We are a family-run guesthouse and our guests are mostly quiet, foreign couples and families that book months or weeks in advance. While we get the occasional guest from the street, my manager emphasizes that we always request ID and payment up front in such cases. She said that mostly applied to natives, as they are often only looking for a place downtown to party and cause trouble, as we are centrally located.
It is June, during the high summer season, when we are almost always fully booked. A native couple walks in, both probably in their middle or late thirties. They are wearing pretty busted punk-like clothes and smell of cigarettes and alcohol.
Woman: “Do you have a double room for us tonight?”
One of the family owners happens to be near the reception, having dropped off some groceries earlier. I glance at her, and she subtly shakes her head, indicating I should not give them a room. While she’s not the manager, I decide to trust her instincts, as she has worked in the reception for years.
Me: “Uh, I’m afraid we are fully booked tonight; we don’t have any rooms available. I’m sorry.”
We actually have a few left, but I trust the family owner, this also being my first encounter with the supposedly rowdy locals. The woman quickly gets angry.
Woman: “No, we need a room tonight! We are going to a wedding later today and just flew to the city earlier today. Now our trip is ruined because you won’t give us a room. I can’t believe this!”
Me: “I’m very sorry, but this is the busiest time of the year. All our rooms have already been booked in advance.”
Woman: “What, are you saying the fancy foreigners who book in advance are favored over people from your own country?”
Me: “Not at all; we serve all equally. The current guests just happened to book ahead of time.”
Woman: “I expected to be able to find a room for us natives without any trouble! What kind of discrimination is going on? We’re not as good as the foreigners?”
Me: “Nationality has nothing to do with this. I understand your frustration, but I’m afraid there’s nothing I can do.”
The woman starts getting really loud as she points to the breakfast lounge in the next room.
Woman: “This is ridiculous! See, it’s empty! What sort of a guesthouse doesn’t even have any guests sitting around, huh? Where are all the people?”
Me: *Still calm* “This is where we serve breakfast in the morning, but it’s usually empty during the day. I believe most guests prefer spending their days outside of the guesthouse.”
Woman: “Well, I don’t believe you. Just give us a room!”
Me: “I’m sorry, but like I told you, there’s nothing I can offer you. I’m sure you can find a room elsewhere.”
Woman: “We won’t leave without a room; I know you have one!”
This goes on a little further, with the woman constantly raising her voice and getting angrier. The man with her, however, never speaks; he just stands there looking menacing. The other owner has also stepped in and backed up my claims, but it seems of little use.
While I’m on the verge of telling them to leave, I try instead to keep my calm, a tactic that I find works better on angry customers. After pushing this for a little while, they finally fall silent for a moment and just glance at each other.
The woman then speaks up again, suddenly calmer.
Woman: “Okay, fine. Do you have a phone I can use? I need to talk to my friends.”
She then abruptly bends really close over my desk, reaching for my reception phone. My initial thought is that she is trying to take it with her, so I quickly push it further away. I’m a little taken aback.
Me: “I’m afraid this one is private, but we have a payphone downstairs in the basement that you can use.”
Annoyed, they both walk downstairs and the two of us just sigh deeply, relieved that this is over. But then, the family owner remembers that the door downstairs that leads to the private section is open, as she had just come back from the grocery store and left some bags there to be sorted.
We both get up quickly, but then we see them both running up the stairs and out the front door. We notice that the woman has one of the leeks from the grocery bags in her hand! We just stare dumbfounded after them, thinking there’s no use making a further scene and glad they’re gone.
Family Owner: “Did they really just steal a leek in revenge? I’m glad we didn’t give in. Those were definitely troublemakers; I knew it.”
We then both shrug it off, thinking that’s not too much damage after all. However, shortly afterward, an owner we know from another much smaller guesthouse next street comes in. She’s panting, as if she’d been running.
Guesthouse Owner: *out-of-breath and quite angry* “Hey, did you happen to see a punk-looking couple around here? Older, like thirty- or forty-something years old?”
Family Owner: “Yes! We did! They were here arguing for like ten minutes earlier, because we wouldn’t give them a room. They then stole one of our leeks and ran off!”
Guesthouse Owner: “Well, they also asked for a room with me, but I was honestly fully booked tonight, so I declined them. They argued with me for a few minutes, but then they went and ripped my outdoors speakerphone right off the wall and dashed off with it! I’ve been running after them, but I can’t find them. They were so fast! I’m going to go out again and look; they can’t have gone far. I will make them pay for damaging my property!”
We were both stunned but also even gladder that we hadn’t let them in, considering ourselves lucky we only lost a leek in comparison. The other guesthouse owner later told us that she never found the couple and ended up paying for the damage herself. Considering they were capable of such wreckage, we figured that the whole wedding tale was probably just a lie and that they were most likely just some schemers looking for stuff to steal. While a pretty extreme encounter, it certainly made me understand the reservations my owners have!
