(I work at the front desk in a hotel and conference centre. Our checkout time is noon but as people are here on conference they tend to still be in the building most of the day after they check out. It’s rather common for us to have guests coming to the front desk later in the day realizing they left something in the room. A guest checked out right at noon and comes back to the front desk at two.)

Guest: “Hey, I just went back to my room and the bottle of booze I left in my fridge is gone.”

Me: “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.” *gets guests room number and looks it up* “Sir, it looks like we have you checked out.”

Guest: “Yeah, I checked out at noon but I left the bottle in there.”

Me: “Well, let me call housekeeping and see if they picked it up when they cleaned the room.”

Guest: *starting to sound mad* “Why would housekeeping take booze from my room? They can’t just take things out of guest’s fridges. That’s stealing. I left it there to pick up after my conference was done.”

Me: “You left it in the room after checking out?”

Guest: “Well, yeah, I was going to go get it, and I’m not impressed that they took it out of there and that had they had already cleaned the room. I was going to use the washroom, too, but couldn’t because it was tidied.”

Me: “Sir, the second you checked out of that room, it was no longer your room. Your key shouldn’t have even let you in.”

Guest: “But it’s my room!”

Me: “Not after you check out, sir. The room needs to get turned over for the next guest.”

Guest: “They should have known I was going back to it, though, because I left my booze!”

Me: “They most likely assumed you had just forgotten it. People forget things in their fridges often.”

Guest: “Well, I want it back!”

Me: “Let me just call housekeeping and we can see about getting it for you, sir.”

(The entire time I’m waiting for housekeeping to bring the bottle to the front desk, the guest is pacing and ranting under his breath about how ridiculous it is and how he is never going to stay here again. I remain silent and busy myself for the maybe five minutes it takes for her to come to the lobby; all the while he becomes more impatient. She finally brings the bottle up… It’s a mickey of Smirnoff; all that for a fifteen-dollar bottle of vodka.)

Guest: *turning back to me and yelling* “You’re lucky I got it back, but that took far too long and it never should have been taken out of the fridge in the first place. I will be contacting corporate and filing a complaint about this awful customer service. How was I supposed to know that checking out meant the room was no longer mine?”

(The guest stormed out, still swearing under his breath. I’m not quite sure who he’s contacting, though, as we’re a one-off hotel and conference center and there’s no “corporate” office to complain to.)

(A burly macho looking male customer comes in very late at night and asks for a room. I tell him the price and he makes a face at it.)

Customer: “Where’s [Coworker]? Where’s he at?”

Me: “He’s already left for the day.”

Customer: *grumbling* “He always gives me a discount. Can’t you, too?”

Me: “Sorry, but I can’t.”

Customer: *angrily muttering*

(He pulls out his ID and credit card, and I goes through the process of entering his info and checking him in. He goes up to his room and next morning, my coworker appears to relieve me of my shift. I think that maybe they ARE friends, since my coworker is also very burly and macho.)

Me: “Your friend Mr. [Customer] has stayed with us.”

Coworker: “Who?!”

(I show him the room on the computer.)

Coworker: “…Oh. He’s not my friend. Just someone I sold a room long ago. I think.”

Me: “DId you give him a discount? He said you did.”

Coworker: “No, like I said, he’s not my friend. The rooms were only [lower price] then. It was in the winter.”

(This dumb guy thought that my coworker gave him a discount! Since then, he’s always asked for my coworker and made a face when he wasn’t there.)

I work as a receptionist for a small suburban hotel that’s part of a country wide chain. While running around setting up an extra bed for some guests I got a phone call, having to leave the guests waiting while I resolved this man’s issue.

Me: Hello this is [company] [location], [my name] speaking, how can I help you?

Customer: Hello, yes, my men are at your hotel, they have asked for two beds and you only give one, go give them an extra bed.

Me: Sure, which room are they in?

Customer: I do not know.

Me: Could they come down to reception and ask?

Customer: No.

Me: Okay hang on while I get to the computer. Can I have the confirmation number the booking is under?

(The man then proceeds to give me the number at light speed with me having to ask him five times to slow down so I can type it in, finally I get the whole thing in)

Me: That number isn’t coming up with anything… Are you sure you want us and not the city centre hotel?

Customer: Yes

Me: Can you just confirm which hotel it says on your confirmation there?

Customer: [company]

Me: … Which one of our hotels I mean? It’ll say after [company]

Customer: [company] Bristol

(All the confirmations have the exact hotel name on the email: there are several of our hotels in Bristol so not only is he over 100 miles in the wrong direction I’ve no idea which one he’s at. Eventually we get to which one his men are at.)

