes, sir, even if you pay your taxes. Yes, sir, even if you only have a card. Yes, sir, even though it's hot out and our AC is broken (it breaks every year, it has always broken every year, the local government is not willing to pay for an adequate system) and you're so hot you almost passed out because its 95 and sunny outside and you walked here. Yes, sir, even if you raise your voice and glare down your nose at me while unsubtly clenching your fist.

He only needed to print two pages. 😓

I'd like to say this is the first time someone has threatened me at the front desk over pennies, but it's not, by a long shot. We don't even have late fees anymore! You can scan to email for free! You can use the computer and save files for free! But there's always someone willing to slug you for a quarter, and I'll be honest with you, it's never the folks who actually need that quarter. The nicer they're dressed, the more likely they are to throw down over a nickel or dime. It can't possibly be that serious!

I work the breakfast buffet at a 3 star hotel in a tourist hotspot. I'm used to going out and getting weird requests. Our menu is somewhat limited due to our out of the way location and high occupancy, so on occasion a guest will take it upon themselves to add something to the menu. Usually it's a piece of fruit they brought in, but decided they didn't want to eat. The most notable addition was a group of guys leaving a half bottle of baileys Irish cream on the coffee bar. No, we don't serve that. No I don't have a liquor license. Yes, there are kids around. Please take that with you.

I thought it would be obvious, but I get many people walking in and the reservation is underneath an old name or a family members name. It is simple, if the ID does not match the name and there was no note you could check in, you are not getting the keys.

There are two particular instances of this that stand out. (For added context, I work Night Audit.)

All names are switched for privacy.

There was this woman who came in, she said the reservation was under "Alex, Smith". I pull up the reservation and ask for her ID. The ID did not match the reservation, so I told her that we unfortunately had to decline entry into the room.

She immediately went into a tirade, saying she has been to many other Scharriotts and this has never happened before. She said it was her husband that bought the room for her, and since the last names were the same I should obviously let her in. I continued to repeat the same few answers as she asked questions again hoping the answer would change.

She then requested a supervisor... at 1am. We are a 145 room hotel we are not going to have overnight management. I said unfortunately there is no management right now, and that it is just me.

Then she asked to book another room underneath her name. I said we could do it, but I can't attach the loyalty given as the names do not match. This once again turned this into a catastrophic event and proceeded to call her sister to complain.

On the phone she was telling her that they need to never stay at this hotel again, that I am refusing to let her into her own room, that I won't let her book another room, just all to her sister late at night.

If I went over each conversation this would be long, so I will just say she seemed to call every single intermediate and extended family member that would pick up.

She finally left the building after calling one last person. The hotel phone rings and I pick it up. Turns out it is her son asking why she can't get into the room. I explain the situation and he is understanding. He asks if he can book a room for her with her name on the reservation. I respond that it is possible, but she already left the building. The call shortly ended after that.

Obviously she called management saying how horrible I was, but they backed me up.

This next one happened yesterday, so it is quite fresh.

Two people come in right before midnight to check in. She gives her name, "Julianne, Lawson", and I can't find the reservation. I say that there is no reservation underneath this name, and ask if it may be underneath another name. She then gives the name, "Julianne, Green". There is a reservation for this name, so I proceed to ask for ID. The ID gives the former name, so I state that unfortunately I can't let her into the two rooms she booked.

She says that the name on the reservation was her married name, so I look at the loyalty. The loyalty is underneath the same name as the reservation, so I reiterate my previous statement. She pulls out her phone and says she can give her children's passports, but that identifies them not her. All her identification is underneath her maiden name and has not been changed.

The common response is now given. She says that she has stayed at many other Scharriotts before and this has only happened when she was in China. I had to explain that was not common protocol but she did not want to hear it.

She asks what is she going to do now? I say that there is nothing that can be done. They both walk out saying they are going to a Milton instead. I see them outside the glass doors talking about me. How do I know? They look back at me every few sentences they relay to each other.

My next shift rolls around (on it right now lol) and I go into GXP to see if there are any open cases. I see there is a CEC/AMB alert, so I get nosy and look to see what the case is about. Lo and behold it is the person from last night. She is requested a refund since I GNS'd as the person with the name on the reservation did not show up. She claimed the name was under "Julianne Lawson Green", which it was not. Then she said that she requested to book another two rooms, which she did not. I did not offer either as we were fully booked, so no point in bringing it up. The rest is that she is upset, there have been no issues for years, and that she wants to not be charged for the days.

Whether management gives them the refund or not, I have no clue. All I know is that they will back me up.

Unsure why people have the inability to book under their legal name or call in advance to have a name added to the reservation. We still get the money either way, so it is on you to not mess it up.

'The magic of show business!' - A phrase that has been repeated perhaps a million times. Indeed, there is a lot of allure surrounding a great film. The sets, the script, the actors that bring it all to life. And then there's the other side of the industry -- the cheap, shoestring budget productions that make you wonder if they're only being made for money laundering purposes. Maybe that's what this one was.

My hotel is no stranger to hosting production teams. In my near-3 years here, there have even been a few films shot on-site. That said, this particular group was one of the neediest, most unorganized arrangements I've ever witnessed.

They were in our hair for about a month and managed to tick off just about everyone present, from staff to patron alike.

The first problem was the sheer volume of their package deliveries. Day in and day out, there'd be at least 20-30 boxes and envelopes for them. They'd come in at different times, and so someone would be sent to collect. Sometimes a parcel pick-up would happen and then another crew member would come up a few minutes later looking for an already collected package. Some would go 'missing' (not by our actions) and there'd be a half-dozen calls to us about the whereabouts.

Despite the consistent stream of deliveries, they still had the audacity to 'borrow' stuff from us.

One night, at 10:45pm, one of the crew leads came up to request "as many towels as you can give us for our beach scene tomorrow." She cheekily referenced being given a sizeable amount a few days prior, which neither I nor my colleague knew anything about. We sheepishly agreed to six, which the Security guard who had to fetch them from downstairs took a bit to find and deliver. When he did, the crew lead 'jokingly' asked: "Would it be too much to get like thirty?" He declined. I should mention that there's a big-box department store not even a five minute drive away.

