Don’t Pin Your Hopes On This Guest Having Any Empathy

When I was working as a front office executive in a four-star hotel, we had a TV actress/model as a guest. She wasn’t so well known but had small side roles in television series to her credit.

Her manager came and signed the registration form, and I told him I needed the guest’s signature. He told me she wouldn’t come into the reception area, and I should give him the room key; she would directly go upstairs as she didn’t want to get mobbed. (There was not a single soul who would want to mob her; it was eight in the morning.) He said I could then go up and take her signature.

I didn’t have the authority to argue, so I just accepted.

The next day, I arrived at 6:45 in the morning and this lady called the desk.

Me: “Reception, how may I assist you?”

Guest: “I need a hundred safety pins, twenty-five satin ribbons, ten black thread rolls, and twenty needles. Quick.”

Me: “I beg your pardon? Could you please repeat that, ma’am?”

Guest: “Can’t you hear in one go?”

She then proceeded to repeat it, and I grabbed a pen and managed to write it down somehow. I gave a call to housekeeping and repeated the request.

Housekeeping: “Where the h*** do I get a hundred safety pins from?”

Me: “Well, I thought that, too! Any chance you have any of the other things she mentioned?”

Housekeeping: “No chance. Not in that number. Tell the guest we will give it to her when shops around open at 10:00 am.”

Me: “It’s a VIP. An actress.”

Housekeeping: “Oh! Then you are screwed. Actors are the worst.”

I hung up the phone and made the dreaded call.

Me: “Hello, ma’am, calling from reception.”

Guest: “Yes. What?”

Me: “Ma’am, housekeeping doesn’t have what you require. We will get it for you from a nearby shop as soon as the shops open around ten. Sorry for the inconvenience.”

Guest: “What kind of a hotel is this? I have to be at the event by nine. I want it ASAP. Or else give me your owner’s number.”

I was shaking by the time I hung up the call. I didn’t know what to do. My boss wouldn’t come in until 9:30. I decided to give him a call, but bad luck, he didn’t pick up.

I called the bellboy on duty to ask if he knew of any shop that would be open at this hour. He said he knew a guy who worked in a cosmetic shop and lived in his building. I asked him to call the guy and ask him if he could ask his boss to open his shop and sell the required items to us.

The bellboy called up and got an earful. It was Sunday, and the shop guy wasn’t pleased, yet he said he gave the worker permission to open the shop. I wrote down what was needed, and the bellboy left to buy it.

Meanwhile, this lovely lady called up again and said she needed the owner’s number. I said the bellboy was on the way to get her items for her and asked if she could just give us a few more minutes.

By the time the bell boy came back, it was 8:15. (He went on a cycle.) I hurriedly gave a call to that lady.

Me: “Hello, ma’am, calling from reception.”

Guest: “Yes. What now?”

Me: “Ma’am, the things that you requested are here now. Should I send them upstairs to your room?”

Guest: “No. I don’t need it now.”

And she hung up.

The bellboy and I were shocked at her appalling attitude.

It would be easy to guess why we had smiles on our faces when she crashed into the glass door entrance — which left her nose bleeding — while checking out the next day.