You are very large and very frightning, sir. (kinda long)

[MinimaMagistra]

Good God, that was the most unpleasant experience I've had with a customer. Ever. This includes holiday-crazed coffee snobs from the last one and horny, pot-smoking drunkards from this one.

I had a reservation come to check in, five nights, a really good rate for him. There were a number of Xs by his name, indicating that the card he'd given us was declined, so I was braced for mild trouble. Which makes me realize now that part of my argument with him was bull, since we couldn't've charged his card, but whatever.

Man comes in. Very, very large man. I'm 5'9 and I came up to his chin. 6'4, 6'5+, and husky. Let me know he wanted to pay in cash, when I asked for the usual credit card and ID, so I let him know about our cash policy, which states that we need to keep a security deposit until he checks out (and we clear the room).

Background: We are the second-northermost hotel on a strip of road with about a half-mile to a mile of solid hotels. A lot of them are no-tell motels, a lot of the others are so shoddily run that they're either barely clinging to or have already lost their franchised name. There are hookers, johns, drug dealers, drug addicts, and drunkards. We're not a very large city, and this is the main place this sort of activity is centered. My luck. So since my hotel doesn't actually want that kind of clientel, we've instigated and gradually increased the security deposit policy. Right now, it's $75 for a room with two beds and $100 for a king. We keep the money, we check the room before they get the deposit BACK, and we deduct from it any damages (or fines, such as smoking in a non smoking, etc). Policy.

This man wasn't. Very. Happy. His complaints included that no other place has given him this sh*t, this was utter crap, and that this was disgusting. Why was it disgusting? Because it shows you exactly what kind of guests we have. I pointed out that it shows you what kind of guests we don't want to have, which he countered with profanity. I couldn't shut him up. I gave him the various combinations of credit and cash that he could do, whichever would be the most convenient for him. He decided to forget the whole thing and cancel. I told him we couldn't do that, as we cannot cancel day-of reservations. Again, not a happy man.

I think I'm rambling, so I'll wrap that up. He's only staying one night. He paid cash and put the deposit on his card, but because he put it on a debit, he's pissed at how long it'll take to get the funds released, afterwards. He swore a couple times throughout this, and I didn't quite fan the fire by asking him to watch his language infront of other customers. He was ALSO turning and sharing his superior distain for us with the guy behind him, which I really didn't appreciate. He's going to complain in the morning. He's going to have a talk with some people who didn't seem very connected with the whole thing, including his brother in law who works at Holiday Inn. Cool, go talk with him. He's not affiliated, even with our mother network. No other hotel's done this to him.

I got through every part of the exchange just fine, but was getting really rattled towards the end. I went through the room location/breakfast/checkout schpiel in record time and my "have a good evening, sir" showed a marked lack of interest in his evening's continued quality. I braced my hands for a second on the counter, smiled at the next man in line (a very sweet fellow from Germany), asked him to wait just one moment, and went into the back to quietly freak out. No customer's put me that close to crying. Mostly just reaction, though. I was shaking so badly. The fact that he was so large gave a definite adrenalin jump. I couldn't even HIT anything, 'cause I had a guest out there and I like to minimize my unprofessionalism.

I'm better now. I've stopped shaking, I didn't cry, and I purged most of the rest of it on here. But I've left a note to management asking not to rent to him again and I get a little afraid, each time the door opens, that he's coming back. I want to go home.

[blas]

I tried telling the following to my old manager at the gas station, but she looked at me like I had three boobs.

If you don't want to cater to trash, don't make it a good "breeding ground" for trash. Just as you said your hotel increased prices and security deposits, I suggested to my manager every customer needed to be rung up, no more customers leaving money on the counter, no more opening early for regulars (because I flat out refused to). This gas station attracted the biggest slimeballs that the city's gutters could produce. Trashy people, disgusting behavior, no class, no manners. Enforcing equal rules for all customers, no treating any customers better than others (because your 25 cents you spend on coffee here a day really counts), and if customers whined and tried to throw their weight around, throw it right back at them. Just like I'm sure your hotel upped its standards and furniture and whatnot, we needed improvements. They were never made. To this day, that store still attracts all types of gutter slime.

[MinimaMagistra]

If you don't want to cater to trash, don't make it a good "breeding ground" for trash.

*sighs* Exactly. We enforce a certain number of policies that not every hotel in our chain or mother company maintains, designed either to better our type of clientel, protect our asses, or protect the client's. And I have fielded complaints about every single one of them.

He came back, by the by. First to get directions, then to throw a list of things wrong with the room at me. Finished by tilting his head down to peer at me over his glasses and saying "I don't believe I have to make any more points, do I?"

[pyxee]

I tried telling the following to my old manager at the gas station, but she looked at me like I had three boobs.

If you don't want to cater to trash, don't make it a good "breeding ground" for trash. Just as you said your hotel increased prices and security deposits, I suggested to my manager every customer needed to be rung up, no more customers leaving money on the counter, no more opening early for regulars (because I flat out refused to). This gas station attracted the biggest slimeballs that the city's gutters could produce. Trashy people, disgusting behavior, no class, no manners. Enforcing equal rules for all customers, no treating any customers better than others (because your 25 cents you spend on coffee here a day really counts), and if customers whined and tried to throw their weight around, throw it right back at them. Just like I'm sure your hotel upped its standards and furniture and whatnot, we needed improvements. They were never made. To this day, that store still attracts all types of gutter slime.

Exactly! My last store catered to the types of people. No camera, poorly lit lot, the store was set up in such a way that it was easy to steal, we carried things like blunt wraps, and rose stems ( little roses in a glass tube apparently easy to turn into crack pipes), rolling papers galor, cheap liquor. And the manager always wondered why we kept getting robbed.

[Ghengis51]

The community center i work it has a similar problem. We don't get the hardcore criminal element (thank god) but we did use to have a major problem with fights and theft (still and issue but not as bad).

On the plus side our operating board wised up with several new policies, including an ID policy. Any non-member who wants to use the facility needs a photo ID, or get checked in by someone with a photo ID (for kids). It's helped a LOT, of course we get the ID scs now, but it's still better than the alternative.