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Apparently, I'm a Racist
Mar. 28th, 2005 02:12 am
Tonight was one of those nights that reminds me why I am a night auditor. I am not a people person. In order to combat my normal response to people, which is to bite their heads off, I use the same tone of voice & I use the same sentences when speaking to guests. I don't vary my responses or my tone for any of them. It's safer for me - it's like a script that I have memorized very, very well. So anyway...
My first guest, a Hispanic woman, had a rate dispute... then a dispute over where her room was in relation to the other guests in her party. ('I'm sorry, m'am, you asked for a non-smoking room with 2 beds, and the only room I have that fulfills those requests is on the 6th floor. I can request a room move for you tomorrow. Or I can put you in a room with one king bed and send a rollaway tonight. The hotel doesn't consider requests like smoking vs. non-smoking or 1 bed vs. 2 beds or vicinity to other guests part of the room guarantee, they are requests only, and based on availability at time of check-in')
Another dispute a few guests later, this one a Russian (well, her name/accent was middle-European, anyway).. regarding the guest requesting 2 beds, n/s, w/a view ('The hotel doesn't consider requests like smoking vs. non-smoking or 1 bed vs. 2 beds or vicinity to other guests part of the room guarantee, they are requests only, and based on availability at time of check-in. I can request a room move for you tomorrow')
So then a woman walked up to me (this one happened to be a black woman) & said the clerk who checked her in had placed her in smoking rooms & she needed n/s. At the time, we had no n/s rooms ('I'm sorry, but the hotel doesn't consider requests like smoking vs. non-smoking or 1 bed vs. 2 beds or vicinity to other guests part of the room guarantee, they are requests only, and based on availability at time of check-in. I can request a room move for you tomorrow'). She told me she would go back to the clerk who checked her in, and I think I said 'OK' noncomittally. So I went to lunch, came back, checked a person in, & here comes this woman again. She hisses "You are such a liar. Where is your manager?" I said, "Give me a moment & I'll bring them to you." So I walked over to Wendi & Jeff, both on the phone, & was waiting for someone to become available. The woman followed me & asked, "Who's the manager?" I told her they were both supervisors & I was waiting for someone to finish to help her. Wendi looked up from her phone call & asked me what the problem was... I shrugged & said, "Well, she told me I was a liar & asked to speak with a manager." The woman's eyes bugged out of her head, and I expected her to say, "I did not call you a liar!" but instead she huffed & puffed & said, "I'll wait for him instead" & pointed at Jeff... (Like I'm not going to tell them what she said to me. I don't care if she's standing in front of me or not. If she had said, "I don't like the way you're talking to me!" I would have told one of the supervisors that the guest didn't like the way I was talking to them... if the guest said, "This hotel sucks donkey dick and I'm never staying here again" I would have said that, too. It doesn't really matter to me because when you reach that point, it's clerk vs. guest, and the hotel will always take the guest's word over the clerk's unless proven otherwise. It's completely out of my control, so wtf do I care about repeating, word for word, what a guest said?) Well, anyway, she told Jeff I mistreated her because she was black. How she got that from my 'Request only' speech I have no idea, but there it was. I'm a racist who didn't want to give her a non-smoking room. I'll probably be paying a visit to the supervisor's office on Wednesday. I have a defense, tho - I volunteered for the OT. It wasn't mandatory and I don't have to work the desk if I don't want to because I'm not a front desk clerk anymore. Night auditor is a whole different Union job classification.
Another thing, tho, about talking to everyone the same way is that every supervisor on the desk knows exactly what I tell people & how I sound. I'm not known for snapping at anyone, or making smart-ass remarks, or sounding patronizing, or any of the other things that other clerks get into trouble with when dealing with guests. Hel's bells, I repeat my spiels in my sleep.
I've only really lost my patience once enough to snap at someone... I kept trying to check this guy in, and he kept asking questions. All through the entire 7 or 8 minutes it takes me to check someone in. His check-in spread out to a good 30 minutes... I kept trying to give him his keys, & he'd say, "One more thing..." & ask another question... Finally, I slapped his keys up on the counter & raised my voice to not-quite-a-yell & said, "NO! NO MORE THINGS! Here are your keys!" He stepped back from the desk & of course, everyone within earshot turned & looked at me like I'd gone mad, which I think I may have. But the guy took his keys, asked me, "Can I at least ask where my room is?" in this meek little voice & I told him where to go... and I never heard anything about it. No complaints, no call back to the supervisor's office, nothing. In fact, I haven't had a single guest make a formal complaint about me since I started working at the Excalibur. And I think I'm more shocked about it than anyone.
