Trouble's A Brewin'

[Kilamon]

Use codes in the notes. Things like "Code 5150" which is a police code for a mental case. Works like a charm.

[CrazedClerk]

She checks in tomorrow.

And we do have a way of taking notes on reservations. Usually it's for reserving a rollaway or to note a request. I would use it to warn my co-workers about problem people except that it would be pretty easy for someone to lean over the desk and read "WARNING! Customer is a complete douchebag! Approach with caution."

I had one guy do that as i was checking him in. He peered over the desk to look at the screen and saw that i was looking at a website called "Customers Suck."
"Does your boss know you're looking at this?" My reply: He was the one that showed it to me.

Good stuff. Customer warnings, oh how that would make my job easier.

If I were when she comes in, I would take great delight in telling her I am the manager and that I fully explained to her what kind of room she was booking and there is nothing I can do for her [insert shit eating grin here]"

She screwed herself plain and simply. you owe her nothing.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

I had a cat that was psycho. I saw what they'd written on her chart at the vet. "Bad Cat." and "Fast."

Well, she was both of these.

[po'drph]

When this idiot checks in I have a feeling this will be one for the Customers Suck Hall of Shame.

[BusBus]

I had a cat that was psycho. I saw what they'd written on her chart at the vet. "Bad Cat." and "Fast."

Well, she was both of these.

Reminds me of the Seinfeld episode with Elaine and her medical charts

The motor vehicle branches here (the DMV for my american friends) have shields on their computer screens that blur the contents if you are not looking at the screen head-on, so if you try to sneak a peek, you get nothing.

I am looking forward to the finale of this situation!

[Getoutofmylobby]

Here's the conversation i had with the 1st shift guy (our front office manager) after i clocked in at 3:

Him: Man, I had this stupid bitch try to check in just before noon.
Me:
Him: She said her reservation was for a double but she was in a king.
Me: Yeah I know, i booked her. And we only had kings when she called. I think she tried to use the Jedi mind trick on me to get her a double.
Him: Yeah she used it on me too. We had a few doubles cancel so i switched her reservation to one, she shouldn't be a problem when she comes in.
Me: Nooooooo!

Dammit! I really wanted to watch her squirm too. I toyed with the idea of switching it back but that would be a bad idea for alot of reasons. It was an uneventful day until a group of people appeared in the lobby who can only be described as the family from the Far Side. I mean they looked just like them.

And as she checked in the lady transformed before my very eyes from Entitled Bitch, to Moron with Endless Stupid Questions. I'm used to one or two from people but this lady must have brought a list. And her family stood there right in front of the desk carrying on a conversation about their sightseeing time in St. Louis. I guess I was a part of it because whenever the lady had a question she would yell it over her shoulder at me. What made it worse was she did it even if i was helping someone else.

A sample:

(When checking in)

"Does the Arch close at a certain time?"
"How many Italian restaurants are within 3 miles?"
"Is this a high crime area? I heard that kidnapper lived around here."
"Will there be fruit on the continental breakfast?"

(Once she got to her room)

"Do you have any additional fiber fill pillows? I will need 5 of them sent to my room please."
"Does the Toys R Us up the street stock bicycles?"
"My room is missing an Illinois phonebook." None of the rooms have Illinois phonebooks
"We can hear voices in the hallway." Me too.

I have come to dread seeing room 221 show up on the phone. I mean this lady has a question for everything! Rarely can i ever actually pinpoint the moment i get a headache, but I sure can today!

This is a good example of the type of people who don't really travel much because most of this is stuff she could find out for herself. But no, they have better things to do than plan ahead.

And that secret code idea is awesome.

[Reyneth]

Dang, dang dang - I'm evil, I wanted a really good ending to the story like the begining promised.

There *is* an extra charge for last-minute changes of room type, right? Or they only get 5 requests per room per day (pillows, towels, wake-up call, etc) before they are charged? She shouldn't be getting off relatively scot-free with all of this.

[myswtghst]

Yeah, that's the joy of the call center environment--we can put warnings on all our customer's records. Now, if only they'd give me a few seconds to read the warning before they launch into being such SC's.

[Jester]

Well, it depends on how friendly everyone is.

