Miami hotel clerk refuses to reimburse guest after her clothes were ruined due to a roof leak in her room, another guest decides to teach the clerk a lesson: ‘There will be consequences’

Author image for Bar Mor Hazut
Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor
Oct 13, 2025 10:00 AM EDT

The hotel clerk in the story below could never have expected to be punished for his actions towards a guest, especially not by another guest who had no business getting involved. 

During a work convention in rainy Miami, a roof leak in one of the rooms was discovered. But not before it ruined the clothes of one of the guests and an attendee of the convention. When she approached the front desk attendant and complained about the damage, she was met with a cold shoulder and a refusal to reimburse her for the ruined clothes. 

Another guest heard some of the dispute between the attendee and the clerk, and was shocked by the way the clerk was treating the guest. However, instead of stepping in and defending the guest, this person had another thing in mind. He saw that the clerk had left a set of keys unattended and decided to take them while he was not looking. Then, they threw them out when they got to the airport.

Was that really the right way to teach the clerk a lesson? Should a bystander even get themselves involved in someone else's dispute? Read the full story below to decide for yourselves.

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  • 01
    Businesswoman in a hotel room
    via wsfurlan

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 02

    You want to treat my fellow convention-attendee like garbage? OK...there will be consequences.

    30 years ago, having just gotten my degree, I went to a national convention to look for a job.
    via zipnathiel
  • 03
    (I didn't get a job, but I did get to meet an amazing author -- Gene Wolfe -- and get an autographed book for free.
    via zipnathiel
  • 04
    Fair trade.) The convention was in Miami Beach. In July. Absolutely miserable weather. When it wasn't horrifically hot, it was raining.
    via zipnathiel
  • 05
    Well, it was ALWAYS horrifically hot, but when the sun wasn't making life miserable it was due to heavy rains.
    via zipnathiel
  • 06
    Anyway, when the convention finished up and we were checking out of our small hotel near the convention center, my fiance and I gathered our luggage and went to the front desk to check out and pay our bill.
    via zipnathiel
  • 07
    We arrived at the front desk and we found the desk attendant re- filling their small, over- priced snack vending machine while treating one of our fellow conventioneers like garbage.
    via zipnathiel
  • 08
    As we stood there waiting to pay, we overheard her complaints to the hotel guy. She apparently had been staying in one of the rooms on the top floor, and the roof leaked.
    via zipnathiel
  • 09
    The rainwater went into her closet and ruined a lot of her clothes. The hotel guy listened to her and it was pretty clear that he didn't give a damn.
    via zipnathiel
  • 10
    She was just another customer who was going to be checking out today and he didn't have to worry about repeat business, and he was obviously not going to reimburse her for the full cost of the damages from the rain.
    via zipnathiel
  • 11
    It seemed to me that she'd be lucky if she got anything. Finally he paused the conversation/argument with her long enough to take our money and check us out.
    via zipnathiel
  • 12
    Man Carrying Luggage Cart
    via annastills

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 13
    Then he told her that they could continue their discussion in the back office. As we prepared to leave the hotel, he escorted her back to the office so he could (presumably) tell her to get stuffed without other guests overhearing.
    via zipnathiel
  • 14
    I watched them walk to the offices. And then I realized that the hotel guy had left the vending machine unlocked.
    via zipnathiel
  • 15
    And he'd left the keys to the vending machine in the lock. So, I grabbed the vending machine keys.
    via zipnathiel
  • 16
    And I threw them away when we got to the airport. There were multiple keys on the keyring, and it looked to me as though they were the same.
    via zipnathiel
  • 17
    Since then, I've always hoped that I threw away all of the keys for the vending machine because the hotel staff were stupid enough to leave all of the keys for the vending machine on one keyring.
    via zipnathiel
  • 18
    I've frequently wished that I could tell my fellow librarian that she might've lost some clothing due to water damage, but the hotel probably lost money because they had to pay a locksmith for new keys to that vending machine, and temporarily lost the income from the vending machine since they couldn't lock it shut until they resolved the missing key problem.
    via zipnathiel
  • 19
    Coder Joe1 Well vended vengeance
    via CoderJoe1
  • 20
    TrainsareFascinating Well, since you took the keys intending to deprive the hotel of the use of their property (the machine(s)), and said property could easily have been fairly expensive, I'd say this was more likely "felony revenge" ('cause it's theft of said property) than "petty revenge".
    via TrainsareFascinating
  • 21
    queenofcaffeine76 Nothing like walking in on the last 45 seconds of an encounter that's none of your business, making a snap decision, and doing something dickish and illegal. What a hero /s
    via queenofcaffeine76
  • 22
    TheHobbyWaitress Key notes on petty.
    via TheHobbyWaitress

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guests workplace-stories hotel guest employee hotel front desk work tales from the front desk reddit story petty revenge entitled Reddit funny weird entitled people
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