OFF DAY

Goddamn, it feels good to not have to walk into the hotel today.

Today's Hotel Hot Tip
Tip your bellman when you leave your bags alone with them

Many times people check into the hotel but aren't necessarily ready to go up to their rooms but they do want their bags to go up. They'll usually ask the bellman to take their bags up while they go off and do whatever else they've got going on. However, whether it's because they forget or because they're just dicks, they break the cardinal rule of not tipping.

So now, they haven't tipped but yet they've left the majority of their possessions with a person who takes it very personally when they're asked to a deed and not get tipped.

At the very least, the non-tippers bags will get tossed around, kicked and treated with absolutely no respect. The non-tipper should feel extremely lucky to arrive in their room later and even find their bags in the room.

An airport hotel I worked at used to have a wily staff of bellman back in the day and while I will never admit to partaking in such actions, I do know that when bags when up without the owner having tipped the following may have happened:

•The bags were put directly behind the door then pulled in where it would be moderately difficult to open upon arrival.
•The bags would be tossed into the room from the hallway landing wherever they landed.
•All of the lights inside the room would be rigged to not turn on, whether the bulbs were loosened or extension cords were pulled out of the room. Televisions, radios and phones would also be rigged to not work. While not a big deal, if one were to arrive during daylight hours, a slight inconvenience when arriving in the middle of the night.
•The heater would be turned on in the Summer or the air conditioner would be turned on in the winter.
•The alarm clock would be set to an unholy hour and then be thrown under the bed.
•At this particular location, an automated system picked up incoming phone calls, so the non-tipper would receive wake up call after wake up call throughout the night.

The outcome of not tipping and leaving your bags with a person who expects to be tipped can truly make your visit less than favorable and the things that could happen to ones luggage are endless.

One way to avoid your luggage being messed is with is to come up with a couple of bucks. A 5 spot is usually a safe bet in assuring that the majority of requests are handled in a civilized manner.

'Til next time.