Some guests will push a rule so hard that you’re basically forced to give in.

Imagine a guest clearly knew your property didn’t allow pets, but after checking in and having an issue with the room, demanded you let them bring their puppy inside, or they’ll leave it outside in the cold, and “it might not make it.”

Would you enforce the policy? Or would you allow them to bring the puppy inside?

In the following story, one front desk employee faces this decision and is pushed into the latter.

Here’s how it happened.

Guest said they would leave their dog in the car if I didn’t let them bring it to the room after violating pet policy. We are at 1°C at our location tonight.

So, tittle is pretty self-explanatory. I had this guest call me yesterday asking if our property was pet-friendly.

When I said no, they said they only had a puppy and asked where they would leave it.

I told them I would cancel their reservation free of charge, even though we were past the cancellation window. She reluctantly said that wouldn’t be necessary as they would leave the dog at home and hung up, telling me they would definitely check in the day after.

The couple’s bed collapsed in the room.

Today, in the early afternoon, they check in. I was checking someone else in, but overheard my coworker checking her in. Everything seems normal: the coworker makes small talk, reminds them of the non-smoking and no-pet policy when they sign their registration card, and the woman leaves the desk.

A few hours go by, it’s 10:50 p.m., and my shift is almost over.

This woman’s husband shows up at the desk to tell me their bed base has collapsed and is unsafe (shows me a video of it). I apologize and tell them I don’t have maintenance in the building, so I need to change their room.

She couldn’t believe what he had just said.

He is not happy but asks to see the room first. I tell him I can certainly go with him, but he stops me and asks me if he can bring his puppy to the new room.

I feel incredulous for a second as I tell him we are not pet-friendly. He immediately backtracks and says he is aware. That he actually has the dog in the car and wants to bring it inside, as it is 1°C, and the dog might die if I don’t let him take it to the room.

I look at him in disbelief and tell him how baffled I am at his declaration. Inform him he should have been responsible enough to leave the dog at home when his wife was clearly told the day before we were a not pet-friendly hotel, and from a humane point of view, of course, I wouldn’t tell him to leave the dog outside.

He doubled down.

But he already violated the no pet policy, and he would be charged the incidentals fee.

He doubled down, saying that if that was the case, he would leave the dog outside, and he didn’t know if it would survive the weather. Unless I promised not to take his pet deposit.

I WAS LIVID.

She really didn’t know what to do.

I told him he could bring the dog, but I would personally ensure that housekeeping and my morning team were made aware of the policy violation, and should we find anything wrong with the room, we would take his incidentals.

I didn’t know what else to do. I was so close to losing my **** at that moment. I will be back at the hotel at 11 a.m. tomorrow and left a bunch of notes with the auditor and a message for the housekeeping team and morning shift, but maybe I should have called the police?

The problem is the place I am at, they usually don’t respond to cases of potential animal abuse. I am so upset right now. I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep. Sorry for the long text.

Yikes! Situations like that are never fun at work.

Let’s check out what folks over at Reddit think about how she handled it.

This person thinks she should’ve called the cops.

Here’s someone who would’ve evicted them.

Yet another reader who thinks they should’ve been kicked out.

Some people have no couth.

She should’ve kicked them out, because her main job is to enforce hotel policies.

But it’s probably good she didn’t.

If you liked that post, check out this one about an employee that got revenge on HR when they refused to reimburse his travel.