Widening Road Means Widening Expectations

(I am a front desk agent at a local resort. The road going up to the resort is under construction during the late morning all week to widen the road. A guest comes in to check in.)

Me: “Hello there!” *starts going through the information about resort and the road closures*

Guest: “That won’t work. I have tee times then.”

Me: “Well, you could go out earlier and have breakfast in town, or you could drive around it will just take you another hour.”

Guest: “No, that won’t work.”

Me: “Well, I can’t change it, unfortunately; it’s controlled at the government level.”

Guest: “You should have called me.”

(Keep in mind, we have thousands of guests that come in, and not all the reservation information has a phone number.)

Me: “I’m sorry, but we don’t always have contact information for each guest.”

Guest: “Then you should have contacted [Travel Agency] to find out.”

Me: “We unfortunately don’t have the manpower to call and find every guest to let them know about the road closures. I’m sorry. It is on our website, though.”

Guest: “I just don’t know why you couldn’t have called to let me know.”

(I realize that this the whole conversation has been a waste of everybody’s time. I pick up the keys and hand them to the guest, smiling.)

Me: “Okay, well, enjoy your stay!”