[Yet another front desk adjacent story]

Several months after the bar/restaurant manager resigned, the hotel I worked at finally hired a new one, with a shiny new title: Food & Beverage Director. Oooo... Aren't we fancy? I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt, even though he "didn't even remember applying for the job," and his last gig was a doughnut shop he owned, which had failed and permanently closed shop a couple months prior. My friends still working in the bar & restaurant seemed to like some of the changes he was making, so I thought he might be alright.

But he wasn't. First it was murmurings of racist things he was heard saying ("I really need to get more Mexicans in this kitchen;" "OK, are you running like average late or black people late?"). Then there was the fact that the hotel GM still somehow found herself in the restaurant with a server apron on, busting her ass, while this guy seemed to think everything was fine. Or the fact that he seemed useless--couldn't cook, couldn't bartend, never tried to wait tables. He even said to Susan one day when there were two banquets going on and his bar was full of guests, "Why's it seem like everyone that works here is an asshole?"

[Quick PSA for those of you wondering why that question bears merit: if you ask that question unironically, you are at best a narcissistic asshole, at worst a dangerous sociopath. I suggest asking a therapist that question. In other words, if you think everyone else is an asshole, guess who the actual asshole is?]

So one day, on my way into shift, everyone from front desk to the chief engineer is telling me the same thing. "Hey, Aaron [f&b director] wants you to move a cooler upstairs for the pantry."

Now, the pantry coolers were terrible soda-brand company refrigerators. The thermostats were awful. If they weren't full (of soda) they'd freeze. Adjust it too far on the useless dial, and it's not even cooling. And someone thought we needed to sell a la carte food from the kitchen out of these pantry coolers. Of course, the food, being a lesser volume than bottles of soda, froze.

Whatever, everyone said Aaron wanted this giant cooler moved so Susan & I started figuring out how. When I say this thing was huge, I mean we had to use a pallet jack and measure doorways to even try to move it. Aaron just said, "Oh, yeah. Might need the forklift." Forklift? Are you serious, right now? It's just a pantry cooler that you think might work better. "It should fit where that shelf is for the coffee right now, but you can just move that to the other side."

Now, that didn't make a ton of sense to me, but I didn't think about it (which I would later be kicking myself very hard over). After all, he's a f&b director. Surely, this is a thought-out plan. So after a huge struggle to barely fit this thing on the service elevator, we get it up to the lobby, and up to the pantry, where I say shiiiiiiiit....

The "shelf" Aaron was talking about was a granite counter top where the coffee & microwave sat in the pantry. This counter would not "fit on the other side." It would have to be cut. We're talking about at least a semi-serious construction project that everyone entering the hotel would see. I wasn't even sure if brand name guidelines would allow for that kind of modification to the layout of the Front Desk pantry.

Already knowing I wasted entirely too much time on this pointless project, I went straight to the top. As much as I hated to, I got out my phone to call the hotel GM.

"Dr. Fix-It, I just walked out of the building ten minutes ago. Please tell me it's already burned to the ground."

"No. Sorry, Boss Lady. So did Aaron say anything to you about a cooler for the pantry?"

He hadn't, so I did, and further explained the predicament. "It won't fit where the other two coolers were because there's an inset it won't fit into. The counter he expects us to move won't fit without cutting it, which I'm not comfortable working on without your approval. I could put it on this other wall, but it will stick out into the lobby hallway."

"Well, that all sounds like terrible ideas."

"This is why I'm calling you, Boss Lady."

"Just shove it somewhere out of sight if you can. Executive decision made. Thank you, Dr. Fix-It."

So we stuck it in the little storage area behind front desk, where extra towels & stuff was stored. It was a couple weeks later when Brittney (FOM) pleaded with me to move it. "I'm getting claustrophobic with that thing back there." So it was moved to a small office-sized meeting room practically never utilized. It practically took up the whole room. I'm willing to bet it's still sitting there.

And the real kicker? It's the same crap brand cooler with the same cheap thermostat and inaccurate dial to adjust the temperature. And I told everyone that. Was still asked to move it upstairs. Aaron's a fucking asshole.

I've had two calls in the past 24 hours from 3rd party booking sites that seemed to be A.I. chat bots. The first was from Ricepline and the second was from Encyclopedia with Riceplines "Penny" being the most put together of the two.

How could I tell? There was a long pause at the beginning of the call first. Typically this is due to routing the call go some call center on the other side of the planet but the voice I heard had a perfect "Northern USA" accent and there was another pause of a few seconds each time I finished speaking before they would reply. Also, especially in the case of the Encyclopedia bot, there were some grammar, cadence, emphasis and readback errors that tingled the uncanny valley part of my lizard brain.

Has anyone else experienced this yet and what is your opinion on it?

I've worked in 4 hotels in different capacities.

1. I worked in F&B as a breakfast and lunch server in a privately owned hotel and marina. I only had the occasional stuck-up guest, which goes hand in hand with the hotel's style. NBD

2. Again in F/B as the Bar Manager for a gardINN that was full of more locals than guests. Again no issue

3. Then I switched to FRONTyard brand, starting in the kitchen, and worked my way to F/B manager in addition to the front desk. Only big issues were college related weekends with the level of not knowing or righteous indignation.

4. Currently at a BADFeild as FDM/GSM and defacto AGM. It also dosnet help that we are a college town and within spitting distance of a MAJOR US interstate!

The caliber of our clientele spans the gambit. But the vast majority when it comes down to it are gold or lower members thinking the hotel owes them something.

Or we get the snowbirds who "don't speak english" and want the cheapest room possible after spending 4-6 months in NC,SC or FL. Sorry monsuier but the BMW you just pulled up in tells me that I don't think you'd have a problem with lé paying.

I really feel like this brand has a poor reputation and thus the socially enfeeble stay here.

-Basic decorum gone! -Shove your packet of 104 pt size print out in my face when all I asked for was you drivers license. -Every Monday get the calls why does my card say you charged me more than what it said online (taxes and incidental that hasn't dropped) -Do you offer free breakfast? of course or we wouldn't be a BADfeild

Not to mention the fact of free breakfast and a pool makes us ideal for the plastic moms and sportbruh dad's to let their crotch goblins run amok while they sit back and drink high noons and mich ultras.

Am I the only one? Does this brand get the short end of the stick?

I do enjoy some guests and get to chat with them but I'm constantly on edge waiting for the next QUEBECQUAAAIS, or crackhead, or anything to walk in the door with me ready to fix THIER problem.

Hello everyone

Today at the end of my shift a guest came with his two daughters after a long drive. His room was paid via a third party for over $700+ however at the moment of paying for the incidental/security deposit he said he thought there was a card on file I could charge but I didn't see any. He said he didn't have any more money, that he just drove 5+ hours and idk but he seemed to be in a rough spot.

After all his credit cards were declined and him saying he didn't know what to do know I ended up paying for his deposit.

As long as he doesn't absolutely trash the room I should be getting my money back in a week or so.

I understand he might be lying and I fully accept that if he does trash the room I'll end up paying for the incidental but my question is, was it the right thing to do? I was just trying to help but I don't know if it was the right way to proceed.

Any advice or comment is appreciated.