Kind of a scary thing happened to me at work this morning. (Names and genders are hidden to protect my ass)
Well, I called my supervisor on their bluff, but they said they were serious, and this guest really did ask for me, though the guest messed up my name the first time. Either way, my supervisor then left shortly after to get some coffee from the break room, leaving me alone at the front desk for about 10 minutes. I called our Loss Prevention officer and told them about the situation, and they were mad at my supervisor for telling the guest that I was there (my supe had told the guest that I was away from the desk and should be back in about 10 minutes). LP told me that if I felt uncomfortable, I shouldn't answer the phone.
A few minutes later, the guest called down from their room, letting the phone ring about 20 times before hanging up. I called LP back to let them know that the guest had called, and while I was on the phone, the guest called again, letting the phone ring for about 20 rings again before hanging up. The guest called a third time from the room, and then called from the cell phone number on the reservation.
At this point I'm honestly freaked out, because I still don't know where this guest knows me from or how the hell they even knew to ask for me.
My supervisor comes back and a few minutes later, the guest comes down from their room, acting nonchalant, asking about our bowl of snacks for arriving guests and acting like nothing is wrong. The guest mentions that they had tried to call, and I apologized and told the guest that I had been away from the desk and wasn't around to answer the phone, and that after I got back my supervisor also arrived from being away from the desk. We both apologized for the inconvenience, and the guest just waved it off, saying they wanted to make sure the phones were working in case there was a fire or something. The guest went back up to their room at this point.
A few minutes later the guest called down again, and my supervisor answered. I told my supe I was honestly frightened to talk to the guest because I didn't recognize them, I had no idea how they knew me because I didn't remember ever meeting them. My supervisor relayed all of this to the guest, who started getting angry and demanding to speak to me, all the while not telling my supervisor what in the hell they wanted to talk to me about.
I called LP again, explaining that the guest was on the phone again and quickly briefing them on the situation. They told me to go ahead and talk to the guest while my supervisor was standing there and to call back as soon as the call was done.
I'll be honest, I was trembling a bit as I took the phone from my supervisor.
Fortunately, everything turned out to be a misunderstanding--the guest told me that I had helped them during a phone call concerning our hotel brand's rewards program about a month and a half ago and that they wanted to thank me for the help, as well as ask me to help them again. As soon as the guest mentioned the situation I recalled everything. I apologized profusely for the misunderstanding, having to explain that in this world it's scary when someone knows you and you don't know them. The guest assured me they were "a nice person," and that they wouldn't do anything like that, but that they understood where I was coming from.
When I hung up with the guest, it was all I could do to get back to my seat and take a few deep breaths. All the fear had left my body, and I felt oddly exhausted and jittery as I continued working.
Long story short, I had my first very real fear of being assaulted, verbally or mentally, and it did not sit well with me. It was different than having a guest yell at me--this was a guest that knew me, that wanted something out of me they didn't want to tell anyone else. And that freaked me right the fuck out.
