And welcome back to Tales from the Service Industry. I'm Bill. I'm joined this evening
with Miss B and new guest joining us tonight, Mike.
Thank you for having me, sir.
Thank you for being here. Traditionally with a new guest, we'd like to ask for a little
introduction. If you could walk us through some of your career highlights, we'd appreciate
it.
It'd be my pleasure. Thanks for having me on, guys. Just wanted to introduce myself.
It's Mike. Started the industry back in 99, 2000. I have been doing this for almost 23
plus years. Been to about seven different franchise companies and 12 hotels.
Wow. Seasoned vet.
It's quite the assortment.
Mostly all flags.
Nice.
Happy to bring some tales, if you will, from all those experiences because I believe the
hospitality industry is just unlike any other about what we experience on a daily basis.
Well, that's true. That's exactly why we're here. That's the genesis of this. So glad
you brought your stories.
Always, sir.
So, A-hole of the week. Do you got one?
Jumping right in.
Let's jump.
I'll take it from there. A-hole of the week. The hotel I'm currently at, gentleman comes
down. He's pretty much not sold on the hotel rate. He thinks that it should just be $100
and he booked it at $594 plus tax, which sounds like to be about $620. So we're nowhere near
the expectation to which was actually charged. Company booked the reservation, but he basically
alerted that he's going to book it and just assume that we're going to change the rate
is what she told me.
Oh, wow. Presumptuous.
Yeah. Presumptuous. It's like you're going to JCPenney and be like, I love that sweater,
but I only pay $100. We're pretty much the industry that still believes in bargaining.
Oh my God. I cannot stand when guys do that. And it's like, you know, it should be this
much, but it's not.
After carefully explaining the elements of revenue and who we had in house that's governing
the rates, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, that makes that's completely out of my control.
He wasn't just about hearing any of that. All it can relate that just doesn't believe
the rates. So we just went back and forth and he basically just says, I came to this
conclusion because of where it's at geographically, the clientele that you have and the making
of your sheet pillow count, which was, I found intriguing to bring into the conversation.
Now I said by experience before, so obviously if you've been in the hospitality this long,
you can deal with a lot of irate guests and you can start breaking down the problems to
the point in which you got to learn how to solve it eventually. So I just said, how are
we going to solve this? I'm really not willing to budget on rate because I didn't book this
hotel.
Right. And the assumption that you get the rate down, he goes, well, if you don't get
me this, I will absolutely lose my faith in Hilton. And so I was like, okay, faith in
the brand got to hold it. So how can I rekindle? So I said, I'll do this. I will take your
rate down to and ask him what was the rate again. He actually upped it. He went from
a 99 to one 10. That was pretty, pretty good. Pretty good.
Really?
Governing that.
That's 11 bucks.
Yeah. If you're willing to sign a hundred rooms, whole year, that rate, I'll drop it
down. Then he goes, you know what? No, I am just going to have your, and then he just
starts going off the rails about everything he wants to take from me, including my profession,
my job, everything else. Fire, brimstone, everything coming from the heavens. And then
I calmly asked him, I said, I believe our relationship is no longer solvable. And unfortunately
enough, it didn't end fun. He left. He did call back and he spoke to a person that said
that they would lower the rate. He couldn't give names. He couldn't give names. That's
the thing. No one ever writes down the names. It's important in this industry, but he did
try that with the front desk and they didn't believe it. So I got the call again. And then
he did, he did. Do you know what he dove into? He goes, I spoke to someone at your hotel.
Really? Very mean gentlemen. And you know what? At this point I'm like, did he not remember
my title? And I'm like, who'd you speak to? He's like a plump gentleman. I was like, oof,
you know? And so at this time I'm, at this point I'm bought in. I'm in it. We're in it
to win it right now. So I was like, I looked directly into the phone, like I'm talking
to him and I go, we have exactly four plump gentlemen. Sir, I want, I want to make sure
that we get to the bottom of this. Could you, could you please explain? And because he did
not remember my title, having the conversation with me and know that we weren't going to
change the rate, I did say, do you remember how plumpy he was? I consider it the key to,
the key to good customer service, the key to good customer service is always, always
be straightforward and have a straight face and just compel it without comedy. And do
you know what? To my demise, you know, I know we're in the, I know we're in the era of being
respectful out of people's body position. He did actually remember how plump he was.
Which is, no, no, it was a big plump. His words exactly. His words exactly were, he
goes, this gentleman was large. I would have to say a 52 double breasted suit with a 48
waist. That specific dimensions. I was not expecting that curveball time, curveball time.
Had to bring out, had to bring up the old jcpenney.com thing and look up the suit size,
how big this gentleman was. And he goes, he did say as a benefit to me personally, cause
they didn't always talk to me. He just spoke to me about 15 minutes ago. I did say, I think
I know the person you're talking about. He didn't lower your rate, did he? He goes, I
thought he was going to lower the rate. He's like, I spoke to him and he said he was going
to lower the rate. Yeah. And so I was like, you know, let's go over these, the size again,
cause I don't think we're talking about the same person. So what time was it? He goes,
it probably was about 15, 20 minutes ago. Oh, 15, 20 minutes ago. And I go, well, I
believe he spoke to that person. So hold on. Now I want to make sure that the guest feels
heard on a second time. Of course. So I actually put them on hold. Of course. So that, that
time I know this conversation is going to be long. So I didn't take my time with many
things, but I did put them on hold for about five or 10 minutes. Now if he's been on hold,
that's pretty much the time. Oh my God. So five or 10 minutes go by, I went, get coffee
talk to the front desk. I may or may not have made myself whatever's left of the breakfast
cause I think it was closing. And then it went set back down. I think he was pretty
good about actually staying on hold. So it was pretty good. And then answer the phone.