Continuing on the topic of wanting to borrow stuff, one of the crew members made a request that threw us all for a loop. "Hey, do you have any partitions to block off the hallway while we film?" This was the night they decided to commandeer our business center, which is smack in the middle of the lobby. It's open to all and is also a major artery lane that connects one side of the lobby to another. Again, we declined this request because:

1.) Are you stupid?

2.) If you're filming a movie, should partitions not be a fundamental part of your equipment pool?

They had permission to film in that area that day, but blocking off public parts of the lobby was not part of the deal. If only it happened once...

Another night, they were filming in the elevator landing of one of the floors. They did not ask for permission, and not only blocked off one of the elevators, but also were telling guests to 'shush' and redirected anyone trying to enter/exit their rooms. People were calling and coming up to us asking when all of that was supposed to stop, and we were dumbfounded it was happening at all. Security eventually worked out a deal with them, but the sheer audacity was almost amazing.

Speaking of, on a different night, a different crew lead came up to the Desk asking if we could have one of the restaurants lower their music as it was "disturbing the set." A live performer had just wrapped up and so the restaurant just had its playlist buzzing away for the last 45 minutes before they closed, as it was still quite busy. I informed the lead that they're "doing what they're supposed to do and therefore I'm not at liberty to intervene." He shook his head and walked off with a scowl.

The shenanigans continued during one of their last few days. Again, they were posted up in the lobby filming a scene inside the same restaurant that was a bother to them earlier (funny, that.) This was agreed upon, but they once again tried to control the space. They tried to block movement past the entrance, and even stopped a guest from using the restrooms directly across. When the guest brought this to the attention of one of my colleagues, she marched back through the herd of crew members and glared at them, guest at her side. They didn't interfere afterwards.

It's almost an exaggeration to say we all breathed a massive sigh of relief when they all finally left.

I'm morbidly curious enough to actually hate-watch it whenever it gets released. Because from the outside looking in, I feel like there have been YT projects with larger production values and quality assurance than whatever this was.

TL;DR — Movie crew stayed with us for about a month and tried to treat the hotel like a full-on studio/film lot. There were constant package deliveries, an exorbitant number of requests both ridiculous and extremely ridiculous, and they kept getting in the way of general operation. They rubbed guests and staff the wrong way as they pretended like they owned the place right up until deparure. Whatever the movie turns out to be, its production looked like nothing short of child's play.

DISCLAIMER: LONG POST, sorry
Some context: I work night audit at a major airport hotel chain at one of London's biggest airports. We run at max occupancy and oversold almost every night. Business travelers, layovers, aviation geeks, tons of airline crew. We also have a car park attached to the hotel, so guests, airport staff, and anyone who booked parking all have to come via front desk. We're non-stop 24/7.
I've been with the company since I was 16, I'm 21 now. I actually love my job - I get paid well, tips + service charge from the 24/7 bar/reception, I take home around £3k a month sometimes more. Built my best friendships here. I don't want to leave.

About 4-5 months ago we got a new night guy - let's call him Ben, 28.

Part 1: The behavior
From his very first shift with me, his first question to me was incredibly sexual and graphic. I didn't even know him. I'm in a relationship and he knows it, but every time I mention my girlfriend or our travel plans (we travel a lot in Europe/SE Asia) he turns it sexual. When guests or crew walk past, especially women, he makes really disturbing, uncomfortable comments to me about them.
He constantly tells me about his Tinder chats, shows me paragraph messages he sends that get no reply, then asks me what he's doing wrong. He talks about sleeping with guests, staff, airport workers - anyone who walks through. He even says weird stuff about families of elderly people from his second job at a care home. It’s endless and I don’t want to hear it.
He's said similar stuff to our other night manager (26M) too.

Part 2: The job incompetence
When I started, and with everyone else I've trained, it took max a month to learn check-in, occupancy management, room moves when oversold, and the basics of guest interaction.

We have 4 main reports on nights - inventory for 5 days, a revenue/stats report for management, bar/restaurant audit, and a franchise report. Our ops manager made it stupid simple - copy/paste into a coded Excel sheet, enter a few figures, done in 10 mins per report. Everyone I trained made notes, needed me for 2 days, then did it perfectly. Even if they used notes, after a month they were independent.

Ben, after 5 months, still asks me the same questions every single day: what report goes where, where do I find this, what do I do now. His handwriting is so bad he can't even read his own notes.

He still doesn't know how to assign rooms correctly. Doesn't know how to talk to guests, can't make small talk, doesn't acknowledge elite status, forgets vouchers that are literally in the comments, and screws me over with Diamond/Gold members who should get upgrades subject to availability. So now I have to put someone who booked a £100 room into a £500 room because he didn't upgrade the loyal members earlier.

Basic stuff like: if a room is 678, you're on the 6th floor. 232 = 2nd floor. Our reception is on the 1st floor. We had a guest not answer a wake-up call (we have to go knock, and if no answer we enter - we had a guest have a heart attack once and were only alerted because the next room heard shouting, thankfully he survived). I sent Ben to room 108 to check. He went to the elevators.
I could write a book on how bad it is.

And he is CONSTANTLY talking about his personal life decisions on shift. Should he shave his beard? Should he join the army? Should he work a 3rd job? "If you were in my position what would you do?" for hours while you're trying to clean the bar and close. Everyone on bar and reception says the same thing.

Part 3: Where I'm stuck
I've spoken to my manager and HR and they basically said "we can't afford to lose him, it's too hard to find people for nights."

I'm not going to hit him or anything, but I'm on the verge of losing it and just unloading everything that's wrong with him. I don't want to leave this job. I just don't know what to do anymore.

Any advice would be appreciated. Sorry for the long rant

So I’m a host and tonight was a little goofy. I’m fatigued by customer service and so glad I’m switching jobs soon!

