'In which I prepare a trap': Non-guest trying to steal the complimentary breakfast at a hotel almost gets away with it, until he makes one thought-less mistake

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Elna McHilderson • Managing Editor
Oct 15, 2024 9:00 AM EDT

Hotel lobbies' get all kinds of strange visitors, whether they're high-end, expensive luxury places or cheap by-the-hour motels. None are safe from the characters who come in and out. The hotels with complimentary breakfasts are definitely the most vulnerable. Since most of the breakfast is simply served in the lobby where anyone can have access to it, employees really have to keep tabs on who is checking in and eating and who is just coming in off the street to have a free bite. It is a business, after all, not a volunteer soup kitchen… 

In the case of this hotel employee's recount on Reddit, the hotel he works at has frequent non-guest visitors they have to keep an eye out for. On this particular morning, the same usual non-guest tried to score free food several times throughout the day. The first time a guest reported him, he ran before the employees could get to him. The second time, they caught him and asked him to leave. However, the third time, they had to physically escort him out. They weren't going to make a big scene out of it until the guy made one false move—he left his backpack… See what happened next below! 

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  • 01
    In which I prepare a trap Little bit of background: Like all hotels, we have our regular guests. But here, we also have our regular non-guests. These are the people who come in swipe food from the breakfast area and leave before anyone can stop him. No point in calling the police because they're gone by the time they'd get here.
    via Gogo726
  • 02
    So if we want to prevent any food thieves, we have to cut them off before they step into the breakfast area. This story is about one of these regular non-guests. Regular comes in at 1am while I was distracted and heads to the 2nd floor. He knocks on a room. The guy in the room calls down and asks me to get rid of him. With pleasure! I go up, but he's already gone by the time I get there. Dang.
    via Gogo726
  • 03
    Problem solved, so all's well that ends well. Except 10 minutes later he comes back. I get the call again. This time the guest on the floor below is also because he hung out near there before going back to the 2nd floor. This time I catch him in the act and kick him out. I don't see him again until 6 hours later, just as my relief got there.
    via Gogo726
  • 04
    So while she takes care of the desk, I go up and kick the guy out this time. I snap a picture of him on my phone. For some reason, he leaves his backpack next to the guest's door. I make a mental note of it and follow the guy to make sure he leaves. Once he does, I go back up to retrieve the backpack and put it in our housekeeping area next to the lost and found.
    via Gogo726
  • 05
    I advise my coworker that next time he comes back for his bag, we should call the police and have them talk to him before we give it bag. I also advise my GM and tonight's afternoon shift. I also left notes before heading home. It's my weekend, so I won't know if my plan works until Sunday evening.
    via Gogo726
  • 06
    ecp001 Given the potential for fleas, lice, and other vermin, I would have picked it up with a garbage bag, bag tagged the bag, then thrown it in the dumpster. "What backpack?"
    via ecp001
  • 07
    caringANDtherapy About the breakfast: In many hotels in europe, I always had to show my room key with the number to enter the breakfast area. They then crossed me off their guest list. I think it was also to prevent eating breakfast twice, like at 6 am and at 11 am. But when visiting the US, it was not done this way... is it generally the way that anyone can enter, or does it depend on the hotel?
    via caringANDtherapy
  • 08
    Gogo726 OP Probably depends on the hotel. Our breakfast area is in an open area. No walls or doors separating it from the front desk. Catching would-be breakfast thieves requires constant vigilance.
    via Gogo726
  • 09
    BusStopKnife Fight The bag will have the following items: dirty underwear, 3 broken cell phones, half eaten sandwich from a month ago, a toothbrush that looks like it has been shoved up someone's ss, and dirty needles.
    via BusStopKnifeFight
  • 10
    DobbysLeftTubeSock Cops in our area don't care much about trespassers, so we just toss any vagrant backpacks straight into the trash compactor. You leave it you lose it.
    via DobbysLeftTubeSock
  • 11
    Cheezburger Image 10416263168
    via Unsplash+ (and Curated Lifestyle)

    This image is for illustration only, and the subjects are models; the image does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

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hotel work tales from the front desk free hotel breakfast hotel employee hotel staff concierge free stuff entitled hotels continental breakfast Reddit free
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