Welcome back everyone to another episode of Tales from the Service Industry. I'm your
host, I'm Bill. I'm here with Miss B joining us again.
Hey guys.
And we have a new host joining us tonight. We are joined by Nattie.
Hi everybody.
So Nattie, traditionally when we have a new guest on we like to ask them to just introduce
themselves and tell us a little bit about themselves.
My name is Nattie as you know. I've been in the hospitality industry for like about six
years. I'm a front desk manager now and it's going really good.
Nice. Well welcome.
Thank you.
Glad to have you.
Glad to be here.
Alright so tonight we're going to shift gears a little bit. We're going to talk about some
angry employee issues. We're going to talk about why you don't leave angry voicemails
for people that you want calling you back.
Definitely. It doesn't make you want to help them.
No not particularly. But we'll dig into why.
Yeah.
I've got one that we can share and kind of dissect a little bit.
Sounds good.
So I know that you ladies had some issues with employees this week. Prompting the conversation
point of angry employees.
Always.
Unfortunately.
So how about we go down that rabbit hole then?
Okay.
Okay I'm down.
Miss B or the newcomer?
I can start.
Alright.
Okay so a few years back we had an agent that used to work with us. She was very difficult.
Couldn't read her. A lot of our agents felt when she would come in they would be on edge
because it would always feel like if she was in a bad attitude then the whole day was just
shot.
Yeah.
It was really really bad. If she had a great day it was phenomenal. Like the check ins
were amazing. She was amazing to guests. She was amazing to her co-workers. But if she
had a bad day.
Everybody knew it.
Everybody knew it. Everybody would stay clear from her and watch out because she would bring
her sarcasm to like a new level.
And would just be aggressive and like passive aggressive and just would make people feel
awkward and uncomfortable and it was just like no one wanted to work with that associate.
She mastered the passive and the active.
Yes.
And she was very somebody who loved to joke. But if you joked with her it was like an insult.
It was like.
Jokes and quotes.
Yes. But she always wanted to be the one joking. But if you reciprocated to that she would just
go off like there is no tomorrow.
And it was really hard to like I remember document her because she wouldn't necessarily
do anything wrong. Her attitude wasn't great but it was very difficult to like pinpoint
put it down on a piece of paper.
So it was.
You couldn't document like.
She wasn't in a good mood.
Exactly. You can't really document somebody by their attitude right.
She wasn't mean to any. It was.
No that's not true because when we were renovating this particular place I remember we had the
door shut and and she comes in pissed off because the doors were closed. Mind you they
were jackhammering in the side like in front of us. So we need the doors closed so that
we could be able to speak to guests on the phone. She comes in just pissed off. And I
remember her coming in and saying why in the other doors closed.
Oh you could document for that.
And I said why do you think the doors are closed.
Why do you think that asking why are the FN doors closed the right way to search or shift.
So I just yeah. So she kind of went at me like she was ready to. And I remember another
agent just grabbing her. Whoa. So yeah it was the first time.
How did she not get documented for that.
That's a very interesting question because she also went off on one of our top bosses
and they let it go. What. Yes. That's insane. Yeah. So it was just let it go because we
were in a stressful situation. Oh come on. So that's crazy. Yeah.
Oh no in fairness I literally had the worst night auditor ever. I've had some bad night
auditors but this one just he did stuff so bad all the time that he could have essentially
wrote himself up and out. But we couldn't write him up as much as he would do things
wrong. Plus night auditors are really hard to replace. And so it's like we took more
with him than we should have. Yes I remember. And more than you know you would with any
other associate. But because they were night on it we're like oh my god. He literally covers
two days a week. Night on it. Like it is so hard to find someone like full time. It's
actually easier than two nights of night audit to find someone that's willing to do that.
And not only was he willing to do two nights and night on it but he would also do some
day shifts. So during the day shifts it was better because we could keep an eye on him.
But the night audit shifts like I would just hear things like nobody answered the phones
all night. He would constantly brag to the rest of the team that they won't fire me because
they need me too much. So it got to a point where we had our agents come up to us and
say hey that's not fair. You know we don't say that. And it's true. And how is he getting
away with it. Yeah. He doesn't do any work. He constantly messes up on his check ins.
Well he's of the opinion of that because he knows that nobody wants to work night audit.
I know it's funny. At one point because we're trying to coach him and he would always say
the right things to me. Like I'm sorry I'll do better. You know. And but then he would
go and do different things and say different things to other people. But at one point you
know one of the associates came up and was complaining to my manager about that. Like
why is he getting away with this. And they're like oh well would you like to cover those
shifts. I'll let him go right now. No. The face they would put. No I don't want to do
night audit. You know we're trying to figure it out but it's a little bit difficult and
nobody wants to cover that shift. Yeah. Yeah. It's it's really hard. You know at this point
with technology it's just the hours. It's not the task that you have to do. Exactly.