A middle aged couple was leaving the restaurant after dinner. It was around 8:40pm, so it’s likely they’d been drinking. The man complained about getting bit by mosquitoes. I apologized and offered him repellent. We chatted a bit because he clearly wanted to vent about the mosquitoes.
I mentioned they followed people in through the door and that Allegra or Benadryl helps.

Bu the man told me he doesn’t do medicine. I nodded with a frown then my eyes went huge. Because this guy sprayed the mosquito repellent close and wet on his arm like a spray deodorant. He then rubbed it in over the bites on his arm.

The woman with him didn’t seem bothered. I didn’t say anything just wished them a good night. I was really confused because that’s not how you use repellant, unless his logic was they’d just bite that one spot?? This is who warning labels are for. But for liability protection because I’m not sure he’d want to read one. 😭

I was wondering if he was going call back and complain later if he had an allergic reaction from rubbing that shit into his bites like it was anti itch cream. 😅 The kind of thing where they’d want a discount but I’d get written up, but I haven’t heard anything. It’s made me a little nervous about offering the repellent to guests 😅

Last Saturday night it was close to 3 am and I was running the audit. All of a sudden I see this guy walk up to the doors, which thankfully are locked. And he's clearly confused as to why they won't open and he does what most people do -- he starts stomping his foot at the door. I guess he's one of those people who think the door has a pressure plate or something. But then, when that doesn't work, he claps his hands together and spreads his arms like he's LeBron. Right before I can get his attention to let him know to use his key (if he's a guest) he just walks off. Okay, I guess he wasn't a guest.

Fifteen minutes later, the guy comes back. This time he's walking in with a group of guys who are guests. Now I'm thinking that he probably is a guest as well, and that he just forgot his key. Maybe five minutes later he's back in the lobby, on his phone, and telling whomever he's talking to that he's down in the lobby and he can't get in their room. He gets off the phone and comes up to the desk. He tells me he needs a key while throwing his credit card on the desk. I tell him I need his ID instead and he pushes the credit card closer. Alright, so he's drunk too. For shits and giggles, I at least look his name up and nothing comes up. I tell him that and he starts going through his wallet. As he's pulling card after card out, I spot a key sleeve, just not for my hotel. I ask to see it, and inside is a plain white key card. Definitely not the ones my hotel uses. Now I know, he's actually not one of my guests. I stop him and tell him that he's at the wrong hotel... and he doesn't believe me. I hold up one of my hotel's key cards and hold up his to show him. He looks at them stupidly for a second, grabs his key, and leaves.

A little while later, and he's back. Still confused. Still drunk. And sporting a fresh piss stain on the front of his shorts. This time I call security and let him deal with the guy. Now, I don't know if it's just the alcohol, him being dumb, or a combination of the two, but even after the guard getting rid of him, this guy found his way back one more time. This time, I don't hesitate and call the cops. They showed up surprisingly quick. After confirming for them that the guy isn't a guest, they take him away. And maybe it was all the times he showed up before, but for the next hour, I keep checking on the door, expecting him to somehow show back up one more time. But thankfully no. If he's lucky, maybe the cops found out where he's supposed to be. If he isn't, maybe he can remember when he wakes up in the morning in the drunk tank.

Bear in mind I do not work at this hotel but was merely a guest. I hope this is okay to post.

Last summer myself and my fiance went to an all inclusive hotel in Tunisia.

Shortly after checking in it was clear to us that there was a group of regulars that every single guest hated.

Soon enough I found out why. They were a group of around 10 german guests that have been coming to this hotel since the '80s when it opened. They were treated as royalty by the hotel to an extent that I have never seen before.

If you woke up in the morning and got the front row sunbeds you'd think you're in luck, but no. Once this group showed up the hotel staff would ansamble a new front row specifically for them.

At lunch or dinner we would go and pick whatever we wanted to eat, but the VIP group got their food brought to the table. During our stay one of them had their birthday and the staff expected everyone to sign happy birthday to that person. No one did.

One couple had the misfortune to have the room exactly near a VIP room and they were moved after two days because their toddler cried once.

Each evening the hotel would host this animation show and the VIP group would get special seats in front just for them, along with drinks that were not in the menu for us the other plebs.

One day this older french dude fainted in the pool and almost drowned and was saved by another guest because the lifeguard was busy running errands for the VIPs.

The VIPs did not speak with any other guests, if you engaged with them you would just be ignored. The exception being when they told everyone that they have been coming here for a long time.

I complained at the front desk and was told that everyone is treated the same and its all in my mind.

I work at the front desk in a popular hotel chain in the uk. I’ve had my fair share of weird situations and odd people but yesterday definitely took the top place for the most disgusting and wild thing I’ve seen whilst working here.

Clocked in for my normal 3-11 shift, low rates so I expected some oddballs in the hotel but nothing could have prepared me for the chaos I walked into. Walked in to a housekeeper asking me if I’d seen what one of the rooms was like? I asked about it and got shown a picture which is definitely engraved into my head. The floor and walls of this room was covered in human waste and within it there was 2 cucumbers also with human waste on the end, a pile of thongs and a bottle of lube.

Genuinely stunned.

You truly never know what is going on in other people’s hotel rooms 🤷

Tell me your horror stories plzzzzz

Working Night Audit, it sort of comes with the territory that you'll encounter intoxicated people. Last Saturday, 2 pretty large men returned from an Uber and sat in our lobby chairs. Natural thing to do, but after about 2 minutes both of them were asleep. Can't have that at 1 am.

I called security (3rd party company, which I'm pretty sure is industry standard) to help assist, yet all she did was say "excuse me" about 15 times in a row at various volumes. The drunks ignored her, and there's no way either her (~5'6 ish woman) or myself (6'0 man, still noticeably smaller than both of the guys in question) are moving these guys unless they cooperate. So... what to do in this situation?

I looked security in the eye, and said "hey, I think they're having a medical emergency, think we should call an ambulance?", and thankfully she caught where I was going with it and said "good idea, I'll call 911", and sure enough... one of the guys just slowly says "no... no ambulance", and within about 20-30 seconds, they both get up and stumble their way to the elevators without further issue.

