A Disturbing Lack Of Understanding

(I’m working at the front desk of a hotel when a guest walks up to me, visibly annoyed.)

Guest: “The housekeepers didn’t clean our room this morning!”

Me: “I’m sorry about that; let me check the housekeeper’s log.”

(When guests put the “Do Not Disturb” sign on their doors, the housekeepers mark “DND” next to the room number. Sure enough, it is written next to theirs.)

Me: “I apologize, ma’am. It looks like you had the ‘do not disturb’ sign on your door so the housekeeper didn’t clean it.”

Guest: “We only had it up in the morning! We took it back down after we got back!”

Me: “I’m sorry, the housekeepers only work during the morning; if they saw that you had the sign on your door they would have moved on to the next room.”

Guest: “Well, wouldn’t they knock anyway?”

Me: “No, ma’am, the sign says, ‘Do not disturb,’ so they wouldn’t disturb you.”

Guest: “Why wouldn’t you guys at the front desk call down just to make sure we didn’t need service?”

Me: “Again, ma’am, I’m sorry but the sign says, ‘Do not disturb,’ so we wouldn’t try to contact you.”

(She walked away, looking confused, still muttering about us not cleaning her room.)