I’m relatively new to the hospitality industry. I took a job with a hotel because I just want to do my job, get paid for it and go home every day without any baggage. I think that classifies me as what is known as a slacker. I used to have a job where I was heavily invested on a personal level and it just ate me up and burned me out. I now work at a hotel where many people share the same level of commitment...or lack thereof...to their profession and that’s okay with me. At least it was.
The incident with room service...
About a week ago, a guest was staying here who wanted to order some food via room service. She went through the menu and was informed that about half of what she wanted was not available. She finally placed an order and waited for the food to arrive. About 45 minutes later, the food hadn’t arrived so she called down to the restaurant and was told her they weren’t offering room service. She came down to get the food, which of course was cold, and found that some of the items she had ordered were also not available. She was, of course, upset so they offered to make her a free Crème Brulee. Now, I’m not a Crème Brulee kind of person, so if you tell me it’s not made right if the sugar on top isn’t caramelized, I’ll believe you, apologize and attempt to correct the situation. However, when she pointed this out to the people who work in our restaurant, their response to her was “well, it’s free”.
This was the story as she related it to me. I apologized profusely and expressed surprise and, frankly, embarrassment. She told me this situation had tied her up for over an hour, that she now had no intention of continuing to try to deal with our restaurant and that now she’d have to get dressed and go out to get something to eat and that she felt the hotel should reimburse her for her trouble. I told her I understood completely, couldn’t possibly agree more and said, “yes, by all means, go have dinner, bring the bill back to me and we will compensate you for your trouble”. To my surprise, the way I dealt with the situation was not met with approval by my co-workers and some superiors:
- “You shouldn’t give her money back if she didn’t spend it at the hotel.” She tried to spend it at the hotel! Three times! That’s the point!
- “I would have let a manager handle it.” The manager wasn’t there and wasn’t due in until the next morning.
- “She’s a bitch.” Okay, well, great. How do you even argue that logic? For what it’s worth, I’d have been a bitch too.
One week later...
I show up to work my shift and within the first two minutes the phone rings. “Just what is the deal on room service in this hotel anyway?” It was the same lady. She was back! And in spite of talking to a manager when she checked in, who assured her that room service was definitely available, she was having the exact same problem again. You know how in monster movies when you think the monster is dead and it’s a happy ending, when suddenly the monster reaches out and grabs somebody’s ankle? This lady grabbed my ankle.
That’s when I got pissed. I apologized…again…and told her I would take her order, get it placed and deliver it to her room myself, which I did. It was right after that I decided to start chronicling stupid shit like this in a blog.
Don’t get me wrong...
It’s not like stupid shit like this hasn’t happened before. It happens all the time. I guess I was just at a tipping point. And since apparently nothing is going to be done to fix these kinds of problems, I figure I might as well share them for entertainment purposes. Also, make no mistake: I’m not presenting myself as some kind of exemplary employee with a deep commitment to customer service. I’m still a slacker who is unmotivated by and disinterested in things that don’t amuse me. It’s just that very little in life is more amusing than peeing on the legs of The Establishment. In this case, The Establishment consists of lazy incompetents, so there you go. My goal is to be nothing more than an irritatingly dedicated loose cannon. I want to be the Hawkeye Pierce (or, more current references, Perry Cox of even Gregory House) of customer service.
Further…
I don’t hold a lot of our customers in high regard either, many of whom should be under constant adult supervision and not be allowed to operate anything as complex as a pair of shoes. These are people who should never, ever be allowed to go outdoors, let alone attempt something as mentally challenging as staying in a hotel. And that doesn't even take into account the rude people. Don't worry, they’ll be getting their share of attention on this blog too. The customer is always right my ass.
More will be revealed over time but this is enough to get us started.
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