I had a guest put me in a particularly difficult situation just now, and I have to say... shit like this really boils my blood.
He's a vet, unemployed, his wife seems to be unable to work for unknown reasons. They're living off social security with a young kid and they're stranded with nowhere to go. While I appreciate their hardships, it's not my responsibility to cover their asses.
My favorite friend from the Catholic church downtown called this morning to make arrangements for their lodging for one night, which is something I am always happy to help out with. Little did I know that this guest would be 1) trying to check in extremely early, and 2) come with a ton of baggage that he expected me to handle.
Emotional AND physical baggage. No joke.
The housekeepers had the day off yesterday for a baby shower, so this morning there were literally no clean rooms. Today I had one housekeeper cleaning the whole building all by her lonesome, needless to say it has not been a fast or easy process. Days like today I have to be especially mindful of the designated check-in time because I just don't have the capacity for early arrivals.
So this guy comes to me hours early demanding to be let into his room because "the church already made arrangements." Okay, firstly, you rude fuck, you're not even a paying customer so don't get snotty on me. And secondly, umm no, you cannot enter your room until I say so.
Even worse, he says to me that he has loads of baggage and he wants me to store it for him until I have his room ready. Not only is that a HUGE insurance/safety issue, but I'm also not comfortable with it. I'm really sorry you have to drag all your shit around with you, but that doesn't make it okay to try to make me solve your storage issues.
I explained to him why I couldn't accommodate either of his requests, at which point he took the opportunity to start telling me his life story. I was hoping it would be a down-on-your-luck, unfortunate set of circumstances kind of tale, and instead he painted a picture to me of a person who is waiting for someone to bail him out. He has no car, or money, or place for his family to sleep, but by golly he has plenty of beer and cigarettes. He has no money to eat, but he demands long distance phone privileges... for free.
It's disheartening to see my tax dollars support someone who has no interest in supporting himself, but it's even more frustrating that he can't even bother to muster some manners. Charity is a gift not a right, and it won't do you any favors pissing off the people responsible for your well being.
