Its not the dryer, its the building

So I got good news and bad news on Wednesday.  The good news, my dryer isn't broken.  The bad news, it cost $120 to tell me that.  It's the damn building.  Well, the venting for the dryer that is.  When I told the maintenance man what it was, I got told "I told you to check the airflow".  I did.  The dryer's airflow that is.  I didn't know I was supposed to figure out the building's vent was clogged.

Jeez.  Now I get to have the management come out and fix it.  And then tell me that I need to empty the lint trap after each load.  I've had this set of machines for the last 22 years, I know this.  What do I look like, a blonde?  Ok, don't answer that.  I know I'm a ditz, but really?  I do know about lint traps, I even have a do-hickey to clean it out.  Yes, do-hickey is a word, a technical word at that.

I'd go clean out the damn vent if I had a ladder tall enough.  Even The Boy, who's around 6'6", standing on a step-stool can't get at it properly.  All I want in life is to dry the clothes.  Is that really too much to ask?  I don't want to have to visit the hell of the laundromat in the next 20+ years if I don't need too.  Have I screwed up that much in a past life to torture me that much?  Don't answer.  Really, don't.

At least I know that the machine is still going strong.  I'm just hoping to get at least another 5 years out of it.  I don't want to get a new one anytime soon, as even the repair guy said the stuff they sell now doesn't last anything like what I have. 

The really funny part about this whole ordeal was the repairman was here first thing.  I had scheduled a 8am - 1pm window, and we all know that they usually don't get there first thing.  In fact, when it did break last year, the repairman got here around 4pm.  So as I didn't want to wait all day, I figured, what the hell book the early time.  Yes, the day was full of suprises.

Now all I have to do is to wait for them to fix the building.  Laundromat, here I come.  I seriously must have screwed up in a past life.

Laundromats and other places in hell

I hate going to laundromats.  The only time I'd go to them is if I couldn't get a sleeping bag into my washing machine, luckily they fit.  And since I have a queen size bed I can get the comforters in there too.  But the dryer decided to act up and not work.  It just wouldn't dry anything.  So I scheduled an appointment for today.  Then on Friday, Shortie had moved it out from the wall.  And voila, it dries again.  Now it takes two cycles, but her clothes got dry.  So I cancelled said appointment.  Then on Saturday I decided to do a load for me.  I checked the clothes after the second cycle, and guess what?  Still damp and not even warm.  Rescheduled, but I couldn't get an appointment until Wednesday.  No big deal, I'll just go to the laundromat down the road.

Now the adventure starts.....

Since it has been years since I've been in one, they have put in all front loading machines.  Ok, no big deal as they used to have a couple of front loaders for the really big stuff like king size comforters and sleeping bags.  Now they have three sizes of them.  The small, which is for 20lb loads.  The medium for 50lb loads.  And the large, which does 75lb loads.  Ok, which leads me to my first problem.  How the hell do you figure out the poundage of a load of laundry?  There's no scale.  Do you just guesstimate the weight?  Do you insert a small annoying child into the machine to see if they'll fit, and then use that to gauge your laundry?

So I just decided to use two small and two medium machines.  Now here comes the fun part.  On the front of the machine they list what you put into what spot on the top of the machine.  Ok, makes sense until you see the labels the laundromat put on the machines.  Do they match the diagrams on the front?  No, that'd be too easy.  So I followed the instructions on the front, and then decided to just add more soap to the spot the top of the machine said.  I wanted to make sure it got to the clothes as that was the whole point of this adventure to hell.

Next you have to pay for these to start.  Ok.  Who remembers when it was $.75 or $1.00 to run a load?  Now, its $2.50 for a small, $4.25 for a medium, and $6.50 for the jumbo ones.  Jeez, how can anyone afford to go there on a regular basis.  Not to mention to run the dryers for an hour was $2.50.  So three dryers and 4 washers was a lovely $21.  If I have to replace my dryer, I figure that it will pay for itself in trips missed in around 15 - 20 visits to hell.

