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A few weeks back, we attended a family gathering in a Midwestern city that is home to a humongous University. We learned that we were there on the weekend when the off-campus student apartment leases turn over. Our hotel was smack in the center of the district so there was a great flurry of moving in going on all around us.
The hotel was full and we didn't doubt that many of the guests were families moving students into new digs. It was fun watching formal moving vans, U-Hauls, pick-up trucks with rocking chairs stowed on top a la Beverley Hillbillies and other vehicles of all descriptions packed to the gunwales with everything from bedding to Christmas decorations make their way through the streets and park in front of houses across from the hotel.
We stayed from Friday at lunchtime to Monday morning. Late on Sunday afternoon there was a knock on our door. It was a uniformed man from the hotel who wore an ID tag and identified himself. He cheerfully asked us how many chairs we had in our room. The man was invited in and we showed him our big armchair, the matching ottoman and the office chair near the desk. He consulted his list of what we should have, checked us off, confirmed that we did not have a vehicle in the parking garage and wished us a pleasant afternoon.
What was that about?
My husband and I have traveled widely together and alone on four continents for almost 40 years. In hotels we've been asked if we needed towels, coffee or shampoo. People from the hotel have come in to change a light bulb or adjust the AC. Never before had we had someone come in to do an inventory of the furniture. We pondered this for a while before both of us came to the same conclusion at the same time. Moving weekend!
No one would ever think about taking out the big armchair or ottoman. Both are extremely heavy and cumbersome. Neither would successfully segue into a student apartment. The office chair was something else again. It was very appealing and it rolled. Given the proper time of day or night the thing could be trundled over to the elevator bank or, with a few strong, young backs, humped down a stairwell. Given the lay-out of the hotel, a chair could be taken out to a vehicle in the parking area without ever having to come anywhere the lobby or the front desk.
We hate to think that students and their families with enough money to stay in a nice hotel would stoop to stealing furniture but you can never tell. We're sure people here at CS who work in the hospitality sphere can provide even worse stories. I hope yu don't have them but, if you do, I'd love to hear them.
The hotel was full and we didn't doubt that many of the guests were families moving students into new digs. It was fun watching formal moving vans, U-Hauls, pick-up trucks with rocking chairs stowed on top a la Beverley Hillbillies and other vehicles of all descriptions packed to the gunwales with everything from bedding to Christmas decorations make their way through the streets and park in front of houses across from the hotel.
We stayed from Friday at lunchtime to Monday morning. Late on Sunday afternoon there was a knock on our door. It was a uniformed man from the hotel who wore an ID tag and identified himself. He cheerfully asked us how many chairs we had in our room. The man was invited in and we showed him our big armchair, the matching ottoman and the office chair near the desk. He consulted his list of what we should have, checked us off, confirmed that we did not have a vehicle in the parking garage and wished us a pleasant afternoon.
What was that about?
My husband and I have traveled widely together and alone on four continents for almost 40 years. In hotels we've been asked if we needed towels, coffee or shampoo. People from the hotel have come in to change a light bulb or adjust the AC. Never before had we had someone come in to do an inventory of the furniture. We pondered this for a while before both of us came to the same conclusion at the same time. Moving weekend!
No one would ever think about taking out the big armchair or ottoman. Both are extremely heavy and cumbersome. Neither would successfully segue into a student apartment. The office chair was something else again. It was very appealing and it rolled. Given the proper time of day or night the thing could be trundled over to the elevator bank or, with a few strong, young backs, humped down a stairwell. Given the lay-out of the hotel, a chair could be taken out to a vehicle in the parking area without ever having to come anywhere the lobby or the front desk.
We hate to think that students and their families with enough money to stay in a nice hotel would stoop to stealing furniture but you can never tell. We're sure people here at CS who work in the hospitality sphere can provide even worse stories. I hope yu don't have them but, if you do, I'd love to hear them.
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