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Things that go Bang in the Night

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  • Things that go Bang in the Night

    So, I'm down at the beach for our annual Associate Degree program conference. The conference is going really well, great speakers, everyone's really engaged. Got a really nice dinner Wednesday and Thursday from the vendors for listening to their pitch, which is really good for me considering that after I paid for my hotel room, I had a grand total of $25 in my checking account (thank God today is payday).

    So I'm having a really good time, learning a lot, taking lots of notes for my colleagues who couldn't come. Thursday nite at 11pm I decide I'm tired, and hit the sack. I'm asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow.

    Slowly, I feel myself roused from a deep sleep to the sound of incessant banging. At first, I think someone is knocking on MY door, so I drag myself out of bed and go to see what's going on . . . the banging has gotten VERY loud and insistent. I glance at the clock on my way to the door: 1:47 AM.

    A little cautious, since no one is calling my name, I look through the peephole. No one there. Then I hear the banging again. It's not MY door, but the room next to me. I can hear a young man telling someone, "She's in there, she's passed out drunk, she paid for the room, I need to get in there." More banging, and a low voice I can't catch.

    After a few minutes of this, I crack my door to get a better view of what's going on. There's a disheveled and obviously intoxicated young man (I can smell the alcohol) and a man dressed in a police uniform. He doesn't speak to me, but just holds up his hand as if to say, "Please don't come out." So I go back inside.

    More banging, then the voice go away. I try to go back to bed, but it's hard for me to get back to sleep right away when I've been woken up like this. Just as I'm drifting off again, more banging and the same young man complaining again about how his girlfriend is passed out drunk and he needs to get into the room because it's paid for.

    After listening to another 10 minutes of incessant banging, I go back to the door and open. The same cop motions me not to come into the hall. This time I say, "Look, I can see this guy is upset, but all this banging is just too much and has gone on too long. Can't someone get a manager to let him into the room?"

    Cop: She just went downstairs to get a key (*a master key I presume*)

    Me: Well, fine. But I don't see the need to keep on banging in the meantime. If she hasn't answered the door by now, she's not likely to.

    Drunk Guy: She's a human being, man! I'm a human being.

    Cop: I'm really sorry about this, we're working on it. Please go back inside.

    So I go back in, and cop continues to bang on the door. Granted it's softer than it was, which begs the question: if his loud ass banging didn't wake her up, what makes him think softer banging will? And if soft banging won't work, why bang on it at all? I try to go back to bed, irritated, and listen to the drunk argue with the cop who can't do anything until the manager gets there.

    Finally, I hear the drunk let into the room. Sure enough Drunk Girlfriend is in there, is ok, and was just really passed out drunk. Drunk Guy thanks cop, and cop leaves.

    I glance at the clock. 2:47 AM.

    A couple of minutes later, I hear arguing from the couple, but it calms down just as I'm so aggravated I'm about to call the cops back. When they don't start up again, I finally lay down and try to go back to sleep. It's about 3 AM.

    Of course, I had to get up at 6:30 am.

    It's Friday morning (today), and the last day of the conference, so I go to check out before going to breakfast. I ask the clerk at the desk who the local police agency is, and she asks why. I explain about the incident, that I'm not happy with the way the cop handled it and I want to call his agency and complain.

    She admits the "cop" was their security guard.

    Oh.

    So I tell her, I'd like to speak to a manager. She's not in yet. No problem I say. I'll be here 'til noon, I'll catch her before I leave.

    To make a long story short, when I speak to the manager, I explain what happened. She knew something had happened from the night auditor's log. I give her the whole spiel, and explain that it was unacceptable for it to have gone on as long as it did. Someone should have gotten a room key much, much sooner because 1) this girl was too drunk to answer the door and it was the only way to get him to shut up, and 2) if the girl wasn't answering the door, she could have been in distress and needed a welfare check to make sure she didn't vomit and aspirate it.

    The manager was really nice about it and said she'd talk to the guard. She asked me what I wanted her to do for me.

    Me: Nothing. All I want is for the guard to get some education on how to better handle this, so this doesn't happen to anyone else.

    Manager: I'll make sure of that, but are you sure I can't do anything for you?

    Me: No. I'm good.

    The happy couple checked out right after I did. I didn't see them leave, but I hope they both had the hangovers from hell.
    They say that God only gives us what we can handle. Apparently, God thinks I'm a bad ass.

  • #2
    Kudos for letting the manager know and being so polite about it. I know if that security guard worked at my motel he'd get a nice verbal reaming...
    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

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    • #3
      Quoth bhskittykatt View Post
      Kudos for letting the manager know and being so polite about it. I know if that security guard worked at my motel he'd get a nice verbal reaming...
      I've learned a lot about how to talk to folks in service industries reading the stories here.

      Of course, I was very aggravated by the whole situation. Escalating it wouldn't have helped, though.

