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It was a sad day at the hotel just before Christmas. Owners had decided to close down the 360 room hotel in a Northern California town in preparation for the upcoming renovation. I had the difficult task of letting all the 80+ remaining employees work on their last day.

Almost a month later, I was sitting in my outside office taking care of the closed down hotel feeling like Jack Nicholson in the movie “The Shining”. Most of the power was shut down and all the doors were locked in the large convention hotel..

My typical day starts around 9 am with a walk inside the dark and cold hotel where you could hear a pin drop. In a snowy January morning, I was earlier than usual and walking with my flash light inside the unusually cold second floor corridor. As I approached the front door of room 309, the eternal quietness was broken by the telephone ringing inside the room!

I didn’t know I could run that fast when I realized I was in my office in lass than a minute. Feeling better about an hour later, I went behind the front desk to check the hotel main switchboard. It was powered by the battery back up and a wake up call was set to room 309 at 8.00 AM before the hotel was shut down. It was ringing at 8.00 AM ever since!

The Foreign Exchange student was the role model at the front desk. 6 months in to her employment things started to change with her attitude towards the hotel even though she did a great job at the desk. Her constant complaining about the co-workers was impacting the morale of the staff. She would bypass her Front Desk Manager to come to me and complain. After several warnings, I called her to my office to tell her that she was suspended for 3 days. She was shocked and wanted to know why. I asked her to go home and write 10 positive things that had happened to her at the hotel and 10 negative things that bother her so much.

3 days later she came back to me with a letter. It has 13 positive things about the work place and one negative thing written. It said “I Think it’s me”

She never complained for the next two years until her departure after the visa expiration.

It had been peaceful in the hotel for sometimes. But everything had changed since a youth group arrived two days ago. They trashed their rooms, burned the carpeting, destroyed furniture and broke the elevators. Their loud noise filled the hotel. Many regular guests had left the hotel because of them. The bellmen and service personnel did not come to work for the same reason. And now the housekeepers want to walk out. I was the only desk clerk left behind the front desk, and very scared.

I felt a sense of relief when the new Manager Trainee appeared at the front desk. “Some crazy people with this youth group staying in the hotel … I managed to lock the front door.” I told the manager shakily. “They have taking over the parking lot now. Should we call the poli…?”

“Never lock the entrance door of the hotel,” the Manager Trainee said with confidence. “You can not do that. Open the door. I’ll talk to them.”

I opened the door and the manager stepped outside into the terrifying noise coming from the parking lot. I felt even more scared and decided to lock the door behind the Manager for my safety.

Before I could get behind the front desk, I heard the screams. “OPEN THE DOOR!!! OPEN THE DOOR!!! CALL THE POLICE!!! LOCK THE DOOR!!! …”

I turned to see the manager screaming, running towards the front door. Behind was an angry crowd of young men who were moving fast, trying to grab the new Manager Trainee.

“Oh, My God!” I shrieked. “The door is locked…”

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