Deep breath. I go, I think I found the plump person you're speaking to. I think there was
a miscommunication is that he might've said he's going to lower the rate, but he did say
I have to check with management and unfortunately I'm not going to be able to change out that
rate. And that's what he said. Well, I'm no longer going to stay at your hotel and that
guy has horrible customer service. He's very fat. That's what I'm like, you know what?
I was like, sir, we don't fat shame here. This is, I don't want to mind up on any type
of news channels or anything like that. So unfortunately enough, because of that, because
of that, I was willing, I was willing at one time to maybe compromise a rate, to maybe
compromise something I can understand where communication breakdown happens like that.
But once you start just literally injecting yourself into someone's body composition,
it may or may not be able to handle. That's where I have to draw the line. Oh my God.
And he's like, look it, I really am sorry. He goes, I'll just pay the rate. Just forget
we had this conversation. Oh my God. Dead done. Got to keep my rate. Oh my God. Do you
guys record calls? A-hole of the week. I would frame that call. God, that was wonderful.
The fact that he went with plump really kind of hit home. I was like, wow. How could you
like not laugh? I've been hitting the gym. Like I feel like, I feel like this is wow.
This is, this is an eye opener for me. This is it. Oh my God. Not hitting it hard enough,
you know? Cause like, obviously if we spoke to plump gentlemen, there's a front desk and
I did not tell him that our whole front desk is all women. So I knew he was talking about
me. Oh my God. Unless he was dealing with the guy who works in laundry. Oh my God. Otherwise
just me. That's so funny. I know. You're gonna hit in the gym after this. Plump. I know.
I think if somebody called me plump, I would probably cry laughing. Like who uses that
word? I'm pretty sure we all can relate. What is it? Peach? The fact that the, the fact
the gentlemen knew my suit size and my waist size down to the tee. I mean, literally the
only place I knew to look up was jcpenney.com to look up suit size. I was like, wow, how
big is that? What's a 52 double breast? I was like, woo. Oh my gosh. That's insane.
I understand the way size, but the suits jacket size, I was like, that throws me off. I was
like, I know I got shoulders, but, but the weird thing is he didn't say about my beard
or bald head. Who has that in hospitality? But he's like staring at your waist to guess
the size. Perfect spot. That's creepy. That is so creepy. Time will only tell, but I don't
think he's going to come back. Oh, bummer. I could have bought them with the rate. You
know, I thought I had them with the a hundred rooms, you know, want to buy in, want to get
the sale. Wasn't having it. He'll be back. Yeah, he'll be back. Looking for that.
Plump gentleman. I'm sure we all could relate about the person that says like, Hey, I'm
checking in. It's me. My last five stays was horrible, but I'm back. Expectations. Hi.
Oh my gosh. Well, that's like when we were talking about Mr. E that one episode. God,
do you remember that guy, the chain smoker in that one realm? Ooh, that's a lot of cigarettes.
Yeah. We talked about that. We just, just destroyed them. The walls are, the walls are
painted white, but they're yellow. Yeah. Gross. So actually, um, because ho people like to
stink up a hotel room, do actually found actually worked really well to get rid of that. And
it was actually, when I worked at another property and it's weird that I hear to get
rid of smell, you don't change the carpets. Don't change out any air filters. You simply
just buy natural scented oils and put three drops in a one gallon paint bucket and paint
the walls. Never have a smell again. You know what we have done? The little urinal cakes,
you know, those little things, put those in the air vents. Works really well. I'm enjoying
that painting one. So yeah, if you look up your air paints, then see these little things.
Yeah. That comes from a urinal. So I know we're having a conversation here, but I do
have a story to tell you guys. This one's really good. It was, you know, we were discussing
prior to is the, uh, you know, it's kind of dark, but it is Halloween, but the death side
of hotel, but this is different because this was my first death inside a hotel. I know
the first ones are always, this one was a journey. Okay. Okay. From start to finish.
Okay. So come in here. Um, front desk tells me that they haven't seen our regular for
quite some time. So we're going to do a room check and, um, knock at the door. No answer.
Knock at the door. Answer. Come downstairs, call. And I'm like, you know, this could be
it. Come here for death. I prided myself because this industry is common to them. You know,
horrible, horrible, up the door. You know, a gentleman's really old, live inside the
hotel. So, uh, he was, he was like, you didn't have any clothes on, you know, no one wants
to pass away. Fortunately enough, coming like that. So here's where it goes weird. So, uh,
this first start with the call called the nine one one nine one one's like, can you
resuscitate? So what do you do? What, put yourself in that situation reality wise, you
got a person here that's don't know if it's dead or not, but he's, he's, he's dead. So,
you know, I put it up, I was like, maybe I can resuscitate no air, no nothing. Just laying
there in the bed and respond. No, I couldn't hear the ambulances just yet. So I go up there
and I'm like, look at this body. And I'm like, no, no, can't do that. The girl on that one's
like, you have to, sir. I was like, what, wait, what I got to do? What? Like you could
save this person. I'm like, I w that's a lot to put on me right now. It's very emotional.
