#wiredforconnection

Just arrived at my hotel: it’s not yet 1p, and there’s an older man acting impatient with the clerk. I queue up and fiddle with my phone–he interrupts me multiple times to warn me ‘they don’t have rooms’ 'she says check in isn’t until 3’ and I brush him off. He becomes louder and more belligerent towards the (young, female) clerk until she tells him, sir, my manager would tell you exactly what I just told you, I’m getting you a room as quickly as possible, but I don’t have to take this abuse and I will call security to have you removed if you continue. He keeps badgering her ‘this is the worst service ever, I travel for a living, blahblahblah’ until she hands him a key and he storms out of the lobby. She tells me she’ll be right with me with a quaver in her voice and I look her in the eye and tell her hey, if you need a minute, take it. I’ve got time, and that guy was being a real jerk.

This prompts an outpouring of smushed-together words: 'omigoshthankyou, Itoldhimbuthewouldntlisten – thatwasnteventhatbadthough, Ivehadpeoplethrowkeysatme’, all as she deftly checks me in and hands me my key. I tell her it’s okay to cry if she needs to, and wish her better days from here on out.

When I get to my room the phone rings – she needs one more signature, would I come back? At the desk she hands me a little gift bag, saying, I made this for you, for being so nice.