Tweet
I'm a pretty easygoing guy, that means most customers who annoy me, I wave them bye-bye and I don't think about them ever again often glad I won't be seeing them again in that shift. 
As a result I don't have too many stories as I don't carry a lot of baggage home to dwell on. However here are two memorable customers from a time at a hotel:
The first was a gentleman who called down to the front desk late at night, around 2am or so. He wanted someone to come up to his room because he was fighting with his girlfriend. It wasn't clear from the conversation but either he thought she was going to hurt herself or hurt him and he needed someone to come deal with it. So acting security, I go up to this man's room and... it's only him in the room. As I talk to him at the door, he's worried about my coming in because his girlfriend's naked in the bathroom... the bathroom with the light off, door open and everything still arranged. Like I said there's nobody in the room. Nonetheless he wants to phone the police and when I go downstairs, he's following me, wanting to call someone and not sure if he should go back to his room and chatting a bunch of stories that don't make a whole lot of sense.
Anyway... this goes on for about an hour, with him going upstairs, coming downstairs, having a smoke, talking to me, going upstairs... wash, rinse, repeat. During this time I'm mentally debating calling the police or hospital or whatnot for his hallucinations but also realize there's not a whole lot that could be done and it would just be better for everyone if the guy just went to sleep. Eventually the debate is settled for me, as he calls the police on the house phone to talk about his girlfriend. The officer on dispatch can't make any sense of what he's talking about and I get on the line to give them a quick overview of the situation and ended the call with "I'm just waiting for this fellow to go to sleep for the evening". At some point he mentions wanting to stay another night. I lie to him that we're probably full tomorrow and leave a note on his account not to give this fellow another night... just because he annoyed me so much with his blathering hallucinogenic conversation.
The second story is about some guests who come from a place that Gravekeeper sometimes mentions fondly in his posts. Now the people of this place are rather nice and friendly, but at the same time they're from an area much more rural and remote. As a result there just seem to be these *little things* that they're either not familiar with or used to dealing with. No problem, we're here to help after all... big smile and helpful advice. So this fellow phones down somewhat late at night wanting to call his girlfriend in another area code. Long distance call. However, the room's billing is being taken care of by an organization who are only paying room and tax. I tell him that he'd need to leave a deposit or credit card at the front desk before i could unlock the phone. And then I tell him again because he didn't understand. He then thinks someone in his group might have a calling card. A few minutes later the phone rings, he's trying to make the long distance call (without a card) and it won't go through. Then he tries again. Then he says he's trying to use the card but it requires going through the Operator. Now the way the hotel phones are setup, there's no possible way to connect people to the outside line operator.... an outside line works for local calls, an outside line works for long distance (if unlocked), but telco services like operator or 411 are locked out (911 works, and also sets off an alarm at the front desk).
He comes down to the front desk and tries to use the payphone. For whatever reason he has to insert money into it. So he puts a $2 coin in. Which apparently the payphone doesn't accept. In fact it looks like it says right on it that $1 is the highest domination. So now he's jammed up the payphone. This makes it so that no calls can be made on the unit, and in fact it takes 3 days before someone comes out to fix it (seems like a long time for something so easy to jam honestly). In the meantime he goes across the street to try to buy a new calling card. Then comes back and asks me how to use it. I show him the instructions on it. Tell him how. He goes up to the room... and fouls up the procedure. Meaning that I have to tell him how again and again and again... In fact, everything you've read above generally was a conversation that was repeated and rephrased and re answered several times. Because he didn't listen or remember anything that was being said... this customer was very annoying. And gave me a headache.
The End.
As a result I don't have too many stories as I don't carry a lot of baggage home to dwell on. However here are two memorable customers from a time at a hotel:The first was a gentleman who called down to the front desk late at night, around 2am or so. He wanted someone to come up to his room because he was fighting with his girlfriend. It wasn't clear from the conversation but either he thought she was going to hurt herself or hurt him and he needed someone to come deal with it. So acting security, I go up to this man's room and... it's only him in the room. As I talk to him at the door, he's worried about my coming in because his girlfriend's naked in the bathroom... the bathroom with the light off, door open and everything still arranged. Like I said there's nobody in the room. Nonetheless he wants to phone the police and when I go downstairs, he's following me, wanting to call someone and not sure if he should go back to his room and chatting a bunch of stories that don't make a whole lot of sense.
Anyway... this goes on for about an hour, with him going upstairs, coming downstairs, having a smoke, talking to me, going upstairs... wash, rinse, repeat. During this time I'm mentally debating calling the police or hospital or whatnot for his hallucinations but also realize there's not a whole lot that could be done and it would just be better for everyone if the guy just went to sleep. Eventually the debate is settled for me, as he calls the police on the house phone to talk about his girlfriend. The officer on dispatch can't make any sense of what he's talking about and I get on the line to give them a quick overview of the situation and ended the call with "I'm just waiting for this fellow to go to sleep for the evening". At some point he mentions wanting to stay another night. I lie to him that we're probably full tomorrow and leave a note on his account not to give this fellow another night... just because he annoyed me so much with his blathering hallucinogenic conversation.
The second story is about some guests who come from a place that Gravekeeper sometimes mentions fondly in his posts. Now the people of this place are rather nice and friendly, but at the same time they're from an area much more rural and remote. As a result there just seem to be these *little things* that they're either not familiar with or used to dealing with. No problem, we're here to help after all... big smile and helpful advice. So this fellow phones down somewhat late at night wanting to call his girlfriend in another area code. Long distance call. However, the room's billing is being taken care of by an organization who are only paying room and tax. I tell him that he'd need to leave a deposit or credit card at the front desk before i could unlock the phone. And then I tell him again because he didn't understand. He then thinks someone in his group might have a calling card. A few minutes later the phone rings, he's trying to make the long distance call (without a card) and it won't go through. Then he tries again. Then he says he's trying to use the card but it requires going through the Operator. Now the way the hotel phones are setup, there's no possible way to connect people to the outside line operator.... an outside line works for local calls, an outside line works for long distance (if unlocked), but telco services like operator or 411 are locked out (911 works, and also sets off an alarm at the front desk).
He comes down to the front desk and tries to use the payphone. For whatever reason he has to insert money into it. So he puts a $2 coin in. Which apparently the payphone doesn't accept. In fact it looks like it says right on it that $1 is the highest domination. So now he's jammed up the payphone. This makes it so that no calls can be made on the unit, and in fact it takes 3 days before someone comes out to fix it (seems like a long time for something so easy to jam honestly). In the meantime he goes across the street to try to buy a new calling card. Then comes back and asks me how to use it. I show him the instructions on it. Tell him how. He goes up to the room... and fouls up the procedure. Meaning that I have to tell him how again and again and again... In fact, everything you've read above generally was a conversation that was repeated and rephrased and re answered several times. Because he didn't listen or remember anything that was being said... this customer was very annoying. And gave me a headache.
The End.
Comment