I don't remember how the song goes. And like, and anybody knows me. I'm very, very, I'm
very, very alive with it. Like, you know, I'm very emotional. Obviously this is my first
person that passed away. He's, he's very, very passed away at this moment in time, but
like the, I don't know the past away eyes didn't close and you know, they're all gray
in there. All gray. So like, so like you want to stick your lips on that one. And uh, so
I told her, I was like, you know what? There's a lot that can go on here. He like, who knows
if he died in natural causes? Like, is there, uh, is there probable cause? I'm like, I,
you know, I don't know. I haven't absorbed the, this is all the span of like five minutes,
obviously. Cause I'm thinking about him. All I'm doing is trying to prevent myself and
put my lips on his. So finally I hang up the police get there. They determined it was natural
causes. No file. They coroner's office puts a sticker on the door. And then so, uh, the
family arrives now he's been living inside my hotel for probably about 13 years, 13 years
living inside it. He always hated his family. I could understand why. Cause here it goes.
So his room is stacked up with 13 years of living, decorated, decorated veteran hotel,
decorated veteran. So it's extended. Yes. Yep. Yep. So family shows up and they're like,
I'm the brother. I'm like, Oh, that that's good. Um, did you, uh, did you get a letter
from the coroner's office? Cause they asked for it. He's like, I did. He hands it to me.
So he gives it to me and a read over it. Everything looks kosher and everything. And then he sends
in two people letter with him to go inside the room and they basically just ripped the
room apart. Wait, rewind. Why does he need a letter? What's that for? So when, when you
pass away outside the room, the coroner's close it off and the only person allowed to is next
to kin. So that was his brother that was allowed into the room. Oh, his brother allowed in
a, just basically looking to get money from the room and see what was available in there.
So yeah, this is where it begins. So brother comes down and he's like, look at stuff's
all junk, just throw away nothing in there that makes any money. I'm like, Oh, I'm sorry
to hear about your brother. So those that know me, I'm very honest man, this is a tribe
being so we're going through the room and we find this box of all these diamond rings.
Oh, summer military decorative summer others open to the box. I'm like, Oh, close it. Persons
with you as the engineer. And he's like, what do we do with this? I'm like, I don't know.
They told us to trash all this. He's like, he can't throw these is a real diamond. This
is a real diamond stuff. Real deal. Yeah. Yeah. Out of all that's there, literally it was
probably just give you an instance. The room is maybe 400 square feet studio apartment.
It probably was about four and a half feet high of just pure clothes. Yeah. And he smoked
so much to the walls were yellow. They used to be white. So, but good gentlemen. So call
up the brother. Oh, you're a nice person. Yeah. Call it the brother. We found some rings.
It looks to be a, maybe a family heirloom. He's like, you know what? Thank you for calling
me. I was like, Oh, that's good. He's like, you know, why don't you come to the funeral
and drop it off? He's never known the gentleman. I'm now going to a funeral. I was like, sir,
is there any other way we could drop this place off? Maybe prior to, or he's like, actually
I want to do it right after the service. You're free to come. I'm like any other, he's like,
or you could just throw them out. I was like, I really think you should have these. It looks
like it's got some names. He's like, like I said, do it right after the funeral. Like
dark area. Oh my gosh. So I get dressed up in my daily, uh, regular clothes, tie suit,
you know, that way to work. So I go there and lo and behold, sit down. This guy goes,
well, now that everybody's here, we can start the service. I'm like, Oh, he's like, Oh
my God, that's all talk about our memories about him. Every person will be given five
minutes to speak about the person, including you, including me. What the heck? Yeah. This
is real. This is real. Oh my God. Yeah. Um, so, uh, came down to mine and I'm like, you
know, maybe I'll talk about that. He liked like muffins in the morning. Like, you know,
what am I going to, I was going through my, cause I don't know this person at all. I know
he stayed there, but he lived there for 13 years, but I only worked there for about a
year and a year and a half. Uh, so I didn't know him very well and he kept to himself.
I just know that he always hated his family and here I'm sitting in his funeral with his
family. And so, uh, I happened to sit down to the only open seat in the place, which
was there is 13 seats about here about this gentleman's life. The person next to me was
his unknown lover. Oh, very dark history with that one. Yeah. So she was crying the whole
time and I kept on comforting her and she kept asking me, she's like, how do you know
him? I'm like, I don't, it was weird because every time I said it, she's like, that's so
sweet. I'm like, I don't know whether you're hearing me correctly. I just said, I don't
know the guy who's here to give some medals or some war, whatever jewelry and awards.
Cause the decorated, there was some decorated metals in there and then also, uh, so I stand
up and then her, his brother stands up as well at the same time. He's like, look guys,
I want everybody to be, uh, pay attention to this. This gentleman here knew my brother
the last year of his life and was here to offer some insight about what his life was
like and talk about what he liked, what he didn't like, just perfectly explained his
day to day operations and really kind of keyed us into his thoughts and how he liked to live
his life. He just threw you under that bus. 100%. So now, do I not feel comfortable? I
know nobody at this wedding. I've been sitting next to a woman who's crying nonstop and everybody
hates her because I guess it's a long lost lover who he rekindle or he dated after his
original life passed away. Could you imagine being thrown to this guys? This is our industry.
I'm just here to do a job because I got a good heart. I'm here to give a box away to
metals who have been trying to get this way. So here I am. This is real now. Oh my God.
This might be just come up with a crazy story about him like wrestling a bear or some shit.
