It never ceases to amaze me how much this column makes me feel loved around the community. That feeling was reaffirmed these past two weeks as I have been asked by an enormous amount of people how my trip to Hershey went.
Here's the answer I've been giving: The game was great. My hotel was a disaster.
When I wrote the column first describing my room, it was Friday afternoon, about 2 p.m. And by Friday night, I had become more comfortable in my living quarters. That all changed at about 8 a.m. Saturday morning.
Without going into the "Too-Much-Information Department," I stepped in a puddle on my bathroom floor at 8 a.m. Odd, since I had only used the sink once. I glanced into the bathtub to see water in the tub. Odd, since I hadn't showered yet.
Yes, there was a sewage backup in only my wing of the hotel. Lucky me.
Needless to say that did it in for me in Harrisburg. But what upset me more than stepping into a puddle of water first thing in the morning, was how the situation was handled by the hotel. Because the way they handled it made me wonder about a motto I try to live my life by - that when you are nice to people, they will be nice to you.
No, apparently when you are wronged and you are nice about it, the people who wronged you think an apology will be sufficient. But if you're a raving lunatic, you get a free night at a hotel.
This makes no sense to me, but here's how it went down.
I called down to the front desk to inquire what was going on and they informed me they were taking care of it. And I was nice about it. I asked if I needed to move to another room or if they were going to have it fixed. They assured me that the problem would be taken care of by early afternoon. No problem, I had places to go, so I wasn't even going to be in the room anyway.
When I returned from my breakfast at Bob Evans (with my dry biscuits and burnt hash browns) and my trip to the outlet stores (when it was 90-degrees outside), I visited the front desk to make sure that all was well when I returned to my room.
I was super nice. Overly nice. My thought was, I know that people are probably really mad about this and are being idiots to the staff. If I play the nice card, maybe I'll get my stay comped to show their gratitude for my understanding of the situation.
Nope. Wrong. I got a "We're sorry." That's it. Not even an extra mint on my pillow.
Really? Seriously? "We're sorry?" I've been more than nice and understanding and I get that? Wow.
Here's what is funny. The woman that was complaining about it before me, who was much older than I was, was a witch about it. She was combining swear words together that I didn't even know could be used in succession. Guess what she got. Her room for free.
I try to be nice and guess what I get? You guessed it, a sincere apology and without the cherry on top.
So, I'll take this as a lesson learned. It's like dating - being nice gets you nowhere. Nice guys and girls finish last. But if you're a raving lunatic, you get free hotel rooms, a free breakfast and maybe a relationship.
I'll remember that during the next week as I bask in the sun in Orlando.