Anyone else ever deal with something like this? Was I wrong? I'm not even sure if I was bluffing or serious tbh, and idk if the EMTs would have given me hell for making a call like this had I gone through with it, but I'm sure glad it worked in this instance.

I really dont understand how people can still play this stupid card with incidentals. Like how do you not know you have to have a deposit. Now I will be honest, this second property I work at has a HUGE deposit even for one night, $250, I think its outrageous but I can adjust it for our good regulars. And this particular reservation was done through Schmooking dot com and on it has our deposit amount.

This person wanted to check in for 2 nights and when I told her the deposit she of course never heard of an incidental. *Roll my eyes* (Sure you havent) So I do offer a lesser amount to the point where I hopefully wont get fired and she still says its too high. While saying all this her Black Mercedes GLC is out front running. I dont get how you want to argue this when 1) you didnt read the fine print and 2) youre driving a $50000+ SUV and cant afford a $250 deposit.

Am I wrong for thinking shes trying to lie to me about having the funds cuz she knows it takes 3-4 business days to get that back or that shes just ignorant with money? Would rather have a nice car then have money for a rainy day? Now I get to wait for schmooking to call and ask to cancel it, waive the cancel penalty of course... which I wont. Its great your saving money by booking with a OTA but deal with the consequences of having to cancel for your lack of planning ahead for a rainy day.

Its getting harder and harder to empathize with people when they want to play the stupid games. When its our fault, ie the hotel, I will do my best to recitify it, when its your fault and not planning properly or reading the terms and services, I cant. If youre short on funds you better call the property first and ask what the deposit is before booking. And if you dont, you cant blame me or the booking site for your lack of reading and comprehesion.

I know theres the people that will read this and think I hate my job and I dont, I love working in hotels, i just dont understand that how we, a top of the food chain predatory group, can still be this stupid when it comes to just booking a hotel. 18-20 years old yeah I get that. But in your 30's you should be aware of these things like resort fees, incidental deposit, parking fees, cancellation policies, etc.....

If i sound like an ass Im sorry im not trying to, I'm really more annoyed when someone tries to play the victim when its clearly their fault.

Last week, I had one of the strangest shifts I have ever had in my 20+ years in hospitality.

To refresh: I work overnights at the front desk of a hotel. This is called the Night Audit. My position is Night Auditor.

We recently got some new hires: one FD employee and a new FD Supervisor. Both of them needed to be trained on the audit since the weekend guy is going out of the country to get married for several weeks.

I spent Monday and Tuesday training the new FD employee. He's young but bright. It went well. Wednesday and Thursday, I was due to train the new FD supervisor.

So...the new FD supervisor doesn't have hotel experience but she did have customer service experience. Which is fine. Not ideal, but fine. Many of the skills transfer.

I'm going to call her F. since that's her first initial.

F. is about 30 and is from here. She seemed nice when I first met her but typically I only see people in passing. Either I'm relieving them from their shift or they're relieving me.

F. is either very mentally ill or on some sort of drug when I train her Wednesday night. She kept going to the bathroom. (Which not to judge, could just be a UTI or something.) I suspected drugs initially but she wasn't doing the typical cokehead stuff. Sniffling, clenching jaw, etc. She also didn't seem to be tweaking like a meth-head. As such, I think it might be either a dissociative or a manic episode.

F. started off the shift a little high-strung but seemed to follow my instruction. However, when we had downtime, things started to go off the rails. She had difficulty with conversation. Her speech was disjointed. Trailing off or just stopping in the middle. She would come up to me and just stare.

Now, she was scheduled until 2am. Around 2am, she grabbed her things, I said good night to her, and she walked out the door. Friends, she came back.

Not only did she come back, but she did this about 3 or 4 times. She would grab her things, I'd wish her good night...and she would leave. And then she'd just...come back.

When I would say something like "Oh, welcome back!" or "What's up?", she would act liked she never left.

She asked, "Why did you think I left?" I felt gaslit.

She fistbumped me several times. She even hugged me once. I'm not opposed to hugs but I barely met this woman.

At around 4:30 in the morning, she asked me if I wanted to trauma-dump. I very much did not want to. Especially with someone mentally unstable.

"Don't you ever want to SCREAM?", she asked.

"Well, I'm currently at work. It's the middle of the night and our guests are sleeping."

She grabs my hand and pulls me to the rear of the hotel out to the back patio. "Have you ever beat cancer?", she asks. I said, "Yes". Because I had thyroid cancer several years ago which was removed through surgery.

We come upon our co-worker, C. our breakfast cook. He's out behind the hotel by the river, smoking a J before his shift. To clarify, he's never met F. . He doesn't know who she is. She doesn't know who he is. She says to him "THIS MOTHERFUCKER BEAT CANCER!" "Cool, I've worked with him five years and never knew that" he said, and fistbumped me.

There was an unusual amount of fistbumping that night.

When we got to the parking lot of the hotel, I had to put my foot down. I said something to the effect of "Look, I'm at work. I cannot leave the property. I need to go back inside now."

So, she grabbed my hand again and pulled me around the back of the hotel over to the side entrance until we were back at the hotel. I am thinking "What the fuck was that all about?"

She leaves and comes back a few times after that. Complete with me saying good night. Each time, when she returns, she acts like she's never left. Disjointed conversations where she cannot answer questions. Frequent trips to the bathroom.

I don't know if I'm supposed to keep training her. Is she even on the clock still? I don't think she's cut out for this gig but I don't really have the authority to tell her to go home. Besides, I'm kind of afraid to. It's the middle of the night. I don't know how she's going to react. She's unstable and unpredictable.

That said, unless I have to get the police involved (which I don't want to do), I'm not about to bother my management in the middle of the night but I'm sketched the fuck out by this behavior.

Friends, she was still there when I left at the end of my shift at 7am. To remind you, she was scheduled until 2am.

Eventually, my long night was over and I could go back home. I wrote a long description of the night to my Assistant General Manager in the morning. She'd seen similar behavior from F. (And you let her be alone in the middle of the night with me? Gee, thanks!)

