"Do Not Rent" — a term that you (unfortunately) become familiar with very quickly in the hotel world. This is a maximum penalty reserved for folks who decide that rules and common decency simply don't apply to them. It's their world, and you're living in it (and wrecking it!). This story is from a few days ago, wherein a gentleman decided that he was going to make all his problems not just mine but also deemed me as the reason why his entire day was falling apart.
It's the height of wedding season, which also means it's the height of entitlement season. Honestly, being in this industry has practically ruined the veneer surrounding weddings; yes, they can be beautiful, but everyone involved is often so high-strung and ready to blow, I often question, "Is all this even worth it?"
The main antagonist of this tale is none other than one of the fathers of the happy couple. Dadzillas, sworn guardians of their precious baby girls, can and do exist. But this is perhaps my first encounter with one as bombastic and out-of-line as this one, especially considering he was the father of the groom.
Prior to my altercation with Mr. Bomb, I encountered him and his wife the night before when they intially checked in. They had carts of clothes and other stuff and were already bickering with each other from the jump. Their check-in took a moment as a result, but they weren't more of an issue for the rest of the night.
Fast-forward to the next day, and now we get started. I come in for my usual 3-11 shift, and it's about 3:30pm. I get a call from the Bombs' room, and Mrs. Bomb already has a short fuse. "Our shower is STILL dirty! We haven't been able to use it since we arrived!! There's hair all over it!"
I'm dumbfounded, remembering the fact they arrived the night before. Since my day was just getting started and the AM shift made no mention of this issue, I informed her it was the first I was hearing of this. Nevertheless, I reached out to Housekeeping and ended up speaking to the department director.
She informed me that one of the housekeeping supervisors already went up to that room hours earlier and even gave them fresh towels. Now I was even more befuddled, and my 'Foolishness Finder' also really started firing off. 'How could a tub still be dirty after someone cleaned it?' 'Why didn't anyone report this last night?' So many questions.
I called the Bombs back, and this time, Mr. Bomb answered. He confirmed that someone did indeed come up earlier, but "they didn't do it right!" Trying to manage the skepticism from leaking into my voice too much, he got fed up with my questions and yelled out: "I'm coming down there!"
It took him about 3 minutes to make good on his promise. Without skipping a beat, Mr. Bomb exploded at me. To put it succinctly, he redirected all his rage about his allegedly dirty tub toward me. "I can't believe the way you're treating me right now!" "I've never been so disrespected in my life!" "You're the rudest dude I've ever met!"
He was screaming so much that passersby started taking notice. But what really tilted the scale was the fact that the Executive Committee and Sales Department were both still on-site. According to one of the other desk agents, who I sent in the back before Mr. Bomb walked up, a lot of the Sales agents didn't want to come out when they heard the screaming. "Is that my client?" one of them asked, shuddering at the thought of engaging. At the request of an off-site FD manager, one of the Sales managers stepped out and intervened.
She took Mr. Bomb over to the couch directly across from the front desk and tried to calm him down. Even though she was now speaking to him, he kept pointing at me and yelling, "That man is evil! He deserves to be fired! I need his name right now and a contact in corporate! I want him GONE!"
Another guest from the night before who I became friendly with had come back to collect her luggage. I called out to her and waved goodbye and Mr. Bomb mocked me, adding: "Don't play pretend!!!"
His family eventually came down a few minutes later and joined in with trying to calm him down, but his incessant rage against me did not subside. Eventually a mix of an entourage, including some more Sales managers and his family, ushered him away to another part of the lobby. At one point, they were way down the hallway, and although several minutes had passed, he was still looking back at me and pointing: "I still need his information! He does not deserve to work here! I don't normally get like this, but he has me shaking!!"
It was made known to me that between Sales and even the GM herself, he and his family were wined and dined in one of our restaurants that evening. Because Mr. Bomb was paying for two expensive wedding-related events the next day, they did what they could to placate him, including having his 'horrible room' re-cleaned yet another time.
About an hour or so after the ordeal was over, I was speaking with a Security guard in the back office (Security was not on-site at the time of the incident.)
As we were talking, the GM walked in and cut me off: "Hey, so we're going to just move on from this. I don't want you talking about this anymore. Not that we're going to pretend that it didn't happen, but we're not going to look for more issues with this. We're just gonna focus on the guests and shine, yeah?" and then she walked off.
A few minutes after that, a mass email was sent out to all the different departments about this wedding party, asking us to "really make some magic happen" so they could enjoy themselves, and up to now they "haven't been treated with hospitality."
I think you can imagine how I feel about the reaction from management. Nobody from Sales or the GM asked if I was good or even tried to hear my side. I wasn't reprimanded in any way, but the fact that they just so happened to be involved and this was the result is, well, surprising, to say the least. Or is the word I'm looking for "appalling?"
Profits over people, and all that…
TL; DR – An incredibly explosive guest stormed down to the desk to yell and scream about his tub allegedly having hair in it. The tub was cleaned earlier in the day, and yet he insisted it still wasn't up to par. When I was simply repeating what the Housekeeping manager about someone having already come up to the room, the guest got more vexed and redirected his anger toward me. According to him, I was rude and condescending and deserved to lose my job. Members from Sales as well as the GM corralled and coddled him all because he was the father of a groom and paying for two expensive events set to happen the next day. He was not removed; he was compensated, and all departments were asked to treat him and his party with the utmost kindness.
Source: r/TalesFromTheFrontDesk · by /u/ScenicDrive-at5