'I told you to give me a different room': Front desk worker maliciously complies with rude guest's room request

Author image for Brad Dickson
Brad Dickson • Managing Editor
Aug 13, 2023 12:00 PM EDT

Traveling can take its toll on the senses. After twelve hours cramped into a flying tube net to a snoring odorant stranger, you arrive at your hotel only to discover that you've been booked into a room next to a family of unruly children whose shouting and banging on the shared wall threatens to sever your last thread of sanity. To make matters worse, you're right across the hall from the ice and vending machines, and each time either is dispensed, it's as if each cube of ice, each soda, is dropping directly into your brain. It's enough to make even the most reasonable of us unreasonable and the unreasonable—well, more unreasonable still. 

Front desk workers have long had to endure the meltdowns of weary travelers who are barely hanging on to reality, and they've seen behavior that would make the tantrum-throwers mother's blush.

This worker shared how they maliciously complied with a rude guest's aggressive demand that they be changed into a new room… by placing them into the one directly beneath it instead.

Read on to see their account of events as they originally shared it with Reddit's r/talesfromthefrontdesk subreddit, along with reader's reactions below.

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  • 01

    "I threw his new keys on the counter just like he did to me, and I didn't say a word. He silently left."

    Couch
    via Gabriel Alenius
  • 02
    Font - "But I booked this room over a month ago!" Yes sir, you did. You booked a room, not a room number. Long Ain't nothing like people insisting they get a specific room and then losing their slOwhen they don't get it. Usually happens with wedding parties. Mother-in-law screeching and swearing because the bride isn't right next to her room smh. But occasionally there are your regular ol guests who like to stomp their feet and whine.
    via u/Other-Cantaloupe4765
  • 03
    Font - I'm certainly not opposed to giving people the rooms they want. Everyone wants something different- near the elevator, end of the hallway, far from the ice machine, ground floor, near an exit, closest to the lobby, next to the staircase, window looking out front, window looking out back, etc. We try to accommodate people the best we can, and we do preassign rooms to our regulars. If someone is there at least once a week, we tend to find a room they like and stick with that. People enjoy g
    via u/Other-Cantaloupe4765
  • 04
    Font - But sometimes we're not able to accommodate everyone's various requests. Most people just say, "Aw bummer, do you have another room close to that one?" Some people, however, take that as an opportunity to throw a tantrum. Jeff. Jeff comes to the desk to check in. Right away he's snotty and rude to me. Okay, asshole, you're getting the room right across from the elevator. Everything is fine until he comes back down to the desk, two hours later, with his luggage cart and throws his keys on
    via u/Other-Cantaloupe4765
  • 05
    Font - "Excuse me?" "I told you to give me a different room." "We are sold out tonight, there's not really anywhere to move you." "You're telling me that everyone is already checked in or that everyone coming in tonight already has a room assigned to them? No? Well then you can give me another room."
    via u/Other-Cantaloupe4765
  • 06
    Font - I'm gonna be honest with y'all. I'm pretty sure I rolled my eyes at him. “I can't just GIVE you someone else's room." "I don't care, it's not my problem. I booked this room over a month ago. This shouldn't be an issue." "Yes sir, you did book this room a month ago. But you booked a room and not a room number." "Well I stay here ALL THE TIME and [General Manager] always puts me at the end of the hallway."
    via u/Other-Cantaloupe4765
  • 07
    Font - Not one person who pulls out the "I sTaY hErE aLL tHe TiMe" tactic has been telling the truth. People who actually stay at the hotel all the time don't say that. Why? Because we see them all the time, we welcome them by name, and they're on a first name basis with all of the staff. They're respectful. We don't need a blanket statement about how often they stay. And people forget that we can look up their past stays on the computer, apparently. I'd never seen that dude before that day, and
    via u/Other-Cantaloupe4765
  • 08
    Font - "Okay, well the general manager, like the rest of us, will accommodate people as much as we can, but it's not always possible. The manager works mornings. Of course there are going to be more room options earlier in the day. It's late and very busy tonight, and I don't have the room you want. Did you step into the room?" "There were PEOPLE congregating in the HALLWAY. Use your common sense, for God's sake, do you know anyone who wants to be near the elevator? Huh? HUH? You don't put guest
    via u/Other-Cantaloupe4765
  • 09
    Font - "Yes, actually, we do have people request rooms close to the elevator. Everyone has different preferences and needs. And like I said, we are sold out." And this mf just stands there and stares at me like he hates my guts. Maybe this is TMI, but my rapist/abuser used to stare at me like that all the time, and if I made eye contact, he'd hit me. He's currently serving the next century in prison. So I'm done with the intimidation tactics. It reminds me of my rapist. I take the opportunity to
    via u/Other-Cantaloupe4765
  • 10
    Font - "Put me in a different room." "I've told you we're sold out. Have you stepped into the room?" "There were people talking in the hallway." "HEY. I am ASKING you if. You. Stepped. Into. The. Room." Jeff gets pissed and yells, "NO I DIDN'T GO INTO THE ROOM." And then he continues to yell, repeatedly, "I DIDN'T GO INTO THE ROOM, I DIDN'T GO INTO THE ROOM, I DIDN'T GO INTO THE ROOM" so I'd "get it through my head."
    via u/Other-Cantaloupe4765
  • 11
