Crash!

It's been a rather quiet 10 months since my last post.  There have been some great guests, but no great stories to tell you.  Until recently.  Here is one of my favorite moments in New York.

I was behind the desk one morning checking a guest out of the hotel.  He was a foreign guest heading to the airport after a business trip to New York, looking forward to the weekend.  He asked me if I could help him flag down a taxi to take him to the airport, which I had no problem doing.  I grabbed his luggage and walked outside with him as a taxi came flying down out street.  I threw my hand out to get his attention.  The driver saw me as he was about to pass the hotel and slammed on the brakes, coming to a screeching stop two doors down. 

The next thing I know, I hear a loud crash.  I look up to where the taxi stopped and I see he came to a stop by rear-ending a police car.  The officer gets out of the driver's seat, massaging her neck, and goes to look at the damage.  What happens next is the crazy part.  The taxi driver gets out of his car and starts to yell at the police officer for "being in his way"!!

She doesn't seem to be fazed by the yelling.  While the taxi driver was going off on her, she just pulled out her ticket book to write him a ticket.  Once he saw this happening, he got even madder and yelled louder, saying it wasn't his fault and whatnot.  She wasn't having any of it.  She just ignored everything he was saying and wrote the ticket and slipped it under his windshield wiper.

As she turned to walk away, he completely lost it and spit on her.  I don't mean a playful 'thbbt' kind of spit.  I mean he hocked a loogey and let it loose.  It must have been a big one because she reacted instantly.  Within 5 seconds, she had him flipped on the hood of his taxi with his hands cuffed behind his back!  A few minutes later, backup was there along with a tow truck to impound the taxi.  It was awesome.  

Now, I know that women are treated differently in different countries.  Some respect women and their rights.  Some force them to hide their faces.  Some don't let them have rights.  It doesn't matter where you come from...once you come to America you forfeit the ability to treat women (and people) with anything other than respect.

Behind Closed doors...

Have you ever interrupted a couple having sex?  My coworker did.  It was both hilarious and awkward at the same time.  Let me tell you what went down...

I received a call from a Japanese guest around 8:30pm who, in her very broken English, was asking me to order her a pizza.  It took about four or five tries for me to understand what she wanted me to do, and that was just the beginning.  I proceeded to tell her (here is my side of the phone call):

"sorry ma'am, you have to either call them and order what you'd like and give them a credit card number over the phone, or come down to the lobby with your credit card and then I can call for you."

...

"No, I can't do it now. I don't have your credit card."

...

"Oh, you can't come down?  Ok, can you read the credit card number to me?"

...

"Ok, I understand if you don't want to give me the card number, but then you have to call them yourself."

...

"No, you have to call them and they'll deliver to your room."

...

"Sorry, I can't order it for you.  I can't pay for it without your card."

...

"You can call from your room and order it yourself."

...

"Yes, you can call from your room and order it yourself."

...

At this point, I continued to repeat that last like 6 or 7 times until my coworker (and all the guests in the lobby) looked over to figure out what the heck I was going on about.  I put the guest on hold and explain the situation to "Bob".  He proceeds to take the phone off hold and somehow manages to get the credit card from the guest, and the phone number of the pizza place she wanted to order from.  Bob called the pizza place and discovered that it wasn't a working number.  After quickly calling the guest back, we find out that she was having the same problem and wanted us to try calling, in case she was calling the number incorrectly.

"Bob" told the guest he was going to bring up a menu for a different pizza place that we use often and then she can order from her room.  After a few minutes, he came back down, his face white as a ghost, and he was trying to hold back a laughing fit.  This is how he explained the interaction:

"I knocked on the door and heard shushing really quickly after I knocked, so I knocked again.  A woman cursed, or it sounded like a curse, in a foreign language.  The man said 'one second!'.  Then, there was a loud THUD and male laughter, which leads me to believe that the wife fell off the bed.  She must have quickly gotten her robe on and answered the door all sweaty and frazzled, took the menu, bowed down, and closed the door quickly.  As I walked away, I heard them laughing hysterically!"

My question is, WHAT???  Were they doing it when I was on the phone with her?  How about when they were on the phone with "Bob"?  If not, and they knew we were bringing the menu up, WHY WOULD THEY START THEN????  And weren't they hoping to get pizza delivered?  SO AWKWARD!

All I have to say is thank G-d I wasn't the one to bring the menu up!

