Craziest Mom In The World, or Scammer?

Hey howdy hello all you denizens of desks positioned towards the front, I have another story this evening that really threw me for a loop around two weeks ago when it occurred to me. Kick back, relax, and maybe even have a few laughs at the absurdity of this tale!

As stated, this happened around two weeks ago and I clocked into work with the expectation of a nice, quiet Sunday night into Monday morning. No rooms to sell due to the sold out weekend, all arrivals checked in, and fresh YouTube content to intake while doing basic cleaning here and there while printing and organizing reports. Pretty much the perfect night.

But perfection is boring, and perfect nights aren't what get people interested!

At 4:55am, I see a vehicle pull up to my front entrance and park on my sidewalk, much to my initial chagrin when two figures popped out from this vehicle. Before the larger of the two came in, I could hear her words shouted out before she got through the second set of doors into the lobby.

Cast will be M for standard Karen Mom, D for the approximately seven year old Daughter, and OP for me.

M: "THANK GOD, SOMEONE WHO'S ACTUALLY AWAKE!!"

OP: "Hello, yes indeed I am awake, how can I help you?"

M: "OK so, I am a special Melvin member and I don't know if you know this but THERE IS NO ONE working the desk across the street!!"

Now I have worked at a few different properties in my time, and I can say that I have worked at the hotel she mentioned initially. She even mentioned the door that would not shut properly, which has literally been an issue at that same property for close to four years now.

OP: "Well I'm sorry to hear that, it's possible that they were away from the desk helping others or maybe even using the restro-"

M: "OH I WAITED PLENTY LONG FOR SOMEONE TO COME OUT!!! I'm not saying you're not allowed to go to the bathroom but this was just ridiculous!!"

OP: "In any case, how can I help you?"

M: "Well we are on our way to Atlanta, Georgia and the Melvin Inn that we arrived at at 10pm was just HORRID!! The sheets were bloody, the bathroom was hardly washed, we had no cable in our room!"

D: "And there were scratches in the sheets too!"

M: "YES cat scratches and tears all in the sheets!!! We needed a refund for the stay but the lady who was at their desk said I'd need to wait for a manager to get in there or for me to just challenge the charge to my card which I guess I'm just gonna have to do!"

D: "Why work a job you don't know how to do?"

M: "I KNOW!!!! It just doesn't make sense!! So instead of us spending the day up there later today, we decided to head to our destination and I just cannot drive anymore, you need to sell me a room!"

Now in case the thought hasn't struck your mind yet, this is now 5 am, and this vibrant story is being not only narrated but acted out rather lively by these two people. Sure the daughter may just be an early riser and have more energy, but you're gonna tell me that someone drove from New Hampshire at around 10pm with the hopes of them getting to a state that is 18 hours away?? With presumably a severe lack of sleep???

I couldn't tell if this woman was batshit insane at the thought of risking her and her daughter's life because of some inconvenience at a hotel, or there was something more going on. Slowly though as they continued to put on their performance, I asked myself more questions. If you had a bad experience at that hotel, why not stay at another one nearby? Why make it a point to skip one entire part of your planned trip? Even more so, why did it seem like the daughter was flawlessly rebounding and doubling down on all the points her mother was bringing up?

The amount of fishiness grew to Harborside levels of stink and I swiftly started pointing them in a direction far from here. Not barring the fact that I did technically have clean rooms I could have put them in, no way in hell was I letting people with this much aggro check in this early.

Deciding to use the restroom before they left, the mother took her daughter into the bathroom with her. (Because the mother clearly needed help wiping her ass.) Two minutes after, they come back out and almost seem to be dragging their feet with exiting.

M: "If I can't find another Melvin brand hotel soon, I'm just gonna end my membership with this company!!"

Then I said the line that sealed their exit.

OP: "With all due respect ma'am, brand loyalty is dying because every hotel brand has gotten worse over the past two years because of global events. You need some place to stay so you don't put yourselves in danger, so really you should just stay at the next hotel that will take you regardless of brand."

And they left with the mother shaking her head in frustration!

Organizing all that occurred in that short 10 minute period that felt like an hour dealing with them, I called the sister property that the mother had initially complained about to joke with the FDA over there about what kind of bullet they just dodged. We worked together previously so we were already fairly acquainted and have no problem being open with each other about our experiences.

Best part?

They had been at the desk for the past two hours and had no one come up to it at all. No one showed up on the cameras, no cars went through the parking lot, nothing.

So what do you think, reader? Craziest mom on earth? Scammer? Agent of the underground Lizardman Empire?

Hopefully time never tells.