The Bright Lotus
Years ago, I worked in a very touristy part of Spain, in a hotel. We had our fair share of annoying, angry, or downright stupid guests, but this particular interaction sticks out in my mind.
Despite being in Spain, the resort town wasn’t exempt from less-than-perfect weather. Most days were bright and sunny, but some days could be overcast or even rainy. Even warm countries have bad weather days. Shocking, I know!
On this particular day, despite it still being warm, it was very cloudy. As a result, the sun kept going in, casting a lot of slightly cooler, shady areas. I was on the front desk with a more seasoned colleague when a woman came marching up to us from the pool area with indignation in her eyes.
Guest: “Why has the sun gone in?! I’m trying to get a suntan and there’s no sun!”
Me: “Oh, it’s been like that all day. Just give it a few minutes, it seems like it’s coming and going a bit today.”
Guest: “That’s not good enough! It’s freezing out there! I’m paying an extortionate amount of money to stay here!”
Me: “I’m sorry, but… how exactly do you propose we fix this?”
Guest: “Can’t you make it sunnier?!”
At this point, I’m not sure what my face is doing, because my brain has fogged over in shock. I’ve heard of ridiculous customers expecting employees to alter physics and change the weather, but I thought they were mere beings of fiction. Lo and behold, suddenly I had one in front of me, and I found myself desperately trying to come up with an answer that wouldn’t sound sarcastic and make her angrier.
Before I could utter a response, however, my colleague interjected.
Colleague: “I’m sorry, ma’am, but I’m afraid you’re going to have to wait your turn.”
Guest: “I beg your pardon?!”
Colleague: “We got a call from [hotel in town a few miles away] earlier to let us know they’re using the sun right now. One of their guests was rudely demanding that they bring the sun out from behind the clouds, and they didn’t want their poor guest to go unsatisfied.”
Guest: “Well…”
She seemed to trail off, as though realising how ludicrous the request actually is when hearing it aloud. My colleague continued though.
Colleague: “I can give the other hotels in the area a call to let them know you need the sun next. When the guest at the other hotel is done using it, I’ll flip the sun switch under the desk, okay?”
The woman DID look embarrassed then. She mumbled something under her breath before scurrying back out to the pool, which was already looking sunnier as the clouds were moving. Still makes me giggle to this day.