You just have to sit there and stay awake. Yeah. And come to work looking presentable.
Oh God. Yeah that's a gimme. This person would come in the shabbiest clothes looking just
like a schlub and like had just woke up from bed and then he had probably did long hair
to which it's supposed to be neatly pulled back. Would just wear it back in like a messy
ponytail or a messy bun. And we'd be like no it needs to be kept. Then he had this beard
that was absolutely unkempt to which I coached him and I was like look per the policy like
it's not that you're not allowed to have facial hair but it has to look groomed and neatly
trimmed to which he then tried to take me to HR because he said it was against his religion
to cut his beard. Which was not what we were saying. We were just saying keep it clean
and make yourself look presentable. To which he then said okay okay I will. Did he? Nope.
Nope. And on top of that he was always late to his shift. Constantly. Constantly. I remember
approaching him once and saying hey you know why are you so late all the time? And he's
just like oh you know I was sitting in my car contemplating my life. I'm like 40, 45
minutes? And he's like yeah you know I don't know if this job is good for me or if I want
to be here. I said oh okay well how would you like it if you know your A.M. associate
came in 45 minutes late you know and you want to leave to go home and get some rest. He's
like I would just leave. So obviously we had a real winner. Yeah. And we did not put it
up for it for very long but basically we had to get an exit strategy. We posed it to him
so basically you have these conversations so it looks like you're looking out for them
and it's like you know I could tell you haven't been very happy on the nights so I've got
a plan okay. We're going to bring you to days and I'm going to post this night on it position
and we're going to get this covered and as soon as it's covered I'm going to bring you
to days and you won't have to do nights anymore. Oh really wow that's amazing thanks for looking
out for me. Of course of course I just need you to hang in there and as soon as we get
this position filled. Okay I got it filled quicker than I thought it would and got the
new person trained and then before he could even come to days he talks to me and he's
like you know I just don't know if this is for me and I'm like you know you have to be
happy in life. You got to you know if you don't like what you're doing and you don't
like your job you shouldn't do it. Life is short. If you want to quit I totally understand.
In fact here's this paper. I'll have you check on Friday. So he quit and it wasn't on bad
terms it was his choice. He made the decision to leave because it wasn't for him. He got
his last day in which he had to work to to get his check you know and it well I don't
even think it was a week. Like you know it wasn't even a full two weeks. I was like no
just finish out the week so that way we can get your track ready. He's like okay so his
last day obviously night on it shift apparently my am agent comes in there's no one at the
desk. There's no one anywhere. She goes to ballet and says where's the night on it. He
just dipped around like 4 a.m. He just left. Yep deuces. And then nobody called anyone.
And she's like why didn't you call me. I don't know what to do. So there was no one at the
desk no one answering phones anything for at least two hours. Yeah. Well fortunately
it was from 4 a.m. to 6 a.m. right. Yeah. Oh my god. We were just like mortified. I
was like what. I was so angry too because I'm like why you could have just text me said
hey I'm done. I'm out of here. You know. He dipped. Yep. So that was a great employee.
Yeah I mean jeez. I've had people like that though. Yeah. I think we all have. Unfortunately
I got moved to yet another hotel. Yay task force. I had a conversation with one of our
housemen today. So apparently last week Friday. No I'm sorry. Last week Sunday one of our
housemen got into a verbal with their supervisor. Not terrible just attitude like not quite
insubordinate but getting there kind of a thing. Nobody said it was you know a horrible
conversation but on Monday that supervisor brought me a resignation letter. So I don't
like his attitude. I don't want to be around him anymore. Yeah. Wow. So I asked her I said
well I can respect that. I can value that. But are you quitting because of him or are
you quitting for other reasons that he's just a contributing factor to because just quitting
over one person. That's extreme. Yeah. It's a little extreme right. She said no it's I
I'm not real happy. I've got an opportunity so on and so forth. He's just kind of the
icing on the cake. OK. All right. So I can understand her point of view a little bit
better kind of helps me understand how I want to handle this guy. So today you write him
up gave him the documentation explained to him that being aggressive with people is not
acceptable. Yeah. Nobody has said that what he said to her was overly offensive but his
behavior has now led her to submit a resignation letter. I can't have that at this hotel. So
I'm asking you in documentation to please correct and change your attitude. Yeah. Good.
Not terrible right. No. No. He looks at me and goes oh well if that's the case when somebody
says something offensive to me I'm going to come complain to you so you can write them
up. OK. OK. We have just completely missed the point of the whole conversation. Right.
The whole conversation is you don't talk to people that way and have them quit. Right.
So yeah his takeaway was that it's just not acceptable and that he can now come complain
to me. Why don't you do that. Yeah. Go ahead. I'll be like really. Yeah. What did you say.
Exactly. Yeah. And then it becomes this like high school thing right. What prompted it.
