teague

You ever want to throw your windows open, and run from window to window, dramatically throwing your arms outward, and yelling, "Whaaat the shiiit?" Yeah. That's me.

I'm so glad this week is over. It's been a complete suck fest from roughly beginning to end. Here is a graphic interpretation of my week...



Yep. My week has been one huge ass monster spraying spit, and mucus, and god knows what else... whale chunks.. all over my person. So I'm glad it's over. I hope next week won't be so cringe worthy. In the interim my plans involve a watermelon, watermelon liquor, Gnomeo and Juliet, and hissing at people.

I've worked in the hotel industry for 6 years and today I finally had to have someone evicted by the police. This guest was trouble from the start, and I'm not sure how she managed to not get kicked out earlier. She was a monthly, paying cash in advance weekly. She said, from day one, that she needed daily bed changes, but was told that for that level of service, she would have to pay an upgrade charge. Policy for monthly is bed changes to sheets and pillowcases every three days, but she even wanted new duvet covers. Every day was a new list of criticism and demand. My manager even invited her to not pay for a new week and just move out.. but she didn't.

Today Craycray came in and started telling me this long, loud story about how she had asked for new duvet comvers and hers were never changed and on and on. I, already having seen a note about her from the previous day in which she threatned to call corporate and the news (wtf?) tried to be gentle as I explained that we didn't keep duvet covers at the front desk. Oh, that wasn't good. She immediately went off on me, and the hotel, taking about why couldn't I do this, and the hotel was dirty. On and on. She was getting louder and louder. Finally, to appease her, and bear in mind I'm alone at the hotel by this time, (No housemen, housekeeping, managers, or fellow front desk staff to help me.) I offer to get a duvet out of an empty room. This does not appease the Craycray.

She keeps going off because I only brought back one, and there are two beds! I tried to explain she only asked for one. Then the real trouble gets started. She has a dirty blanket in her arms, and we don't have a door that seperates the entrance to the front desk area from the area that is for guests, so she just walks back here, with me, where I am. "Where do I put this?" I say to just drop it, and then please step back out from behind the desk. It's employees only. She looks at me like I'm from Mars and argues with me until I finally convince her to leave. She starts threatening me with calls to Corp, and the news. Oh, I am so happy to give her those numbers. They'll not be helpful. She finally takes her duvet and leaves. Phew. But! Craycray comes back.

I genuinely think it had more to do with confronting me than any real business. She comes in because she wants a receipt for the first few days of her stay, which... is an Expedia stay. Those of you who deal with Expedia probably know where this is heading. We don't provide receipts for Expedia stays, excepting if there are incidentals. Then we only provide a receipt for those things. I tried to explain that she has to get the receipt from Expedia, but she starts going off on me again. Finally I'm like, "Talk to the manager tomorrow. Talk to the manager tomorrow. No, I won't call him in tonight. Talk to him tomorrow. " Then, out of the blue.. she spots the key to the room that I had accessed to get the duvet on the floor.. I had dropped it near the doorway behind the front desk. "Is that my key??" she loudly asked. Before I could say no twice, she was back here *again.* I couldn't take it. I said, "Get out from back here, or I'm going to call the police and have you evicted!" That might actually clue a normal person in that they were upsetting the front desk, but not Craycray. "Oh, you gonna call the police, call the police!" I did. And the whole time she will not shut up! She's accusing me of yelling, but she won't leave me alone, and frankly I'm not ashamed to say she was scary. People like that... you don't know where their limit is? Maybe she decides to go from loudly and rapidly talking like a meth head to swinging. Hell if I know. So, I'm taking to 911, and yelling at her to leave my lobby. She finally gets it, and says, "Tell the cops I'll be in my room!" You know any law abiding citizens who respond like that?

I finish with the cops. I'm shaking and in a full blown panic attack. I call the manager to let him know what's up. He says he'll be right there. Cops come in first. She meets them in the lobby because Craycrays can't stay in their rooms. Naturally this is all my fault according to her. I'm rude, and horrible, and she doesn't know why she's stayed because the place is dirty, and the cop, already having been apprised of the situation by me, says, "Why did you stay then?" Craycray ignores the question. My manager comes in, and immidiately explains that this very morning he had two housekeepers in there cleaning her room. She keeps interupting him and basically acting as badly as she acted toward me, but slightly turned down. He does not budge. The cops tell her to quit interrupting him. It is finally decided that what remains of her money will be refunded, and she will leave. And be trespassed. If she comes back, we can have her arrested. They follow her up to supervise.

Did you know cops are gossipy? It's great. When they finally come back down they reveal that for all her screaming of allergies, her room is a cluttered sty. And at some point she seemed to suddenly realize this was for real real, and stopped talking. I would have paid anything to see that moment.

Like everyone else in the world I've heard about the catastrophy in Japan. A lot of just general crapfest has been going on, and I'm anxiety prone on the best of times, so I have tried to limit my exposure to horror levels of bad news. I have a friend in Japan that I made sure was ok. He is. After that, I know the basics, but I don't want to focus on a lot of details. And I'm not saying this to be dismissive. Far from it. They are our allies and friends, and we need to get out there and donate, and do what we can for them. But if any country was ever equipped to deal with chaos on this level and of this variety, it's Japan. They are a highly organized, community first society who have dealt with radiation issues in the not so distant past. They will weather this, and will get things fixed and running very quickly. I have faith. They are like that super organized friend who has all kinds of insurance, and keeps their passports, and computer backups in a safe deposit box. If that person's house burns down, they'll still need help with shelter, food, and belongings, but you just know they will have a new place and be settled again in no time.

