I work evenings at a hotel, and the hotel’s Wi-Fi requires that you first connect to the network via your network connections window in your PC, tablet, or Mac, and then open a browser and try to navigate to a different page to get the password prompt. It’s a common issue we see, with people assuming the Wi-Fi is down because they didn’t get the password prompt.

One day early in the shift, the front desk calls me and asks me to assist a guest in getting online. I assume it’s the same problem as usual and head up to his room. He lets me in and then takes me over to his laptop.

Me: “Did you find the hotel’s network, sir? Were you able to connect to it?”

Guest: “No.”

Me: “Okay then. If I may, then, sir?”

I gesture to his laptop and he nods permission. I then try to open up the Network and Sharing Center, but it quickly becomes clear that Windows is completely locked up. The computer does not respond to anything at all. 

Guest: “It’s doing that a lot. I don’t know why.”

Me: “Hmmm, you may have some software or hardware problems, sir, but let’s try something else first.”

I do a hard reboot of the computer by holding down the power switch until it shuts off and then restart it. While we wait for it to start up, the guest asks me questions about what can cause such a problem, and I explain the various possibilities that can run from anything to file errors, to too many programs starting up at once, to serious hardware failure. Right about then, Windows loads up and his desktop appears. I wait to give Windows time to finish loading, but before it can do that, pop-ups start appearing and disappearing — lots of them. I quickly lose count of them all, and I am completely floored, because I have NEVER seen so much malware on one computer before or since.

Me: “I think I figured out what your problem is, sir.”

I start trying to close them, but I can only close a few before the computer locks up again due to the overload on its resources. I do another hard reboot, and this time start up the computer in safe mode. I spend the next few minutes tracking down and removing all the malware I can find, and it’s enough that I can restart the computer normally without it locking up. It’s still very, very slow, though, and it takes forever for Task Manager to appear. I use it to shut down the remaining malware, and only then am I able to get the computer online.

Me: *Talking to myself* “Good lord, where did all of that come from?”

Guest: “I think my granddaughter.”

Me: “She uses this computer, I take it?”

Guest: “She does. Do you think you can get rid of the rest of it?”

I shake my head and explain to him that the remaining malware is so tightly wound around Windows’ files that removing it without damaging the OS would be difficult, dangerous, and likely impossible. I then recommend that he back up his important files and perform a destructive reboot to destroy the remaining malware and restore his OS to its factory settings. I also advise him to get a good antivirus and firewall, as well as a good anti-malware program and give him recommendations for all three. He thanks me for the help and information, and as I’m leaving the room, he asks me one last question.

Guest: “Do you think I should keep my granddaughter away from it?”

Me: “Definitely, at least until you’ve got some good protection on there.”

He laughed and gave me a good tip before I left.

My wife and I live and work in a remote mountain range. The closest city is three-and-a-half hours away, so when we go on a shopping trip it’s usually a multi-day affair. We stay at the same hotel every time. They charge a pet fee of $50 per stay, not per night.

Our last trip was a two-nighter as we were buying my wife a car and furniture shopping also. We own a pretty large dog so when we get to the hotel usually my wife will go check in and I’ll walk the dog.

My wife goes to check in and the manager is working at the desk.

Wife: “We are regular guests and there have never been any issues with our dog previously, would it be possible to waive the pet fee?”

Manager: “I’m not able to waive the fee unless you use the secret code. Just list your dog as a service dog on the paperwork. I’m not allowed to ask for proof and it’ll get the fee waived.”

My wife and I don’t really roll that way.

Wife: “I’m not gonna do that.”

Manager: “Again, I can’t ask for proof.”

Wife: “No.”

Manager: “It’s an integrity thing, huh? I’ve been having some issues and I feel like nobody has any integrity anymore. You’ve made me feel better.”

He waived the pet fee.

A guy and his wife book a room online; the cheapest option which happens to be on our upper floor and has no elevator. This IS mentioned online. A couple of hours later they show up.

We move on to the check-in; confirm the name, price, and such:

Guest: “Can’t you give me a better rate?! We’re AAA and AARP, and military!”

Me: “No, sir, you booked prepaid online unfortunately I cannot give any additional discounts.”

We go to confirming room type, and that they booked on the upper level, which for the record is ONLY one flight of stairs.

Guest: “But, stairs?! We’re old! We can’t do stairs! Don’t you have anything on the ground floor?”

I am thinking of you wanted the ground floor then you should have BOOKED the ground floor.

Me: “Well, I can check but we have been pretty busy. As it turns out I do have one king with a jacuzzi on the ground floor but—”

Guest: *Interrupting* “That one! We want it give us that one! Now!”

Me: “Yes, sir, of course I can, but it IS an upgraded room—”

He interrupts again as he turns to his wife. I was trying to tell them since it is late that I could waive the fee since it wouldn’t have sold anyway.

