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Not sure if this is the right place for it, all things considering. So, dear Mods, move it if you feel it is more appropriate elsewhere! 
Here’s a nice busy day for me.
Homeless in Houston
I come onto shift at 3 and get told about this homeless guy that was bothering the desk clerks. He was in about 3 times that morning, asking questions, asking for soup (we don’t serve food other then breakfast) and just plain not listening. Mrs. M (the married one) gives him a bottle of water, thinking it’ll make him go away.
I told her that was her first mistake.
She leaves for the day wishing me a good night and hope he doesn’t come back.
Guess who comes back. Yep, Homeless Guy.
This is the first time I seen him and when he came to the front desk, he said he was a guest. I asked him if I could help him and he just stares at me for a minute before meandering off. I shrug and ask our accountant S if he was the guy. She takes a peek and sure enough he was. I told her if he was going to stay much longer I would inform him he’s not a guest and that he has to leave or I’m calling the police.
I don’t get the chance because he follows some of my guests to the second floor!
On the security camera, he’s knocking on various doors and following people around. I send my maintenance guy Mr. M up to get him to leave. Why? Mr. M is a big scary black guy from Porto Rico. He’s sweet and polite but because of his tattoos, he looks scary. He goes up and talks to Homeless Guy and Homeless Guy comes back to the front desk. He sits in the chair next to the desk and I have S call the non-emergency line. Homeless Guy meanders some more, follows my head of housekeeping lady out (Mrs. M’s mother) and looks as if he’s going to jump her because he ran out after her. I’m in the office thinking “Oh my gawd, he’s gonna jump her and she’s gonna kill him!”
Nothing happens. S and I patiently wait for the police to arrive.
Ta-Da! It’s one of my favourite Cops! I hadn’t seen him since I first started working at the hotel because they moved him to another patrol area. We banter for a minute and he tells me he found Homeless Guy walking around our driveway (it’s a long one, maybe 300 feet) and now has him handcuffed and in the back of the patrol car. I give him my information, the hotels’ information, my cell phone and my SS# because that’s always needed (for some reason…) and he takes the guy to the station house.
Bathe in Germ-X as the Homeless Guy left some stuff on my front desk and I had to throw it away.
Nearly an hour later I get a call at work. Seems Homeless Guy walked away from his Nursing Home three weeks ago and was in the database as a missing person, do I still want to have him locked up or let them take the guy back to the Home? I told him I’ll be nice just once and please have the nursing home pick him up on their dime. He laughs and said he’ll keep this in mind as my “one and only nice act” and we disconnect. Where’s the nursing home, you ask? WAAAAAAAAAY up in North Houston and my hotel is way way down in the South West area. Took him a long time to get here, huh?
I have a headache
We have this nice lady staying in our hotel. She originally lives 300 miles away in some little town I’d never heard of before. She’s here having rehab therapy and on some wonky painkillers for it. The local medical building (literally right next door) is footing the bill. She calls me up asking if I can call the medical building and have one of the doctors take a look at her. Why? She has a migraine and every time she moves she gets sick. That’s not good!
I call the medical building and they put me on hold. I get another receptionist and explain the situation a second time and get put on hold again.
Nice Receptionist: “I’m sorry, but you’ll have to dial 911.”
Me: “Okay, I’ll check with the guest and let her know. Thanks.”
I call my guest and make sure she knows what the medical building next door suggested and does she want me to call 911 for her? All she can say is “please” over and over so I tell her that I’m calling 911 and they’ll be there shortly.
I call 911 and speak to a very nice, very calm lady which makes me feel calm because in the back of my mind I’m freaking out like there’s no tomorrow. I give her my hotel information and the room the guest is in and oh, btw, what’s the ETA on the EMS?
Nice Dispatch Lady: “Oh, since there’s vomiting involved, they’ll be there right away.”
Me: “Thank you, have a nice day.” (I always try to wish everyone a nice day because these are stressful jobs)
EMS shows up less then 5 minutes later.
I unlock the room, informing the guest at the same time who I am (she and I are well known to each other by this time because she’s been here for nearly three weeks) and that I brought EMS with me. They check her out while I return to the front desk.
Both instances are happening at the same time, by the way.
EMS leaves and tells me that she’ll be okay, just a problem with her medication and forgetting to take it with food. I thank them for coming and wish them a good day. In a little bit I’ll be checking on my guest and seeing if she would like for me to have something delivered for her to eat. I’ll even foot the bill for it (because I really like her, she’s a wonderful character!)
