(I work in a hotel. Sometimes the customers ask for a taxi, then change their minds without telling us. The driver gets really mad. Our company and the taxi company are friends because we give them a lot of business.)

Customer: *bails*

Me: *unaware* “The customer ought to be out in a few minutes.”

(I try to call the customer’s room, but of course, no answer.)

Me: *realizing* “I’m sorry, but it looks like the customer has left.”

Taxi Driver: “LEFT?! I HAVE BEEN WAITING AND I COULD’VE PICKED UP SOMEONE ELSE! YOU ARE A VERY BAD PERSON! THIS IS A BAD HOTEL! I WILL COMPLAIN! YOU UNDERSTAND?!”

(He begins advancing on me. I’m a small female, and he’s very heavy. I’m scared. My coworker, who’s six feet tall, comes out.)

Coworker: “Sometimes the customer leaves without telling us. It’s not our fault. Now go.”

(The driver tried to argue, but spluttered, backed up, and then stomped off. Later, I made a complaint to the company about his behavior, and the company assured us that he will no longer work for them!)

(I work at a breakfast bar in a hotel and have just given a guest the tea he ordered. He sneers at it.)

Me: “Is there a problem, sir?”

Guest #1: “You didn’t put milk in it.”

Me: “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t hear you ask.”

Guest #1: “I didn’t, but who doesn’t have milk in their tea?! It’s disgusting!”

Me: “I don’t.”

Guest #2: “Me, too.”

Coworker: “And me. I hate milk in general.”

Me: “If you don’t ask for milk we assume you want it black.”

Guest: *looking thoroughly aghast* “You SAVAGES!”

(The guest stomped over to the pitchers reserved for cereal, intending to use them for his tea. You could see the idea form in his head, though, and instead he picked up a pitcher and dumped his tea into it. He glared at us triumphantly before going to sit down. He was there for another hour, and whenever one of us walked past or looked at him, he grinned as though he had won some sort of battle. However, of the times he didn’t notice us we saw him struggling to consume his milk with tea seasoning. Once he was gone we searched for the pitcher, assuming he might have taken it with him. We found it behind a plant in the corner, with less than a tenth of it consumed. Such a waste!)

(I work at the front desk at a local hotel with 150 rooms. We are sold out and I am literally the only person on property working. A big ‘Furniture Market’ event is taking place and it fills up every hotel in a 50 mile radius. I have two guests from Russia that come every market, checking in. They have two reservations and they have a question about their rates from last market. So their check in takes five minutes longer than normal. The guy behind them is obviously getting annoyed that he has to wait.)

Guest: *as the Russian couple walk away from the desk he starts clapping* “It’s about time! I’ve been waiting for 30 minutes!”

Me: “I do apologize for the wait, sir. As you can see I am the only person working tonight.”

Guest: *interrupts* “—I’m going to take just as long as you took with those other people.”

Me: “Excuse me, sir?”

Guest: *leaning against the front desk not looking at me* “You took forever with them, so I’m going to take my time.”

Me: “Well, while you stand there, what is your last name so I can look up your reservation? I will also need your ID and a form of payment.”

Guest: “I’ll give them to you when I am d*** well ready.”

(He proceeds to turn to the line forming behind him apologizing to them. They seem to not be bothered by his tantrum at all.)

Me: “So, let me get this straight, sir. Because you had to wait in line, you are going to proceed to just stand here at the desk preventing me from checking anyone in?”

Guest: “That’s f****** right, and you’re going to give me a discount just like you gave that couple!”

Me: “Sir, I didn’t give them a discount—”

Guest: “I heard the rate you gave them, it was [rate]. And I am going to stand here until you give it to me!”

Me: “The rate that you overheard was the rate they had paid at their last stay. They wanted to know why it was more expensive this year so I explained it to them.”

(At this point this large women approaches the desk wearing a sweater with the word “Sex” written in large bold letters across her chest; I later found out that is is his wife.)

Lady: “What is the problem here?!”

Guest: *speaking to her* “He gave the people in front of us a really big 30% discount but he’s racist and won’t give it to me! Just because they were Persian or some s***.”

(I have no idea how he made the Persian connection or came up with a 30% discount.)

Lady: *turning to me* “You need to give him the discount. He is a guest! You need to appease him! He is a veteran. Show him some respect!”

Me: “Ma’am, first of all I did not give them a discount. Second, I do not even know what your last name is to pull up the reservation. Also he is not showing me or anyone in this lobby any respect.”

Lady: “Ugh, the last name is [Last Name].”

(The guy reluctantly hands me his ID to verify that it is him.)

Guest: “I still demand you give me a discount! Where is your manager? I want to speak to him.”

Me: “I apologize, sir, but like I said before, I am the only staff member on property at this time.”

Guest: “Well, [Manager] and I are really good friends; call him so I can speak to him myself.”

Me: *getting very worked up at this point and am literally shaking* “He is at his other job at this moment—”

Guest: “I don’t care; call him!”

(I proceed to call him and he does not answer. I have it on speaker phone so they can hear it go to voicemail.)

