Too Bad Towing Doesn’t Get Rid Of The Driver

I work on weekends at a popular hotel chain doing night audit and security. I arrive at 10:00 pm and notice that there are lots of cars in the front and side parking areas. We have four spaces dedicated to a shuttle service; one is currently in use by the company while the other three are occupied by, I’m assuming, hotel guests. It’s still early and our restaurant and lounge are still open, so I give them time to move.

At 1:00 am, I notice that one car is still parked there and notify my front desk coworker that we may have to tow. He says to give them until around 2:00 am. I do a patrol at 3:30 am and notice that the car is still there, so I inform the front desk worker and call the tow. At 4:45 am, the front desk worker informs me that the guy whose car was towed is at the front.

Needless to say, he’s highly upset.

Guest: “You towed my car?! I park there all the time and I’ve never gotten towed! I have permission from [Assistant General Manager] to park there!”

Me: “[Assistant General Manager] is the one who conscripted me to tow any vehicles parked there with no exceptions.”

He has no reply to that.

Guest: “There’s no sign saying I can’t park there. Go outside and check!”

Me: “I know what the sign says. It says it’s shuttle parking only and others will be towed. Since those spaces don’t belong to us, if our guests park there, we will be fined.”

But he doesn’t care about our plight.

Guest: “But I’m a [Rewards Program] member! I park there all the time and I’ve never been towed! There’s no parking in the front, and I’m scared to park in the back; I don’t want to get mugged!”

Me: “Sir, all the the employees, including me, park in the rear. Actually, during the day, it’s probably the safest place since employees are often taking smoke breaks there.”

He has no reply to that, either; instead, he continues to complain.

Guest: “There are no shuttles even parked there. I’ve been coming here for months and never seen a shuttle parked there.”

Me: “There’s a shuttle parked right next to where your car was.”

I withheld the urge to state that since he parks there all of the time, he must be well acquainted with the sign since you literally cannot miss it as each individual space has the sign.

After continuing to yell at me and cut me off mid-explanation, he had the nerve to ask me for a ride to pick up his car. I was so flabbergasted that I let out a chuckle, informing him that I couldn’t even leave the property.