    Font - "HEY, stop it right now or I will have you escorted off the property. You do NOT speak to me that way, do you understand?” More staring ensues. He finally breaks eye contact, and I say "you want another room? Fine, you can have another room." Ohh dear reader, he was originally in the 3rd floor right-next-to-the-elevator room. I switched some shit around and made him new keys for the second floor right-next-to-the-elevator room. So not only would he hear the elevator, but also the stomping
    via u/Other-Cantaloupe4765
  • 12
    Font - And he never came back down to complain Imfao. I don't know why. He really didn't go into the first room, so that was put back into our inventory. During this confrontation, I noticed someone lingering discreetly over by the coffee machine. You can tell the difference between a guest who wants to stay just to witness the drama and a guest who stays in case the asshole gets more aggressive. This guy was waiting to see if I needed help. I'm a petite woman, so I do appreciate kind guests who
    via u/Other-Cantaloupe4765
  • 13
    Font - I didn't talk to the guy, but the next day, my manager said [the nice dude] stopped at the desk to tell him about what a total asshole that guy was and that I handled the situation exceptionally well. He said he didn't want me to get in trouble if the guy bitched about me, and he wanted to make sure the manager knew the whole situation. He said he was off to the side in case he needed to step in and get Jeff off my ass. He was pretty angry with how the guy talked to me and said he wanted
    via u/Other-Cantaloupe4765
  • 14
    Smile - Well, Jeff, I hope you got zero sleep. Oh, the third floor elevator room? The one directly above Jeff's new room? Later on that night, I put a family with three toddlers in that room Imfao. Worth it.
    via u/Other-Cantaloupe4765
  • 15
    Font - DoneWithIt_66 Heh, my cousin's wedding, her new MIL wanted adjoining rooms with the new happy couple. And since they were paying for the hotel, they got that. Which was fine for the night before and prep on the day. But oddly enough, a group of clear thinking cousins and siblings, on both sides, banded together and got the new couple a suite on the other end of the hotel that night. MIL was a lot confused when she went to wake the happy couple for breakfast and found an empty room. The gr
    via u/Other-Cantaloupe4765
  • 16
    Font - stocks-mostly-lower Hahaha! I think newly-married adults have the capability to judge when they want their breakfasts without any "motherly". help . Vote Reply Share Krimreaper1 It's not the breakfast, would you want your MIL in a adjoining room on your wedding night? ✩ Vote Reply Share
    via u/Other-Cantaloupe4765
  • 17
    Font - haemaker During this confrontation, I noticed someone lingering discreetly over by the coffee machine. You can tell the difference between a guest who wants to stay just to witness the drama and a guest who stays in case the asshole gets more aggressive. This guy was waiting to see if I needed help. I'm a petite woman, so I do appreciate kind guests who will stick around and step in if a situation turns excessively aggressive or violent. This, manly-men of reddit is how you do it. I was t
    via u/Other-Cantaloupe4765
  • 18
    Font - Just like the guy in this story, I felt that any intervention would escalate the situation. I believe a vast majority of situations like this can be resolved by just making it look like the situation was hopeless. If you challenge the aggressor, they feel the need to respond. If you make it look like any kind of aggression would be get a response in force, they do not even try. Vote Reply Share Other-Cantaloupe4765 Vote ... Yes, exactly! Couldn't have said it better myself. I treasure the
    via u/Other-Cantaloupe4765
  • 19
    Font - virtualchoirboy Mother-in-law screeching and swearing because the bride isn't right next to her room smh. "So you want to hear the newlywed couple getting busy tonight consummating their new marriage? What are you, some kind of pervert????" *Things you wish you could say* Later on that night, I put a family with three toddlers in that room Imfao. Worth it. I like your brand of petty.... :-) Vote Reply Share Other-Cantaloupe4765 OP Vote ... Ha thanks! the funniest part was that the bride a
    via u/Other-Cantaloupe4765
  • 20
    Font - Useful_Context_2602 What was he doing for two hours with the luggage cart if he didn't step into his original room? Vote Reply Share Other-Cantaloupe4765 OP That's a fantastic question and I have no idea. Some people check in, get their keys, and then go out to dinner or the grocery store before coming back and actually going into their room. I seriously doubted that he'd not gone in the room in that span of time. Tbh, I was bracing myself to walk into a room he'd trashed out of spite, an
    via u/Other-Cantaloupe4765
  • 21
    Font - Not sure what he did with his luggage though. We have two luggage carts, and if you hog one forever on a sold out night, you're not making anyone happy. Maybe he shoved it in the room or something? Honestly not sure. Vote Reply Share
    via u/Other-Cantaloupe4765
  • 22
    Font - Monkey_Bullet | had a MOB freaking out because the bridal suite was room 444, and 4 sounds the same as death in Chinese. We had to do some last-minute voodoo magic to swap a few suites around for them to avoid the 444. Things would have been done a whole lot faster if someone just come and explained calmly instead of screaming bloody murder. Vote Reply Share ShakespearOnIce ... Imagine coming into town for your family's wedding and finding out you were staying in the super death room ↑ Vo
    via u/Other-Cantaloupe4765
  • 23
    Font - Narratron Jeff gets pissed and yells, "NO I DIDN'T GO INTO THE ROOM." And then he continues to yell, repeatedly, "I DIDN'T GO INTO THE ROOM, I DIDN'T GO INTO THE ROOM, I DIDN'T GO INTO THE ROOM" so I'd "get it through my head." At this point, I would have answered with: "Oh, good. Then get the f out of this hotel so I can sell to a civilized guest." (But then, I'm pretty secure in my position, and I don't take slOfrom sh people.) Vote Reply Share
    via u/Other-Cantaloupe4765

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customer support customer service hotel malicious compliance front desk talesfromthefrontdesk karen-customer customers
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