Then I went into the bathroom to begin my bedtime ablutions, and noticed a number of things amiss:
- An unpackaged and obviously used bar of soap by the sink;
- A crumpled hand towel sitting beside the sink (why don't hotels provide towel racks for hand towels? That's not the issue I'm writing about here, but it's a hotel annoyance)
- A damp washcloth draped over the side of the tub
- Hotel-size shampoo and conditioner bottles, half-empty, lying on their side in the tub
- Another unpackaged and obviously used bar of soap in the tub
- Two or three bath towels hanging on the hook on the bathroom door.
So I put my shoes back on, trudged back down to the check-in desk, and reported the housekeeping issue to the friendly person who had checked me in. She gave me her professional be-nice-to-the-guest smile as I approached the desk. She had been chatting with someone in a housekeeper uniform, and the latter person hovered in the background and heard my report. I was a little taken aback when the professional smile stayed fixed on the check-in person's face after I had delivered the litany of issues which I've bulleted above. I've been around the customer service game enough in a professional capacity to know that the playbook calls for expressions of concern and apology, and a promise to rectify the issue immediately. The playbook doesn't say, Smile; it says, Look sympathetic. But she looked as though she probably was a college student herself, and she may still be learning the playbook. At any rate, the housekeeper hovering in the background said she'd be up in a few minutes. I mentioned that my son and I hadn't unpacked, and it might be easier just to put us in another room, but apparently they were sold out of the double-queen beds (a visiting college women's basketball team was staying at the hotel, apparently with their traveling contingent, and there were several buses in the parking lot, so it seemed believable).
So I trudged back up to the room (well, I rode the elevator, so it wasn't actually much of a trudge, but the whole situation felt like a long march in a rainstorm), and told my son that we'd be visited soon by the housekeeping staff. When she came, I told her my concern about the sheets and pillowcases, and she offered to change them. She told me the whole end-to-end room treatment would take about 20 minutes. It was pretty apparent that my son and I would be in the way, so I told him to get his shoes on, and we went back down to the lobby and studied our cell phones for 20 minutes. When the room was done, the check-in clerk, or night manager, or whatever she was, walked over to let us know we could return, and to inform me that she had knocked $19 off our bill to make up for the inconvenience.
And that was the end of it. But later, I reflected that I had made it pretty easy for them. When I registered my complaint, I did so calmly and without rancor. My son and I left our room, despite the late hour and our weariness, without any audible grumbling. And when the check-in person told me about the reduction in our charges, I thanked her politely.
I've known plenty of people who would have made a much bigger stink about it. They would have related the uncleaned-bathroom issue in a tone of voice that made it clear that they are not the sorts of persons upon whom to foist an uncleaned bathroom. Upon being told that there were no more double-queen rooms, they would have insisted on getting upgraded to the executive suite or some such. The check-in person's plastic smile would have stung them like a whip or a goad, and they would not have failed to voice their irritation. And when offered 15% off (or whatever the $19 worked out to), they would have demanded that they be given the night for free. And they would have done these things, not in the tone of of one engaging in a negotiation, but rather as Napoleon or Genghis Khan issuing an edict.
I have to say, I don't have that skill - or at least, it doesn't come naturally to me. I don't really do dudgeon. I don't easily get worked into a lather. I'm not the sort of person who sees an uncleaned bathroom as a personal affront; I'm more likely to put myself in the shoes of the housekeeper and speculate how s/he might have neglected to clean it. Had the check-in person said something disparaging about the original housekeeper's work, I might have defended him/her.
People who have the ability to flick on the dudgeon switch can be very effective. Probably I'd be a more effective manager in my career if I was better at putting the fear of God into my people. Not my style, though. I'm all about collaboration and problem-solving. Not to mention shared success and seeing that my people get credit and appreciation.
Earlier in my career, senior executives of my then-employer, seeing some potential in me but spotting the gaps in my make-up, which were myriad, sent me to a management mini-course on assertiveness. I hadn't realized, until then, what a milquetoast I really was. It was a good course. I've worked at being assertive, and I can do it. But it still doesn't come naturally. And on this particular night at this particular hotel, there was no dudgeon in me. I just wanted to get back to my room and go to bed.
