Checks Bounce, And So Will You
So typical Saturday night for me. It’s busy, we have people showing up every few minutes trying to get rooms for a few hours or the night, depending on how drunk they are, or sometimes for other non-sleeping activities. Now rolls in a woman:
Customer: “How much is it for the night?”
Me: “It’s [rate].”
She looks shocked.
Customer: “A motel can charge such a rate?”
Me: “Those are our rates, and they have been for the last eight years.”
Funny enough, as far as I am aware, we are charging the standard rate that everyone charges, if not lower, for the type of rooms we have and the area we are located in.
Customer: “Fine.”
I ask her for her ID, I do the usual stuff of getting her information in, and I ask how many people will be in the room.
Me: “How many people will be in the room?”
Customer: “It’s only me for now.”
Me: “How many people do you intend to have in this room?”
She gasps as if I am asking her to lift a thousand lbs, and finally says:
Customer: “My boyfriend will be showing up later tonight.”
Finally, I ask her:
Me: “Will you be paying cash or card, ma’am?”
She looks at me, confused.
Customer: “I am not paying either of those. I will be giving you a check.”
I look at her, and she can tell that I am confused.
Me: “Ma’am, we do not take checks as a payment method. We even have that written on the board to your left that states our hotel’s policies.”
She is turning bright red with anger already and is reading the board of rules out loud while being mad. Then she tells me:
Customer: “It’s illegal for you to ask me to pay another way. Whenever I go and stay at any hotel, they always accept my checks as payment. As a matter of fact, I am close friends with the mayor of our city and know a lot of lawyers. If you do not take my checks as payment, I will be calling them right now to get this hotel shut down, and I am going to sue you as well.”
She goes on and on about the law and why I have to take her checks. And because I am brown-skinned and she is white, she says:
Customer: “It is racist that you do not want to accept my check as payment.”
At this point, I was already way past my tolerance level with her, but the minute she brought race into it, I knew that I had to get her off my property.
Me: “You can call the mayor and all these lawyers you know, and while you do that, I am calling 911, and they can take you off my property. You have read the policy there; I have repeated my policy to you, I am done arguing with you, and do not wish for you to be on my property any longer. So, either you can leave yourself or let the police come and handle that for you.
I’ve never seen someone run as fast as her once I told her I was calling 911. She must have some kind of outstanding warrant or something because she sped off so fast! It actually made me laugh. This was the first time a situation like this has de-escalated so quickly. But yeah, that was the start of my Saturday shift.
