"Sir, the breakfast is through that doorway," I say as I point to the left.
"Where is the breakfast?" he asks completely disregaurding my answer I gave only seconds before.
Are you kidding me? I thought as I pointed to the left yet again, smiled and attempted to have the almost painted on smile I have had all morning. These people are completely ridiculous; however, they are the reason I actually have a job, and I am forced to be friendly and helpful to every 'flat-lander' and non-English speaker that walks through the lobby doors.
A few minutes pass and the phone rings. "Hello? Country Inn Sonora, this is Laura, How may I help you?" I say as I try to keep the bright and cheery tone in my voice.
"Yes, I'd like to check the balance on my account." a male, undoubtably hispanic, voice persists.
"I'm sorry, I think you have the wrong number.
"No, I don't have the wrong number." he arrogantly insists as he rambles off the number--which he cannot even say in English-- and then begins to get irritated with me.
"I'm sorry Sir, but you have the wrong number." I say in my 'you better stop before you piss me off' voice. "Yes, you are calling 1-800-847-2211--which does spell 'Visa' in the middle--but this is not the VISA corporation, and I cannot give you account information."
"Tengo el numero correcto! Quiero hablar a una persona en espanol." He says, which I actually understand because I DO speak spanish.
"Senor," I respond in Spanish, "lo siento pero usted tenga el numero incorrecto. No pudo ayudarte con el 'account de Visa.'" --Which is basically the exact same thing I said moments before in English.
Without a word he hangs up, and 2 minutes later the phone rings again.
"Good Morning--" I answer.
"--Quiero la information para mi trajeta de credito"
"SIR," I say as I begin to get slightly irritated because now I have a customer waiting at the front desk, "this is not the number for the VISA Corporation, and I cannot help you."
He hangs up yet again, followed by the phone ringing less than 1 minute later. I pick up the phone, and am immiediately greeted by the phrase, "Hola." and I hang up. I don't have the energy to deal with this anymore.
I turn to the person that has been waiting at the front desk, who has been tapping her bright pink fingernails on the counter, wearing too much make-up, and letting her 3 year-old son run around the lobby screaming at the top of his lungs for that last 3 minutes. "Can I help you?" I asked trying not to sound irritated, or annoyed at the fact that I am not getting a headache after being at work for less than an hour.
She stares at me, not saying a word, blows a bubble with her gum and then pops it.
"Are you checking out?" I ask her--which she still says nothing.
A friendly gentlemen behind her asks for simple directions to Perkos, which I gladly give him directions which I neatly write on a piece of paper. He thanks me a few times, comments on the fact that I still write in cursive, and leaves.
"Mam," the woman with the painted on face and nearly 2 inch nails calls, " Are you going to help me?"
First of all, I hate being called 'Mam' and secondly I did try to help her! I even asked more than twice, and she did not even acknowledge my presence!
"Excuse me Mam, I have asked you if you needed help and you have not answered." I say trying not to yell or come off rude.
"No Missy, you have not even looked in my direction all morning." She retorts as her snot-faced kid is still screaming.
Ignoring the fact that she has just insulted me, I ask her how I can help her--for the third time.
"I want to make a complaint to you manager." she says. "These rooms are terrible, and I do not want to pay for my bill--I was highly unsatisfied. I am not paying."
"I am sorry, but the head manager is not availiable until later this afternoon--"
"--Look, I am leaving now, and I want to talk to someone about this NOW. Don't get an attitude with me." She begins to raise her voice, and I smile politely. This will give me another chance to use my psychological tactics on this women, and I begin to lower my voice.
"Mam, I am sorry you are not happy with your stay; however you have signed the contract for your charge for last night and we will not be able to refund your charges. I can take your phone number, and I will have a manager--"
"--Fine. I don't want to be charged!" she yells, grabs her son, and slams the door. She leaves no number, and I am hoping she doesn't come back yelling and blaming me for her mistake.
Finally after my first hour of work there are no people in the lobby, and no screaming children running around. The phone is ringing almost every 5 minutes, and the hispanic man has called 4 times in addition to the times he has called earlier.
I walk into the breakfast room and garbage, pieces of food, and milk spills litter the counters, floors, and nearly every surface. It has only been an hour and already the day has been one from hell.
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An hour later...
I realize our system has logged itself out. Oh shit, I think to myself, the only time our system does this is if our support system has locked us out. This only has resulted in me sitting on hold for a few hours and having them tell me that no one that is on the shift right now knows how to unlock our system. I end up having to walk the person through the process of unlocking our system--which I know more about then they do, but don't get paid for it.
I type in the user name and password and to no surprise the following message pops up:
"Your user name has been locked. Please contact MSI support for assistance"
"Ha! assistance? Those people don't even know anything about the system we are on, and I end up telling them how to do their job!" I say to myself as I glare at the computer screen. The only problem is that I do have to call because only their system can unlock ours.
I dial the number and immidiately I am put on hold.
"Can this day get any better?" I yell at the phone.
The same robotic voice keeps repeating, "Please hold for the next availiable representitive..."
There is no elevator music, just the same voice repeating the same thing.
Four minutes go by--still no representative.
Five mintues-- I have now had 7 angry customers that want reciepts, which I cannot print because our system is down.
10 mintues later I have a perky middle-aged woman come on the phone. "Thank you for holding, how may I help you?"
"My system has been locked out, and I need you to unlock the system so I can access our information." I say knowing that I am going to have to walk her through the process of doing this in a few minutes.
"Mam, can I get your name and phone number please?"
Fuck, I think, I know that she is getting my phone number because instead of putting me on hold for 20 minutes or longer, she will just call me back since she doesn't know what she is doing.
"My name is Laura, and the phone number is 209-984-0315. I know you probably don't know our system--which it seems that no one does-- and I can walk you through the process."
"That is alright Mam. I will call you back."
The phone clicks.
20 minutes later she calls back.
"Mam, this is Christine at MSI support."
"Yes, I know."
"I am sorry, but no one here today is trained in your system. I am going to transfer you to another representative that is going to try to help you. Have a great day!"
I am put on hold again--this time for only 3 minutes.
A young man, Rick answers the line, "Hello. MSI support, how may I help you?"
"Hello Rick. You have helped me before because I recognize your voice (he has a really strong Southern accent). Our system was locked, do you want me to run you through the process of unlocking it?" I ask him.
"I am resetting your password right now, but I am not seeing--"
I sit there for a few minutes, and he is still having trouble.
"Rick, you just need to click on the first server--I wait for him to do so-- then on user names-- I wait again--- and then right click to reset the password."
There is no answer.
"Yes, you want to make the password the default 'MSI.'" I say trying to get him to just follow my directions.
"Mam," he says trying to sound like he is in charge, "I understand that you are irritated, but please let me do my job. Can I put you on hold?"
"--WAIT!"
The automated voice comes on, "Please hold for the next availiable representative."
Shoot.
One minute later...
"Mam, this is Rick again. I have reset your password to 'MSI' and you should be able to log in now. Thank you for choosing MSI."
The phone dies.
He doesn't wait to see if what he did actually worked, and won't admit that he didn't have a clue about what he was doing. Just out of curosity I don't type in 'MSI' but I type in our old password. The old password works--he didn't do anything--but for some reason our system unlocked itself. Oh joy.
Gosh I hate hotels.
Enough ranting for now...more may come later.
Namaste.
L.
