It really irks me when guests whom are older than myself give me a look of confusion or question my capability when I tell them I’m the assistant manager, when they ask to to speak to a manager. —This happens more often than not.

I had a couple of guests come up to the desk this morning and ask to speak to the manager. I responded with, “I’m the assistant manager is there something I can help you with?” The woman looked so completely dumbfounded and looked at me and said, “NO. I need to speak to THE MANAGER. I need to speak to someone who has AUTHORITY.” I said it again, “Ma’am. I am the assistant manager. Unfortunately, if you were hoping to speak to our general manager, he is not here on the weekends and is here from Monday to Friday from 8AM-4PM. Is there something I might be able to help you with?” The woman, completely appalled goes, “There is nobody I can speak to more higher up than you?!” So, I smiled and responded with, “I’m just below the general manager. The only people above us are our owners. Then the corporate offices.” (which is Choice Hotels International) “Well, now this is just ridiculous,” she responds.

What is ridiculous? That fact that my general manager is not present or the fact that a 25 year old holds a management position at a Hotel? I’m going with the latter because this is definitely not the first time I’ve been through this.

Are people my age not allowed to hold such a position? I know people my age and younger who hold better job positions! — Of course they went to school for their chosen fields and I got promoted from within and I don’t hold a college degree, but regardless. I wouldn’t have been promoted if my boss (our general manager) didn’t think I could handle the responsibilities that come along with the position. I’ve been working here long enough to know how to handle almost every situation, because I’ve had to deal with every situation. I take care of the guests here. I listen to their concerns and I do what I can to make sure they’re happy. Sometimes there are things beyond my control that I cannot remedy. When that happens, I address it with the general manager, which sometimes helps but ultimately, I handle almost every complaint or concern that comes through ME, on my own and in a quick and proper manner. Most of the time, I go out of my way far more than I should. But that’s my job. I do what I can to make sure that my guests are satisfied. I don’t just deal with guest relations, but I also maintain the accounting and revenue for the hotel. It’s definitely not easy, in fact it’s quite hard! But again, if my boss didn’t think I could handle it or if I didn’t think that I could handle it, I would have never accepted. Besides, I enjoy challenges.

The front desk staff (all of us here) are continuously in the line of fire. We’re the first and sometimes, only staff the guests come in contact with while staying, so when something goes wrong, it’s automatically one of our faults. Even if it’s a housekeeping issue. If housekeeping messes up, it is the front desk’s responsibility to rectify the situation. We deal with a lot of scrutiny. Of course it is my job or the general manager’s job to investigate why issues and complaints arise but you damn well know we do our best to fix the problem.

Oh yeah. The complaint from above guest? She stayed for two days and left her $500 glasses behind and when she called to recover them (which were found immediately) she requested that the glasses be mailed. A couple days later she called to see if they had been mailed and they had not in which she said the guest service agent responded with, “They’re right here at the front desk. You can come get them whenever you want!” but with a “piss poor attitude.” She told the GSA, “That is poor customer service and a terrible attitude. Please have “the manager” call me Monday.” (Which would have been 1/2/12) Now, I’m not sure who she spoke to that treated her “poorly” or arranged for this phone call to be made, however, our general manager usually takes the day off after a holiday. I worked the entire holiday weekend, including that Monday. I did not take this phone call, nor did I receive a message for myself or the general manager to call her. She drove in from Canada just to pick up her glasses and to speak to the “manager” because nobody ever called her. She went on an on about customer service, the fact her glasses went unnoticed at the front desk, nobody relayed the message to neither manager and the fact that there was no where to park during her stay. (We offer extended parking up to 30 days for people flying out of the Buffalo Airport who stay with us at least 1 night during their trip and this month, we had the most cars we’ve EVER had, since offering the “Park and Fly” system. —Over 300 Vehicles in our lot.) I agreed with her that the parking situation was incredibly out of hand. But assured her the general manager and I were talking to the owner about allowing for more room and to pave the rest of our lot. (This was a serious conversation I had with him, because it wasn’t just this one guest who complained about the parking.) We had no room for any of our incoming guests! I credited the guest’s MasterCard a night out of her two night’s stay and apologized for all of the aggravation.

Her last words?

“Thank you so much for handling this and listening to my concerns in a calm and professional manner.”

Yeah, no problem lady.

Next up on today’s list? I get to tell an elderly man who stays EVERY Saturday (except for holidays/holiday weekends) that he is no longer allowed to stay here because he shits the bed every time he stays.

NOPE. I CAN’T HANDLE MY JOB!