![]() |
You get what you pay for |
Below is the gist of a conversation I had at about 7pm yesterday with the manager of the Paradise Motel in Santa Cruz. (On a wet day -- and this day was wet -- Santa Cruz is California's answer to Margate.) The words are not verbatim, of course, and there were some language difficulties, but I promise that I have not made a single detail up.
Scene: I stand with manager in the bathroom of our $55 room.
John: "So you see, there is no plug for the bath. And we want to have baths this evening, to relax after our long drive. We specifically asked you for a room with a bath for that reason. Can you not find us a plug?"
Manager: "But your room does have bath!"
Pause
J: "Yes, it does have a bath, but we cannot relax in the bath because there is no plug to keep the water in."
M: "You could lie in bath and let water from shower spray over you."
(J rendered speechless)
M: "You should have checked for plug first. I gave you key to room to inspect it before you checked in; you should have made sure there was plug."
Pause
J: "I'm sorry? That's like saying we should have checked the tv worked, or the wi-fi you promised us ...
M: What? You say tv not work either? ..."
By now I had realised that further debate on the point was futile. Henry joined in, insisting the manager found us a room with both a bath and a plug. The manager then led me to the neighbouring room, but it, alas, had no plug. We went next door again. None of his baths, it seems, had plugs. The tension level had now been reached, we concluded, where relaxation in a bath would be impossible. I marched back to our room, and he marched back to his office.
Two minutes later, Henry smilingly handed me a pair of socks, bundled into a sort of bung. It blocked the plughole perfectly. And as I soaked in the steaming water, it struck me that sometimes, just sometimes, it's worth thinking your way out of a problem before picking a fight over it.
John
No comments:
Post a Comment