Friday, December 29, 2006

Good people

Sometimes I complain about the people who pass through my hotel. But most of the time people are great. It's just that I can usually make a better story out of the 'others'.

But this week I got a compliment - someone mentioned how much work I'd done for them - and I thought I was just doing what was helpful. I lent out a snow shovel and found a deck of cards during our snowstorm. They really didn't need to thank me. And then they mailed the cards back to me. I got that deck as a promotional item for sending in some box tops. Really, the postage was more than the cost of the cards. Most of the people who come through are grateful for that and I am more than happy to do those little things.

And then there was the couple who saw me working a couple of extra hours during the snowstorm and brought back a hamburger. They also offered to share some beer - I refused - with much regret - and more because I'd been awake so many hours I thought I'd really fall asleep with any alcohol in me. I may have a high tolerance, but that doesn't mean anything when I'm half-delirious from too many hours at work.

Then there are all the people who were just happy to have a place to sleep last week and didn't mind at all when I slipped notes under their doors saying that my housekeepers wouldn't be in and to just ask at the front desk for more towels or let me know if they wanted more cleaning. The only rooms I cleaned were those of the check-outs.

So most of the time I have a great deal to be thankful for when working with my guests. And then I get some great stories out of the times that I'm not so thankful for some of the people, so it evens out in the end.

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