She’s Already Very Disturbed

(I’m a hotel night auditor, so I work graveyard front desk essentially at an extended-stay hotel chain. We have different standards than most hotels; for example, housekeeping is only done every three days. This is a conversation between a guest and me at 6:00 am.)

Guest: *all friendly and smiles* “Hi! I don’t think you were here yesterday but I had requested stay-over service and I didn’t get it.”

Me: “Oh, yeah! I was here yesterday morning. You spoke with me.”

(I check the stay-over log and see a note that service was not completed because she left her “Do Not Disturb” sign up.)

Me: “Well, according to our notes, your service wasn’t completed due to you leaving the DND up. Housekeeping cannot legally enter the room when you have a DND out.”

Guest: *smile is gone and her face turns the ugliest shade of red* “I didn’t know I had to have that stupid thing down in order to get my room cleaned! This is not okay! I was planning on extending my stay by a month but not now. I even asked for extra garbage bags and housekeeping couldn’t even put them or clean towels in front of the door! This is a health hazard!”

Me: *apologetically* “Ma’am, I’m so sorry but if you have a DND up that means no service because if a housekeeper enters the room while that’s in place you could potentially sue us. And you didn’t ask for extra garbage bags, just service. I’m sorry you were inconvenienced; I hope you allow us to make this right.”

Guest: *still angry* “No! I’m done with you people! I’m calling corporate!” *storms out*

(This was a woman of about sixty years old; you’d think she’s stayed at hotels before by this stage in her life.)