Yeah. Oh my gosh. We just had a bad one not too long ago. This young lady was upset about
the new uniforms. Oh we talked about that actually. Did you. Yeah. And she threw stuff
at me. Yeah. And yelled at me. Oh God. And then got fired. Yes. It's just people. People
suck. They do. And it's like there's a proper way of letting your management know instead
of going to the extreme. Yeah. But nobody does. Nobody does it the proper way anymore.
Well because we're dealing with these children. I'm sorry. There's no other way of putting
it. They're kids and they're ducklings. Yes. Or chicks and ducks. Yes. And it's just so
frustrating to deal with them. Yeah. And as managers we have to be super careful how we
conduct what we say how we react towards things. And then all in the meantime we're also dealing
with guests. Yes. Who are also acting like children. Oh absolutely. All day long. Like
for me the biggest problem that I've got with the quote unquote workforce now. I don't know.
That sounds weird. But anyway the biggest problem that I have with it is to your points
about having to be so careful in what we say to our employees. I agree with that in many
many many many ways. But where I disagree with that is to the point of the guy that
doesn't want to keep his hair nice for work or comes to work in shorts or you know whatever
the case is. Comes to work in pajamas. Oh yeah they happened last week. Somebody came
to work in pajamas. In pajamas. Jesus. Cry me. This is our associate we're having a tough
time with right now. But literally we coach everyone about their uniforms constantly.
This is again we're having uniform issues and this person comes to work in shorts and
then a top and they're both matching prints. Yes. Yellow. Hawaiian. The brightest yellow
you can think of. Floral. Yes. And I'm like those are pajamas and I literally walk up
to her and I'm like what's this. She's like oh well you know they have a sob story and
all that and I'm like but you can't come to work like this. I said it doesn't matter.
You have to go to Target or something. But it's right up the street. It's like there's
a store by a $15 shirt $20 pants. You can't come to work like this. But we have to coddle.
Yeah. Well and that's what I'm getting at is that you have a policy. They know the policy.
Right. The uniforms were issued but people come to work in pajamas. People come to work
in shorts. It's like I understand that you can't be like oh my god did you just crawl
out of the rag bag. Why are you wearing that. But you should be able to be blunt with the
associate and say look you are out of uniform. You are not in compliance. You are not working
until that is corrected. Period. But that there's a problem. I did that and then I got
told the back down. Yeah. That is my issue because you're fulfilling the policy. You're
doing things the way you should be doing. Yeah. And we get in trouble for it. And that
is the most ridiculous thing. Because it's also besides the fact of me just enforcing
it a week prior I got an email saying I'm noticing people outside of uniform. You need
to enforce it. You need to create an SOP. So I get this directive to come down. I didn't
even come down super hard. I was just like hey guys starting this date you got to wear
your uniforms. Yeah. That's it. End of story. And then it caused a whole thing where the
girl quit and threw stuff at me. And then I was told you need to like back off. You
need to calm down. And well if it's in the same color scheme then it should be okay.
And I'm like what. I'm going with one direction then you're sending me another way and I'm
just. That's why you save emails. Well I have it. And I said that. But you told me. Well
what we need to do is. It's hard. It really is. Because what should have really happened
we should have sent her home without pay. Right. I would have sent her home. I would
have sent her home. That's what I would want it to do. If we would have done that it would
have been us having to hear from the top our bosses. Saying that we're hard. And it's like
you make us create all these guidelines. Right. And somebody breaks them. We go and try to
correct them. And then you're told you did it wrong. We did it. Exactly. You need to
write an S.O.P. on uniforms when you're done with it. You need to send it to me for me
to review and approve. Sounds great. So I sign off on it send it back to you. You then
enforce it. I disagree with the way you enforce it and I change the policy. Yes. Yes. Exactly.
That's how. Welcome to management. Yep. Yeah. Oh man. It's never ending. Like I said we
work with kids. Yeah. But it's not just this for them. It's not just the employees that
are acting that way. Oh no. No not at all. Yes. Yes. Yes. Do it all the time. I can't
tell you how many times I've had guests leave either terrible voicemails like threatening
voicemails or I've talked to guests on the phone and they threaten you straight up. Oh
yeah. Recently I've had two good verbal incidents and I've got a voicemail that I saved from
years ago that I'll I'll share with you. Yeah. Yeah. I'm so excited. So the first two that
I've had recently I had a guy that called me up. He was upset about his stay which is
fine. I get it. It's understandable. But what he wanted versus what happened so very like
opposite ends of the spectrum. Right. Right. He had an issue with the hotel. I get it.
If you're not happy we'll make you happy. But good Lord. He booked for one night. OK.
He wanted his room comp. What was the issue. The hotel was not what he expected. It's not
in the best of condition. It's an older property. It's tired. But it's not nothing egregiously
wrong. No you don't open the door and see a chalk outline of a body on the floor or
anything. It's just it's the hotel has just been ridden hard. Yeah. Carpets are worn.