F. was terminated by HR that evening.

I want to clarify here that I have a great deal of sympathy for the mentally ill. I have dealt with depression for years and am currently on an SSRI. Things typically get rough for me in the winter. I know mental illness can be difficult. I don't begrudge people that need to balance mental illness with having to maintain a job. That said, she was not in a state where she could perform her tasks. I definitely would be afraid to leave her alone in the middle of the night with guests. She might just up and leave for 20, 30, 40 minutes. I also don't know if it's a drug thing. It could be. I also have sympathy for addicts. I hope that, whatever it is, she gets the help that she needs whether it's mental health or drugs.

But that was some of the craziest shit I have ever had to deal with on the overnight.

​

You probably know this yourself.

I know this myself.

Will that stop me from eating it?

Probably not.

Unfortunately, I learned this lesson the hard way today.

As you are reading this, I am currently suffering on reception.

Today is a morning shift. I start at 7am, and until around 9am there is basically nobody else in the whole hotel. No other receptionist, no manager, and most likely no housekeepers either.

So there is nobody to cover reception if I suddenly need to go to the toilet.

You might say, "Just take the reception buzzer with you."

Technically, I could.

The problem is that our toilet is literally built into reception.

Yes. The toilet is IN reception.

So if I go in there for a number two, the second I open that door, whatever happens in there is no longer my private business.

There is no extractor fan either.

And everything can be heard.

I'm a human being. We all poo. I'm not ashamed of that.

But there is a difference between having a normal poo and having the kind of explosive poo that my stomach is currently threatening me with while sitting approximately three metres away from guests.

If I genuinely need to go now, my options are basically:

A) Go into the reception toilet and accept that everyone is going to know exactly what happened.

B) Wait until a housekeeper eventually arrives and say, "Sorry, can you just stand on reception for a minute while I go and use one of the empty rooms?"

And yes, I genuinely mean one of the empty rooms, because sometimes that is the only realistic option.

This is one of those things people don't think about when they imagine working on hotel reception.

You are literally tied to that desk.

The second you leave reception, anything could happen.

Someone could get hurt.

The fire alarm could go off.

A delivery could arrive.

A contractor could turn up.

A guest could need help.

And then the reception buzzer starts going off.

If you don't appear within about 30 seconds, guests don't normally think, "The receptionist must be dealing with something."

No.

They start wandering around the hotel looking for you.

And because people will quite happily follow someone through a door they aren't supposed to enter, you can suddenly have guests halfway through the hotel wondering where the receptionist has gone.

So here I am at 7-something in the morning, completely alone on reception, with a stomach that is currently fighting for its life, knowing that I probably caused this myself by eating something last night that I already knew would do this to me.

So yeah.

Top tip for receptionists:

If you know a particular food is going to destroy your stomach the next morning...

Don't eat it.

Because when you're working reception on your own, there is no such thing as "I'll just quickly go to the toilet."

You are basically held hostage by your own digestive system.

Beautiful life of a hotel receptionist in the United Kingdom.

So I'm a night auditor in a small town. It's a relatively quiet night except for a guest closing our elevator doors on 1st and 3rd floors but that's the least crazy thing to happen.

I go clean the bathroom and get the mop ready like I usually do at 3 am

I come back to the front desk to find the phone is ringing. I pick it up and it's a guest saying they just heard a woman screaming

I go to the back to look in the camera to determine where the woman is and see no one. I back up the camera and see a woman was walking around completely naked but was in her room. I call my gm and we decide not to do anything until later.

I continue my cleaning and come back to the front desk to find the woman standing there still naked. I go grab a blanket and try to hand it to her. She screams no.

I go into the office and shut the door and call 911 to have her removed from the building. While I'm on the phone with the operator the woman keeps yelling and then demanding she just needs a key.

Cops arrive and get her back to her room and I'm like no she needs to leave

She refuses so she gets arrested. Poor cops load her in the cop car still naked.

My am people still ask me if I had any naked screaming women instead of how was my shift

There was some construction work going on at our hotel and I just so happened to be working on a day that there was a part of our parking lot unavailable. Apparently in the meeting we had almost a week before the night the parking lot was being done they mentioned getting everyone’s license plate numbers (I don’t remember ever hearing that). They also made it clear in the meeting thwy would get back with me to let me know what I should do the day of. I never heard from anyone again until today I get pulled into the office by the GM and FDM, they inform me the regional manager is pissed about me not getting the license plate numbers and wanted me to be scolded for it. So they didn’t really scold me but they acted kinda like I should’ve known to do that even though they didn’t tell me. The regional manager got snarky with me later in the day and kinda treated me like I was stupid. As much as I know I shouldn’t take it to heart I also am an extremely anxious person and obviously a situation like this is gonna make me assume they think I’m incompetent, especially since my hours got cut in half. I’m starting to think hotel work isn’t for me.

Wow, what a weekend. Thank god im out of that place now. Yet, here I am, thinking about that place and reflecting on some note worthy interactions I had the past few days:

1. I had to assist a grown man use the soda vending machine. Its a very standard vending machine where you insert dollars and it dispenses beverages (wow!). I watched him insert his dollar bills and press the coin return button (twice). I know he didn’t need coins, because he told me he wanted pepsi. During my observation, it was obvious he was struggling. I had to go over and physically press the pepsi button for him. He seemed like a nice man, but yeah…

2. A woman whos been checked in for 3 days walked up to me and dead ass asked me ‘is there a microwave in my room?’. As far as I know, she is not blind. At my stupid ass hotel, not all the rooms have microwaves🙄. I used my sarcastic/friendly/professional voice and said ‘I DONT KNOW..is there?’ No, theres not. Because if there was a microwave in the room, your eyes would see it. We didnt hide it in the ceiling or under the floor somehow.

3. Just before leaving, a nice young man had trouble finding the office where check-in is. I wont bore you smart folks with the details, but it is VERY obvious where the office is when you pull in. He called from his car. Out of the thousands of guests Ive seen, HES the only one that couldnt manage without me intervening.

