"Cap'n, She Canna Tae Much More!"

I'm checked into my new hotel room. Everything is good though I'm not thrilled that there are no thermostat controls in the rooms, only fan controls. I assume it's because this is an "atrium" style hotel (most of the rooms open into the enclosed atrium - see photos below) and they want to keep the temperature at a moderate level, but I usually prefer to have my room a little cooler than most people. I'm sure I'll adjust, especially since the good points heavily outweigh that one negative.

View from my door looking across the atrium.



View looking down in the atrium.



Plus I've had my first amusing experience here. I had come up (I'm on the top floor, which is the 10th) to check out the room before bringing my luggage all the way up to the room. One thing I didn't do was turn on the TV's (one in the front room and one in the bedroom) and I know better but for some reason I didn't do it. Later, after I had unpacked and was settled in, I turned on the front room TV to be greeted with sound but no picture. I checked the bedroom TV and it was fine. I called down to the front desk, explained the situation, and the clerk replied, "No problem sir, I'll send the engineer up."

Whoa! They have an electrical engineer on staff at this hotel? I mean, it's a nice hotel but not THAT nice.

A few minutes later there was a knock at my door and when I opened it I was greeted by...the maintenance man. He came in, quickly identified the problem as an encryption card issue that required a simple reset, and in a few seconds my TV was fully functional. As he was about to leave I said, "So, you're an electrical engineer?" and he replied, "No, hotel maintenance. But we handle most of the simple problems."

Ah, the desk clerk must have meant maintenance engineer.

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Hermit Crab

I'm moving to a new hotel Saturday. It's one that is closer to my office and, frankly, has nicer amenities than the one in which I'm currently staying. Plus it's closer to a Publix, where I prefer to buy my groceries, and to some popular restaurants when I want to eat out. In fact, Cindy and I ate at the Cheesecake Factory in that area when she visited me back in May.

But the biggest reason I chose this particular hotel is because last week I had checked our staffing list and did not see anyone from my office staying there. Not that I don't like the people I work with, because I do (at least most of them) and they are great people, but I am just not the type who enjoys a lot of social interaction. I can fake it very well (I'm told) when I have to, but deep down inside when I get back to my hotel at night after a long day I'd rather just be a hermit in my room and that becomes problematic when your co-workers are staying in the same hotel. You know, when they find out you're staying there too they want to go have a drink after work or go to dinner together after work or go do something together on your day off...and that's very seldom my preference. As I say, I like my co-workers and they're fine people, but I can probably count on one hand the ones I'd LIKE to spend time with when I'm off work (and if you're reading this, please be assured you ARE one of those, lol). So I booked a reservation thinking I could be my "hermit" self without going through the scenes above.

But today the main reason for my hotel choice was blown apart after I discovered that several of my co-workers had just moved to the same hotel. Some of them are very gregarious and outgoing. One of them, upon finding out today that I was moving there, has already said, "Let's get a drink together one night." I said, "Oh yeah, that'd be great" but you probably already know what they didn't; that I wasn't entirely honest in my response. Now I'll be trying to figure out how to sneak into the hotel each night and make it up to my room without being spotted, or making up lame excuses or, in some cases, just giving in and doing it so as not to offend anyone.

When I was a kid I'd pick up hermit crabs on the beach, never dreaming I'd become one someday, lol.

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Doubletree Dismay

I like the hotel I'm staying at. I stayed here for more than a month earlier this year and never had any problems. But I've been slightly ticked at the front desk staff at Doubletree this past week. I had a package arrive on Monday, October 5th. They never called my room to advise me and I didn't know it was there until Thursday morning when I stopped by after breakfast and asked the desk clerk if I had a package. He then proceeded to interrogate me as to what kind of package, then finally produced it from beneath the counter. He thrust a pickup sheet at me to sign before letting me have the package and when I asked why I hadn't been called when it arrived on Monday, he just shrugged his shoulders.

Update: I've decided that the morning desk clerk is just a sour person. I stopped by the desk after breakfast Friday to ask if he could change a ten dollar bill for a five and five ones so I could leave a tip for the housekeeping staff that services my room. I laid the $10 bill on the counter between us. The way he reacted, You would have thought I asked him to just give me money free and clear instead of change. It seemed that he wanted to draw out the process as long as possible to let me know what an inconvenience it was to him. He counted out the ones three times and then snatched the $10 off the counter before handing me the change, as if he was afraid I would run off with both the change and the $10. I'm pretty sure that one more incident with him will require that I speak to the Front Desk Manager.

I never had this problem when I was here earlier this year and I don't remember this unfriendly desk clerk being here then. He is definitely not in the right job. His (lack of) personality makes him unsuitable for a job dealing with the public.

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