Everybody's dead silent staring at me. So honestly, I've been talking for a while now
and I'm kind of long in the tooth or I do speak a lot. So I just kind of went on how
he's a good man, how he's, you know, always cared for the abandoned cat that was at the
hotel. He seemed to always feed it. He liked to really have his time in the morning time
by smoking cigarettes and he always spoke very kindly of his family. Which was not true
right? That's when his brother stood up and goes, we know that to be bullshit. And that
sat down. Apologize to be sorry, but that's exactly what he said. And I'm like, Oh, I'm
like, well, I think includes my time here. So I sit down and of course, uh, brother's
son speeds up and goes, that's all you're going to say about him. Like what? That's
when I'm like, you know what? That's all I kindly wanted to share. I wasn't expecting
to share anything. I'm just here to make a delivery. And he's like, Oh yeah, he's got
the cool stuff. We can get the whole money from then I'm friend. Number one to everybody.
I have items that are worth money. Oh my gosh. And so after things over, I walk up to him
and I was like, I'm sorry. He's like, Hey, don't you get the rings? So I was like, Oh
yeah, these are the heirlooms that was left. He's like, thank God. Thank you. Thank you
for the kind words and for bringing these. I mean, we'll get these over to the pawn
shop soon as way. Oh, cut done. Oh my gosh. That was my first death. One of my only deaths
in 23 years. Wow. What can you believe that guy called me out during a speech that I was
giving about a guy I don't know? I can't believe you had to be there in the first place. My
gosh. I didn't really know what he was showing. Like I didn't know what to wear. I was the
only guy dressed up by the way, only guy dressed up his brother who's there who loved him to
death was there in shorts and a t-shirt. Oh my gosh. I was about to ask if you were the
only guy. I was the only guy dressed up. Yeah. I was the only guy dressed up and the woman
that was just bawling on my shoulder, by the way, never seen her, never seen her at the
hotel, never seen her. They were dating all the way through. I'm like, I didn't even want
to ask, like, is this an online thing? Like, was this a virtual thing? Like I didn't think
the guy had a computer. Oh my gosh. Crazy. I figured that like it's been this long. I
know we kind of come in our industry to have a person best way inside a hotel. I thought
it was kind of regular for me to have this type of experience for having to wait this
long to actually have a death inside the hotel. So that was my first death inside the hotel.
Wow. Consider yourself lucky. Yeah. I get one of those every month. But I'm not the
only one. I've never been asked to speak at a funeral. So could you imagine that? Nope.
I can't even imagine what I'd say. Could you imagine being called out by his brother? I
probably would have said it's not real. For not knowing the truth. You know what, sir?
So how did you know my brother? I charged his credit card every seven days. Always went
through. I basically became good friends with the pallbearer people I was going to talk
to and not necessarily because they were all conjugating to talk to each other and I did
not want anything to do with that family. After dealing with the whole pawn thing, I was like,
look, I can understand why he didn't like you guys so much. And I even gave you guys
kind words. You guys were dicks to me. That's when you should have like slipped a couple
of rings out of the box before you gave it to him. I know everything was in there. Oh
my gosh. There was so much clothes we gave to Goodwill. Like, oh my gosh. And you know
what? To how to make the light of this one. I did like the fact that my engineer did say
he goes as we're cleaning stuff, he goes, it's so funny that like everything you treasure
in your life after you pass away almost to another person that doesn't know you becomes
garbage. So learn to always admire what you want to live your life to your fullest to
what you think is treasures because to another person after you pass could be nothing. So
I thought come from a guy who can't fix any type of plumbing and drove my thing aside.
It's pretty deep. It's an old saying. One man's trash is another man's treasures. There
is one man's lost and found one is another man's speech opportunity at a funeral. Oh
my God. We do. You know what the hotel right now, we don't have too much lost and found.
That's the thing is that it's kind of weird that no one leaves too much stuff because
like the length of stay is like literally less than a like it's like 1.2 or 1.3 days.
You know, not too many people bring stuff. They're in and out. BT business during your
business transient business during the weekdays and then just maybe sports teams for kids
at on the weekends, but very short stays. I think that's why we just don't get a whole
lot lost and found. The stuff that does get lost does get called upon like usually like
headphones or charger stuff like that. But clothes, a lot of stuff. It's kind of the
only hotel I ever worked at that doesn't have too much lost mountains and mountains of it.
Oh my gosh. I have a lot to get expensive stuff to Mike and I worked at an extended
stay property and you know, average length of stay is five nights at 5.3. Yeah, like
that huge amounts of loss and found because you could unpack. I mean, there was dressers
and closets and all that kind of stuff and people would leave so much behind. It was
crazy. Yeah, yeah, I could see that especially, you know, you don't check all the dressers.
I got a lost and found one. Mustn't found story. Yeah, I do tell. Yeah, this business
guy stays with us Monday through Thursday. Very nice guy actually checks in checks out
normally just there in business and leaves. So he leaves on Thursday. He never leaves
anything behind, but we get a package and dressed his name and doesn't really have
anything else. But give him a call because we know him. He stays with us every single
week Monday through Friday. It's his name. We don't anybody else in the arrivals. The
name that even in our history, you know, he can look like 10 days ahead. Didn't find anything.
We're like, it has to be him. Yeah. So I call him and he's like, what? I got no package.
He was kind of forceful and sometimes when you're irritating him outside of general,
he's not the best friend to deal with. He's just there for business and not really there
for small talk. So he's like, I didn't get no package. He was like, I was like, I told
the address on it, confirmed his name. And he's like, well, if it's me, that's me. Open
it up. What's in it? Hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Committed a crime, committed a crime. So we opened it
up. We're bought in. We opened it up and it's just about as dark as sex toys go. Oh, yeah.