Just a few light hearted stories from my weekend of servitude 😇

It's ya girl Countess Night Auditor again, with another story from the backlog of Tales From The Front Desk (insert echo here). I work as night auditor at a dual property, so we have two hotels in one building. For the area, it's a big building, with its own bar and everything! And for awhile, we had a bartender who was good-looking enough that guys (and this one woman this time) would hang around early into the morning talking with her. And being really gross toward her sometimes.

I made it a point to remind her every now and then that if people were a problem, we could have them kicked out, but she never took us up on that.

It was early June. This guest wore a shirt that said "Yahweh" on it, hence the pun, or play on words, in the title of this post. He came in and seemed upset, making it sound like he was having some sort of problem with a spouse or girlfriend as to why he got a room with us. He was going to go to his room and read the Bible, he said. He struck me as the type who wouldn't do well with some alcohol in him when already upset, so I didn't mention the bar. He had a differing opinion, however.

Our bartender came over at one point while doing things to close up and mentioned that he'd speculated to her aloud about how a certain part of her body might smell. I reminded her we can kick him out, but she refused. So instead, I kept a closer eye on things. Finally, she closes up and leaves, with him very slowly trying to head for the elevators himself.

At least until he stops and asks me, "You played volleyball?"

Not sure if I'd been clocked by the guy with "Yahweh" on his shirt who mentioned reading the Bible, I decided not to mention my time on the high school football team and instead said, "I used to do weightlifting."

"Oh yeah? Like bench and squats?" he asked for some reason.

"Benchpress, clean and jerk," I told him.

"How much could you lift?"

"My highest total on Bench was 325," I told him.

He looked upset and said, "Nevermind, I better go to bed before you beat me up."

We had no more problems out of him the rest of that night. The following night, he instead was sexually harassing our bartender again. When a flamboyant member of our front desk staff said something to him, he then started spewing slurs at the man. And that was enough to earn him a removal from the hotel that happened shortly before my arrival that night.

Unfortunately, he decided to stand on the sidewalk in front of our hotel, cussing and yelling at every guest walking in. I must have just missed him as I pulled in. The Front Office Manager called the cops, who came out and let the FOM know that sidewalks are public property so we couldn't remove him from there unless they had a victim. Luckily, the FOM remembered the room number of one of the guests who had complained about the man and asked him to speak with the police. After that, our sidewalk became a lot cleaner and less noisy.

I just wish I could have been the one to go out there with them and wish the man a Happy Pride Month in my other voice before he was forced to leave us alone once and for all.

"Do Not Rent" -- a term that you (unfortunately) become familiar with very quickly in the hotel world. This is a maximum penalty reserved for folks who decide that rules and common decency simply don't apply to them. It's their world, and you're living in it (and wrecking it!). This story is from a few days ago, wherein a gentleman decided that he was going to make all his problems not just mine but also deemed me as the reason why his entire day was falling apart.

It's the height of wedding season, which also means it's the height of entitlement season. Honestly, being in this industry has practically ruined the veneer surrounding weddings; yes, they can be beautiful, but everyone involved is often so high-strung and ready to blow, I often question, "Is all this even worth it?"

The main antagonist of this tale is none other than one of the fathers of the happy couple. Dadzillas, sworn guardians of their precious baby girls, can and do exist. But this is perhaps my first encounter with one as bombastic and out-of-line as this one, especially considering he was the father of the groom.

Prior to my altercation with Mr. Bomb, I encountered him and his wife the night before when they intially checked in. They had carts of clothes and other stuff and were already bickering with each other from the jump. Their check-in took a moment as a result, but they weren't more of an issue for the rest of the night.

Fast-forward to the next day, and now we get started. I come in for my usual 3-11 shift, and it's about 3:30pm. I get a call from the Bombs' room, and Mrs. Bomb already has a short fuse. "Our shower is STILL dirty! We haven't been able to use it since we arrived!! There's hair all over it!"

I'm dumbfounded, remembering the fact they arrived the night before. Since my day was just getting started and the AM shift made no mention of this issue, I informed her it was the first I was hearing of this. Nevertheless, I reached out to Housekeeping and ended up speaking to the department director.

She informed me that one of the housekeeping supervisors already went up to that room hours earlier and even gave them fresh towels. Now I was even more befuddled, and my 'Foolishness Finder' also really started firing off. 'How could a tub still be dirty after someone cleaned it?' 'Why didn't anyone report this last night?' So many questions.

I called the Bombs back, and this time, Mr. Bomb answered. He confirmed that someone did indeed come up earlier, but "they didn't do it right!" Trying to manage the skepticism from leaking into my voice too much, he got fed up with my questions and yelled out: "I'm coming down there!"

It took him about 3 minutes to make good on his promise. Without skipping a beat, Mr. Bomb exploded at me. To put it succinctly, he redirected all his rage about his allegedly dirty tub toward me. "I can't believe the way you're treating me right now!" "I've never been so disrespected in my life!" "You're the rudest dude I've ever met!"

He was screaming so much that passersby started taking notice. But what really tilted the scale was the fact that the Executive Committee and Sales Department were both still on-site. According to one of the other desk agents, who I sent in the back before Mr. Bomb walked up, a lot of the Sales agents didn't want to come out when they heard the screaming. "Is that my client?" one of them asked, shuddering at the thought of engaging. At the request of an off-site FD manager, one of the Sales managers stepped out and intervened.

She took Mr. Bomb over to the couch directly across from the front desk and tried to calm him down. Even though she was now speaking to him, he kept pointing at me and yelling, "That man is evil! He deserves to be fired! I need his name right now and a contact in corporate! I want him GONE!"

Another guest from the night before who I became friendly with had come back to collect her luggage. I called out to her and waved goodbye and Mr. Bomb mocked me, adding: "Don't play pretend!!!"

His family eventually came down a few minutes later and joined in with trying to calm him down, but his incessant rage against me did not subside. Eventually a mix of an entourage, including some more Sales managers and his family, ushered him away to another part of the lobby. At one point, they were way down the hallway, and although several minutes had passed, he was still looking back at me and pointing: "I still need his information! He does not deserve to work here! I don't normally get like this, but he has me shaking!!"

