Front desk employees are trained to spot potential fraud.

In this story, a woman was working a quiet overnight hotel shift when a guest arrived past midnight. It started as a routine check-in, but quickly became complicated when an issue arose with the payment method that the man presented. Despite offering several alternatives and trying to find a solution, the interaction became increasingly tense.

This is an interesting story because it’s common for customer service workers to encounter difficult customers. If you were in her shoes, how would you handle this situation? Read the full story below.

They let me do it here all the time!

I’m just minding my business on my audit shift, I have two arrivals left.

The evenings girl gave me some food from a wedding tasting and passed on that it was an all around good night so far.

I expect my two arrivals will be no shows and begin my pre-audit work, entering in dinner receipts. Because, of course, dinner servers always wait until just before the 3-11 is done before dropping them off.

This front desk officer welcomes a man who came in past midnight.

A little past midnight, a man strolls in. He happens to be one of the two arrivals. He waxes on all jovial about how long of a drive he had and how ready he was to sleep.

I do the normal spiel in between conversation, asking for ID and credit card.

He only hands me his ID and holds onto the credit card, hovering it above the pin pad.

Uh-oh!

I sigh internally and go, “Sir, I need to see your credit card, too, real quick,” with a smile.

He hands it over with a bit of a fuss, waiting, his arms crossed and a scowl on his face. Should have been a red flag, but I didn’t clock it at first.

His ID definitely doesn’t match the woman’s name on the credit card.

She told him the credit card should match his ID.

I inform him I need a credit card that matches his ID.

He goes off, “What do you mean you can’t use it? I use it here all the time. Look up my old stays, I have never needed to have it match my ID.”

It’s an easy fix, I offer to send the owner of the card a credit card auth form so he can use it, no dice.

I offer to let him prepay debit and put his own credit card down on file for incidentals, it just has to clear for $150. No dice.

She refused to check him in without a valid credit card.

“I guess I’ll just have to sleep in the parking lot. Your manager will hear about this in the morning. This is ridiculous. Don’t you cancel my room, it is mine. Why can’t you just check me in using it? It’s my wife’s card.”

And on and on he goes.

I can’t even give him the benefit of the doubt because the name is completely different from his, and policy is policy.

He gives one last ditch effort, “What if I pay the deposit in cash and use the card on check out?”

That won’t work either.

No dice, I can’t check you in without a valid credit card, and I’m not pushing credit card fraud onto my coworker in the morning.

He has been mean mugging me from his van in the parking lot.

I decided to pretend I don’t see him and not call the cops on him sleeping in his van.

He better believe that I’m gonna be on camera all night long though.

She thinks what’s happening here is shady.

If it’s his wife’s card, why can’t he get a credit card authorization?

I have my phone set for my husband to always ring through, no matter what.

He had his own card, but refused to use it at all. It was just shady all around.

Yup, it’s shady indeed! So many red flags here: ID not matching the cardholder’s name, not getting authorization from his “wife,” and even threatening to report to her manager. Good thing OP didn’t allow him to check in, or else she’d be in a lot of trouble.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a hotel guest who complained about noise from an event, then reported the employee who agreed with him.

Let’s see the comments of other Reddit users.

This person makes a valid point.

Yes, exactly!

Here’s a personal experience.

Another person chimes in.

And finally, this person thinks it’s a red flag.

A legitimate transaction should not require so many excuses.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a hotel guest who complained about noise from an event, then reported the employee who agreed with him.