(The phone rings at the front desk, but when I answer it I just hear it hanging up, so I call back to make sure everything is okay.)
Me: “This is [My Name] at the front desk; did you just try to call?”
Guest: “It must have been one of my kids. I’ll go beat them now.”
(We are on holiday and are checking into our hotel.)
Receptionist: “How are you enjoying New York so far?”
Friend: “It’s great! I didn’t expect there to be so many [Racial Slur]s about!”
(The receptionist, who is black, glares at him.)
Friend: “Did I say it right? I heard that’s what white people did in America now.”
(That seemed to dissolve the tension slightly, and I’m hoping she just assumed my friend was making an off-colour joke with all the racial tensions being felt in the country. Personally though, knowing my friend, he was just being racist.)
(This guest has stayed with our hotel several times, always finding something wrong in order to take advantage of our 100% money-back guarantee if she’s not “satisfied.” She has the highest tier rewards points in the hotel chain as well. She’s also EXTREMELY unpleasant and we all dread dealing with her. She comes to check out, wanting to pay cash. She’s used a “points + money” rate of $40.)
Me: “Okay, your total is [amount]. How was your stay?”
Unpleasant Guest: “I’m not paying that. You need to take my corporate discount off.”
Me: “Ma’am, you didn’t book on a corporate rate. You booked with your reward points. I can’t take more of a discount off.”
Unpleasant Guest: “Yes, you CAN! I do this all the time.” *she doesn’t; never at this location, anyway* “Call whoever you have to call. Get my discount, NOW.”
Me: *smiling through teeth* “Of course.”
(I go to the back and call my manager, who confirms that no, we can’t take a discount off the rate. She’s only paying $40 a night anyway, and we’d be losing money if we gave her more of a discount. I return to tell Unpleasant Guest this fact.)
Unpleasant Guest: “I can’t believe this! You’re giving TERRIBLE customer service.” *makes a huge display of writing my name on her folio, the date, and the customer service phone number* “I can’t stay here and argue about it any longer. YOU need to learn better customer service.”
Me: *while taking her cash and giving her change* “I’m sorry you feel that way, ma’am. Have a great day.”
Unpleasant Guest: *as she storms away* “I’m sorry you LOOK that way.”
(I’ve never been so insulted by a guest in my life. My manager backed me up and sent her an email telling her to choose another hotel to stay on her next visit.)
(I am the bad worker. We have a woman staying with us that is usually very coiffed. It is very early morning, and a woman with a face wrinkled and bumpy from sleep, and her tangled hair streaming everywhere silently approaches the desk with her eyes closed. She looks like she just rolled out of bed; very rough.)
Me: “Good morning, how can I— GAAAH!”
Woman: *sleepily* “I would just like you to cancel my wake up call.” *leaves*
(Thank you for telling us, lady. Next time a phone call will do. My coworkers laughed at my overreaction. Yes, I admit it; I was bad. Good thing she didn’t report me.)
(I’m very new to the hotel business, and have learned that there is only one person — me — working overnight. Lately, the customers having been complaining about me.)
Manager: “Why are there so many complaints about our overnight service?”
Me: “Probably because I’m delivering things to rooms when someone else calls needing stuff.”
Manager: “What can we do to make it better for you?”
Me: “Have someone else watch the desk while I deliver stuff?”
Manager: “NO!”
(My suggestion was ignored and the complaints kept coming. The manager never consulted me again on this matter and seemed happy with the complaints coming in. Sad.)