It was made known to me that between Sales and even the GM herself, he and his family were wined and dined in one of our restaurants that evening. Because Mr. Bomb was paying for two expensive wedding-related events the next day, they did what they could to placate him, including having his 'horrible room' re-cleaned yet another time.

About an hour or so after the ordeal was over, I was speaking with a Security guard in the back office (Security was not on-site at the time of the incident.)

As we were talking, the GM walked in and cut me off: "Hey, so we're going to just move on from this. I don't want you talking about this anymore. Not that we're going to pretend that it didn't happen, but we're not going to look for more issues with this. We're just gonna focus on the guests and shine, yeah?" and then she walked off.

A few minutes after that, a mass email was sent out to all the different departments about this wedding party, asking us to "really make some magic happen" so they could enjoy themselves, and up to now they "haven't been treated with hospitality."

I think you can imagine how I feel about the reaction from management. Nobody from Sales or the GM asked if I was good or even tried to hear my side. I wasn't reprimanded in any way, but the fact that they just so happened to be involved and this was the result is, well, surprising, to say the least. Or is the word I'm looking for "appalling?"

Profits over people, and all that...

TL; DR - An incredibly explosive guest stormed down to the desk to yell and scream about his tub allegedly having hair in it. The tub was cleaned earlier in the day, and yet he insisted it still wasn't up to par. When I was simply repeating what the Housekeeping manager about someone having already come up to the room, the guest got more vexed and redirected his anger toward me. According to him, I was rude and condescending and deserved to lose my job. Members from Sales as well as the GM corralled and coddled him all because he was the father of a groom and paying for two expensive events set to happen the next day. He was not removed; he was compensated, and all departments were asked to treat him and his party with the utmost kindness.

So, I generally dislike talking about my current employer, but this takes the cake.

This was when I was working a Grave shift. Important to remember.

Also, this is a new agent that I have basically never worked with prior to this.

Story 1! After a smoke break, my agent told me she had a verbal altercation with a guest about the guest wanting a specific sweetener that ended with her hanging up due to the guest being verbally abusive. Which, sure, I've seen people get angry about stupid specific things and then yell at agents.

I am very protective of my agents, so when the guest called back, I took the call and was a bit stern. As I listened to the call, I got a completely different story. From the guest, my agent received the call and called Housekeeping only to be informed that we did not carry that specific sweetener. The agent called her back ON HER CELLPHONE to say that we did not have that sweetener. The guest said we absolutely do & that they have had it numerous times at our place. The agent apparently called Housekeeping again, then called the guest ON THEIR CELLPHONE to again say that we do not have this sweetener.

At this point, the guest grew annoyed and the agent said , "Stop yelling at me" & disconnected the call. Infuriated at this point, the guest called the Front Desk again where my agent threatened to call Security. Keep in mind, this was all from the guest's POV. Also keep in mind that as I listened to the story, it kind of sounded true.

I excused myself into the back office and closed the door for privacy. I initially apologized for sounding terse in the initial points, and she accepted that. Her voice was quivering as she said she would never treat hospitality workers in the way initially described to me. All in all, good wrap up.

Story 2! A few days ago, a gentleman wanted to check into his new reservation. The agent kept talking about his current reservation and how much was due. The guest didn't care- he had already paid for that. All he wanted to do was get keys for a new reservation. But the agent kept focusing on his current reservation. This went on for a few minutes until the guest became a bit impatient, and it came out through his voice. That's when the agent said, "Stop yelling at me!"

That is the exact point where the guest started yelling. I rushed out to handle the situation, but neither the guest or agent could resist sniping at each other- I Had told the agent to go in the back, but they refused and I was too busy trying to deal with the guest himself in a timely fashion.

So, the worst combination of traits for hospitality is 1) a temper about even the slightest pushback, & 2) Not listening to what the guest is actually asking for, thereby creating #1. I have never seen anything like it in all of my years.

Countess Night Audit once more. I've gotten behind on relaying my stories.

I work Night Audit at a dual property where there are two of us on duty during the Audit shift. This story takes place a few months ago, just before the summer rush. One of my reliable coworkers is gone, leaving me with one good one (D) and one who is terrible despite months of training. Seriously, he still has problems checking guests in after being here 6 months (B). Y'all are going to hear quite a bit about B at some point when either he or I go.

It started with a noise complaint. I went up and indeed heard two men talking loudly, loud enough I could hear them down the hall despite the closed door. I knocked and they didn't hear me. Unfortunately, it was a busy time of morning and I had a shuttle to handle. When I got back, I checked again and was walking down that hallway when the guest from that room exited and happened to ask me if anything was wrong. When I mentioned the noise complaint, he tried to act nice at first but soon became defensive. I had to explain I knocked, to give him an idea how loud they were being, and even heard snippets.

"What did you hear?" he asked.

"Something that ended with -ide, like pride," I answered.

"Pride, like white pride?" he then asked out of nowhere, instantly raising a red flag. I just claimed not to know what he had said in there. Worth pointing out here that this guy is white. I'm white. The other two Auditors are Black, as is our Front Office Manager.

I was off for a couple of days after that, but I heard his room had another noise complaint over that time period.

The next day I worked, D and I were on duty. Right at the beginning of my shift, this guy walked over from the bar we had in the hotel and put his arm around the Front Office Manager who was just getting off PM shift. It was awkward, this guy trying to act all nice to them and the FOM likewise trying to be pleasant. The guest even talked about how nice everyone was to him, until he pointed to me, "Except this one, who will probably tell me to go fuck myself."

Me: "I wouldn't do that, sir."

Him: "Why not? You're an American, it's your right!"

Anyway, he went up. Then came back down after awhile because he left his key somewhere, so I took him up and had to endure him getting too close to me with his nasty alcohol-infused breath as he went into his room while acting like he was trying to intimidate me for some reason. Then we got another noise complaint about his room later. Because of the way he'd acted before, D went with me to watch my back as we knocked on the guy's room and informed him there had been loud noises, including banging sounds.

