Ironing Out Those "Beginning of Season" Kinks!
This past Thursday George was doing some minor
construction in our Suite. He was putting up kitchen cabinets and there
was some construction debris in that room. We had a couple checking in for four
days but they weren't arriving until Friday. Or so we thought.
That Thursday afternoon while we were in the lobby a couple walked in. "We're here!"
the husband said as they walked in. George looked at me and said
"Who's here??" I quickly ran
to the computer and NO, I got it wrong. This couple was not checking in on
Friday, they were checking in on Thursday, AND in the suite. That same room that, the last time I checked, George hadn't exactly finished cleaning up his
construction mess.
Me, being the opposite of calm, tried to put on my best
face and said that the room was just about ready and it would only be about ten
minutes. As I ran as fast as I could with cleaning rags in hand to see the
disaster that is Construction George, I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't
anywhere as bad as I thought it would be.
As I was cleaning the room, unbeknownst to me, George was
being totally upfront with our new guests. "Truth be told, Tina thought
you were checking in tomorrow." Thanks George. I'll get you back tomorrow
morning! This was just the first of our innkeeper faux pas that we were about
to unleash on these poor people.
In the beginning
of our season, there always seems to be a few kinks that we need to iron out.
And this weekend, they seemed to happen all at once. To this one couple. Now I
have to say that this could have been a bad TripAdvisor review waiting to
happen, but somehow we all got along very
well. Even after George forgot to turn their hot water heater on. That next
morning Michael and Sharon did not seem to share our concern for energy savings. They
actually wanted a hot shower. Strike two.
Then when they were having breakfast waiting for their
water to heat up, they commented on how there was no Internet. Hmmm, maybe it
had something to do with George getting annoyed with our computer the night before and shutting off the power strip that the modem
was plugged into. Strike three. And yes, I threw George under
the bus for both strike two and three. Now mind you, Michael and Sharon never seemed to complain about any of these things. And they had every right to.
On to strike four. The next morning Michael told me about how his Galaxy 4 turned into a remote control and this was good because the remote in the room didn't work. Ugh! I forgot to check all the remotes in the rooms to make sure they worked before we opened. There's too much to check!! Two remotes, clocks, refrigerators, microwaves, emergency lights, irons x 12 rooms. I'm exhausted already. Well, thank you crazy cell phone technology. No one wants to get up and down to change the channels! That is so 1975!
All this (and I am probably leaving out a few things) and never once did it seem like they were complaining. I don't think this nice couple was going to let anything bother their
vacation. Thank you Michael and Sharon for being so understanding. I enjoyed our
morning laughs and if you happen to be back in the area, I can guarantee that
there will be a room ready, hot showers, available internet, and a warm and friendly face to greet
you at the door!
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Thank you Tina...for bringing "Cooperstown" all back to me with your blog!
Hi Angela, hope you are doing well in your new home and are happy! We miss you here!
Great story! I always look forward to you blog. I only wish that I had just 12 rooms to deal with!!
There are some nice, patient people out there -- thank God. But, it's easy to be nice to you and George. You both work so hard and your charming inn speaks of that in every lovely corner! See you in September -- working on this now.
Jennifer, I don't know how you do it, 12 rooms seems like a lot to me. I never think "only" 12 rooms.
Jean, Yay! can't wait to see you guys in September!!!