Similar to Kitakaze's story, but I used to work for the front desk of a hotel. That's a job where you see a lot of things which make you go hmm. Recalling in no particular order:
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Every few months or so, we would get very large groups. School groups, US First competitions, martial arts groups, hockey tournament groups, Avon 3-day walkers, trade shows, and so forth. Hell, the production crew for Shallow Hal and many of the actors were there as well for about a week.
The Avon 3-day walkers were always a favorite of mine. Nice people, very friendly, some have been through a lot and others were there to give support to those who had.Â
So one particular morning, they're all getting ready to start out on their walk and due to the volume of people staying with us, we arranged express checkout so all they had to do was come down and leave their keys on the desk on their way out. I was closing out some rooms in the system when one person walked up, left a key and started to move for the door.
"Thank you, sir," I said.
"MA'AM!" she said as she turned around to glare at me. She was very handsome.
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Another morning, another large group. A bunch of karate kids and their families left early and the same express checkout process was provided. About 10AM, the housekeepers are very busily trying to turn rooms over because we were expecting another very large group in the evening. Some families still hadn't left the building at this time.
Behind the front desk, we had a small black and white monitor hooked up to a security camera overlooking the pool and hot tub. I happened to look over and see a couple getting it on in said hot tub. Security had already left for the morning, so I got on the radio to ask one of the maintenance guys to go in, deliver towels, point out the camera so they knew they'd been caught, and to politely ask them to head up to their room since there were still kids around.
Sheepishly the couple wrapped themselves up, waited until the maintenance guy left the area, went to the far end of the pool area... and finished. Evidently believing they were out of range. The pool area was then locked for the rest of the day, the hot tub drained, and thoroughly cleaned.
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Once upon an April Fool's day, another large group checked out. No other bus tours or such were expected to come in that day, so the front desk manager scheduled himself to arrive at noon.Â
No one liked this guy.
Arrangements were quietly made with Sales, Housekeeping, and Restaurant staff to come up with a six page list of peoples' names for a large group of elderly travelers, about 2-3 busloads. So come 1pm, the manager finally shows up.
"Bernie! Crap, we're SO screwed. LOOK at this!" Handed him the list and watched him go pale. With that many people expected to arrive within the hour and so many rooms unprepared for check-in, he started anxiously pacing through the office huffing and puffing, and going outside to smoke, panicking like it was the end of the world.
We finally let him in on the prank about 3pm when he kept looking at the clock and wondering why no one had shown up.
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Add to all this a water main breaking, fire, and blackout, and having to help evac all the guests and transport them for each of these three events, it was seldom a dull moment. I actually miss that job.
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Every few months or so, we would get very large groups. School groups, US First competitions, martial arts groups, hockey tournament groups, Avon 3-day walkers, trade shows, and so forth. Hell, the production crew for Shallow Hal and many of the actors were there as well for about a week.
The Avon 3-day walkers were always a favorite of mine. Nice people, very friendly, some have been through a lot and others were there to give support to those who had.Â
So one particular morning, they're all getting ready to start out on their walk and due to the volume of people staying with us, we arranged express checkout so all they had to do was come down and leave their keys on the desk on their way out. I was closing out some rooms in the system when one person walked up, left a key and started to move for the door.
"Thank you, sir," I said.
"MA'AM!" she said as she turned around to glare at me. She was very handsome.
--------------------
Another morning, another large group. A bunch of karate kids and their families left early and the same express checkout process was provided. About 10AM, the housekeepers are very busily trying to turn rooms over because we were expecting another very large group in the evening. Some families still hadn't left the building at this time.
Behind the front desk, we had a small black and white monitor hooked up to a security camera overlooking the pool and hot tub. I happened to look over and see a couple getting it on in said hot tub. Security had already left for the morning, so I got on the radio to ask one of the maintenance guys to go in, deliver towels, point out the camera so they knew they'd been caught, and to politely ask them to head up to their room since there were still kids around.
Sheepishly the couple wrapped themselves up, waited until the maintenance guy left the area, went to the far end of the pool area... and finished. Evidently believing they were out of range. The pool area was then locked for the rest of the day, the hot tub drained, and thoroughly cleaned.
--------------
Once upon an April Fool's day, another large group checked out. No other bus tours or such were expected to come in that day, so the front desk manager scheduled himself to arrive at noon.Â
No one liked this guy.
Arrangements were quietly made with Sales, Housekeeping, and Restaurant staff to come up with a six page list of peoples' names for a large group of elderly travelers, about 2-3 busloads. So come 1pm, the manager finally shows up.
"Bernie! Crap, we're SO screwed. LOOK at this!" Handed him the list and watched him go pale. With that many people expected to arrive within the hour and so many rooms unprepared for check-in, he started anxiously pacing through the office huffing and puffing, and going outside to smoke, panicking like it was the end of the world.
We finally let him in on the prank about 3pm when he kept looking at the clock and wondering why no one had shown up.
------------
Add to all this a water main breaking, fire, and blackout, and having to help evac all the guests and transport them for each of these three events, it was seldom a dull moment. I actually miss that job.