Name of the Day:  Apussorn Phungsoondara

New York City Nightlife

We get all types of creatures wandering into the hotel when working overnight. Someone just walked in who clearly had too much to drink tonight. I knew from the moment he walked in that it would be a fun conversation and I'd write about it. Here's how it went:

(Man walks in, stops in the middle of the lobby, purses his lips while looking around, and then walks over to the desk.)
Man: (while still looking around) This looks different. Did you change it tonight?
Me: The lobby looks different?
Man: Ya, it's different than when I left. Did you move the desk from the other wall?
Me: No sir, we haven't moved anything tonight. In fact, it's been like this for 8 years.
Man: No way! You're s***ting me!
Me: No, I wish I was though!
(He looks at me quizzically)
Man: Am I staying here?
Me: That's a good question. Are you? What's your name?
Man: I'm not sure. Do you have coffee and tea in the back?
Me: Yes. Just around the corner to the right.
Man: So I am staying here. Are you sure you didn't move things around?
Me: Ya, I'm positive.
Man: This must be wrong. I don't remember you. I'm going to find my place. Can you point me in the right direction?
Me: Do you know where you're staying?
Man: (Silence...)
Me: Are you staying in a hotel or an apartment?
Man: It's...um...crap. (Rubs eyes and face). I'm so confused!
Me: Do you know what street you're supposed to be on?
Man: Umm...up. There somewhere (pointing to the front door).
Me: Ok, so you're staying uptown. There's a start. Do you know the name of the place?
Man: No, but it looks like this. I'm going to walk uptown. Where is that?

I point him in the right direction and help him get his bearing straight. The poor guy proceeded to walk down a quarter of a block and fell twice before the next corner. As entertaining as that was, I hope he makes it back ok. Mainly because he'll be safe, but also so the night auditor at the hotel he's going to can enjoy his presence as well.

Moral of the story: If you're planning on getting piss drunk in New York City, don't get separated from your friends, and keep a hotel business card on you, so someone can direct you to where you need to go when you can't get there yourself.

Holidays

Being in New York during the holidays is quite an experience. There is just so much to see and so little time to see it. Do you go to the Empire State Building first, even though you know it will take up two hours of your day? Or do you go see to Rockefeller Center to see the Christmas tree and go ice skating? Maybe head down to the Statue of Liberty? Oh, and you can't forgot about seeing Macy's all pretty and lit up!

The holidays bring people to New York from all over the world. Off the top of my head, I can remember meeting people from at least 14 different countries. Despite the language barrier, it was amazing to meet them. The come in from Sweden, Chile, Germany, or whatever country they're from. They wake up early to venture out into the craziness that is New York City and spend the entire day traveling, sightseeing, eating and shopping. I don't know if you've ever had the chance to do it, but it's exhausting. Sometimes I forget that I haven't done much touring around New York and that some of these tourists have seen and done more than I have.

They come back in after their long day and they just love to talk, in their broken English, about what they did and saw. I love to hear their stories. It makes me feel like I've been where they've been and seen what they've seen. Sure, I've never been to the top of the Empire State Building before, but after hearing the story dozens of times and having them explain the view with vivid details makes it all seem real. The Central Park Zoo? Nope, I've never been there either, but I'll tell you those animals are adorable without ever seeing them! How about that helicopter tour around Manhattan? "Oh ya! That's an incredible trip! You'll really enjoy that!!"

And then there's hearing about everything around the world. From the way they talk about it, New Zealand, Sweden, Morocco, India, and Japan seem like fascinating places to visit. They make the United States seem bland. Well, New York at least. If only I had time and money to travel...
I guess I'll just have to live vicariously through the guests and enjoy their stories.

Story of the week:
9 guests walk into the hotel at the same time while I'm the only one at the desk. I start checking them in relatively quickly and get through most of them when my front office manager walks up to the desk. I'm checking in the 8th guest when she asks "are you all together?"

The last guest looks around and, as he's walking up to check in, says "No. Well, yes. I'm together. like, in my head. I'm not crazy. I'm just not with them. Not in their group. Wow. I'm making an idiot of myself in front of strangers in New York City. I'm going to stop talking now."

Happy February!

New Work

Starting a new job has many challenges, but it's a lot of fun as well.  You have new coworkers to bring a different dynamic to life, you meet interesting people along the way, and there is always the challenge of learning the new job.

I don't want to give away too many details so people can come stalk me, but I'll tell you a little about it.  I'm working at the front desk of a hotel in New York City.  it's a nice sized hotel that's been around for a while so lots of people come stay here.  We're consistently sold out or on the cusp of being sold out, and we have guests from every walk of life.  It's always a treat when guests come up to the desk and either can't speak English very well or just say silly things. 

In order to get back into blogging, I'm going to post some fun interaction I've had with the guest during my time at the hotel.  So here's the most recent one that happened tonight:
Guest: "I forgot my toothbrush."

Me:  "We have extras down here if you need."

Guest:  "Are they used?"

::FACEPALM::
 
Sometimes I wonder if people just don't think or if they really wonder some of the things they say out loud.  It's quite entertaining.
 
I'm out for now.  As one of the guests that just walked out said...howdy!