Having said all of that, there is one area I have chosen to focus on. The animals. Anyone who knows me, knows I'm a big animal person. I believe we should not be needlessly cruel to animals, but should instead be invested stewards in the fates of the other living beings who share our universe. I admit to the hipocracy of eating meat, and to not a small amount of shame in regards to it, but life is complicated. Anyway, before I digress, the point is animals and animal welfare is a key interest of mine. The affects of natural disasters, and evacuation on pets was really first thrown into the media spotlight during Hurricane Katrina. People literally died because shelters would not accept their pets, so they went home, or somewhere else unsafe. Their pets were that important to them.

There are some out there who can't understand that. Mostly people who don't own pets. The simplest explanation is this; people respond to their chosen companion animals in much the same ways that they would respond to human companions. In fact, in many cases pets will have a similar affect on human emotions that having children can have. It's not *exactly* the same. I'm not saying that, but if you have ever slept with a small animal in your bed, and you've woke up rather than rolling over and potentially squishing it, you've responded to the same instict that kept our ancestors from rolling over on their own children. And everyone knows that person who treats their pet *exactly* like a child, talking baby talk, dressing them up, and even cooking their dinners. There are breeds spacifically bred and chosen because of their subconscious child like qualities.


This is the ideal face of an Apple Head Chihuahua. Note the large, slightly bulging eyes, the small nose and mouth area, and the pronounced forehead.


The ideal face of a baby. There are large eyes, small nose and mouth area, and pronounced forehead. Some of you already knew all about this. Others of you just got your mind blown.

In the eyes of the law pets are chattel, and I can understand why that is, but during disasters authorities need to understand that pets are vital family members as well. Some people don't even really have any other companions, such as certain elderly people. Those are the ones most vulnerable to tragedies like chosing not to evacuate to stay with their pet. It happened during Katrina, and it happened in Japan. I've been following the stories of an organization called Japan Earthquake Animal Rescue and Support (JEARS). They've been very good to try and be focused on the successes, but you know there are heartbreaks too. They have reported finding people who chose to stay rather than leave the only friend they had.

To close I want to offer a link to a source to help you prepare yourself and your pet in case of disaster. In prone areas, it's good to be prepared.

http://www.petfriendlytravel.com/pet_shelters

IT'S SO ME!

http://www.oglaf.com/

Link is not work safe!

[Error: unknown template qotd]

At this point in my life I tend to either look at them, or even just ignore them with an expression of "WTF?" I don't need the approval of strangers. I just wonder what their problem is? If it's someone I know, it depends on the situation. Sometimes hurt feelings need to be addressed. On the other hand, sometimes people are just dramatic and toxic. I don't have time for no drama llamas.

I had a real moment involving the positive power of pets today. For those that don't know I recently got a tiny chihuahua/rat terrier mix named Java. She was so named because she was first presented to me while I was still sleeping. Lisa comes in, and makes a noise. I pop open a bloodshot horror eye, and fix her in a death beam. She gleefully holds out this tiny, squirming mass, and threatens to set it loose on the bed. I mutter, "That better be coffee.." And so she was.

She is El Chupahuahua, Tiny Hellhound and Huntress of Tasty Beard. (Mostly Brian's)

When she is either accidentally impacted (such as almost stepped on), or on purposefully swatted (by a kitty usually) she makes a noise very similar to a car alarm. How I recognize that she's my "baby" is that I'm the one who gets crazy anxious until I can see she's ok.

Anyway, this morning I was having a bad sleep day. Sometimes insomnia is a PMS symptom of mine, and sometimes my sleep pattern is just off. I was awake too early, and I was cranky. This hormonal go around my skin has decided to be very angry at me. I get some intense, impossible to sooth, itching. It's usually along my legs and back. It's really hard to discribe. Like having poison ivy rash without the rash. My skin won't even look physically different. But that's a different post... though if anyone has any ideas about what could be causing it, other than allergy, please let me know.

I was having trouble going back to sleep. Brian came in and noticed me playing Solitare on my iPod. He came back in shortly after with Java, who was not squirmy at the time. I glared at Brian. "Is she going to be crazy?" "No," he said, "She's sleepy. I thought it might help." He put her down, and she wandered over and flopped beside me. I figured, eh.. why not. After about 5 games of Solitaire I paused and looked at Java. She was on her back with 4 paws straight up, like the dog in this picture..



only she was asleep. The whole pose was just so rediculously cute that I felt my grump just unknot, and with that, I was suddenly better able to sleep. One little impossibly cute dog moment made my whole day better.

I know the one song says Christmas a lot, and the other song was featured in a mighty fight Christmas movie, but both these songs seem a great way to close one year, and begin another.





Seal! That hat is EPIC! I must create one of my own!




Yes. Let's start here.

Today I've mostly heard, "Oh. You have to work on Thanksgiving. How sad. (ho ho ho)" Trust me, that feedback, while I smile at it because I'm supposed to, is actually kind of insulting. Thanks for reminding me. But then a lone bright spot. I was here, at the desk, minding my business when a guest quietly slipped out of the coffee room, and quietly, shyly said, "Happy Thanksgiving." I looked up. He was an old duffer with an epic mustache. He was cute. He appeared to mean it more than in the social convention sense. He's the kind of guest I am thankful for.