A Member Of The Impossible Demands Club

I work in a hotel. When I got to work on Sunday, my manager told me that inventory was shut off because housekeeping needed to catch up from the weekend — we are crazy short-staffed. I was working alone, but Sundays are usually slow, so it was okay. All shift, I had people walking in or calling trying to book a room and I had to tell them all that we had no rooms available. One lady called a few times and was NOT having it.

Me: “Thank you for calling [Hotel]. This is [My Name]; how can I help you?

Lady: “Hey, do you have availability for tonight?”

Me: “Unfortunately, we do not have any more rooms to sell tonight.”

Lady: “UNBELIEVABLE!”

She hung up. I got a second phone call forty-five minutes later and gave my intro.

Lady: “Hi. My husband is a member. Can I make a reservation for tonight?”

Me: “I’m really sorry, but due to staffing issues, we had to close our inventory for the night, so I have no rooms available.”

Lady: “What do you mean? My husband is a member, and you can’t make me a reservation?”

Me: “No, I can’t.”

She hung up again. I got a third call twenty minutes later and gave my intro again.

Lady: “Hi. Are you the manager?”

Me: “I’m not, but I’m the only one here tonight, so what can I do for you?”

Lady: “Well, when I talked to you earlier, you said you had no rooms available due to no housekeepers, but I’m in front of your building right now and I only see seven cars! How are you filled up for the night? My husband is a member!”

Me: “Housekeeping worked all day today to clean enough rooms for the reservations we already had for today. So, unfortunately, I have no other clean rooms.”

Lady: “This is ridiculous! You should have extra rooms available for your members! What is your manager’s name?!”

Me: “[Manager]. She’ll be here at 8:00 am tomorrow.”

Lady: “Oh, no. I’m calling corporate.”

She hung up again. I left out a lot of her ranting, but MAN, this woman was wild. I couldn’t even make her a reservation if I wanted to; the computer literally wouldn’t let me. And why do people think being a member means anything? All it takes to be a member is to give us your email and zip code. I’m just glad she called from her car and didn’t come talk to me at the front desk.