The door is danged. OK. It's just tired. Right. Yeah. OK. So he wants his room night comp.
Oh what. And he wanted 90000 points credited to his account. Oh my God. I would have maybe
laughed out loud. I probably would have muted that conversation to laugh. Well no I was
I was in shock. It's like how are you asking for. What are we talking about. Eight hundred
dollars in compensation. Geez. Yeah. Let's let's just talk about maybe a comp room night.
OK. Yeah. That's aggressive. Yeah. I'll give you a fifty dollar breakfast credit. How about
that. Yeah. So when I was telling him that there's a big disparity between what you experience
and what you're asking for his reply was you guys need to learn your lesson and I'm going
to make it hurt. Oh OK. Yeah. Don't you just love those guests so that the right you that
they think they're that important. Yeah. You don't know. They're going to teach you a lesson.
The only way you're going to learn the lesson is if it hurts and I'm going to make it hurt.
Oh OK. So he thinks he owns the brand. Yeah. Got it. Oh my God. On top of that. Yeah. We've
had people that are like I'm an owner. Oh my God. If I had a time for every time I heard
that. Oh I'm sorry. You're trapped into a time share. Yeah. You don't own yet. Yes. Yeah.
You're an owner of a bad decision is what you are. So I had one not that long ago. So
the guest booked three nights in one of our suites and that morning he rebooked again
using a third party. Well we didn't have that particular suite because that suite was already
sold. So we gave him a different suite and he actually authorized our agents to move
his stuff. Got a verbal. Yes. You can go ahead and move my stuff because he was moving from
one suite to another suite. So we do that. My bad guy goes up puts his stuff together.
We set it aside because the suite was not ready. He comes in and he sees his stuff on
the side. He starts just going off. Why is that? Because he clearly said that he did
not want his stuff moved. And I said well I do have the recording stating that you gave
us permission to move your stuff. It's on the recording. I can send it to you. He started
saying that he was the liaison to the prime minister in Britain. And this is when like
the queen died. This is recent. Yes. And so he was just like if anything is missing it's
on you guys. And we're like OK you know I apologize. We'll have your stuff up in your
room shortly. The room is getting cleaned. And he's like well why isn't it ready. It's
already four o'clock. And I was like for the same reason you tried to do to the other guest
you know you wanted to stay in that room. We said no we needed to have your stuff packed
so we can move it so we can get that room prepared ready for the other guest. So I stalled
listen to him go off on me for like twenty five minutes. How he's this huge important
person and how he's going to get the prime minister involved in this. The embassy is
going to call us. And the embassy was going to call us. Because I'm sure the embassy has
nothing better to do at the queen's funeral than to call a hotel that moved your belongings.
See. So time passes an hour after getting into his room he calls down. And what do you
think he called down about. Yeah what do you think. Something missing or broken in his
belongings. Ding ding ding ding ding. Not quite. Not quite there. So he's like I want you up
here. I want your housekeeper up here. I want your engineer up here. And so we all go and
we're all standing there and he just goes off on us. He's like this suite is just unacceptable.
The carpets are stained. The bed frame is torn. And the couches are stained. I mean
just the nitpick nitpick the entire suite into little itty bitty pieces. And then he's
off to top it off your H back sucks. There's nothing coming out. And so we just just let
him grill us. And I said OK we have two solutions here. One I will help you look for another
hotel. I will refund your money back and I'll help you look for one. Two I will comp you
one night and you can stay the last two nights. However it is a weekend and I know for a fact
all the hotels are fully booked. And so I let him think on it. I go back down. I call
hotels nearby because he specifically said he wanted a suite. Right. And the only thing
I found was the grits Carlton. So I call him I say I found a hotel for you. They have a
suite ready for you. And he's like well how much is the night. And I said six thousand
dollars. And he was just like oh OK well let me think about it. OK. So call the embassy.
Call the embassy right. I'm surprised you didn't say oh and you're going to pay for
it. Oh no I wasn't going to do that. I was going to refund his money back. Oh I know.
That's it. That's my extent. And so he calls me. He's like can you come up. And I said
absolutely. So I go up and his girlfriend's there and he's they start talking about how
our service is terrible. And I just said listen to it. And I said OK well I'm sorry I'm sorry
you're going through that. Did you make a decision. And they were like no we're just
going to stay here. And I said OK. And then he's like however my Rolex is missing. My
cufflinks are missing. What are you going to do about that. I said oh well I'm so sorry
to hear that. I will contact my security team will do a full investigation on it. And so
he's like no he's like they need to show up. Like my Rolex was in this bag and now it's
not. And so he's he started threatening us how he was going to get the embassy involved.
And I said all I can do is I can call the police for you. You can make a police report.
