In Which “VIP” Stands For “Very Irritating Person”

I work in a hotel. We have a guest who is getting heated with one of my agents. I didn’t know what it was about, but I went up to remove my agent from the situation. After all, they don’t get paid for that.

The guest was trying to get access to a room using a Costco card. For those who may be unfamiliar, this is a card that allows access to a wholesale store. This card does have the guest’s picture on it, but it’s still not a legal ID, obviously. No dice.

I try to explain that we need legal ID, and he gets even more aggressive.

Guest: “I’m a VIP with [group that’s staying here]! You need to accept this!”

I tell him that we need legal ID, and his argument is that this IS legal. I mentally sigh, because I have heard that argument before. Still, I have a standard response to this after my many experiences.

Me: “Sir, if the police asked for your ID, and this was the card you produced, do you think they would take it?”

Guest: *Yelling* “It doesn’t matter, you’re not the police!”

Me: “I do have a duty to uphold the law, which does require legal identification.”

While I am having the argument, I am still working on looking up his room. Sure enough, the room he is associated with is a VIP room — and he is the additional guest. He’s not the VIP; he’s the guest of the VIP. With this, I have an out.

Me: “I will simply contact [VIP] themself, and they can come down and straighten this out.”

The guest glares at me, reaches into his wallet, and pulls out his ACTUAL legal ID. He had it the whole time; he just didn’t want to use it for whatever reason.

The key is made; it takes ten seconds.

Me: *Handing the guest his key* “See, that wasn’t hard for any reasonable person, now, was it?”

If looks could kill, I would have been mildly stunned.