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  • Should have planned ahead

    So, it's refinery worker season. We are sold out. The whole town has been sold out for about a week now, is sold out for this next week, and will quite soon be sold out beyond that, since these refinery workers doing the turnaround are here for 2-3 months. I think we have even more workers this year, too, since one of the refineries went a little bit 'splodey a few weeks ago. It seems like we have more.

    It amazes me that not one, not two, but literally dozens of these workers, who have come from all corners of the country (from Texas to Louisiana to Nebraska to New Jersey and beyond!) have arrived in town for an extended period of time and made no plans whatsoever as to their lodging! Dozens of them! No lie! How can that many people have such a lack of foresight?!?! *reads name of site* .....no, no...I still refuse to believe it! Dozens. Gah!

    We're booked. I know you are in desperate need of housing. I know sleeping in your vehicle sucks. I've been there, and I wish I could help. But we're sold out for over the next week, and only have a handful of rooms after that.. I've called literally every hotel in town, and it's the same story across the board. No, I'm not going to go apartment hunting for you, either. You won't find anything on a short-term lease, anyways. I can just about promise that.

    I can't count the number of times the following has occurred.

    SC caller: "I'm in a real bind. I'm here for the next nine weeks and I neeeed a room!"
    Me: "I'm sorry, I'm booked solid until March 26."
    SC: "But where will I stay? Who else has rooms?"
    Me: "The closest availability I've found is [town 40 miles away]."
    SC: "You can't do anything better? Can you call around again?"
    Me: "I've already called around, and everywhere is sold out. We are sold out. The town is sold out. The county is sold out. I strongly recommend you contact [hotel in town 40 miles away], as they are the next closest."
    SC: "But I neeeed something closer! [other town] is to faaaar! I'm up here for the next two months!"

    Why would you not make plans ahead of time for this sort of job? Why?!?

    This, of course, is on top of all the other people who aren't workers, who figure they can show up without reservations.

    SC: "It's the middle of the week in March! How can the town be sold out? I'm not going south, I'm going north!"
    Me: "All I know is that there is nothing available between here and the border. Everything in the county is sold out this week."
    SC: "This is insane! What am I supposed to do? Surely you know where something is! Can't you call around?"

    The phone is ringing almost nonstop with these people, half of whom want to sit there and argue about us being sold out. What do you want me to say, haha just kidding? I'm not kidding. Maybe every other town is dead in the middle of March, but for us, this is one of our busiest times. Next time, call ahead. And if you don't, stfu and quit arguing. Don't go away mad, just go away.

    Oh, and don't ask me for a fridge. Those rooms are booked through the end of May. Don't you dare ask me for a room with a fridge. You will take what I give you, if I give you, and you will like it, dammit!
    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

  • #2
    D: <hands bhs a plate of cookies, carefully>

    These people are just....wow. I'm flabbergasted by just how many there are as well. I mean, one would think, logically, that after being in such a work situation before, you'd KNOW BETTER.

    <facepalm>
    By popular request....I am now officially the Enemy of Normalcy.

    "What is unobtainium? To Seraph, it's a normal client. :P" -- Observant Friend

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    • #3
      If I were them I'd be grabbing those rooms 40 miles away before it's too late. I know plenty of people who commute one way a lot further than that every week day, from their own homes, with no end in sight...that's where the job is and they want to keep it. Idiots (your wannabe guests, not the commuters I know ).
      "I was only LOOKING, I didn't mean to enter my card's CVV and actually ORDER! REFUND ME RIGHT NOW!!"

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      • #4
        bhskittykatt: Don't just stand there and complain! Get over to <next town where rooms are available> and get yourself a room before those disappear.
        Life is too short to not eat popcorn.
        Save the Ales!
        Toys for Tots at Rooster's Cafe

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        • #5
          As has been stated many times before on this site, "Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine."
          To right the countless wrongs of our days... We shine this light of true redemption, that this place may become as paradise...Oh, what a wonderful world such would be...