If it wasn't in the safe the hotel does not take responsibility. You gave us the OK verbally
to move your stuff. And he was just like get the fuck out of my hotel. Get the fuck out
of my suite. I'm like OK well let me know if you need anything else. But you know how
like when you can tell when a guest is lying. Oh yeah. You can tell like when they say oh
this is missing and they either a left it at home or it's in their car or somewhere
in their belongings. But they're trying to pull a fast one on you. It's annoying. It
just drives me insane. Yeah. Well OK. So I had mentioned to you that I was going to share
a voicemail right. Right. Oh yes. Oh I'm excited. So this woman. God. All right. So this message
is not that long. It's only 30 seconds. But this woman was angry and very threatening.
And I simply just laughed at the entire thing because it was just it's absurd. So here bear
with me one second. Documented. So when they can land my card for six hundred dollars they
now released it for the second time. If it is run again I am going to have someone arrested
for embezzlement. I need you to call me. My name is Jennifer. And I know the perfect person
to make that arrest with. Thank you. I love the thank you at the end. That's that just
kind of you. Yeah. It just makes the whole message that much better. That's nice. Really.
I love the terms though. You know it's like someone ran my card again. Yeah. Well it's
an open authorization. We're not taking money off of your card. It's an authorization. You
checked in. Exactly. Sorry. You know number one embezzlement embezzlement is when you
work for the company and you steal that company's money. Yeah. That would be embezzlement. Not
a credit card authorization. And quite honestly nobody's going to come arrest a front desk
agent for doing an authorization on a credit card. That's just not going to happen. Exactly.
That's so funny. But wait I'm also stuck on she knows somebody to make the arrest. Yeah.
Is that her stripper cop boyfriend or something. Oh. What. Oh my God. That is just so ridiculous.
Yeah. Threats. It's amazing how guests go to this level. Right. Well okay. So a threatening
voicemail. What's my inclination of calling that guest back. Zero. Delete. Just about
zero. Zero. Oh I called you. I never got a voicemail. Yeah. Okay. So insider secret.
People that leave that voicemail get called back at the end of the day. They are not my
priority. My priority is the guy that is honest and sincere about the problem and I want to
fix that guy's problem. Yeah. This is not my priority. I'm sorry. I'm like that too.
Yeah. I'm very like that too. There is the right way and the wrong way to complain. Correct.
Yes. That voicemail wrong way to complain. These stories wrong way to complain. Exactly.
And you know what's funny we've actually talked about this before so obviously people aren't
listening enough to know. I'm just kidding. Hey you know what we're a new podcast we can't
change the world right. Not yet. We'll start giving our cards out to Karen's. Be like okay
look you want to complain. This is how you do it. Yes. Oh my gosh. That's so funny. I've
gotten threatened so many times. It's just funny how many if I had a dime for every time
someone told me that I was going to lose my job. Oh oh I'm going to make sure you get
fired for this. I know Mr. So and so who owns the chain. Okay. You tell him I say hi. Yeah
I thought you were angry at me but here you are telling me you're going to do me a favor.
Thank you. Yes. I'm so flattered. Oh man. I haven't had one in a minute. He was my last
one. He basically said I was going to lose my job and that everybody who was involved
right my team was going to lose their job because he was that liaison of the prime minister.
So here's the funny thing. I'm so sorry. When you say you're the liaison people there's
a secretary. There's Google. Do you not understand there's Google and when you are a liaison to
anything your name is going to be on there. So I went to go look to see if it was true.
No he's not. So for the next couple of weeks we joked and every time I saw the director
of security I would be like have you gotten any calls from the embassy. Yeah. And everyone
just laughs. You could have really like taken the guy to task and just asked him for a business
card. Oh my gosh. That would have been so funny. That would have. I'd absolutely be
like do you mind if I get a business card. Yeah. I want to make sure that we make this
right for you. You know I want to make sure I have your contact information. Can I get
a business card. Next time I will remember to do that. Oh my god. So the other guy that
I've had recently was upset complaining to me in person and he wanted a series of compensations
and I did not agree with him and I pushed back saying that that quite honestly is a
little excessive. And his response back was well if you don't make it right for me then
I'm going to put reviews on every website that I can possibly find. And I looked and
I looked him square in the eye and I said well I'm sorry that A you feel that way and
B that you said what you said because now you've threatened me and I'm not going to
be subject to blackmail. So I appreciate I appreciate your concerns but everything we've
talked about up until this point is now off the table. You're free to go. I'm sorry. And
he did not like that. He's like you know I'm a such and such level blah blah blah blah
blah. And I said and I appreciate that. But what I don't appreciate is being threatened
and the company doesn't either. So you're more than welcome to take this conversation
to whoever you need to. But be aware that whatever you open I will be involved with
and I will share the fact that you stood right here. Look me in the eye and said if you don't
I will. And that is blackmail. Yeah. So we are done. You can leave. Yeah. Oh my gosh.