So now I sit and wait.  And wonder why my washers aren't as sudsy as the other machines.  Did I get the bad machines?  Did I screw up the soap?  Ok, that was a possibility, but still .  Now comes the fun part, running between the machines to see how much longer its going to take.  Everything looks smooth except the one with the bleach load in it.  It keeps telling me 23 more minutes.  WTF?  Is this one broken?  And as it looked like it was going to take forever I started two dryers.  Yes, I took that much with me.  I figured if I was going, might as well do it all and get it over with.  But of course, that machine stopped right after I started the second dryer.  Damn, more money.

But as the machine that had the darks in it had the coolest thing happen.  Yes, it didn't take much to entertain me this afternoon.  Shortie has this hoodie that is black with hot pink and white reflective things on it.  For whatever reason, it happened to flatten itself against the front door of the machine.  When it started spinning it was this really cool pink blur just spinning around.  So of course, out comes the camera phone.  People were looking at me like I was some tourist on my first trip to Disneyland.

Yup cool looking.  Cheap entertainment, sort of.

That was just one part of hell.  The another part was the kids.  Now I know kids will be kids, but really?  Running, screaming, opening all the machine doors?  I wonder how many I could've fit in one of the big dryers?  How long does a child cycle need to run for?  Just kidding, sort of.  The thought did cross my mind about a dozen times.

Then there were the people who choose to use the dryers right next to yours.  Which would be no big deal, except that they watched mine stop and then proceeded to stand in front of them to put their clothes in.  Did you not see that the rest of the row was empty?  You could've gone just one more over and not imposed on someone else.  Or do I not understand the etiquette of the hell called the laundromat.

I hope my dryer gets fixed.  I really don't want to buy a new one, but I will if it will save me from having to go back to that hell.

Don't leave your 7yo in your hotel room...

So on Friday I get a call from the front desk about a situation.  Remember how I hate the words "we have a situation"?  Well this little girl called the front desk that her mom had left and hasn't come back yet.  This is also a mom who hadn't paid to stay another night and was supposed to check out at noon, and now its 7pm.

Of course we are slammed in the restaurant.  Its usually not slow on days they need me to play manager.  But as the supervisor on duty, that's what I am.  So I had to leave the floor to my server, who thank god was working that day as we were so busy, and go to the room.  This poor little girl was hysterical.  When I got there, I introduced myself to her so she would open the door.  I told her that she could wait for mom in the restaurant with me until she got back.  I also introduced her to the front desk staff so she would also know them.

Because the mom hadn't paid, her key didn't work, and the little girl was supposed to be there to let her in through the window.  Like we were going to let that happen.  Thankfully she calmed down once we left the room.  What kinda of idiot leaves a 7 year old in the room?  On our way to the restaurant, guess who had just come back into the hotel with her other little one?  Yup, the mom of the year.  I so wanted to read her the riot act right there, but I didn't want to upset the girl.

So back to work I go.  Checked on things.  Everything in the restaurant was ok, so I went for a walk around the building to smoke and to make sure that this lady dumb bitch didn't break the window to get back in.  So guess what I saw?  Yup, the littlest one (the one she took with her) heading out to the parking lot and the bitch was outside of the room.  I went in and got backup so that I could figure out what she was doing now.  On the phone trying to find money to pay for the room.  Now we get the song and dance about how she works nights and had overslept.  Did she leave the girls alone at night?  WTF?  I'm thinking that maybe she was a working girl doing outcalls, but I don't know.  And I really don't care if girls are working or not, just don't leave your kids alone.  Use your nightly income to pay for a sitter.

Now she did ask us if the older one could go get her coat out of the room.  We weren't going to let her get cold outside, so we let her in to get it.  She also asked if she could get her sisters blanket, so we got that too.  But I drew the line at letting her get her mommy's computer.  Not going to get the most expensive items out of the room so she could skip.  I did have to tell the little one that I didn't want to have it get damaged so we needed to leave it in the room where it was safe.

Thought we were going to have to call the cops on her for both non-payment and child welfare issues.  I probably should've, but I didn't want to upset her anymore, the little one that is. 

At least the bitch had the common sense, which she obviously doesn't have much of, to bring the girls inside to stay warm while she was trying to find money.  Money finally arrived and she got into the room for one more night.  However, ran late on checking out in the morning.

