Dog in the pool?

I'm sometimes a little bit dumbfounded at what people think. The other day at the motel I heard a dog barking. I looked around and so did the desk clerk. Neither of us saw anything. So I went to get some fast food and came back to see a dog running around in the pool area.

I love service animals, they are always well-behaved and many times better than some of my human guests. But we do have a no pet policy. I set my meal down and then went into the pool area to ask the guest to take her dog out of the motel. First she argued with me saying it was a small dog, then she said it would take a few minutes. The guest started to leave and then asked for a refund of her money. I refused.

End of story?

Not quite.

The guest asked us to call the police to see if they would help her get her money back. And the police said it was a civil matter. I suggested that she could stay, but her dog wasn't welcome. I'm still trying to figure out why one would bring a dog into a no pet hotel and take it into the pool area. So the guest, who during this time has packed and loaded her stuff, leave the premises calling me names.

Is this the end of the story?

Not quite yet.

A day later I get a notice from the national franchise offices that she has filed a complaint. In the note is something to the effect that the customer became irate on the phone. Also in that note is a comment that the customer told the national line that she was told to sneak the dog into the motel - now remember that the desk clerk who checked her in searched for the dog when it was barking and that I found the dog in the pool area - and that she had left a deposit in case of damage to the room.

So I've now written a letter to the customer and I hope that is the end of it. But if not, I'll survive. With owners like this one I suspect that there's little question of why we have a 'No Pet' policy in this motel.