Their Own Worst Enemies

CountessNightAuditor here again. This next story involves a hard-headed local family that one of my coworkers knows of. They screwed their own selves over on this one. And this is also the only tale I have so far since transitioning at work that features someone going out of their way to be an ass about that, of that's an issue for folks.

Important context, we have two hotels in one building. They share floors so that one hallway is one type of room, another is the other type. In the system, they're separate, so we can't just swap reservations from one side to the other. And the more "budget friendly" side has fewer amenities but does still usually have handicap-accessible rooms.

Our story starts during PM shift when the guests in question booked a room for the cheaper side. I don't know if the system just somehow let them book for a handicap-accessible room that we didn't have, or if they booked a regular room and then tried to contact us about changing it. The important thing is they needed a wheelchair accessible bathroom for the wife.

Either way, the earlier shift spoke with them and told them that we didn't actually have that kind of room available on that side, but we did on the other. We would gladly cancel that reservation without the late cancellation fee so they could rebook on the correct side, And we would even make sure to hold back a handicap accessible room for them on the other side until they made a reservation. They agreed to cancel that reservation and to rebook.

They chose to rebook it once they got there. For management reasons that I don't understand, I was scheduled to come in an hour after my coworker at Audit shift.(It sometimes covers a gap in hotel shuttle service in the morning, but usually there is no scheduled run for that hour)

So this coworker, the one I still call D here, was there trying to get their reservation made for this other room and they didn't like the price. The son is actually standing there right in front of her (she knows him from high school as someone who was always messy and causing way more drama than necessary), on the phone with his dad and they're discussing the price. They decide to see if they can get the friends and family benefit. The son even asks the dad outright if they need a handicap-accessible room and the dad says no. So once again they book for the side that has no handicap accessible rooms available. And then the son immediately checks into it at the desk, but leaves the hotel.

This is already kind of fishy for anyone using our friends and family benefits, btw.

Then, then shortly after midnight, I get a call at the desk from the wife. S​he is demanding an immediate refund of her money because we gave her a room without a handicap accessible bathroom. And also because we canceled her first reservation without telling them, she claims. The first reservation that was for the same side without any handicap accessible rooms.

Now on my end, I do make sure that the room has actually not been stepped into and I was willing to make an exception for them this time, but she demanded that I somehow make sure that the hold is immediately removed from her back account so she can get a room somewhere else entirely. Again, she could have gotten a room on the other side of the hotel but her own son and husband chose not to.

Now I can do a lot of things but I have no magic way after midnight to make a bank release a hold on her funds. Meanwhile, this lady is being an absolute asshole. She's talking about what if she got out of her car in front of the hotel and took a shit ​right there in the lobby. A lot of stuff about crapping, along with trying to guilt me about cancer as if it hadn't taken multiple members of my family. And when I sent my coworker up to make sure that the room was untouched, the wife made it a point to have her husband pull their car up right in front of the door and talk about "I can see you, sir, in your red shirt and your long hair."

Oh yes, she used "sir," a lot considering my makeup, hair, and modest mounds on the inside of my feminine work shirt (men and women have different uniforms at our hotel. Men even get long sleeves, while women get short, poofy sleeves). "Sir, sir, sir, you're not listening to me sir."

After about 30 minutes, the fact that I was unable to immediately get the bank to release those funds to her after midnight eventually caused her to just drive off into the night. And I advised management to send a notice about possible abuse of the friends and family benefit, because in addition to not selling rooms for other people, friends and family are expected to be on their best behavior.