And you had to describe to him what it was that was in this package. So he's already
irritated and I'm like, oh gosh, you know, where does your mind go? You obviously don't
know this guy. Pretty straightforward guy like and you're by retell us. Got some packages
like what's in there? He goes, I had some and this and get this. He does that. He goes,
I did have some birthday gifts sent there for my wife. He goes, but I thought I picked
that up. So what's in there? Did I forget something? I'm like, it's a it's like adult
stuff. He's like adult stuff like comics. I'm like, no, no, no, not like comics, sir.
Not like comics. I was like, you know, kind of like the strap on type deal. He's like,
what safety belts? No, you are kidding me. No, he's like, no, spell it out. Yeah. So
I do. I go, I was like, you know, it's like sex toys. He's like, oh, that ain't mine.
Two seconds later, get a breast guy coming out. So I was he's like, I think I had my
package accidentally delivered here. Boom. So we found it was going to he shows his ID
and he had a package actually delivered our hotel. Those are his. And if he is like, you
guys open it up. Was it a guest inside your hotel? He goes, did you tell him was in the
package? We did. He's like, oh, boy, that had to be a fun conversation. I'll get you
guys later.
Please is cool. Oh, my God. Yeah. Oh, man. That's wild. Yeah. We didn't. The thing is
with that hotel is we didn't get a whole lot of it wasn't like some of the hotels that
we worked at where you get a lot of packages. I mean, it was very, very far from me to ever
get a package. I mean, the length of stay there was like two or three days wasn't, you
know, around the resort area. So it wasn't like long day to stay. We didn't get a whole
lot of packages. So and we did have a whole lot of BT business to where it was, you know,
was in a leisure market. So, you know, it was just kind of spontaneous for us to find
out that one words like, wow, that's crazy that like, how did this wrong package get
delivered? Be the guy who constantly stays was the only business traveler that we have.
And it wants to being this. I was like, what are the odds? But I did leave for a huge joke
for quite some time.
That's so funny. Do you remember when we had that, you know, that airline that used to
stay with us all the time? Were you there when we unpackaged one of the items because
it wasn't claimed in a certain amount of days and it was a stripper pole? No, I was the
airline. Yeah, no, I wasn't there for that. So we didn't know it was the airline, but
this package had been there over a month and the name wasn't something that was familiar
to anyone. And it didn't say the airline or anything. So after a certain amount of time,
we opened it up because it was a long, narrow box. We open it. It's a full on stripper pole.
And then we were like, oh, that's weird. Not even a week later, one of the airlines came
in. So yeah, I had a package delivered, but it was under my sister's name. We're like,
here you go, airline. Please don't install this in the room. And they were a flight crew.
How are they going to take that on a plane to get privileges? I didn't know a half of
what you guys were there. We had like tires in there. Tires. Yes. Bog tire. Like there
was ski equipment, golf clubs. I was like, this looks like a mini like Dick's sporting
goods. Because I mean, shipping for any of that where they were going to is incredibly
expensive. Is that what it was? The shipping? Yeah. So that's why they would order everything
sent to that hotel and then on their next layover or if they had a friend that was on
a layover, they would take the package back. That's always what it was bad though. It never
got to me as we, we love their packages and stored them right in the, right in the crapiness
of a parking garage. Yeah. When it rains, it's done. That was on them for having, what
was it like 40 bikes in that storage cage? So ridiculous. Like those people, they just
moved in. It wasn't layover. It was their entire garage. Yeah. I thought it was unique
to that hotel. The hotel I went to after that pre construction, we had an airline crew and
they'd had the same thing. They had a full cage and basically room in the garage. And
I was like, I thought it's part of the commitment. That's insane. No, it's part of the contract.
They have to have storage. Wow. For all their bikes and stripper poles and tires. I dealt
with the airline or companies, um, you know, was that an airport property? We had, um,
Delta who stayed with us. That didn't have the only thing with that airliner was, is
that they, um, they come go so quick. They have sleep for maybe a day, like eight, nine
hours out the door. It was constant rotation, 24 hours. So we never got anything from them.
Then we had an Amsterdam crew and they would stay for two or three days. They had a huge
layover. They were really big in electronics, huge in electronics, especially Apple products.
Oh, interesting. I think it was an M it was, it was based on an Amsterdam KLM. Yeah. I
don't really have any airliner stories. I can't really remember. I know that like a
lot of the airliners, they used to drink heavily, which falls into the stereotype, but I remember
that, uh, for Halloween we had like a whole pilot outfit left behind. So they really got
a gag uniform. So when I addressed was a pilot and I was all the stewards of the time be
like, just go to a bar. You're made. Okay. I have a question. I think you said that,
uh, we had a previous conversation that you've had to deal with a lot of nudity. Oh, a ton.
What is it? Your favorite nude story? Oh, it's so we had a couple stay inside the hotel.
The woman believed in like nudity as like a way of life, like nudists. Like that's,
that is it exists inside the United States, but she didn't really quite grasp the concept
of it. Um, kind of walking around the hotel. So, wait, wait, wait, wait. So she was walking
around the hotel. You go get ice down to the breakfast. Yeah. Birthday suit. Yeah. Oh my
God. Yeah. Yeah. I had to catch her twice. Like, and like, you know, you want to be respectful,
but at the point at which you're like, you're in decent exposure. So respectful lady, go
get some clothes on. All right. Yeah. So not knock at the door and literally open it up
and she smoked a cigarette inside the room. Yeah. This is the time where he has only a
year ago. So it's a, you know, that's kind of common in there. So I was like, it's time
to check out. She's like, you know, I'm going to come out naked. I was like, well, because
the night before I told her she couldn't be naked inside the breakfast area. Oh,
are you kidding? Yeah. And like, she couldn't believe it. I stopped her coming out of the
elevator. And so I should ask her to leave then, but you want to maintain good guest
service. You don't want to get up there. She went back, put on clothes, put on clothes.