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          • #6
            If folks are staying for a couple months, makes me wonder how many scuttle on over to the department store and buy a dorm fridge. Dorm fridges are pretty cheap and are awfully convenient in a pinch.
            A lion however, will only devour your corpse, whereas an SC is not sated until they have destroyed your soul. (Quote per infinitemonkies)

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            • #7
              So you are telling them that they need to go about 2 counties over, that sucks to be them.
              "Of all the liars in the world, sometimes the worst are your own fears." – Rudyard Kipling

              I don't have hot flashes. I have short, private vacations to the tropics.

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              • #8
                I should go over to your neck of the woods next time there's a big event, rent maybe half of your rooms, then advertise and charge latecomers 3x of what the normal rate is! Goodbye unemployment, hello getting the basement carpeted. With all the money I'd make, I could probably have a separate cleaning company come in to tidy up each room I sublet to ensure that's less that your hotel staff has to do. Would that even work or is that permitted? I'd be putting my credit and reputation on the line, but think of the profits!

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                • #9
                  Quoth bhskittykatt View Post
                  Me: "The closest availability I've found is [town 40 miles away]."
                  SC: "You can't do anything better? Can you call around again?"
                  I bet if you did call around again, the hotel 40 miles away would be s/o by then.

                  SC
                  "...four of his five wits went halting off, and now is the whole man governed with one..." W. Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing Act I, Sc I

                  Do you like Shakespeare? Join us The Globe Theater!

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                  • #10
                    Time to rent a caravan - if they're not all taken. Pitch a tent. Whatever you have to do.
                    Seshat's self-help guide:
                    1. Would you rather be right, or get the result you want?
                    2. If you're consistently getting results you don't want, change what you do.
                    3. Deal with the situation you have now, however it occurred.
                    4. Accept the consequences of your decisions.

                    "All I want is a pretty girl, a decent meal, and the right to shoot lightning at fools." - Anders, Dragon Age.

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                    • #11
                      But, but, what's the point of planning ahead?! Not planning is what they invented WHINING for!
                      - They say nothing good happens at 2AM, they're right, I happen at 2AM.

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                      • #12
                        I think ArgaBarga is one of the kings of dealing with people who don't plan ahead. He knows from whence he speaks.

                        SC
                        "...four of his five wits went halting off, and now is the whole man governed with one..." W. Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing Act I, Sc I

                        Do you like Shakespeare? Join us The Globe Theater!

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                        • #13
                          Quoth Seshat View Post
                          Time to rent a caravan - if they're not all taken. Pitch a tent. Whatever you have to do.
                          you know... sometimes renting an RV sounds like a good idea.
                          the trailer parks don't fill up as fast as hotel rooms i bet.

                          Even then you can always try a parking lot. ... i mean i wouldn't guarantee you won't get in trouble but, if you're in the vehicle they'll just ask you to move most likely.

                          (although with the walmart & lowes here each has a solid line painted straight across the lot. i suspect it divides the lot into private & public property for jurisdiction issues)

                          or ... well around here we have some pretty nice looking truck stops. those would work well too. not to mention the truck stops have showers

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                          • #14
                            Quoth PepperElf View Post
                            you know... sometimes renting an RV sounds like a good idea.
                            the trailer parks don't fill up as fast as hotel rooms i bet.

                            Even then you can always try a parking lot. ... i mean i wouldn't guarantee you won't get in trouble but, if you're in the vehicle they'll just ask you to move most likely.

                            (although with the walmart & lowes here each has a solid line painted straight across the lot. i suspect it divides the lot into private & public property for jurisdiction issues)

                            or ... well around here we have some pretty nice looking truck stops. those would work well too. not to mention the truck stops have showers
                            I always want to suggest the Wal-Mart parking lot, but I don't think my bosses would approve. Hell, I know a guy who lived in the Wal-Mart parking lot for two months! (And they eventually hired him to work there!)

                            Or they could just, you know, commute from the next town down. From there, through our town, and out to the refinery, it's probably about a 60-90 minute commute one-way. Yeah, that sucks, especially if you're working 12s, but that's the only alternative I see to camping/sleeping in vehicle.
                            Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

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                            • #15
                              I too thought it was so weird that these guys hadn't made reservations but then my manager told me that it was actually the refinery's fault, that they didn't hire enough people to begin with and then started calling in these other guys at the last minute, so that makes me feel a little more compassionate for these guys, still don't have a room for them though.
                              "Some times you just need to punch someone in the face"'Dalia Lama

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