Imagine making a reservation at a hotel, and when you get there, you find out that you need a credit card in order to actually check in. What would you do if your credit card was declined?

In this story, one hotel front desk worker shares that this situation actually happens quite often. He shares two examples.

When he adds context about how the customers react when their credit card is declined and where the customers live, it’s even more baffling.

Let’s read all about it.

Put The Money On The Card Next Time

I have a theory that some folks want to pay cash simply because they have no idea how cards work.

Tonight, gentle readers, I find myself dealing with people who are a little foggy on exactly how to pay for a room.

It has been a fairly busy night at the old Lacking Tea. The air quality has much improved, and the folks evacuated from the nearby city have been allowed to return. Buttercup no longer has a line comforting the evacuees, if anyone needs some unicorn time.

So it came to pass that my dinner was interrupted by someone checking in, as happens a lot. Pizza today. I have through a mis-tap discovered that BBQ sauce is pretty good on pepperoni pizza, but I digress.

He describes the hotel guests.

I am midway through my second slice when two gentleman walk through the door. They are attired resplendently in Gangster Chic – baggy pants, jacket in summertime, ballcaps, brand new chucks, you probably know the look. This is combined with a strong ‘burnt out stoner’ vibe from both of them.

Having dealt with months of ongoing riff-raff, I am a bit put off, but I am determined to stay professional.

They have a reservation, which puts them one up on a lot of similar folks wanting a room. Heck, they’re even wearing masks, which puts them above the ‘normal’ folks prior to them.

Maybe this won’t be so- ah, nope, they wanna pay cash. I know exactly how this is going to go. Sigh.

Here’s how the transaction goes.

I give them the usual explanation, that while we will take cash in the morning, we still need to have the full amount of the stay on a card.

They nod confidently – not a problem! – and a card is produced.

I explain to them the caveats regarding debit cards, blah blah.

I am entirely unsurprised that the card declines.

But the hotel guests seemed to be surprised.

I am also entirely unsurprised that they are shocked, shocked that their card has declined. Genuinely so. Despite the owner saying ‘oh yeah, there’s no money in there’, they were pretty certain it would be good to go.

They don’t have another card. Oh wait, they’ll go get another card from the car…

Spoiler: there is never another card in the car.

I don’t know why folks have to lie, why they have to ‘check with their significant other’ when the price is too high, why they have to ‘go get a card from the car’.

But he does have one theory.

I suppose it’s a plausible deniability thing, that this way they save face from looking like they’re too poor to get a hotel room.

In any case, I cancelled the room twenty minutes later with a ‘Card Declined’ tag, and went to finish dinner.

So far, not much of a story, except that shortly after I finish dinner, the same damn thing happens again.

Here’s what happened the second time.

Another individual in the same attire (though with 49er logos instead of Raiders) comes in. Same half-baked distracted demeanor.

This one has actually booked a room online through an OTA. Hey, maybe this guy has it together enough to- nope, his card is declining as well.

In your car, you say? No no, I totally believe you, I’ll wait… He wasn’t even trying to pay cash, so I don’t know why he thought he could get in without a valid card.

Not sure what the overall situation was – my theory is they wanted a place to party in.

Why would they even want a hotel room when they live nearby?

The first two were from a suburb twenty minutes away (not that one, the other direction), and the other was local. Real local. Like literally two blocks away local.

Sorry guys, good luck finding a hotel that takes cash without a card in this town. The Motel Number might, but probably not…

In any case, time to go do the audit. Take some of this pizza crust to Buttercup, she’ll like that.

That’s so weird! Why are these guys trying to even get a room at the hotel? I’m baffled.

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

This person also loves BBQ sauce on pizza.

Here’s another fan of BBQ sauce on pizza.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an employee who quiet quit, then quit for real, following a no-overtime mandate.

Another person thinks it’s a good thing the guys weren’t able to check into the hotel.

Another front desk worker can relate.

Okay, so I have to comment on the pizza. I also love BBQ sauce on pizza. I had it for the first time at CPK (California Pizza Kitchen). They are known for their BBQ chicken pizza. It’s so good! Now I kind of want to try it with regular pepperoni pizza though. Am I the only one craving pizza after reading this?