Guest: “You hear that?! Now she wants to charge us more because it’s on the ground!”

Me: “No, sir, it’s an upgrade because the—”

He literally FLINGS his card at me.

Guest: “No, no, it’s fine! Charge the upgrade, whatever.’

Me: “Yes, sir. Give me just a moment to make the adjustment.”

I charge them the $25 it would take to upgrade from what the third-party website paid us rather than just the $10 extra it would have been normally for the upgrade.

If you WANT the fee, sir, I will GIVE you the fee, but if y’all had been half-way polite though you could have saved yourself $30 after taxes!

I have booked and paid for a room at a small, local motel two months early for an event I’m attending. Shortly after I book my room, I find out that another, bigger, event has been scheduled for the area the same weekend I’ll be there. Naturally, the room rates for the hotel rise because of the bigger event, but I don’t think anything of it because I’ve already paid for my room.

When I arrive at the motel to check in, the owner is running the front counter.

Owner: “Hello, welcome to [Motel]! How can I help you?”

Me: “I have a reservation for [My Name].”

Owner: “Okay, great! Are you here for [Other Event that I’m not going to]?”

Me: “Nope, I’m here for [My Event].”

Owner: “Oh, yes! So, it looks like that’ll be $110 per night for three nights, for a total of $330.”

Me: “Um… no, my reservation should be paid for already.”

Owner: *Starting to turn rude* “Oh. Well, it doesn’t show that it is paid for, so you’ll have to pay now.”

Me: “I have the receipt from my reservation right here.”

I show him the printed receipt.

Owner: “Hmm. Well, there must have been an error with whatever site you booked through. We have not received payment for your reservation, so you need to pay now.”

Me: “I booked my room directly through your own website. I didn’t use any third-party service.”

Owner: “I see. I’ll tell you what. This ‘receipt’ you have—” *literally does air quotes* “—claims that you paid $80 per night. Our rate right now is $110 per night because of [Other Event]. For you, I will let you pay only the difference of $30 per night.”

Me: “No. When I booked my room, the rate was $80 per night. I have proof right here with this receipt that I paid that $80 per night. You cannot change the rate after I pay the original price. I’m pretty sure that’s illegal.”

Owner: “No, no, hotels do it all the time. What you paid when you book the room is only a deposit. You have to pay the rate for the nights you actually stay.”

Me: “Please cancel my reservation and refund my money. I am not staying here tonight.”

Owner: “I cannot refund money that I have not received.”

Me: “Give me five minutes to call my bank. I’ll have them find the transaction record to prove that I paid.”

Owner: “Fine. Call your bank.”

I walked out to the parking lot and called my bank. Not surprisingly, the representative was able to find the transaction using the information I gave them from my receipt. I told the representative what was going on, and he advised that my best option was not to keep pointlessly demanding a refund but to walk away from the motel completely and have my bank dispute the transaction with the motel’s bank.

Fortunately, I had enough money in my account to walk into another hotel that still had vacant rooms. When I told the employee at the new hotel what had happened at the first motel, she called her manager up to the desk. After hearing my story himself, the manager asked to see my receipt from the first motel, and then told the front-desk employee to give me the same $80-per-night rate that I had paid for the first motel instead of their advertised rate of $130 per night for those nights! He said I was the fifth person to walk in that night after fighting the first motel over the same thing I went through, and they were happy to make the price adjustment because it meant they could fill more rooms.

Four days after my phone call to my bank, the money from the first motel was back in my account. My event went great, and I’m definitely planning on going back next year and staying at the second hotel.

We’re changing shifts when the phone rings. My coworker is polite but no-nonsense when it comes to rude customers.

Coworker: “Hello, this is [Hotel]. How may I help you?”

Customer: “I stayed there, and I saw my bill. What’s this about parking fees?”

Coworker: “If you park in our garage, you have to pay the fee.”

Customer: “Well, no one told me! I demand this off my bill!”

Coworker: “Sorry, you have to pay if you use it. It’s not fair to the people who have paid if I waive it.”

Customer: “That’s not right! I’ll sue!”

Coworker: “Do as you wish.”

Customer: “You are very f****** rude. What is your name?!”

Coworker: “I don’t have to tell you. I’m disconnecting this call for obscene language.” *To me* “I’m going.” *Leaves*

Me: “Okay?”

The phone rings.

Me: “Hello, thank you for—”

Same Customer: “I DEMAND YOUR NAME, B****! HOW DARE YOU HANG UP ON ME?!”

Me: “You spoke to my coworker earlier? My name is [My Name]. Hers is [Coworker].”

Same Customer: “Ha! Now I got your name. I’m going to take your job, b****!” *Hangs up*

I told my manager what happened, and he checked his email. Sure enough, there was one from corporate with a complaint from the woman, claiming I had sworn at her on the phone. She got her fee waived, but she didn’t take my job!

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If You Swear, We Won’t Care