      Bonus for me: I left the power cable to my MacBook at the convention: it's a 3 hour drive. When I called, the clerk remembered me as soon as I said my name. I told her I'd pay for postage if she could drop it in the mail; she promised to get it in to me today.
      They say that God only gives us what we can handle. Apparently, God thinks I'm a bad ass.

      Comment


      • #4
        I suspect the manager will be talking for the next six months (or more) about the unhappy customer who just wanted to bring the problem to their attention AND DIDN'T DEMAND ANY COMPENSATION. You might even get a write-up in their in-house newsletter.

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        • #5
          ...And end up framed on the wall, your legend passed down from manager to manager for decades to come..."The One Who Just Wanted to Help" ^_^
          "For a musician, the SNES sound engine is like using Crayola Crayons. Nobuo Uematsu used Crayola Crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel." - Jeremy Jahns (re: "Dancing Mad")
          "The difference between an amateur and a master is that the master has failed way more times." - JoCat
          "Thinking is difficult, therefore let the herd pronounce judgment!" ~ Carl Jung
          "There's burning bridges, and then there's the lake just to fill it with gasoline." - Wiccy, reddit
          "Retail is a cruel master, and could very well be the most educational time of many people's lives, in its own twisted way." - me
          "Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down...tell you she's hurtin' 'fore she keens...makes her a home." - Capt. Malcolm Reynolds, "Serenity" (2005)
          Acts of Gord – Read it, Learn it, Love it!
          "Our psychic powers only work if the customer has a mind to read." - me

          Comment


          • #6
            And from legend into myth . . . .
            They say that God only gives us what we can handle. Apparently, God thinks I'm a bad ass.

            Comment


            • #7
              Bang bang bang
              On the door, baby.
              To right the countless wrongs of our days... We shine this light of true redemption, that this place may become as paradise...Oh, what a wonderful world such would be...

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              • #8
                Quoth Mr Hero View Post
                Bang bang bang
                On the door, baby.
                BANG BAAANG!
                PWNADE(TM) - Serve up a glass today! | PWNZER - An act of pwnage so awesome, it's like the victim got hit by a tank.

                There are only Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse because I choose to walk!

                Comment


                • #9
                  Quoth Jay 2K Winger View Post
                  BANG BAAANG!
                  Tiiiiiiiiiiin roof! Rusted!
                  "For a musician, the SNES sound engine is like using Crayola Crayons. Nobuo Uematsu used Crayola Crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel." - Jeremy Jahns (re: "Dancing Mad")
                  "The difference between an amateur and a master is that the master has failed way more times." - JoCat
                  "Thinking is difficult, therefore let the herd pronounce judgment!" ~ Carl Jung
                  "There's burning bridges, and then there's the lake just to fill it with gasoline." - Wiccy, reddit
                  "Retail is a cruel master, and could very well be the most educational time of many people's lives, in its own twisted way." - me
                  "Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down...tell you she's hurtin' 'fore she keens...makes her a home." - Capt. Malcolm Reynolds, "Serenity" (2005)
                  Acts of Gord – Read it, Learn it, Love it!
                  "Our psychic powers only work if the customer has a mind to read." - me

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    The whole shack shimmies....
                    Seshat's self-help guide:
                    1. Would you rather be right, or get the result you want?
                    2. If you're consistently getting results you don't want, change what you do.
                    3. Deal with the situation you have now, however it occurred.
                    4. Accept the consequences of your decisions.

                    "All I want is a pretty girl, a decent meal, and the right to shoot lightning at fools." - Anders, Dragon Age.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      When everyone dances around and Around and Around and AROUND!...

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                      • #12
                        Now I've got that old Sonny and Cher song going thru my head. "Bang! Bang! He shot me down, etc., etc."
                        "They gave me a badge with my name on it. In case I forget who I am." Dr Who - Closing Time

                        "I reject your reality and substitute my own." Adam Savage-Mythbusters

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                        • #13
                          Quoth Lovecats View Post
                          Now I've got that old Sonny and Cher song going thru my head. "Bang! Bang! He shot me down, etc., etc."
                          Everybody's actually quoting "Love Shack" by the B-52s.

                          Everybody's moving, everybody's grooving baby...
                          I don't have an attitude problem. You have a perception problem.
                          My LiveJournal
                          A page we can all agree with!

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                          • #14
                            Quoth Lovecats View Post
                            Now I've got that old Sonny and Cher song going thru my head. "Bang! Bang! He shot me down, etc., etc."
                            I think of the Kill Bill version, which makes me think of Uma Thurman bursting through the door to slice and dice the drunk bastard to bits for being just a jackass.
                            They say that God only gives us what we can handle. Apparently, God thinks I'm a bad ass.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Speaking of B52s guess where my user name comes from?
                              ''Sugar cane and coffee cups, copper, steel, and cattle. An annotated history the forest for the fire. Where we propagate confusion primitive and wild. Welcome to the occupation''

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