I’m not sure how people would react to different things, but let me explain this whole situation and then see what everybody thinks.
The morning flying out of Seattle, the flight was scheduled for like 6 a.m. — which meant getting up early and leaving the hotel by about 4 a.m. as we wanted to drop off the rental car and then have time to go through all the normal stuff and get inside.
So as I was preparing to check out of the hotel, apparently somebody decided they needed to do some ramming out in the parking lot. By that I mean somebody in the upper parking lot somehow (brake/gas pedals?) jumped the curb, went down the small hill and rammed a car or two in the lower lot, which was for long-term parking (in other words, people probably gone on a trip in a park-and-fly — what a surprise that would be to come back to, eh?)
The person was obviously dazed.
The front-desk worker at the hotel I was at was pulled out by the shuttle bus driver and she went out to investigate — just as I was trying to check out.
Fine, I can wait a few minutes. But when she got outside, she became the point person. She’s on her cell phone calling 911 etc. Meanwhile, the shuttle driver is just sitting around (he couldn’t make the call?) and I am trying to check out.
Now, I’m not heartless. I get that this was a situation that needed to be handled. But, if there is only one person working the desk, other people need to check out and such. I can’t miss a flight because somebody else jumped a curb and smacked some cars around.
Eventually, the shuttle operator had people in his bus and off he drove.
And I was still standing as the hotel person was on the phone.
Now, allow me to say this — the person driving the car was out and appeared fine. She was talking on her phone to somebody (maybe work?) about what happened. Still, the hotel worker was on the phone and staring at the car.
The person who drove the car was already back in the upper parking lot walking around.
Finally, the front-desk worker worked her way back up and allowed me to check out.
Again, not trying to be heartless, but if I had gotten back to the airport late and somehow missed a flight, I would have flipped out. I remained calm (despite watching the time) knowing I had planned some extra time, but it was still frustrating — especially when the driver appeared to be fine and was talking to somebody on her phone.
What do you think of this situation. How should it have been handled? What would be the protocol you would think should be followed. And why are only two people (if it was only these two) working at a hotel that services a major airport? Leave your comments below!
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