I had left instructions for the night auditor to just call the police if she called the front desk about her mom being gone again and to also call me so I could keep the little one calm until they arrived.  My phone didn't ring, so either she wasn't working or the girls didn't wake up.

The things that could've happened to this girl because mom wasn't there is just awful to think about.  And if she comes back to the hotel, which apparently she's stayed with us a lot before, I'm going to try to keep tabs on the girls.  And if she bolts again, the police will be called.  I just can't handle people who don't take care of their kids.

You just don't leave little ones by themselves.  She was lucky that she wasn't staying at some flea bag, rent by the hour, dump to where who knows who would've showed up.  I'm still pissed off.  And if I see that bitch again, and the girls aren't with her, I'm so going to lay into her.  It'd be worth the write-up from the boss.

My god, kids disappear in situations where they are left alone.  Just last fall there was a little boy, a toddler, who disappeared when the mom left him in the car while she took the older girl with her to get "gas".  No one has seen him since.  I almost wonder if that bitch was related to the bitch from Friday.  Can you say Kaylee Anthony in the missing toddlers case?  And that woman hasn't even talked to the police since the first report of him being missing.  And this bitch from Friday put her little girl into a compromising position as well. 

My god.  I can't even give mine away, of course they aren't cute and little anymore, but The Boy can change a light bulb without a step-stool.  He's that tall.  He is for sale or rent to own, however, who ever takes him cannot return him.  Sorry no returns.

So listen people.  Don't leave your kids unattended.  Just don't do it.  Nope.  Not at all.  Never.  Or you just might hear the riot act from me.

Never piss off your bartender

Never.  Ever.  Piss off your bartender.  It won't get you anywhere.  Don't argue with them, you will not win.  You'll just make you look like a bigger ass that you are.  Seriously.

So the last two weekends have just been absolutely awful.  Ok, not every part of them.  Just parts.

For example, last Sunday night was the end of a trade show at the convention center near the hotel.  Now there were a couple of prima-donas at this show.  Typical for any big group.  There is always a couple that makes the whole group look difficult.  But the real fun started around 10:30 that night.

There was this guy who came into the bar.  Now as he seemed like he knew the people from the group I had thought that he was a part of them.  Wrong.  He apparently "was the lead singer for some local band".  Now this guy wasn't the lead singer for REO Speedwagon, he was in there the previous weekend.  I gave the fucktard a drink, he didn't seem all that messed up at that point.  But when I had come down from the kitchen with a food order, he was being all sorts of rude to the lady at the bar.

You don't do that.  Never.  Ever.  If you want to be an ass, do it at another bar.

So as he was both being an ass, and appearing intoxicated, I think that one drink kinda pushed it over the edge, I cut him off.  Period.  The end.

But no.  This idiot had to argue with me about it.  Tried to tell me that he wasn't fucked up, and therefore there was no need to cut him off.  Yeah right.  When you use that argument, you need to be cut off.

When I tried to tell him that he wasn't going to get anything else to drink.  He continued the argument.  Told me that if I was in Chicago, I wouldn't have to worry about cutting him off, I wouldn't lose my job for over serving.  Yeah right.  Guess what asshole?  We aren't in Chicago.  Besides, the bartender is the one in charge here, not you.

So he proceeded to call me a pussy for not standing up to the government and to just serve him another. 

What the fuck?  Really?  Call me a pussy?  Yeah, that'll get you a drink for sure.

Don't argue with the bartender, you will not win.  Oh, and don't call them names either.  Won't get you anywhere.

Luckily on of our night auditors happened to be doing a walk around during this.  And so when I told this idiot for the umpteenth time that he was cut off, my auditor/security dude, came to the bar to play bad cop.

It took threatening to call the cops to get this guy out of the bar.  But who knows, maybe he liked the threat of handcuffs.

When I told the boss about this, the first thing I was asked was if I clocked him.  Now as much as I wanted to, I didn't.  I didn't want to lose my job or break a nail.  As breaking a nail would've really pissed me off.

So in a nutshell, don't piss off your bartender.  Don't insult other customers at the bar.  And, one more thing.  Just because your short, leave the Chihuahua syndrome at home.  We don't allow little dogs there.