And that was the first two and a half hours on shift today. How was your day?
Here’s a nice busy day for me.
Homeless in Houston
I come onto shift at 3 and get told about this homeless guy that was bothering the desk clerks. He was in about 3 times that morning, asking questions, asking for soup (we don’t serve food other then breakfast) and just plain not listening. Mrs. M (the married one) gives him a bottle of water, thinking it’ll make him go away.
I told her that was her first mistake.
She leaves for the day wishing me a good night and hope he doesn’t come back.
Guess who comes back. Yep, Homeless Guy.
This is the first time I seen him and when he came to the front desk, he said he was a guest. I asked him if I could help him and he just stares at me for a minute before meandering off. I shrug and ask our accountant S if he was the guy. She takes a peek and sure enough he was. I told her if he was going to stay much longer I would inform him he’s not a guest and that he has to leave or I’m calling the police.
I don’t get the chance because he follows some of my guests to the second floor!
On the security camera, he’s knocking on various doors and following people around. I send my maintenance guy Mr. M up to get him to leave. Why? Mr. M is a big scary black guy from Porto Rico. He’s sweet and polite but because of his tattoos, he looks scary. He goes up and talks to Homeless Guy and Homeless Guy comes back to the front desk. He sits in the chair next to the desk and I have S call the non-emergency line. Homeless Guy meanders some more, follows my head of housekeeping lady out (Mrs. M’s mother) and looks as if he’s going to jump her because he ran out after her. I’m in the office thinking “Oh my gawd, he’s gonna jump her and she’s gonna kill him!”Nothing happens. S and I patiently wait for the police to arrive.
Ta-Da! It’s one of my favourite Cops! I hadn’t seen him since I first started working at the hotel because they moved him to another patrol area. We banter for a minute and he tells me he found Homeless Guy walking around our driveway (it’s a long one, maybe 300 feet) and now has him handcuffed and in the back of the patrol car. I give him my information, the hotels’ information, my cell phone and my SS# because that’s always needed (for some reason…) and he takes the guy to the station house.
Bathe in Germ-X as the Homeless Guy left some stuff on my front desk and I had to throw it away.
Nearly an hour later I get a call at work. Seems Homeless Guy walked away from his Nursing Home three weeks ago and was in the database as a missing person, do I still want to have him locked up or let them take the guy back to the Home? I told him I’ll be nice just once and please have the nursing home pick him up on their dime. He laughs and said he’ll keep this in mind as my “one and only nice act” and we disconnect. Where’s the nursing home, you ask? WAAAAAAAAAY up in North Houston and my hotel is way way down in the South West area. Took him a long time to get here, huh?
I have a headache
We have this nice lady staying in our hotel. She originally lives 300 miles away in some little town I’d never heard of before. She’s here having rehab therapy and on some wonky painkillers for it. The local medical building (literally right next door) is footing the bill. She calls me up asking if I can call the medical building and have one of the doctors take a look at her. Why? She has a migraine and every time she moves she gets sick. That’s not good!
I call the medical building and they put me on hold. I get another receptionist and explain the situation a second time and get put on hold again.
Nice Receptionist: “I’m sorry, but you’ll have to dial 911.”
Me: “Okay, I’ll check with the guest and let her know. Thanks.”
I call my guest and make sure she knows what the medical building next door suggested and does she want me to call 911 for her? All she can say is “please” over and over so I tell her that I’m calling 911 and they’ll be there shortly.
I call 911 and speak to a very nice, very calm lady which makes me feel calm because in the back of my mind I’m freaking out like there’s no tomorrow. I give her my hotel information and the room the guest is in and oh, btw, what’s the ETA on the EMS?
Nice Dispatch Lady: “Oh, since there’s vomiting involved, they’ll be there right away.”
Me: “Thank you, have a nice day.” (I always try to wish everyone a nice day because these are stressful jobs)
EMS shows up less then 5 minutes later.
I unlock the room, informing the guest at the same time who I am (she and I are well known to each other by this time because she’s been here for nearly three weeks) and that I brought EMS with me. They check her out while I return to the front desk.
Both instances are happening at the same time, by the way.
EMS leaves and tells me that she’ll be okay, just a problem with her medication and forgetting to take it with food. I thank them for coming and wish them a good day. In a little bit I’ll be checking on my guest and seeing if she would like for me to have something delivered for her to eat. I’ll even foot the bill for it (because I really like her, she’s a wonderful character!)
And that was the first two and a half hours on shift today. How was your day?
The poor lady. She reminds me of my grandmother.
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