I worked the desk at a hotel for several years, mostly as a night auditor, but for a while, I was on the second shift, 3:00 pm to 11:00 pm. One night, I am working this shift with just my assistant manager. We are short-staffed, but it is a slow winter night, anyway.

A man and his girlfriend come in the front door and ask to rent a room. Everything goes as normal until it comes to payment.

Guest: “My workplace is paying for it.”

I groan internally. This isn’t uncommon, but there are procedures to get such a thing done that always include the reservation being made in advance, for the simple fact that we can’t charge a card that isn’t physically here without some paperwork behind it.

Me: “I’m sorry, sir, but your company would have had to set this up ahead of time if that were the case. Do you mean you’re using a company card?”

Guest: “Yes, here.”

At first, I’m relieved, but then I look at the card he handed me, bewildered. It’s some sort of ID that I’m not familiar with, possibly an employment ID, but it’s not any sort of payment card.

Me: “Sir, this isn’t a payment card. I can’t use this.”

Guest: *Indignantly* “My company has a deal with hotels where you enter that number on the card into the system and then it will bill them! Every hotel has this! Are you stupid?”

I just toss my manager a confused look, but even though I haven’t been working there a year, I know this can’t be right. Our system has designated fields for everything. If you put a number into a field that it doesn’t belong in, it won’t just accept it; it will tell you it’s invalid, and there is definitely no field for the long string of numbers on the bottom corner of the ID.

Me: “Sir, the system doesn’t work that way. There is no way to enter this number, and I can’t rent you a room without some sort of payment.”

Guest: “You just enter it! God, you’re stupid! You don’t even know how to do your own job!”

Me: “Sir, I’m sorry, but I know my job perfectly well, and there is no field that this number can be entered into. We don’t have any sort of contract like the one you’re mentioning. We have certain rates for certain businesses, and some have ways to set up reservations ahead of time, but—”

Guest: *Now irate* “Just enter the number! I’ve never had this happen before! Why won’t you do your job?!”

I’m now fully over it and I just slide the card back across my desk.

Me: “I am. If you want to rent a room, you will need a payment card. This is not a payment card.”

He begins to gather up his things, but he’s still indignant.

Guest: “I’m going to complain to your manager! This is ridiculous!”

I hook a thumb at the other check-in counter.

Me: “She’s right there.”

The guest pauses for a long moment, staring at my manager giving him a little wave, and then draws himself up to his full height for his parting shot.

Guest: “You should really train your people to know how to do their job!”

And with that, he storms out to the other hotel across the street, clearly planning to try his luck there. I look back at my manager exasperatedly and she just shrugs.

Manager: “Don’t worry, you did great. I don’t know what the f*** he was talking about, either.”

Our hotel has added a sushi restaurant to the lobby. Tonight is a hotel-wide manager’s outing; all departments are being supervised by supervisors only and the one for the sushi restaurant is relatively new in the department. She and the two waitresses, as well as the sushi chef, were all off last night.

Three girls come in, sit in the sushi bar area, ask for a manager, and then explain.

Customers: “We were in last night and got sick from a bad sushi roll.”

Supervisor: “Are you guests of the hotel? If so, I can credit your room.”

Customers: “We’re not.”

Supervisor: “How did you pay?”

Customers: “Cash. We want another dinner as compensation.”

They then ordered the exact same roll they had supposedly gotten sick from the night before. It was such an obvious scam, as no one who has ever gotten sick from something would eat the same thing any time soon, let alone from the same place the very next night. Unfortunately, they picked the perfect night as there wasn’t an actual manager anywhere on-site, and no one that was there that night had been there the previous night to refute them.

They ended up with $65 worth of free food, which they ate without a problem sitting there the whole time. Of course, they didn’t tip, either.

I come in to work at a hotel and learn we are sold out tonight.

Thirty minutes later, this couple comes to the front desk, looking to be checked in. The woman is carrying a baby.

As soon as I get the woman’s ID, she notices our pool closure sign.

Woman: *Very loudly* “Your pool is the whole reason I got a room here!”

Me: “Well, I can cancel your reservation with a refund if you want.”

After all, if our pool is the only reason for them to be here, then they probably aren’t interested in staying here.

Woman: “No, we don’t want to cancel. We came all the way from Montana! But we want a reduced rate. We could find a cheaper rate for about a hundred bucks, otherwise!”

Me: “I can’t offer you a reduced rate. We’re sold out, and our rooms are just fine.”

This is our policy per management, and I’m not being flexible on a sold-out night.

The woman immediately starts berating me about refusing to discount their rate for their room, going as far as stating she wanted to stay here to help her poor sick baby.

Woman: “I want a manager!”

Me: “I’m the only one here, ma’am.”

So far, I’m thinking that this check-in is going between a rock and a hard place fast. I start to think about calling my manager to see what we can do, but then she utters these words:

Woman: “Do you not care about my child, you p***k? Is that really what you’re saying?”

Nope. Not doing this anymore. I’m refusing service, because now they are bullying me.

Me: “I am now refusing you service. This is not the right hotel for you.”

