Tuesday, October 4, 2005

Just Another Day in Paradise

Today at work I had to have a man arrested for “defrauding an innkeeper”.

Yes, if you don’t pay your hotel bill, there really is a law that will get you some alternate lodging at a pretty low price. LOL

This man checked in on Sunday night and paid cash for one night. On Monday he did not check out by noon, so we called him to see what his intentions were. He said he would be out soon. He was called at least three times and finally he said he would be out at 3pm or he would come down and pay for another night. I left assuming he had checked out.

Today when the housekeeper came on duty she went to clean his room and was surprised to find that he was still there.

The front desk rep called him AGAIN to see what was up. He said he would be down to pay in a few minutes.

Forty-five minutes later, he still had not come down, so I called him.

He told me he did not have any money. I asked for a credit card. He gave me a credut card number. It was declined (no surprise to me). I called him back and told him I was calling law enforcement to evict him. He asked if he could take a shower first.
Expecting him to bolt before the law officers arrived, I and our Chief Engineer went to stand guard outside his room. True to his word, he was in the shower! (we could hear the water running)

The two officers arrived quickly and we knocked on the door. He let us in and was standing with a small towel wrapped around his lower body, water dripping profusely down his body and on to the carpet.

Awww geez, WHY ME?

I had to stand within two feet of this nearly-naked man while he was being questioned for at least 30 minutes. I thought for sure that towel would drop to the floor. I tried to keep my eyes downward as I was not too excited about seeing all he had to offer. It was bad enough having to stare at those gnarly wet hairy toes!

The officers thought the man was very suspicious (none of his identifications checked out, etc.) He said he was having money wired this afternoon (the same thing he told us yesterday). They asked him why he stayed another night knowing he could not pay his bill. He had no answer. They ended up handcuffing him and escorting him to the city slammer.

This is the second time I have had to have a customer hauled off in the past three months (the last one was beating up his mother. He had just been released from the mental unit at the local hospital).

I really do not like having to do this sort of thing. I find it quite disturbing.

8 comments:

  1. I have worked in the hotel/resort industry for years. I can relate!

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  2. Ouch. I used to work housekeeping for a teeny little lakeside cabins motel... I was really glad that I wasn't the one asked to clean up after the guy got shot there. Bullet went right through the wall.

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  3. That guy sounded creepy. I definitely would have let the police take care of it too.

    Earlier this year I had to call security because a guy was trying to stay in the library overnight to sleep. Apparently he had made a habit of this and I was the first person to catch him in the act.

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  4. Um, sounded too dangerous without law enforcement there first. How about if he was a crazy with a weapon? Call the police and don't stand outside anyone's door. Do you think you and your fellow worker could have really wrestled him to the ground?

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  5. LMAO, defrocking! lol


    sppp...tag your it!

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  6. Brit, I was just glad he didn't "defrock" in front of me!
    Yes, Dianne, I did think about the danger. You just never know. After about 30 minutes, the officers sent him into the bathroom to get dressed. I was just standing there thinking, "He could open that door and have a gun pointed in my direction." It was a little scary.

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  7. Sylvana, We had a similar situation in our library. A homeless man used to spend all day there (did not try to sleep though). One day I walked in and the stench was almost unbearable. It was from him. I have never been near a person who was so dirty that the smell permeated a room that large. I don't know what they ever did to get rid of him, or maybe he still goes there. I don't go so often anymore (no time to read with blogging!)

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