I'm not working anymore OT til Mercury is out of retrograde & the veil has closed up again. It's too dangerous.
My first guest, a Hispanic woman, had a rate dispute... then a dispute over where her room was in relation to the other guests in her party. ('I'm sorry, m'am, you asked for a non-smoking room with 2 beds, and the only room I have that fulfills those requests is on the 6th floor. I can request a room move for you tomorrow. Or I can put you in a room with one king bed and send a rollaway tonight. The hotel doesn't consider requests like smoking vs. non-smoking or 1 bed vs. 2 beds or vicinity to other guests part of the room guarantee, they are requests only, and based on availability at time of check-in')
Another dispute a few guests later, this one a Russian (well, her name/accent was middle-European, anyway).. regarding the guest requesting 2 beds, n/s, w/a view ('The hotel doesn't consider requests like smoking vs. non-smoking or 1 bed vs. 2 beds or vicinity to other guests part of the room guarantee, they are requests only, and based on availability at time of check-in. I can request a room move for you tomorrow')
So then a woman walked up to me (this one happened to be a black woman) & said the clerk who checked her in had placed her in smoking rooms & she needed n/s. At the time, we had no n/s rooms ('I'm sorry, but the hotel doesn't consider requests like smoking vs. non-smoking or 1 bed vs. 2 beds or vicinity to other guests part of the room guarantee, they are requests only, and based on availability at time of check-in. I can request a room move for you tomorrow'). She told me she would go back to the clerk who checked her in, and I think I said 'OK' noncomittally. So I went to lunch, came back, checked a person in, & here comes this woman again. She hisses "You are such a liar. Where is your manager?" I said, "Give me a moment & I'll bring them to you." So I walked over to Wendi & Jeff, both on the phone, & was waiting for someone to become available. The woman followed me & asked, "Who's the manager?" I told her they were both supervisors & I was waiting for someone to finish to help her. Wendi looked up from her phone call & asked me what the problem was... I shrugged & said, "Well, she told me I was a liar & asked to speak with a manager." The woman's eyes bugged out of her head, and I expected her to say, "I did not call you a liar!" but instead she huffed & puffed & said, "I'll wait for him instead" & pointed at Jeff... (Like I'm not going to tell them what she said to me. I don't care if she's standing in front of me or not. If she had said, "I don't like the way you're talking to me!" I would have told one of the supervisors that the guest didn't like the way I was talking to them... if the guest said, "This hotel sucks donkey dick and I'm never staying here again" I would have said that, too. It doesn't really matter to me because when you reach that point, it's clerk vs. guest, and the hotel will always take the guest's word over the clerk's unless proven otherwise. It's completely out of my control, so wtf do I care about repeating, word for word, what a guest said?) Well, anyway, she told Jeff I mistreated her because she was black. How she got that from my 'Request only' speech I have no idea, but there it was. I'm a racist who didn't want to give her a non-smoking room. I'll probably be paying a visit to the supervisor's office on Wednesday. I have a defense, tho - I volunteered for the OT. It wasn't mandatory and I don't have to work the desk if I don't want to because I'm not a front desk clerk anymore. Night auditor is a whole different Union job classification.
Another thing, tho, about talking to everyone the same way is that every supervisor on the desk knows exactly what I tell people & how I sound. I'm not known for snapping at anyone, or making smart-ass remarks, or sounding patronizing, or any of the other things that other clerks get into trouble with when dealing with guests. Hel's bells, I repeat my spiels in my sleep.
I've only really lost my patience once enough to snap at someone... I kept trying to check this guy in, and he kept asking questions. All through the entire 7 or 8 minutes it takes me to check someone in. His check-in spread out to a good 30 minutes... I kept trying to give him his keys, & he'd say, "One more thing..." & ask another question... Finally, I slapped his keys up on the counter & raised my voice to not-quite-a-yell & said, "NO! NO MORE THINGS! Here are your keys!" He stepped back from the desk & of course, everyone within earshot turned & looked at me like I'd gone mad, which I think I may have. But the guy took his keys, asked me, "Can I at least ask where my room is?" in this meek little voice & I told him where to go... and I never heard anything about it. No complaints, no call back to the supervisor's office, nothing. In fact, I haven't had a single guest make a formal complaint about me since I started working at the Excalibur. And I think I'm more shocked about it than anyone.
I'm not working anymore OT til Mercury is out of retrograde & the veil has closed up again. It's too dangerous.