Immediately, her man started calling me horrible names. This began a tirade of them calling me names and expletives all the way out the door. They even sped their car down the parking lot. All the while, I just looked on. It was a whirlwind of emotion and action, let me tell you.

After that, I put them on the do-not-rent list (for obvious reasons), refunded the money on their card, and cancelled their reservation. I know some people would take their money, but there’s no use doing business with crazy. Besides, the room was sold already.

Some advice from the front desk: don’t bully the gatekeeper.

I’m working in a hotel. A guy walks up to the night window and puts his phone to the glass showing his reservation without saying a word. I ask him for his ID and credit card, and he starts to pass his ID and a CashApp card through the drawer.

Me: “We don’t take CashApp. Do you have a bank card or a credit card?”

Guy: “Yeah, it’s in my car.”

He goes to get it and comes back.

Guy: “Y’all take cash, right?”

Me: “Yes. If you’re paying cash, we just hold a deposit on your credit or debit card in case of damages.”

Guy: “But it’s okay if there’s no money on the card, right?”

Me: “No, there has to be money on the card in case of damages. We put a hold on it to verify the funds are available to us.”

Guy: “All right, well, what if I go to [Store] and get a card?”

Me: “I’m sorry, we don’t take any prepaid cards.”

He groans and goes back to his car. Five minutes later, he comes back with his CashApp card and presses it to the window.

Guy: “Hey, why won’t you take this? It’s got my name on it.”

Me: “We’ve had too many issues with CashApp cards.”

…and the people who use them.

Guy: “But it’s got my name on it. It’s connected to my bank account.”

Because of the way he is holding the card, I get a glimpse of his name and make a mental note of it.

Me: “I’m sorry, we’ve had too many issues with them, so the owner has told us not to take them.”

He starts to wander back to his car, and I jump on the computer to check the Do Not Rent list. Hey, guess who is there already? I notice him ambling back to the window and I turn the mic back on.

Me: “Sir, your name is [Guy]?”

Guy: “Yeah.”

Me: “I’m sorry, but you’re actually on the hotel’s Do Not Rent list, so I’m not going to be able to rent you a room.”

Then, he gets this glassy look on his face, gives a weird laugh, and just stares at me. It is incredibly creepy, to be honest.

Guy: “Why can’t you rent to me?”

Me: “You’re on the Do Not Rent list.”

Guy: “Why?”

Me: “It doesn’t say; it’s just a list of names and dates.”

Guy: “I didn’t do nothing.”

Me: “I’m sorry.”

Guy: “Why would I be on the list?”

Me: “I don’t know, sorry.”

Guy: “What’s it say?”

Me: “[Guy].”

Guy: “How does someone get on the list?”

Me: “There are a lot of ways: smoking in a nonsmoking room, damaging the room, being rude to staff, causing disruptions to other guests, illegal activity.” *Pauses* “Arguing with staff.”

Hint, hint!

Guy: “I didn’t do none of that.”

Me: “Sorry, but I won’t be able to rent to you. Have a good night.”

I turn off the mic and start to walk away to help this guy understand that the conversation is over, but he wants to keep arguing and starts pounding on the window, so I walk back and turn the mic back on.

Me: “Sir, I’m not going to rent you a room. It’s time to move along to another hotel.”

Guy: “But I didn’t do nothing.”

Me: “Management decided that we won’t be renting to you any further. We don’t have anything further to discuss. Have a good night. Please move along.”

Then, he starts yelling at me, but I’ve turned the mic off and he is slurring half his words so I honestly couldn’t tell you what he is yelling, but I think he is threatening me. I flash him a thumbs-up and a customer service smile and walk away.

He goes back to pounding on the window and then holds down the doorbell button, so I walk back and turn the mic back on.

Me: “Sir, you have no more business here. You need to leave, or I will have to call the police to help you leave. I’m not renting you a room, and you are not welcome at this hotel.”

That worked, and he finally left.

Why is he on the Do Not Rent list, you might be wondering? “Rude to housekeeping.” I know — I’m SHOCKED, too.

I work in a call center for a pretty well-known chain of hotels. I handle reservations as well as customer inquiries and complaints. Most calls are fairly uneventful, but there are a few every week that stand out.

Me: “Hello, thank you for calling [Hotel Chain]! My name is [My Name]. Who do I have the pleasure of speaking with today?”

Guest: “Hi, my name is [Guest]. I’m looking for a hotel room in [City] on [date two weeks from now] that can fit nine people all in one room.”

This is a weird situation, but I ain’t here to judge.

Me: “All right, ma’am. That may be difficult to find, but let’s see what I can find for you!”

Guest: “I appreciate it.”

I look around for a bit, and the best I can find at one property is a two-bedroom suite that sleeps six. I figure she can probably compromise and book that, along with a standard room with two queens or something. I relay this information to her.

Guest: “We really are looking to all be in the same room, for bonding activities.”

I’m way too afraid to ask what that means.

Me: “I’m sorry, but that’s the closest I could find to what you wanted.”

Guest: “Thanks, anyway. Have a good night!” *Hangs up*