Customer: Okay put me through to them.

Me: I can’t do that sir, our phones aren’t linked, here’s their phone number though. (I read out the number slowly, checking he’s got it written down)

Customer: Okay… Put me through to them now.

Me: … You’ll have to ring that number sir, I ca-

Customer: You are so lazy! I’ll just go look it up myself!

(I am a housekeeper in an upscale hotel. When a guest has a special request my supervisor will come on the floor and tell me in person. Sometimes the guests requests get a little extreme.)

Supervisor: Hey (My Name), when you get to room 811 can you be sure to change all the sheets and exchange all the towels? (We normally only change the sheets every other day and exchange the used towels) The guest says they are allergic to the cleaner we use in the fabrics.

Me: Do you have special sheets and towels for me? Won’t the stuff I have give them the same reaction?

Supervisor: Yea, don’t worry about it. These guests are a little… (makes face).

(This is my first warning as my supervisor is normally very attentive to guest requests. I clean the room and do as she asks. Weirdly I find maybe a dozen dryer sheets in and around the bed when I’m making it. Later in the day my supervisor comes up again.)

Supervisor: Hey (My Name), did you vacuum room 811 when you cleaned it?

Me: No, the floor was spotless.

Supervisor: Sorry, but can you go back and vacuum it really well. They are complaining that the dust is bothering them. I’m so sorry, just do whatever they ask please. I know you did a good job cleaning it before.

(I immediately go to the room. The guest is in the room this time.)

Guest: (In great distress) Oh thank goodness! Please can you vacuum again. I’m just so itchy! (gesturing and scratching at her neck) I can just feeeel the mice in this room!

Me: (shocked) I can assure you that there is no mice here. I have never even heard of that being a problem here ever. I’m sorry you’re having a reaction to something though. Is there anything else I can do to make your stay more comfortable?

Guest: Oh yes! can you please put more sheets on the bed? I don’t want the bed mice to get me. It makes me feel so itchy!

Me: Bed mice?

Guest: Yes! I can just feel them in this room! (gesturing to her neck again)

Me: (Realizing that she is meaning bed bugs. Which we also don’t have and you cannot feel them while standing in the middle of a room)
(Despite me knowing that there is nothing wrong I had to spend half an hour putting extra bed sheets on her bed, vacuuming every corner of her room, helping stuff her bed with more dryer sheets, and assuring her that there is nothing wrong without actually calling her crazy. Afterwards my supervisor came up and when I told her what happened she just rolled her eyes and thanked me for my patience)

(This happened to my coworker. My coworker is an old man, but a bit of a hothead. Another old man comes up to him with a smirk.)

Coworker: “How can I help you today?”

Old Man: *with thinly veiled sarcasm* “I don’t know. Are you an idiot?”

Coworker: “Excuse me?!”

Old Man: “I said, are you an idiot?”

Coworker: *glares* “Would you mind telling me what your problem is sir?”

Old Man: “I guess you are, because you’re not answering me. Ok, fine, I’ll tell you my issue is…IDIOT. My sink has not worked twice already, now hard is it to fix a G*D**** sink?!”

(Other customers are staring and my coworker glares at the old man, who puts his face 2 inches from his; spit is flying onto his face. My coworker does not back off.)

Coworker: *angrily* “Well, I’m sorry that your issue was not fixed–”

Old Man: “Oh, you’re sorry!” *laughs crazily* “Guess what everyone, he’s sorry! Oh, that’ll fix everything! Really an idiot! Textbook definition!”

Coworker: “I never said that it would–”

Old Man: “Listen–” *screams into his face* “I WANT A REFUND, I WANT YOUR BOSS’S NAME, I WANT YOUR CEO’S NAME, AND I WANT A FREE NIGHT!!!”

(The manager hears the commotion and comes running, but not fast enough.)

Coworker: “That’s it! You want to step outside?!”

Old Man: “Yeah! Let’s go! Idiot!”

Coworker: *cracking knuckles* “You won’t be saying that once your face is wired shut once I punch it off!”

(They are about to go but are stopped by the manager. He manages to calm them down, which was no easy task because they are raring to go at each other. Later, once the old man stomps off and the gathered crown dissipates, the manager talks to my coworker.)

Manager: “What’s the matter with you?!”

Coworker: “He was threatening me and calling me an idiot!”

Manager: “If you haven’t worked here for 40 years, I’d fire you…”