So I basically said, I was like, look, you cannot walk around naked. I got kids inside
the hotel. It's a family oriented hotel. He can't do it. She's like, fine. Closes the
door. I come back half an hour because it was checkout time. Like 12 o'clock. She opens
the door. She put on a white shirt, long side to walk out scarf naked, his drinking a soda.
She's leaving, turns around. She goes, I believe in only nudity. And then pours the drink on
her. What? Yep. Pours the Pepsi on her. On herself? On herself. Wet t-shirt contest style.
Wet t-shirt contest style. Oh. As she's walking out. I can't imagine, cause it was about 106
degrees that day. Her walking outside, hopping in her car with sticky Pepsi. Was she on drugs?
No. Normal person. Should she have been on drugs? She just, but very, very adamant about
believing about the nature and culture of being nude and that society's high trying
to hide it and trying to make it not a thing. And she is there to be advocating that it
is. Her husband never said one word. That was just the most bizarre thing. Or out of
their minds. It was the most bizarre thing to me. Wow. I have so many follow up questions.
Like number one, how did she function out in life if she thought she could be nude all
the time? I don't know. Who would serve this person? Like at like going to a gas station.
Or how does that person have a job? How are they paying for this room? I have so many
questions. Oh, whatever the job is, there is a certain line of work for that. Well,
there's a couple, there's a couple, but whatever that job is, it does not include a name tag
that you stick on. So it all occurred. Like the weird thing is, is that she was so adamant
about it, but her husband never was nude. It was just her, but what really got to me
was like, do you really have to pour Pepsi on yourself? That's so gross. Yeah. Cause
it has to be sticky. It was, and it wasn't like the can like, oh, it was like a bottle.
It's like 20 ounces. You know what's funny? I was picturing the can and that taking a
while and then you just sitting there watching as it's like slowly chugging out. Chugging
out. Yes. No, the plugging. Yep. No, no, literally. It was like, and you know, like when you're
pouring like direct down, like it's the foam and the, the pop out. So it, it was, it didn't
look pretty. It looked just gross at that moment in time, but she rolled the stairwell
down. Can you imagine that smell on the stairwell or the, uh, the elevator down, you know, to
speak of this one as I actually had a police wouldn't come. So, you know, it was during
the pandemic, which was police were kind of like not in the mood to kind of jump into
anything and also wonder about public safety about it doing, you know, like, because there
was a whole lot of movement going around that time too. So like to be a resting person,
that's not in the right mind. The unfortunate part about just knocking at doors, but the
weird thing is, is that every time I knock at a door, cause I was just following them
around. I was like, dude, we're, we're in this to win it. And I was just trying to tell
people not to answer their door and people still answer it. But the lakes, it would be
literally one after the like, not cause they're like, don't answer the door. This person's
naked. He's just not his right mind and cops aren't coming. Oh, they open up the door.
You'd hear from like, Oh, hello sir. To us. Oh my God. Or the little kid is like, Oh,
you got a wingy like me. Oh my God. So after that, the only weird conversation after that
was after the police arrested him, they came back to me and I'm like freaking out. I was
more mad at the police for not showing up. I know. He's just like, sir, did he play with
himself? I was like, what? Yes. You know, I, he didn't, he didn't. So I was honest and
he's like, no, there might be a gun in there too. And that's like I said, he goes, because
there's different levels about how you can treat nudity. He goes, he wasn't using it
as he wasn't weaponizing. I think he said in a sexual way. So there's nothing we can
do. Oh my God. Can you believe that? And I was like, this guy just created me all sorts
of hack walking around this hotel. I mean, I'm pretty sure he scarred three kids for
life. Well, that's when you just tell the cops to take them for criminal trespass. That's
what I know. I have a tip for you guys. If you're ever in this kind of circumstance again,
what works? Taser? No, because that's assault bear spray. No. So this actually, it's not
service related, but during the pandemic, one of our next door neighbors apparently
just like lost it. It was on all kinds of crazy drugs and he would scream at all odds
of the night. He would throw his pots and pans slammed into our apartment. We would
call the police. The police would say there's nothing that they could do because he's in
his residence. And I'm like, but he's throwing pots and pans at ours. And they're like, well,
it's technically not your property. It's the apartment's property. If they want to press
charges. So there's nothing they could do. We called the police every other night. They
could never do anything. So my husband found a way to make it stop time. He came out on
the patio and started going nuts. My husband went to the back patio, turned on the hose
with the thing and would spray him until he went back inside and calm down. Bad dog. Yeah.
