Just arrived at my hotel: it’s not yet 1p, and there’s an older man acting impatient with the clerk. I queue up and fiddle with my phone–he interrupts me multiple times to warn me ‘they don’t have rooms’ 'she says check in isn’t until 3’ and I brush him off. He becomes louder and more belligerent towards the (young, female) clerk until she tells him, sir, my manager would tell you exactly what I just told you, I’m getting you a room as quickly as possible, but I don’t have to take this abuse and I will call security to have you removed if you continue. He keeps badgering her ‘this is the worst service ever, I travel for a living, blahblahblah’ until she hands him a key and he storms out of the lobby. She tells me she’ll be right with me with a quaver in her voice and I look her in the eye and tell her hey, if you need a minute, take it. I’ve got time, and that guy was being a real jerk.
This prompts an outpouring of smushed-together words: 'omigoshthankyou, Itoldhimbuthewouldntlisten – thatwasnteventhatbadthough, Ivehadpeoplethrowkeysatme’, all as she deftly checks me in and hands me my key. I tell her it’s okay to cry if she needs to, and wish her better days from here on out.
When I get to my room the phone rings – she needs one more signature, would I come back? At the desk she hands me a little gift bag, saying, I made this for you, for being so nice.
So here’s the thing that strikes me: I’m a relentlessly social being, but today I woke up feeling completely drained and distracted--when I left home this morning, all I wanted was to be left alone. And I got that. I was alone waiting for my bus, alone on the train, alone in the airport, alone on a nice quiet flight, alone in my rental car, looking forward to being alone at the hotel. And all that yearned-for alone time? It did nothing to improve my mood--in fact I was getting grumpier as the day went on. This interaction was not part of my plan, and yet, it completely turned my day around. Thank you, Steph, for being so dang gracious, and for giving me a chance to be a better version of me.