Me: “Like I said before, he is at his other job at the moment and will not answer his phone.”

(This goes back and forth for another twenty minutes – yes, twenty. My entire lobby is full of people waiting to check in at this point. I proceed to give him his keys and he walks away, telling everyone in line that I am a racist and gave someone a 30% discount and refused to give it to him. At this point his frustration becomes contagious and the next five guests in line try hassling me for the 30% discount and so on. Later in the evening his wife comes to the desk.)

Wife: “We are locked out of the bathroom. Come open it. We should also be compensated for it.”

Me: “You… you locked yourself out of your bathroom and you want to be compensated?”

Wife: “Did I stutter? Come open the god-d*** door!”

Me: “I do not have the proper tools to open that door, ma’am. I will have to call my maintenance man in. In the meantime, the lobby bathrooms are located to your right.”

Wife: *getting even more flustered* “So how much will be taken off of my room cost?”

Me: “I do not have authorization to issue any guest refunds; you will have to speak to a manager tomorrow morning.”

(She proceeds to huff away. I call our ONLY maintenance man to come in to unlock their door. He declines and says he will be in tomorrow morning. The wife never came back to ask about the bathroom door. After my shift I call the manager that they were supposed friends with and explain to him the situation.  The following day when I come to work the first thing that manager says to me is:)

Manager: “I got a call from Mr. [Last Name] this morning apologizing to me—” *the manager, not me* “—about how he acted out last night. He said that he had a little too much to drink.”

(My jaw drops.)

Me: “So, he almost causes a riot in the lobby on my watch, calls me a racist, and a bunch of other unflattering words and he calls YOU and apologizes to YOU?!”

Manager: “I’m afraid so. Also, they busted the bathroom door off the hinges. Not sure what that’s about.”

(Needless to say they are not allowed to stay here anymore.)

Related:
Don’t Discount The Customer’s Ability To Discount, Part 6
Don’t Discount The Customer’s Ability To Discount, Part 5
Don’t Discount The Customer’s Ability To Discount, Part 4

(I am on the front desk during the night shift. While checking in a guest is a little too excited about me being a woman. It is about three am and his room calls.)

Me: “Front desk. How can I help you?”

Guest: “Can you, umm, come up and fix my TV?”

Me: “What appears to be the problem?”

Guest: “It just isn’t turning on.”

Me: “I’ll see what I can do.”

(I send up one the more experienced on-hand staff to take a look, but I get I another call not five minutes after.)

Me: “Front desk—”

Guest: “YOU SENT A MAN UP TO MY ROOM!”

Me: “He is the most capable to handle your problem.”

Guest: “I WANTED YOU! YOU COME UP! NOW!”

Me: “I cannot, sir, as I am managing the front desk tonight and cannot leave it.”

Guest: “F*** you!”

(I hang up. He calls back, screaming expletives, and I hang up again. By his third or fourth attempt the staff I sent up walks past me. He is white as a ghost.)

Me: “What happened?”

Staff: *turning to me* “WHO ANSWERS THEIR DOOR NAKED?!”

(We both laugh, but the gravity of the situation hits me.)

Staff: *clocking on* “You allowed to kick him out?”

Me: “I guess so. I’ll check the CCTV first, though.”

(The CCTV showed the guy answering the door, in all his glory with a very much erect penis. At this I finally answered his calls and warned him, through his screams, that it had been decided that he must leave, and if he didn’t of his own accord, security would do it for him. The calls stopped, but after half an hour he didn’t show up. I called security. They were down with him within five minutes. He was still naked and screaming expletives. They threw him out and he was left to dress outside the hotel. Once dressed he flipped us off and stormed off. A week later the manager questioned me about a complaint he made. After seeing the CCTV and call history, he was promptly banned from the hotel.)

(I am coming on my shift and my manager is leaving, but wants to show me his new car so we proceed outside. While we are discussing the car, a Cadillac pulls up in the far corner of the parking lot and just sits there for around thirty minutes as we talk about the car. I jokingly say “there is another drug deal going down.” My manager gets in his car and pulls up next to the Cadillac, then comes back to the door, gets out, and the both of us go inside.)

Me: “So what was he doing?”

Manager: “He was smoking a joint. He claims to be a guest here; I’m going to verify that.”

(We get to the desk and look up the room number. As we are doing this the guy walks in and stands by the desk.)

Guest: “So just because I am black and wearing a wife beater you assume that I was doing something illegal?”

Me: “Uh, what?”

Guest: “You’re racist, man! You assumed I was dealing drugs and doing illegal things cause I’m black!”

(I am a white male in my early twenties, and my manager is an older black guy.)

Me: “If you want to get technical about it, sir, you were doing something. Last time I checked pot is still illegal; correct me if I’m wrong. Instead of accusing me of being racist, you should be thankful that we haven’t gotten the cops involved in this matter.”

(He turned and walked away. He didn’t say a single word to me for the rest of his stay. Turns out you’re racist for catching someone smoking pot; who knew?)