Jim, I feel your pain and also your lack of pain. I know some assertive people who would not have let it rest. They get off the airplane already mad and demand a room upgrade before they see the first one. They would have stayed up all night in your situation, if that's what it took until they got satisfaction. Satisfaction, to them, would have been three free nights in the dump, and they would have told all and sundry about how they scored them.
ReplyDeleteI arrived once in a hotel room in which only one of the four lights had a functional light bulb. OK. I could make do. During the night, the dust on the radiator caught fire. Someone came up, put out the fire, and I went back to bed. I didn't even get a free breakfast out of that. Some people I know would have demanded the hotel. The whole hotel. And settled for three more free nights in the dump. (This was, at the time, the one and only place in the state capital that was in walking distance of the capitol building and didn't cost $600 a night.)
But, Jim, we were brought up to turn the other cheek. And, at the end of the day, that all works out for the best. Some people have to fly halfway across the country for no reason but to "take advantage" of what they got for complaining last time they were there. One can live in ire, one may even enjoy ire, but one can never be content with ire. My wife -- who is more ire-less than I -- always points out that you don't know what's going on in someone else's life. Sometimes I think that is simply excusing boorish behavior, but what the heck, someone else being a jerk is no reason for me to loose my equanimity. And besides, today's Gospel is 7 times 70. So there we go. Offer it up, as Sister used to say, and your reward will be great in heaven.
"I arrived once in a hotel room in which only one of the four lights had a functional light bulb. OK. I could make do. During the night, the dust on the radiator caught fire."
DeleteI'm sure it wasn't funny at the time, but you just made me laugh out loud in front of my computer. That's the worst hotel story I've ever heard, anywhere.
Thanks for the words of wisdom and the affirmation - it means a lot to me.
Jim, your post made me think of this song.
ReplyDeleteWe had our own "Hotel California" experience when attending the out-of-town wedding of our friends' daughter. We had actually stayed at this hotel before, and it hadn't been a terrible experience. It was on the "budget" spectrum, so we didn't expect Hilton standards. But we really should have paid attention to the recent comments and ratings online. It had changed ownership. The absolutely only good thing it had going for it this time was that the air conditioning in the room worked. Since it was 95° and humid outside, and it was too late to find anything else, we sucked it up and stayed. I guess it beat sleeping in the car. But not by much. At least there weren't bedbugs.
Yeah, there is an "entitlement" mentality around. As Tom points out, there are people who make a hobby of trying to get free stuff by being in high dudgeon all the time.
My style isn't assertiveness, either. If it's about something that matters, I make up for it in persistence. Like the woman in Scripture trying to get justice from the unjust judge, and he gives up because she won't. I've found that you don't even have to get mad, you just wear them down.
Katherine, I like your distinction between dudgeon and persistence - I'm going to try to apply that to my life. Although I think the woman in scripture did dudgeon, too - didn't the judge fear that she was going to assault him? :-)
DeleteI really like certain things about the Eagles - especially their tight harmonies - but I have to say, I've never understood what that song was about.
I like the harmonies and the tune of that song. That instrumental lead-in is over a minute long, but it's not boring. The song itself is a bit surreal. I take it as a metaphor for things that suck you in, but maybe aren't so easy to get loose from.
DeleteBTW, how did the college visit go?
ReplyDeleteThe college visit was great. He's interested. We'll see what he decides. We have one more college to visit this spring - I'm trying not to nag him too much to get it scheduled.
DeleteI have to say, I'm a little skeptical about his plans for a major. I think his personality, interests and passion run in a different direction. But he has to figure this stuff out. I told him to keep an open mind.
I have to say, I've used that phrase "I have to say" at least three times now between the post and the comments. On the chance that my verbal tics irritate you as much as some verbal tics in other people irritate me, I'll try to moderate its appearance in this forum.
ReplyDeleteI have my little phrases that I overuse. I'm certainly not going to get on someone else's case for a pet phrase!
DeleteI don't have the ability to take trips these days. But, when I did, my traveling companion took care of getting things right. No ongoing high dudgeon. If things were proper in the hotel, nothing but sweet praise. If stupid shortcomings, she promptly straightened them out.
ReplyDelete