Hi all, discovered this sub a few months ago and have been consoled by posts more times than I can count during long shifts at my small, poorly-run Milton property in the Deep South. Hospitality is a brutal field for those on the front lines, aka the front desk, and I appreciate hearing of the ups and downs. First time posting!

As this is my first job in hospitality (and let's face it, my last after this experience), I had no idea what to expect when I started as a front desk agent at an extended stay property in my mid-sized town this year. I have battled bed bugs, screaming guests, triple shifts, incompetent management, huge events, and unreasonable demands. I have endured fire alarms, being yelled at by guests who clearly smoked weed in their room to remove a smoking fee while still smelling of weed, and the ever-popular high- rewards tier guest rage at being treated as less than gods walking among mortals. It's been a journey, and here are some of my favorite moments, compiled from rage-filled group text venting sessions into a play coming to a screen near you :

To open, The Lovely Tale Of 5 minutes: While a soft drink delivery man needs my signature, I am cleaning the glass on the front doors. I am brewing coffee in the kitchen.

Two people approach the desk looking at their phones until I ask if I can help them, to which they look surprised that I direct my gaze in their direction (as they stand? at the front desk?).

Two teenagers walk up and ask for a towel and a washcloth. I bring a towel, we are out of wash clothes up front.

"Ya'll don't give washcloths?" I am met with a steely stare. "We do, we are just out in the front office." Glower.

"So ya'll don't have wash clothes?"

In the distance, my front desk phone rings incessantly. End scene.

Breakfast Battles, or, "I Guess I'm Your Personal Servant":

To the older man who loudly grunts and points at the empty coffee carafe while staring me down at my front desk position across the lobby and the older lady who looks angry at me that the other coffee type is out a few minutes later, who ya'll think is drinking it?? Me?

End scene.

Receptionist Woes, or, "Why Can't Anyone Speak in Complete Sentences?":

Phone call: "Hey, I was wondering if you were hiring?
Me: " For what department?" (First of all, I hate these calls anyway. All open positions can be found on our website). Caller: "Uh, for that...agent...who greets people who come in the door?" Me: ... "You mean a Guest Service Agent?" Caller: "Yeah".

Yeah, no, buddy.

(Not the weirdest stuff I've heard. My favorite for "Most Unprofessional" are the callers who say "I'm calling to check on my application" or "I had put an application in", with no name/hello/what department or anything. This is not a one of those call line numbers, I do not know your fortune.)

*Front Desk phone rings* Me: "Common Hotel Brand Name, how can I help you today?" Woman: "Ya'll have rooms with cha-cooties in them?" Me: "..."

Me: "Could you repeat that?"

"CHA-COOTIES".

Me: "Jacuzzis. Are you saying Jacuzzis?"

Woman: "......Yeap." Me: ".....No."

*I am immediately hung up on* End scene.

(By the way, ya'll let me know if another hotel has cha-cooties in rooms. I got nothing.)

My Favorite Kind of Day, or, "An Example of Hell":

When I started my morning shift, I learned that our Wifi was down at the hotel and the entire PHONE SYSTEM because our manager had not paid the phone bill before going on vacation. So everyone was yelling, no sign of a manager until after 12 PM, etc. This was in conjunction with me having to tell more than 50 older individuals who walked in that day that an event they were coming to our hotel for (an antique show) had been cancelled.

I was also yelled at by a guest who wanted to check in at 1:00PM and I couldn't let her in her room since it hadn't been inspected, and I can't ever get a hold of the HSK manager in time (she won't carry a walkie talkie and answering the phone is a hit-or-miss). I cried a bit in the back office as my front desk manager gave me ugly looks because I was asking her what to do (I'm sorry she was on the phone with AT&T, if we had paid our bills, that call wouldn't have even been made). However, I went back out to the lobby, nose all red, and a man who was also trying to check in told me,"Stand your ground, she was a bitch". He was a highest-tier rewards member.

End scene.

And the last scene in my saga, "It's Not All Bad":

Besides management that stays in the back office constantly, coming out only to gripe at others for their own mistakes and to overcompensate angry guests for issues ANY preventative maintenance would have solved, I love my coworkers here. Our housekeepers are overworked saints, maintenance men are MacGyver-like problem solvers (and our older hotel has plenty of problems for them to solve), breakfast attendants are long suffering and good-natured goddesses, and other front desk employees, ingenious and caring souls who voluntarily clock in daily to be punching bags for the dregs of society. They are the reason that the hospitality industry continues to run day after day. They are the real heroes.

End scenes, and thank you for reading. I have put in my two weeks notice, so the play will be ending, but I won't forget the lessons about humanity that I have learned here-- the "eh", the terrible, and the downright beautiful.

Mentally_30, out.