In the couple of months that I have worked at this hotel’s front desk, I have gotten really annoyed by guests who expect us to just know everything and think that we have nothing else to do besides cater to them and only them.

One thing that keeps happening: people ordering food without telling the delivery guy their room number and just leaving their first name as contact information. Most often, these people are not even the ones who are registered as the booker, so we would not be able to find them in the system anyway, even if they had a very recognisable name.

One time, a guest came to the desk to scream at me.

Guest: “Why didn’t you tell me that my pizza got here three hours ago?! Now it’s cold! You should’ve just looked up ‘Mike’ in the system to tell me that it was here!”

Mike. Yep, totally not a common name worldwide or anything. We have 350 rooms; you are probably not the only Mike staying here.

How is your lack of common sense my problem? I’m so done with stupid and aggressive people.

I work in a tech company. Usually, we have a software deployment every other Thursday. The team usually has a long meeting — two or three hours — on Friday after deployment. However, we usually have some minor issues after deployment, and I have to do a lot of monitoring and fixing, so I usually ask the team to push the meeting to Monday so we can stabilise the system first.

A few weeks ago in the meeting, they pointed out how I was always postponing the meetings, and we never had them on their set date, which is Friday.

Me: “Usually, the system isn’t stable on Fridays and I have to fix it.”

Team: “No, we must stick to the schedule!”

Me: “Okay.”

After two weeks, I attended the meeting at its scheduled time on Friday. It went on for like three hours. When we came out, there were hundreds of emails and tickets from the client; the servers had been down for hours right at peak usage time. Our clients were PISSED; they had lost tens of thousands of dollars during that time.

The thing is, it was already the end of my workday, so my boss had to pay me a hefty amount for working on weekends and twice the days in leave as a replacement.

This happened when I was in my late twenties and was working as a wireman and moonlighting as a mechanic. As a result of my two jobs and a few other factors, I have ended up with a key ring to put a janitor to shame. Apparently, this would come into play later on.

After a particularly long day, I went to a large retail chain to pick up a few things, and I wandered back toward the electronics part of the store. I was standing there with my earbuds in, listening to music, and looking for a replacement phone case when this lady walked up and stood halfway between being next to me and being behind me. I was in my own little world comparing cases, and by a habit I picked up when I was a librarian’s assistant, I was also putting random cases back where they belonged while trying to find what I needed.

This lady started rattling away about something that I couldn’t hear, and after saying something to get my attention a couple of times, she tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around, removing one earbud so I could hear her.

Lady: “Where are the [item]s?”

Me: “I have no idea.”

And I went back to what I was doing. This apparently did not sit well with this lady, and she stormed off to find the manager.

Some twenty minutes later, I found my way to the camping section for some other item I needed. From the far end of the aisle, here came the lady from before with a poor, befuddled manager in tow, pointing me out, and squawking away about something I couldn’t hear. As they approached, I saw that the woman was pointing at me, and the manager took over, finally putting on his big boy pants. Again, I removed my earbuds to see what they had come to disturb me with.

Manager: “Why did you refuse to help this woman earlier?”

Me: “It’s not my job to help someone find something they can’t find on their own.”

Apparently, this was the wrong reply, and he proceeded to chew me up one side and down the other.

At that point, I had realized what was going on, and I halfway played along while trying to contain my fitful laughter.

Manager: “You need to turn your keys in. You are suspended until further notice!”

After a flippant and dismissive comment from me, the manager then proceeded to do his best impression of a cartoon character’s volcanic explosion of anger and let loose.

Manager: “You are fired, effective immediately! You can no longer apply to work for any [Store] ever again!”

I could no longer contain myself and started laughing hysterically.

Me: “I don’t work here!”

Manager: “Of course you don’t! I just fired you!”

Me: “Let me clarify: I have never worked for [Store], ever. I’ve never even applied.”

At this stage, the lady had turned several shades of embarrassed red, and the manager had joined her, his anger fleeing faster than a track star when he realized his mistake.

Still giggling uncontrollably, I grabbed my cart and strolled away while she proceeded to dole out apologies for the entire affair.

I work for a catering company. At most events, caterers and the bar staff are separately hired. This is the case at this wedding. It is in an unfamiliar venue, and my company is set up in the kitchen, nowhere near the bar. The bar staff is wearing white shirts, name tags, and black trousers. We wear all black.

This wedding has been going on for a very long time, and everyone is very drunk. I am doing my last look around my tables for cutlery, coffee cups, plates, and ceramics that our company provides, and this guy calls me over. I am holding four plates at this time, so I have no free hands, and I’m exhausted from hauling these heavy dishes around. It’s 11:30 pm. I’ll likely finish cleaning up just before 1:00 am, and I am not looking forward to needing to polish three hundred pieces of silverware, stack and wrap plates, and load the stuff into the van.

He calls me sweetheart, and I can hear how drunk he is, so I decide it doesn’t matter if I’m rude.

Guy #1: “I would love it if you could grab me a bottle of Rosé for the table.”

Me: *Semi-politely* “Sorry, I can’t.”

I start passing by the table when another guy grabs at me. He misses but manages to make me slip a plate out of my arm. It doesn’t break, but it makes a mess of leftovers on the floor, which I have to clean up after I take the plates to a drop station.

Guy #2: *Leaning back in his chair* “Just grab a bottle! It’s an open bar!”

Me: “Sir, I can’t go behind the bar as I don’t work for them.”