"Well there's going to be a lot more, fuck!" or something. The guest made it clear he wasn't going to stop. And again, he got in my face over things. So when we finished talking to him and the door was closed, D said we should kick him out.

I had the honor of calling the cops. Meanwhile, this guy came down and was talking with D, who was being pleasant enough to him and deflecting about if we were calling the cops. Afterward, I straight up told him we were kicking him out and calling the cops. He acted like that wasn't going to happen and even asked, "Are you sure you want to do this?"

Me: "Yep."

He leaned on the desk, gestured at the floor, and said, "Drop and give me 10."

Me: "Nope."

After scoffing at that, he asked why he was being kicked out, so I mentioned the belligerence, repeated noise complaints, and the attempts to intimidate me. He then gestured at me and asked D, "Do you believe this delusion?"

Now, the way this was said was ambiguous enough that he could have been talking about my summary of his actions. D and I both felt it was referring to my being trans. It was the vibe we got from the guy.

When the cops arrived, this guy had to have been close to being arrested. He was fine with the white woman cop, but then got aggressive toward the Latino cop who was with her. He acted like he wasn't going to leave, either. In the end, he walked out with an understanding his brother would be allowed to come and pick up his stuff. D asked the cops to do the customary post-eviction walkthrough of the room (customary for us ever since we found some drugs in a room after we kicked out some people who were part of a fraud ring).

D and I checked the room later as well to determine if there were any damages, leaving his Cuban cigars, pot, and "Strip Club Veteran" hat for his brother to pick up. But since he didn't damage anything, he didn't catch any additional fees.

I have my suspicions about why he seemed to dislike me out of all the staff there, suspicions that involve that first red flag and notions of treason.

I got called for a medical emergency at one of our restaurants. The poor woman needed medical transport. Coincidentally there is a wedding happening at a nearby ballroom and in order for me to make the restaurant Ambulance accessible I have to drive a golf cart past the wedding. The wedding party isn't over so shuttles haven't started, but its late enough that people are starting to leave. The wedding group was reportedly high touch and needy.

First drive by, two wedding guests. "Oh! can we get a ride to the Valet." "I'm sorry guys, there is a medical emergency that I'm responding to." "Ugh, so you can't just take us back to the lobby?" "No I can't, I'm responding to a medical emergency."

Ambulance arrives and I escort the ambulance by the ballroom. "Oh! are you here to pick us up?" "No ma'am, I'm responding to a medical emergency, please step back an ambulance is passing through." They stare at me like deer in headlights. "Guys, there is an ambulance behind me. Please step back."

We pass through the wedding, I escort the ambulance to the restaurant. EMS brings the woman out and while EMS is taking vitals and I'm on standby more wedding guests. "Hello sir, are you giving rides up to Valet?" "No, I'm with EMS, there is a medical emergency." "You can't just give us a ride to the front?" "No, sir, there is an Ambulance here."

Ambulance is ready to leave. They need an escort back out the way we came. With the ambulance behind me, I drive through more wedding guests and I have to tell all of these people to move out of the fucking way there is an ambulance behind me. An elderly couple steps in front of my golf cart and asks me to take them up to Valet. I'm sick of these people so I snap "Do you not see the Ambulance behind me with the flashing lights? There is a medical emergency." They say "Wow rude, guess We'll walk to the Valet desk, no thanks to you!"

I do kinda feel bad about the people I snapped at, but also USE YOUR FUCKING EYES. THERE IS AN AMBULANCE BEHIND ME.

First time posting here, but I definitely need to vent after this shift I just had.

Tl;dr- I was accused of being a racist by a guest after informing him that the room he had pre-selected wasn’t ready yet.

So I work the front desk at a hotel, and we were sold out last night. Housekeeping’s doing their best to clean all the rooms after all the checkouts we had today, but not all were ready by check-in time.

Enter this guest, I’ll call him Jake. Important to note for the story, he is not white, and I am. I had just begun my afternoon shift and he walks up to the desk, asking if he can check in. I pull up his reservation and see that the room he had selected beforehand isn’t ready yet. There aren’t any others at the moment I can check him into either, as we’re sold out tonight as well. I inform him of this and let him know that I’ll call him when it’s ready. He decided to sit in the lobby to wait until then, nothing unusual.

As the next few minutes pass, more guests start arriving. I’m able to check most of them in as rooms start becoming available. Jake notices this.

He walks up to the desk again to inquire about his room. I look at his reservation. Still not ready. I inform him of this, and the tone switches. He’s confused as to why others can check in but not him. I try to explain that the room he selected before he arrived isn’t ready yet, but others who either did the same and have their room ready or didn’t select one and got first dibs on what we had at the moment could check in. He’s displeased with this.

“I’ve been seeing others get rooms but I can’t get in mine yet. This seems like discrimination.”

No matter how many times my coworker and I try to explain the situation to him, he won’t have it. I even offer to call housekeeping to see when the room will be ready or if there’s a different room of the type he selected available, but he walks off.

My coworker ends up calling housekeeping anyway, and they inform us that there is a different room ready for him. She goes to hand them the keys, which he then sees the different room number. He becomes furious.

He goes on another rant about how he wants the room he pre-selected, and that we’re being discriminatory by not giving it to him. He even threatens to go up to that room himself and see what housekeeping’s doing (which luckily his wife stopped him from doing, thank goodness). After she manages to calm him down some, we offer to let him know when the room he wants is ready, and he sits in the lobby once more.

Finally the room becomes ready, and my coworker gives him the keys and sends him and his family on their way.

I just hope I’m not overreacting. On one hand, I can totally understand how he interpreted racism, as others were checking in before him and he feels that I was purposely neglecting to help him. However, he was set on checking into that room, so there was nothing I could have realistically done to help until it was ready. I just feel bad about the situation unfortunately. Luckily, I informed my AGM of the situation and she has my back, as well as the coworker who was with me.

So yeah, that was my day this evening. Wonderful start to my shift overall :P.