I thank the gods I was only holding the wine glass, and not drinking from it when I read this. Timing is everything, after all!

[AFpheonix]

I had a cat that was psycho. I saw what they'd written on her chart at the vet. "Bad Cat." and "Fast."

Well, she was both of these.

My horse had something like that on her stall door when I hauled her over there for a colic watch.
Warning! Kicks, bites!

She was all kinds of fun to get her IV out, too. Gah.

[Hobgoblin]

"Does the Arch close at a certain time?"
"How many Italian restaurants are within 3 miles?"
"Is this a high crime area? I heard that kidnapper lived around here."
"Will there be fruit on the continental breakfast?"

And that secret code idea is awesome.

The view from the Arch is best at night. The Casino Queen casts a neon elegance all over the faded glory that is East St Louis.

And doesn't Soulard have a ton of Italian restaurants?

Also, is it a high crime area? St Louis it the most dangerous city in the country these days....

[Cia]

I take it she forgot that she was in Missouri so there is no need for Illinois phone books?

[BookstoreEscapee]

And we do have a way of taking notes on reservations. Usually it's for reserving a rollaway or to note a request. I would use it to warn my co-workers about problem people except that it would be pretty easy for someone to lean over the desk and read "WARNING! Customer is a complete douchebag! Approach with caution."

When you take book orders you can enter notes on the order screen and they will print on the hold sheet when the book is received. We had this crazy guy that used to come in my first store. (Actually, he probably deserves his own post.) The first time I ever dealt with him he was picking up books that he had ordered and as I was taking the order sheet off the books he reached across the counter and tried to take them from me. I managed to hang on to the paper and he took the books, but he wanted the sheet too. My manager happened to be right there and she told him that we needed to keep the page. I looked at it after he walked away and under the notes the person who ordered it had put "This guy is insane. I'm not kidding."

And that secret code idea is awesome.

We used to have a code for when we saw someone stealing or some other emergency and needed a manager right away, but didn't want the customer to know we were calling a manager. We'd page "Nora" to the area in question. I forget what the initials stood for but I never had to use it.

I had a cat that was psycho. I saw what they'd written on her chart at the vet. "Bad Cat." and "Fast."

I started going to the orthodontist when I was 7, unti I was 18. I have a really sensitive gag reflex. The top page of my chart had, written in red ink, underlined twice, the word GAGGER.

"We can hear voices in the hallway."

Are you sure they're in the hallway?

[Getoutofmylobby]

We're not in that bad a part of town. And it probably would be a BAD thing to send her anywhere near the Arch. Otherwise her corpse would be found underneath the Eads Bridge.

Dang, dang dang - I'm evil, I wanted a really good ending to the story like the begining promised.

There *is* an extra charge for last-minute changes of room type, right? Or they only get 5 requests per room per day (pillows, towels, wake-up call, etc) before they are charged? She shouldn't be getting off relatively scot-free with all of this.

I totally agree, I was rooting for a good ending too. This has been like a sucky customer downer. I even made a "Getoutofmylobby - Manager on Duty" nametag just for her. Although it probably is a good thing nothing exciting happened as she seems to be the type of person who takes every little complaint straight to a manager. And our GM is the type who likes to kiss customer ass regardless of how sucky they are. So she'd probably "win" anyway.

There aren't any charges for reservation changes, although there should be. Just like there should be a charge for being a stupid asshole.

I don't think we've ever had a group of customers that are as high-maintenance as these people. The day manager told me that she asked what was in the papaya orange guava juice from the juice machine. And she couldn't understand simple directions like "Go to the road in front, make a right and drive 3 miles," without using Mapquest.

So in the course of a few days, these people have pretty much run the gamut of sucky hotel customer types. The only thing they haven't done yet is complain about the price. D-Day will be tomorrow morning, when she looks at her bill to find she paid more than a hundred bucks a night for her room. Then she will think about how difficult a time she had and blame it on us. It's a no brainer.

[friendofjimmyk]

Lady: I'm sure your manager on duty will see it differently.

Wow. The audacity of some people.

When she comes in and asks to speak to a manager - tell her that the reservation she made will just have to suffice.