Like a cat just like, so when the police don't come, just get out the hose or a squirt bottle
and continually squirt them until they leave. Cause guess what? Crazy people don't like
to get wet. Apparently. It immediately goes through my mind of how to, how to, how to
weaponize this engineer. Give me the 450 foot hose. It's happening now. Exactly. Hey, nude
person. You call the police. Be like, okay, you're not coming. The hose is going to stay
on until you come. And the water is cold. We had to put an end to it, but I had actually
a landscaping crew who was so mad at the homeless sleeping outside. You know, he used to do
it. He used to get them out here. Turn on those sprinklers. Water. Water. I didn't know
it like, and you know, it was kind of, I said like, it didn't hurt him. But I was like,
what's going on? He's like the homeless are going to scatter. I was like, why? I just
there's a lot of questions come with that little statement. It's true. You see like
44 or five people like running around there. And I was like, well, what's going on? So
run down there. And I walked down there and the landscape was just cracking. I'm like,
what's going on? He's like, we get them up at the sprinkler, sir. I was like, why? That's
so dehumanizing. He's like, they mess up the grass. Oh, that's his job. He was so content
on the grass. All right. This is funny. You're going to cut it. No, no, no, no. This is funny.
But that was how I kept homeless out of the hotel that I was at by the park. Was it? Yeah.
So from nine PM till six AM every two hours, the sprinklers would come on for three minutes.
Three water. And it would it would just get everything wet and they just stayed away.
It marked and it was one of those things where it became a deterrent. It wasn't a mean thing
to do to them to get them up. Unfortunately, some of them would fight back and they would
try and cap them or break them off or whatever. But that was our humanizing way of just kind
of eliminating the fact that this is a dark place for you to do whatever you wanted to
do. And unfortunately, where we did this, it was entirely because they were doing drugs.
So I have video of a guy smoking crack in this little nook. It's like this like 45 seconds
long. How do you know if it's crack? Because it was crack. Even says I'm smoking crack.
Why are you bothering me? I'm smoking my crack. Sorry, sir. Homeless sprinklers should be
on in 30 minutes. Oh, my gosh. It's like it sometimes I just like oblivious to how I talk
to a guest, which is usually pretty calm. But dealing with homeless sometimes is sometimes
brutal because you try just being the most sincere because you don't know what you can
wind up on TV. But I remember when like a homeless guy was naked outside with another
naked girl and they're sitting there smoking drugs there and he's like, what do we got
to leave? I was like, well, first of all, you guys have no clothes on. Okay, you guys got
to get clothes on. You guys can't be around private property. And he goes, there's nothing
wrong with this. This isn't your property. I'm like, well, it is eventually left. But
it's just weird. And you're trying to be. Yeah, you're trying because it can go which
way. Because obviously you're dealing with a person who's not in the best of means. Yeah.
And so here we are. We have no general training of how to handle this. And police officer,
you train to deal with homeless that are living out here. But hospitality folks just, you
know, that's why like how do you approach it? I try approaching it just the best possible
way you can. But some of the stuff that we just deal with is just absolutely brutal.
Like I said, they're naked, just doing drugs, just chilling there and you got to somehow
get them off your property. I love where I'm coming. I love this place. Oh, look, there's
naked homeless doing drugs. I mean, for us, our problem is that we are trained to be hospitable.
We're trying to say yes, we're trained to say, you know, what can I do to make this
better? How can I help you or whatever? You know, when the homeless are dealing with the
police, the police are absolutely not that way. No, no. Get up or you're going to jail.
You know, for me, it's like, you know, I would try to approach people compassionately. Hey,
you know, I know you are in a tough place, but I can't have you here kind of a thing.
So I remember the last property I worked out with Bill, he was always like my backup when
I needed. I would be all nice and try to, you know, help me accommodating. And then
when there was difficult situations, I called Bill up and he's like, let's do this. And
this one time, let's go have a rough day. Give me someone to take it out on. So I go
into remember there was like the business center was like this little nook. I'm walking
by and there's a guy that's obviously not a guest and he's in the business center. And
I like kind of do a double take. And then I, you know, I ask him, hi, sir, is there anything
I can help you with? No, go away. I was like, okay. And we go in there and the two of us
went and I'm like, hi, are you a guest here? And Bill's like, you need to leave. Good cop,
bad cop. No, that was, that was good cop. And you caught me at the wrong time. That hotel
is just a bad location. Like you could sneak right into the business center pretty easily.
It wasn't really, I think there's doors on it. It was very difficult. And then also you
had, it wasn't necessarily a huge home homeless spot, but there was a lot of homeless I'm
trickling it outside and we had through the water. It was very beautiful back, back at
the hotel, but that used to matriculate like homeless back there. And like we had, I mean,
if we had an event there, we didn't clean up all the way. And so was back sitting there.
We had access. It was all glass doors normally, or you know, sometimes the banquet people
would leave the doors propped open or doors drawered away. You don't know who's coming
through your like, remember it's like looking through security cameras. You're like, what
is going on? Because, because there was no alarm back over there. It was pretty much
a, that, that outside door that gets you out to the water was a stairwell that people naturally
just leave outside. So sometimes they would just leave outside there and like there'd
be homeless just waiting like, Oh, it's mine. Was it one of you found a homeless guy at
that property under the stairs in like a trash bag or something? Yeah. Yeah. That was you,
wasn't it? Yeah. You were telling me about that. I'm like, what? That was the guy that
had the suit and everything, right? Yes. Yes. So he was homeless, but did not want to appear
to be homeless and he would dress in a suit every day. Yeah. What? Yeah. That's why he
always got an identify maybe a homeless person by shoes or nails. So there was a lot of fun
stories from that property. You know, I still have occasionally it pops up as like a memory
on my phone of, and it's of you waiting into water. The ceiling is pouring down and you're
in a suit and you're sure it happened during one of the many pipers that I remember walking
in and seeing you in the water and trying to vacuum it up as it's all coming down. And
I think at one point you had an umbrella and I just let, Oh, I gave it to you or something.