That's amazing. Yeah. I was so angry. I understand upset guests and I understand guests being
angry but this guy was contemplative. He knew what he was going to do. Yeah. Miss B's words
right. You may not like what I say. But that's your answer. Yeah. And that was exactly this
guy. Oh my gosh. We get those a lot especially P.B.X. or reservations or phone operator whatever
you call it. Whatever. Yeah. They blackmail us by oh well I'm going to post it in every
site. How horrible your hotel is. And I said oh OK well I'm sorry you feel that way and
that you have to go that route. But I still say no to when I feel like they're they're
crossing that limit. The amount of funny yelps that I've read when I'm looking to like go
to a business or hotel and I do read the social media the crazy reviews I don't take them
seriously you know because I see it from you know my perspective all the jobs I've had
with those crazy guests and I look for the reviews that are kind of in the middle. You
know it was OK. The hotel is a little tired but the service was nice. This one that seemed
realistic. Yes. And then I'm like OK I can feel I don't even bother to go to Yelp to
be honest because it's so I feel like it's toxic but it's not real. Almost everything
on it is hyperbolic. Oh absolutely absolutely. And it's just angry people just wanting to
lash out to whatever establishment they went to. So I'd never use Yelp. Because I mean
if you think about it like all the restaurants that each one of us goes to all the hotels
we've stayed at when you have like a nice time you're not as inclined to write a review.
It's only when you had a horrible experience or an over the top amazing experience. But
even then you're more likely to write about a negative experience and you are positive.
So these review sites are very tainted in that it's not an accurate depiction of how
people feel about that particular venue or establishment. Yeah no I agree. I try very
hard to write a very fair review you know and if it's really bad I'll just give them
a one star and say terrible experience. Yeah. You know I don't tend to do that. I'm not
coming back. I don't say anything. I don't even send a review. If I have a good experience
I'll write a review that's a positive experience. Yeah I try not to though. I don't know why.
So whenever I get surveys from hotels I always do them. And by the way even if my experience
was mediocre I still get 10 stars. Well why is that? Because I feel bad. I've been on
the other side of that where you know you're reading these reviews and they give you all
mediocre scores and how it tanks. Like I know it's not always the agent's fault. It's not
always you know the people who are there's fault that their hotel is tired and there's
they're working like they have no say in the amount of money that's put into the property.
But when you tank them on a survey for something that's out of their control they're the ones
who pay the price for it. I know I love it too. It's like when you stay at a hotel that
needs to be renovated and you write a terrible review about your check in experience because
you know Miss B checked me in and this hotel is terrible and they need to renovate and
they make it feel like Miss B is the controlling one. But yeah who decides that the hotel is
going to get renovated? Ownership. Yep. How much do they care about reviews? Nothing.
No they don't. You're just hurting the person checking you in. And it's like so yeah no
I literally give all 10 stars unless there was something bad about the service unless
someone's like egregiously rude or does something wrong and then maybe I'll mention it because
honestly the surveys are for that to address service issues. Yeah but that's fair though.
You're being specific and you're being balanced in how you handle it. Yeah. Okay so with the
surveys what's the dirty secret about surveys? With the surveys most of the time we think
in terms of high school if you got an 80 on your test that's a B you're passing. So pretty
good right? So it's a good rate. I got a 72. Okay that's a weak C but you're good. Our
surveys don't work like that. Nope. Okay so one through eight is a zero. Nine and ten is a one.
It's yes or no. So it means anything like eight and below you fail. Yeah. And you get in trouble.
You get zero credit. Yeah. 100% wrong. Yeah. So you know most of the guests they think
an eight is above average. It's not. So like I've seen reviews where people will put eights
all the way down and then in their commentary they will say the front desk agent was great
at check in. Okay well great should be a nine. You gave them an eight and now you've taken
away from their scoring. Yeah. You know and that zero hurts really bad for that person
that's busting their ass trying to do a good job. When I worked at that particular brand
we would have percentages and scores based on the surveys. You fill out a survey and
it's linked to the associate who checked you in and based on how you rate their performance
their percentage goes up and down and we would hold associates accountable if their percentage
wasn't at a particular point and we would actually you know document. So people think
oh you know you're given an eight and it's like okay they weren't amazing but they weren't
bad well you just tank them and hurt their scores and they might be held accountable.
Yeah. I mean people can lose their jobs over that. Yeah. But the one of mine did. Yeah
and the thing that I have an issue with is that none of the companies this isn't just
about us like our industry car companies do it too. I bought a car years ago and the salesman
said you may get a call. I shouldn't say this but if they ask you for you know how we did
on the sale anything less than a 10 is a zero. Oh wow. So it's like companies don't put out
to their customers that this is how you're graded. But then on the back side we're graded
against rules that the customers don't know about. Yeah. You know and it's it's people
lose their jobs. It upsets lives. Yeah. There's no surveys with everything. I went down and
sat at a local like pizza joint but no but it's a big chain and at the end of the meal
they're like oh and there's a you know there's this iPad and there's a survey on your experience
in my service. And so you know I always give tens all the way down because I know if those
crazy you know anything below 10 is a fail kind of mindset. Well and I mean it's important.
