Diary of an Innkeeper

Last weekend we closed the inn for the season. During that last week, I stayed at the inn by myself one night. It was a very slow night with just a couple of guests and George stayed home with Aidan. Our last room of guests checked in around 9 pm. And they were hungry. During the Fall there are very few places that stay open for dinner late. Hell, during the season most restaurants don't stay open very late up here.

When the guests walked in that night, they promptly asked, "Where can we go get dinner?" OMG, that question! That late! It happens every so often and almost always happens after the people have just driven through Cooperstown (past many restaurants) and arrive at our inn after everything's closed!

These guests had just come back from Main Street. Most of the Main St. restaurants close at 9 pm. They drove the 15 minutes past about 10 restaurants to us to ask us where should they go to eat. They even commented that Doubleday Cafe looked good. I called Doubleday Cafe. They were closing.

I told them about the Rose and Kettle (one of my favorites) one block up the street from us. I called the restaurant. They would be open for one more hour. I showed them the menu and told them it was wonderful. "No, we really just want hamburgers." Really, you are going to be picky right now? I tell them they should go, they will love the food and considering there isn't much of a choice, they should hurry.

As they left for the restaurant, they asked what time did I serve breakfast until. I said 10 am. They said, "Oh, ok, then I guess we will be in around 9:30." Not seeming very happy about the hour. "We wanted to sleep as late as we could." I said, "Oh, ok, well, see you at 9:30." Not really budging on the time. I found out the next morning, that timing wasn't really important to them. 10:15 am. Still no sign of life. How long do I leave breakfast out for them?? They strolled in at 10:30. Ugh, how many more days until we close??

The next day, Mr. & Mrs. Invisible checked in. They checked in late, so we left an envelope with their key in it and the welcome letter stating what time breakfast was. The next morning the guests and I were all still mingling in the lobby at 10:30 when The Invisibles from Room 7 drove away. At first I felt bad. Maybe they thought they missed breakfast and didn't want to come in because they were late. Oh well, I thought, we would see them later.

Then Emily, my cleaning girl came in. She said the Invisibles had left a note requesting more toiletries, toilet paper, bathroom cups. She always replaces what is used, but they checked in late last night. They went through 2 rolls of toilet paper already?? As she was making the beds, she came across a plastic bag hidden under their pillow. In this bag - all the toiletries, toilet paper and cups. Are you kidding me??? Really? If you are going to steal all the stuff out of the bathroom, and ask for more, can't you find a better hiding spot than the bed that we are going to make??? May I suggest your suitcase? Not that I'm condoning stealing our stuff!

I asked Emily, "What did you do?" She said, "I took everything out of the bag and put it back in the bathroom." After I stopped laughing, I told George, who was happy with Emily's decision. That afternoon "The Invisibles" came back to the inn. No one saw them come back but, then again, no one saw their car come back later that evening either. But, we knew they came back at some point. When Emily went in to clean their room the next day, the beds had not been slept in and all their stuff was gone. No check in, no check out. We never saw them. Thank god their credit card went through.

This last weekend of the season. We had four rooms of some of our best returning guests. What a nice way to end the season. But of course, we had to have a little crazy thrown in. Just to remind us of how much we need this break from the inn. Spring will be here soon enough, with plenty more stories to tell. But for now, enjoy the winter and enjoy the holidays!

to be continued...