Oh, so funny. Remember the kids were playing with his glass everywhere. There was, so we
had fire pits inside the pool area. I remember the little glass rocks and no glasses out
there. And so they sat there glass around us almost cutting their feet everywhere. I
was like, how are we going to vacuum up this? That outside pool area was gigantic and they
just were throwing that glass from that rock all over the place. Oh my God. I was like,
what? That's when we had, um, that was before the, that was a previous show manager before
you had it already. Yes. Yeah. Marty, he couldn't pull the eyes of Marty. He has a five diamond
resort hotel from New York, man. That guy knew his stuff. How he wound up with that
company. I'm not quite sure, but he didn't, he didn't stay long. He went to a resort hotel.
That was very nice with he went to a Eagles had or something like that. Very beautiful
resort in Vermont. Yeah. I follow him on LinkedIn. I'm trying to think of a, what else happened
at that property that was just crazy. Everything. Do you remember the one time the engineer
shut off the whole water to the building and then cap it and lock out, tag out it. Yeah.
I was like, what? Why would you shut off the water? We had a trouble pulling him like he
literally shut off the water to the building and then lock out, tagged out. We had to get
ahold of him, which it wasn't interesting. His phone about why it's locked up and we're
going to undo it. Wow. That's wild. Oh my gosh. I don't remember that. Oh yeah. That
was a, well, probably was just for a morning. Cause we came in and obviously no one had
water and like he was doing multiple times at that place. It also had, um, that property
had a buried diesel containers inside the ground. They were leaking. What? Yeah. Out
of the loading dock. Yeah. They were bleeding into the ground and kind of like EPA situation.
They sealed it off, but yeah, that was pretty crazy. Is that where the ground exploded?
No, that was a broken pipe. Oh, but yeah, they were leaking inside there. I was like,
like when the, when the county told me that I'm like, okay, well that's, that's new. It'd
be good, right? You know, it's probably killing ants. He's like, well it probably could explode.
I'm like, oh, and that too. Yeah. And the weird thing is the guys, even like the EPA
team was like, how long has this been leaking? I'm like, do you think I'm hiding documents
that I know that answer that I'm not telling you? It's going down right now. That's insane.
Oh my gosh. Did they ever get the shuttle moving that hotel? No. That was weird. I
mean, way before it's time. Oh my God. They paid someone to haul that off. Yeah. What?
Yeah. It was like a brand new shuttle, all battery ridden. No one ever used it. Yeah.
But it was the drive batteries were shot and it was out of warning. So the cost to get
the drive batteries replaced was too much. That's an all out loss. The engineer is like
500 bucks just to be able to haul it away. Yeah. They paid somebody to get rid of it.
Okay. I mean, it couldn't be worth any money. I mean, you take the batteries out. I mean,
probably could. Staring wheel. If you got it for free. Yeah. Yeah. Man. God, I forgot
about that. What a mess. All right. What's the craziest thing you've seen at your current
property? How about this one? Earlier this year, we became pet friendly. The franchise
company that became pet friendly. You know, in our hotel was used to dealing with that
score dropped heavens falling stuff like that. She's like, I lost my pet. I was like, Oh,
I'm so sorry. I was like, where'd you lose that? It was in on a collar. She's like, no,
it's a tarantula. Oh, no. Oh boy. Oh, in the hotel. Yeah. Oh my God. I quit. I quit my
job. She's like, I was sleeping and it crawled out of the cage and I'm like, you gotta be
kidding. She's like, it won't bite you. It's harmless. She's like, I don't think it attacked
anybody. I'm like, well, the shirt doesn't attack you. It's owner. But us finding we
don't have the same bond. I'll send you, I'll send you a bill for the exterminator. So if
you've seen a whole bunch of housekeepers start doing the whole holy sign like, Oh Lord,
like, Hey guys, we're just on the hunt for a creepy crawly. Uh, the spider measures,
spider measures probably close to seven and a half inches from. So yeah, pretty much like
a salad plate. Yeah. Seven and a half inches. It was pretty big. We actually found it, um,
in the, uh, in the laundry room on the, uh, the floor that was on, but it took a long
time. We're searching all over for it. And we have brown and yellow carpeting is actually
brown and yellow is the color on it. But yeah, I'm not even kidding. Yeah. Just not a fan.
Just not a fan. That's wild. I think this is actually a good place to end that. It was
a pleasure, man. I appreciate you joining us. I love your stories. Miss working with
you. I'm so glad you were able to join us. And I literally don't know the last time I've
laughed that hard. I literally cried. I'm pretty sure my makeup is still down my face. That
was a good giggle. Well, you're going to have to come back because this is fun. Yeah. I
got plenty of other stories guys. We can go inside. Well, to our listeners out there,
if you heard some of these stories, maybe they inspired a memory. Um, did you know you
can write to us? Yes. You can email us at tales from the service industry at gmail.com.
And we will be very excited to share them on the air. So send over some of your fun,
scary, gross and traumatizing stories. Yeah. The grosser, the better. Um, and if you know
anybody in the service industry that might enjoy this podcast, we encourage you to please
send it along. We've got some new listeners that we saw that popped up in some very strange
places. Yeah. Um, Africa was one of them. I'm sorry. I don't remember the country off,
off the top of my head. Couple from Germany. We've got a few more Canadian listeners that
have joined the show. So, you know, thank you for sharing the podcast. We appreciate
the growth. It's great to see. And, uh, we will be back in two weeks with another episode.
So thank you for listening. Bye. Bye.