Businesses need to know how they're doing. I get that. But some of the surveys are just
ridiculous. Oh yeah. The very first hotel I worked for they had probably the coolest
survey cards ever. This is before like online surveys. But you know how when we work together
that survey that our guests would get would be like 45 questions long and people will
bail out of it 15 and because they're like why is this not ending. Yeah. OK. So this
first hotel I worked at they didn't have a 45 question survey. They had a 30 question
survey. But wait this is where it gets cool. It was on three different cards and people
would randomly get whatever survey card was given to them. So all 30 questions were being
answered just by different people. So the survey card that I give you only has 10 questions
on it. And when you look at it you're like oh yeah. Done. And specific though like each
one had a category or was it each one being each card. Yeah. Well no. So it was always
a blend of different experiences. OK. So each card had a food and beverage a check in a
room cleanliness a room condition sort of question. But the questions were worded differently
but they addressed similar things just in a different way. OK. So it made sense and
people could fill it out in a heartbeat. And we were we would get tons of cards coming
back because they were short and easy. Yeah. You know these 45 question surveys people
bail out. They don't finish it. Yeah. I think now they've changed them so that way it
just asks you a few questions and then you could choose whether to move on. It says oh
would you like to provide even more detail. And they usually go no. Next. Yeah. I don't
want a high school size test on my experience at the best Western or whatever. Yeah. Oh
man. Surveys. Give everyone 10s guys. Yes. Give 10s. 10s are nothing. So this one time
we were under a renovation and the guest wasn't informed of it because they booked through
a third party. By the way guys fun fact third parties will not disclose to you if there's
work being done at a hotel. The hotel directly well if you book it'll be on their website
or you know the agent will inform you. But when you go through third parties they're
getting hotels unsold rooms and they can choose to advertise us however they please. They
don't have to add. They don't have to put anything on there about a renovation. So this
guy books this beautiful hotel from what he saw on you know Priceline Expedia you know
pick one their website of our hotel and they show up and we're under full construction
and he loses his gosh darn mind because we lied to him. And I was like sir you booked
through insert third party here and I said on our website and I showed him like it shows
we're under renovation. We don't have control over their website but you should this and
that. I'm like we don't. They buy the rooms from us and they sell it to you. We cannot
control how they advertise us. Yeah we don't control them. They control the information
that's going out. That's not me. Had you booked through us you would have gotten a confirmation.
The agent would have told you the website would have told you. But still yeah I threatened
me and said I'm going to put you out of business and all that. You know what though. I love
those. It's people like that that squawk and they moan and they groan. You know oh well
the website didn't say this blah blah blah blah blah. But then that's the same guy that's
going to turn around do an advance purchase non-refundable to save 50 bucks. Want to change
his dates and then lose his freaking mind over the fact that well you booked through
a third party third party. They have a non-refundable policy. I'm sorry there's nothing I can do.
Call the Priceline negotiator or the I'm trying to think of all their little mascots and tell
him you're upset but it has nothing to do with us. Yeah. Yeah. I just had one too not
three days ago. I guess he booked through Expedia and on the Expedia page it said to
double queen beds with couch. Oh. And so I don't know where he got that from. So he calls
he checks in he goes up to his room. He asked to speak to a manager and I speak to him.
He's like no through Expedia it says it should have two queen beds and a pullout couch. And
I said none of our rooms have that. I'm sorry to tell you none of my rooms have a couch.
I have a suite that has one bed and the couch pulls out into another bed thus giving you
two. However with a suite I could put in a rollaway bed. And he was like no I don't want
a suite. It doesn't say suite. It says to double queens with a couch. It's that's what
it says on your website. And I go well I do see you booked through a third party and then
he just went off. You guys control it. You're the ones that post that stuff. No. You're
the one that your PR team is the one that contacts them and lets them know. And I'm
like I do apologize but we don't. We only have control over our website and only our
website. I think when they originally set it up we do tell them what we have. Exactly.
But then they can do whatever the heck they want after that. Exactly. So I had to sit
there for 10 minutes just go off and say well it's six of us guys. How are we going to do
it? I go well I go. The room is only supposed to have four. So I did tell him that and I
said I do have a suite. It's going to be an additional $1200. And he just hangs up on
me after I said that. You know what kind of along those lines I can't count how many times
have been yelled at by someone for when they book a room with two beds. Be it two queens
or two doubles. Doesn't matter. It's happened at all my properties. And then they want a
rollaway bed. Yes. And then we say we can't do that. And then they throw a raging fit
on your website says you have rollaway beds. Yeah we do have them. But they go in rooms
with kings. And then we have to explain to them it's not just because it's an authority
thing. Yeah. It's because it's a fire hazard. And it's because the fire department has told
us no it is a safety hazard that if there's a fire someone could die. Yeah. And then they
still fight with you. And lots of times they have little kids. And I'm going to look at
them and be like you really want to put little Timmy's life at risk because you don't want
to share a bed. And they still do. Yeah. Yeah. They fight. The last hotel that I had is a
permanent post. I got rid of all of our rollaways. Cheers. Change it on the website. Rollaways
are not available. So then they can't fight you about it. No. Done. Oh that sounds amazing.
