Sunday, February 15, 2009

Tell the Police that You Wont Give Me My Money

Have you ever had someone ask you to call the cops on yourself???
It is something that happens very rarely and as you will see, it was probably not the best decision a particular guest made just last week.

It was a wonderful Tuesday afternoon. I had just gotten off work and Sarah (not her real name) was just starting her very first shift working alone. Due to my school schedule and the fact that I had been up since 5am I decided to go home and take a nap. Not one hour into my nap I got a phone call. It was Sarah telling me that a former guest (let's call him Jordan), whom we had kicked out just three days earlier, was here demanding to get his one night's worth of money back.

You see, three days before we had asked Jordan to leave one day earlier than he was scheduled to. When we asked him to leave we returned his one night's payment for leaving early and due to some damage in the room we only gave him half of his deposit back.

In order to try and avoid my having to get out of bed I decided to try and talk to him over the phone. He simply started to yell at me telling me that I was a thief and a liar (why is it that "thief" and "liar" always seem to go together?) and that he simply wanted his one night's payment back. I told him that we have already given him what money we owed him and that if he wanted to argue with someone he could argue with the General Manager.
To which he replies, "I don't want to talk with the General Manager, I just want you to stop ****ing lying to me and give me my money back. If you don't come down here and give me back my money I will ****ing kill you and this other b****!"

I decided that this might be worth getting out of bed for. So off I went back to the hotel. By the time I got there my friend Jordan was very unhappy. I showed him the paperwork that shows that we gave him back his night's payment and that we held half of his deposit for damages (which he of course signed). This of course is when his story changes. "All I want is the rest of my deposit back!" he says adding, "If you are not getting me my deposit back then let's get the cops involved!!"

I love these words!

"Call the cops and tell them that you are ****ing stealing my money from me!"

This is the conversation between me and the woman at the police station:
Me: Hi could I get the police to come down here please
Woman: Ok, can you tell me what the matter is
Me: uh, yes, well, I work at the hotel and one of our former guests would like you to send the cops down here because I apparently stole his money
Jordan: She ****ing stole my money. Make her give it back!
Woman: I'm sorry, what? Are you calling on behalf of someone else?
Me: Um, yes I am calling the police on myself, on behalf of a former guest.
Woman: Ok then, I'll send them down.

So the police came. Talked to him for a bit. I showed one of the officers the damage in the room then came back to the lobby greeted with "if you don't make her give me my money back now I am going to kill her!" Sarah with her wonderful wittiness says to one of the officer's "is he uttering threats?"

The officer's agreed and told him to take his stuff and leave immediately otherwise they'd arrest him for uttering threats. Jordan uttered something else under his breath, went to grab his bag and leave when a big ziploc bag full of "white stuff" fell out. In what seemed like half a minute the officer's determined that the bag contained illegal drugs (duh!) and they pinned him to the ground and arrested him for possession.

Moral of the story: Don't call the cops on yourself when you are in possession of illegal substances. Especially not for a measly $50.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Welcome to Tales From the TL

Hello and Welcome to Tales From the TL!

This blog will be dedicated to the memoirs and diary entries of one Front Desk Supervisor (that's me!) who works at a small hotel in her hometown.

My intention is to entertain and inform the general (cyber) public about the ins and outs of running, managing, and surviving in the hotel industry.

Yes, it is a cutthroat and fast-paced-never-a-dull-moment form of employment. Except of course at this point in time during which I am currently writing/creating a new blog to keep myself busy, while watching "Meat Loaf: To Hell and Back" on Much More Music.

Yes, there are always people walking in and out of the front lobby, and there is always something going on in the hotel. Again, except for right now because well, it's Sunday and everybody who was staying over the weekend, has checked out and those who are not checking out are sleeping... like normal people do!

Alright, so maybe I'm not working in the busiest, most high end, cutthroat, always-on-your-feet (in fact I'm sure that I spend 95% of my time on my rear end), full to the max 5 star hotel (in fact we're only a three and a half star hotel... the half stars count though!).
However, just because it is Sunday and just because we're only a small-ish hotel in a small-ish town doesn't mean that we're totally sleepy. In fact, I could tell you stories!!! Many many stories! Stories about Love, Hate, Despair, Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll. I can tell you stories that include Weddings, Sports, Addiction, Mental Illness, the Elderly, Families, Funerals, Children, and even the Hells Angels! In fact, I've got so many stories to tell that I could write a book... or even a blog!!!

Thus, I will write. We'll start with a blog and perhaps move on from there. Did you know that some people have become famous simply by starting a blog? I mean wow! Look at Perez Hilton... he just started writing a blog and then sprung up out of nowhere. The person who started that blog about passive agressive notes now has two books I believe. WOW!

Anywho, to make sure that I am not hurting anybody or violating anybody's privacy and whatnot all of the names in the stories that I write about will be changed (except mine of course...). So don't be suprized if you suddenly notice that there may be a lot of Sherry's or Bob's or Gabrielle's who happen to show up at the TL. (I'll try to be more creative but I can't promise anything).

Please note however, I will not make up any of these stories! Anything and everything in this blog will be true life events (not including the names).

Anyways, I hope you enjoy your stay.

Thank you for choosing Tales From the TL!

Ciao!