'There was one line [guests] should never cross': Hotel guests discover they won't be served after acting entitled toward customer service reps

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Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Aug 13, 2023 11:00 AM EDT

This person learned an interesting tip from about getting what you want as a guest. As u/badgermann writes, their wife worked at the "central switchboard for a group of resort hotels in a tourist area." 

While you're vacationing, you want everything to run smoothly. Instead of dealing with the humdrum of daily life, all you really want is to be sprawled out on the beach with a good book and no responsibilities whatsoever. However, if you have traveled on vacation even a single time, you know that at least one thing will go wrong during your travels. 

Sometimes it's a minor issue, like not being able to find that fun tourist destination, or not being able to book a ticket to a popular show. But then there are the major issues, like your car breaking down in the middle of nowhere, or your hotel saying they don't have a room for you because they can't find your reservation. 

These big issues can be super stressful, made more so because you're not in your hometown, but in another country. Compound that with sleep deprivation or jet lag and/or hunger, and you've got a recipe for a person on the verge of freaking out. 

As OP shared in this story, their wife constantly dealt with guests like this, in need of assistance from one of the hotel resorts. But, as the OP notes, even when you've tried your hardest, not every guest can be helped. Some are, unfortunately, going to have a disappointing trip. To try to get the best help possible for yourself, though, the OP has a great tip on what you should not say to get assistance for yourself. 

Next up, these memes are for Gen Xers who grew up playing outside and coming home when the street lights turned on. 

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  • 01
    Water
    via Moosa Haleem on Unsplash
  • 02
    Font - You will be hearing from my lawyer! Ok, we will be here. M My wife worked at the central switchboard for a group of resort hotels in a tourist area. She had to deal with guests from all of the resorts for all sorts of requests. A lot of them were fine, but there was always a certain percentage of entitled vacationers that seemed to think a good reputation for guest service meant that they could get anything they want.
    via u/badgermann
  • 03
    Font - Sometimes it didn't matter what you did to help the guest, they weren't going to get what they wanted. This usually involves long angry rants about how horrible of a person you are and how the company is clearly going downhill if they can't provide what ever they want, whenever, and at little to no cost. It was pretty par for the course when dealing with angry guests. What guests didn't know was that there was one line they should never cross... threats of legal action.
    via u/badgermann
  • 04
    Font - Here is where the malicious compliance comes in. Any time someone threatens to sue or call their lawyer, there is only one move the operator can do. Direct all conversations to the legal department.
    via u/badgermann
  • 05
    Font - The operators literally have a script that says "Since you have threatened legal action, all further inquiries must be sent by your lawyer through our legal department." At that point, the caller's account is flagged in the computer system and any anyone else they talk to will give them the same response.
    via u/badgermann
  • 06
    Font - Most of them realize after hearing this, how screwed they are. Want to make dinner reservation? Lawyer. Room Service? Lawyer. Bell Service? Lawyer. Valet parking? Lawyer. Spa Appointment? Lawyer. Any other hotel related service across all of the resorts this company owns? Have your lawyer call our legal department. I think it isn't just phone calls.
    via u/badgermann
  • 07
    Font - I'm sorry, you don't actually have a lawyer and it is Friday night? Have the one you hire call us when the legal department opens on Monday morning.
    via u/badgermann
  • 08
    Font - These hotels are part of a much larger corporate entity, with a massive potential for liability in terms of money extracted under legal threat. To the point that there are scams on a semi-regular basis by people faking or intentionally injuring themselves for personal enrichment. The company is very profitable and has a sizable, well experienced, in-house legal department. No one will serve them beyond what is the minimum level of service out of caution that it may expose them and the com
    via u/badgermann
  • 09
    Font - mherdeg A few months ago a telecom customer service rep baited me this way we called to ask them to grant a service credit that had -- previously been promised, and they said they had no record of this having been promised. The very creative phone rep said something like "Well, look, if you want us to review the call logs, we can do that, but we will need to be asked by a lawyer to do so or we will need to know there is impending legal action."
    via u/mherdeg
  • 10
    Font - This was a super smart move. It was clear from context that the person had figured out that instead of reading through the notes on the account or issuing a service credit (which are slow/expensive) they could just get us to say "lawyer" and then we'd never have to talk about it again. They ended up trying this angle a few different times in the conversation and I think they were pretty frustrated when we replied with "oh jeez, no, I don't think we want to get lawyers involved at all, but
    via u/mherdeg
  • 11
    Font - Their boss did eventually agree that we had been promised a service credit and paid it.
    via u/mherdeg
  • 12
    Font - ryanlc +2 I used to work in a call center (different industry), and we had this same policy. Once a person was flagged for legal, it was a b to get off, and usually took several unrelated phone calls (without threats or being an as
    via u/ryanlc
  • 13
    Font - [deleted] I own a small business and stole this idea after reading it on Reddit a few years ago. Once anyone says lawyer, we pack it in. Period. Customer is no longer someone we work for and is directed to have their lawyer contact ours. Those customers are people we don't want anyway. It's made Life great. Any good customer would rather get the issue resolved.
    via u/deleted
  • 14
    Rectangle - capn_kwick +2 And the Legal department only communicates by snail mail (in triplicate) so no calling them up or sending emails.
    via u/capn_kwick
  • 15
    Font - Kristeninmyskin I've heard this form of malicious compliance several times now from r/talesfromthefrontdesk and it's made me very glad to be aware of it before I've ever been tempted to scream lawsuit like some kind of entitled t !
    via u/Kristeninmyskin
  • 16
    Font - 50calPeephole One of the most gratifying things I'd ever heard in retail was my manager giving a card to a customer who threatened to sue while replying "I have a floor of lawyers, I tell you what, on the way out have your person call my people and Im sure itll get worked out"
    via u/50calPeephole
  • 17
    Font - SuperKamiTabby So, my hotel has a liability waiver that every guest signs at check in. No signature, no room. After four years I finally had someone threaten to call her lawyer. I really wanted to evict her but as it was 4 am and she had small children I kinda shrugged and didn't reply much when she asked me anything. Told my managers in the morning. Asked them for some clarity on what to do if it happens again. The only response I have gotten? "They signed the waiver."
    via u/SuperKamiTabby
  • 18
    Font - blobblet +1 This actually sounds extremely sketchy. A customer announcing their intent to pursue legal action doesn't absolve the hotel of their obligations under the contract. If you book a hotel, you have a claim on using certain services while you're there. Some of the services may be debatable because they technically aren't included in your stay, but others (or at least the access to them) certainly are. Asking your customer to pursue these claims through a lawyer is basically the sa
    via u/blobblet
  • 19
    Font - If the customer didn't have any claims against the hotel before, they almost certainly will after you've boycotted their stay. 1 Reply Share badgermann OP. The guest gets exactly what is defined in the terms of lodging that they signed when they checked in or when they booked their stay. Being a large corporation, I am sure the agreement is very detailed about what you do and do not get as part of your stay. Anything beyond that is optional. So you can stay, but you will get no frills.
    via u/blobblet

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guests hotel malicious compliance phone entitled hotels phone calls entitled people vacation karens public freakout freakout tourists karens in the wild karen
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