Done. Oh that sounds so amazing. I wonder if we can do that with ours. You know what we
did with ours. We got rid of the weight limit for dogs because you know it's very customary
and standard to have pets labs. Dog must be under 35 or 50 pounds or whatever be it. But
the thing is we're not weighing your dog. And then what is the front desk even supposed
to like police be like oh that dog looks like it's over 50 pounds. So to kind of like just
get around that whole argument and all that we just said no weight limit. They still have
to behave. Yeah. It's usually the big dogs that are better behaved and the small yappy
ones. Yeah absolutely. But big dogs have bigger bladders. We usually don't have issues with
big dogs. It's always the little ones. Little yappy chihuahuas. Yeah. I mean granted like
it's 90 percent of the time if I ever have an issue with a small dog. Yeah. 90. 10 percent
big dogs. It's always the short little yappy ones that keep everybody up. True. Most of
the damage that I've seen has all been from little dogs. The only time that I've had serious
damage in a room from a big dog was a pit bull. It didn't tear up the room. It just
peed everywhere. Yeah. We ended up having to pull the carpet out of the room and fortunately
the hotel was built out of concrete so it didn't penetrate and stain into the wood but
it penetrated into the concrete below the carpet. It took us forever. We tried so many
different things before we finally got the smell out of that room. Wow. Yeah. Every carpet
the whole thing. And even like when it's on a mattress the whole mattress is done. You
can't say that. You can't say yeah. I can't tell you how many brand new mattresses we've
had like on the loading dock by the trashcan because someone wet the bed but it's usually
a human. Usually a human. Yeah. That always blows my mind. And then they just leave. It's
like who just pees the bed and leaves. Yeah. Well wait till they get the charge on their
credit card. Oh and they fight you. Oh yeah. Prove it. That wasn't me. Prove it. So you
slept in a puddle because when you checked out that bed was wet. Exactly. Well that wasn't
me. So you slept in a puddle then. Well no. So it was you. No. So you slept in a puddle.
Yeah. Pick one. Pick one. Yeah. Oh my god. Yeah. The best ones are the ones that when
you charge them for the smoking fee. Oh god. Oh god. Those are my favorite. And you're
sending them pictures of their rooms with cigarette butts on top of the table and the
cartridges in the trash and they're still fighting you. Okay. Wait, wait though. My
favorite is when they fight you on it and then you send them the photo of the smoke
detector covered with a shower cap. Oh I didn't do that. Yes. But they still fight you though.
You can send them all the evidence you want and they'll still fight you. But they'll fight
you with that smokery voice. I've never smoked a cigarette in my life. Yes. That sounds like
they have the hole right there in their neck. Yes. I don't know what you're talking about.
Tangential story but I had a flight attendant years ago that had one of those tracholes
in her throat because she was a smoker. Yeah. And she was still a smoker. Oh my god. And
so the smoke would come out through her throat. Oh god. I never saw that but she would go
stand outside and when she would smoke she would have her cigarette in her left hand
and when she would need to inhale she would cover the hole with her. Yeah. With her finger.
With her right. My next door neighbor. Oh god. My next door neighbor had that tracheal
hole. God, god, god. And she would literally. Did she smoke through it? Oh yeah. She would
smoke like she would cover it, smoke and then the smoke would come out her hole. God. It
looked like a beetle juice. Yeah. Gosh. It was just. But she won't give it up. She's
like this is who I am and I'm gonna die. If you've done it to that point you now have
a hole in your body. Yeah. What else is there? Yeah. Go with it? Question mark. God. So.
Horrible. Horrible. Yeah. Oh man. What's wrong Miss B? Sorry. I'm up. You fading? No. I'm
up. I'm ready. What? We're going to bar after this. Yeah we are. Let's end this here. So
thank you again for listening. We appreciate you tuning in. If you have any questions,
comments, stories that you'd like to share with us feel free to reach out to us. You
can reach us by email at talesfromtheserviceindustryatgmail.com. We would love to hear from you. If you have
a story that we read we will give you credit for it. Send us funny stories. Yes please.
Funny stories, tragic stories, all the gringy stories. The darker the better. Yes. Miss
B thank you for joining us. Great to be here. Nattie pleasure to have you with us. Hopefully
you'll be back with us. Absolutely. And we will see you guys in two weeks. Bye.