At this point, we have been passed by an actual member of the bar staff, but they don’t usually deliver bottles to the tables to discourage people from getting too drunk — like this guy.

Me: “Get it yourself.”

I headed off with the one plate since someone else had taken my others.

Minutes later, I heard this guy at the entrance to the kitchen. (We go in one way and out the other so we don’t bump into each other with full hands.) He was pushing on the shut door as I polished away, calling me a b**** because “The other girl grabbed me a bottle when I went up.”

Yes, because she was bar staff.

I have worked in the hotel industry for forty-two years. There is little that I have not experienced. However, in all that time I have not encountered a true “Get Me Your Manager” type of customer. That is, until a few nights ago.

I have been dealing with this woman for the past month — getting all the reservations sorted out and attached to her group block, assigning room numbers to accommodate mobility issues and make sure they were all close together, etc. She was always pleasant on the phone. In person, she showed her true colors.

The first encounter happened at check-in. The hotel I work at is in a small resort town in Southern Oregon. Due to a really bad fire a couple of years ago, there is no affordable housing, and as a consequence, a very small labor force. So, I was at the desk by myself working my way through the line of people. [Woman] came in, saw the line, and immediately came to the desk and started pounding on the counter.

Woman: “You need to get someone up here to check me in. This is ridiculous.”

Me: “I’m sorry, I’m the only one here, but I will get to you as quickly as possible.”

The general manager was there but was handling the phones so that I could focus on check-ins.

Woman: “You had better hurry. I won’t stand here all day!”

It took me just under four minutes to get through the five people in front of her.

Me: “I’m sorry for keeping you waiting. Can I get your last name, please?”

Woman: “You know who I am!”

Me: “I’m sorry, ma’am, but I don’t.”

Woman: “I’ve only been talking to you people daily for the past month… since you f***ed up my reservations.”

It was actually her fault; she didn’t tell her group to ask for the group block. This let me know exactly who she was.

Me: “Oh, you must be Karen. Sorry, I mean Kathy.”

We then completed the check-in, and she went to her room. Of course, there’s more. It wouldn’t be a true Entitled Jerk experience with only one interaction.

The phone rang, and I answered it.

Woman: “How am I supposed to get a drink of water or brush my teeth?”

Me: “There is a tap in your bathroom, ma’am.”

Woman: “Am I supposed to put my head in the sink and drink from the tap?!”

Me: “No, ma’am. There are coffee cups and glasses on top of the microwave.”

Woman: “I don’t have a microwave in my room.”

Me: “All of our rooms have refrigerators and microwaves.”

Woman: “Mine doesn’t!”

Me: “It does. You might need to close the bathroom door.”

I heard the sound of the bathroom door closing, and click! She hung up.

A few minutes went by, and she called again.

Woman: “I need a king-size pillow.”

Me: “We only have standard size.”

Woman: “Your website says you have a pillow menu.”

Me: “We had one prior to [the global health crisis], but now we only have standard polyfill and feather pillows.”

Woman: “Bring me six feather pillows.”

Me: “All of our feather pillows are in use.”

Woman: “You just said you have them!”

Me: “No, ma’am, I said they were on the menu, not that we had any available.”

Woman: *Click… again*

A couple of hours went by…

Woman: “Someone is going to come into my room!”

Me: “Someone is trying to get into your room? I’ll send security up immediately!”

Woman: “Are you dense? That’s not what I said.”

Me: “Did you mean you have a guest coming? I can add their name to the computer so that they can get a key.”

Woman: “You really are stupid. I said someone is going to come into my room!”

By this time, she was screaming.

Me: “I can assure you that no one will be given a key to your room unless you authorize it.”

Woman: “Including housekeeping?”

Me: “Housekeeping will only enter your room to clean if the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign is not on the door.”

Woman: “Finally, she gets it!”

Me: “I’m not sure that I do. Why don’t you explain it to me?”

Woman: “There is no  ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign in the room, duh!”

Me: “Oh! My apologies. I have some available at the front desk, or—”

Woman: “I’m not coming all the way down there to get something that should have been here already!”

Me: “Yes, ma’am, it should have been there, but as I was about to say, I will be happy to put one on your door as I leave in a few minutes.”

And once again, she hung up on me.

This is getting to be longer than I expected, so I’ll summarize the remaining incidents:

• She berated the engineer because the bulbs in her room were “too cool”.

• She yelled at the breakfast attendant because the air conditioner in the breakfast room was turned off, claiming that it was illegal. It was forty-five degrees outside and much too cool for an air conditioner.

• She yelled at the night auditor at 3:00 am, demanding that she call a manager so she could complain about these issues. Once the auditor called me and [Woman] realized it was me, she demanded the owner’s phone number. I don’t even know his name, much less have a way to contact him.

• She threw a comforter at a housekeeper claiming that it was covered in urine stains. It wasn’t.

• She yelled at the morning front desk agent regarding dust on the fireplace mantle in the lobby. It was clean.

There were many more encounters, but I’ll just finish up with one last incident.

She emailed the general manager this morning, specifically to complain about me. She said that I was rude, incompetent, and just plain stupid, and I should be fired immediately. I’m happy to report that my wonderful manager called her back and told her that, while the rest of her wonderful family was welcome to come back any time, she was now on the Do Not Rent list and not allowed back. He then hung up on her!

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Why Can’t People Like This Just Stay Home?