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Working a hotel front desk late at night means you see a lot of things that don’t make sense, but most of the time, you just have to roll with it.

But every once in a while, someone walks through those doors, and the request is so transparently suspicious that saying no feels like the only option.

One front desk employee got hit with exactly that when a sketchy guy strolled in at 11:30 PM holding a blue bag and asked the hotel to hold it for a friend.

Upon further questioning, this guy wasn’t a guest, and neither was his friend.

So when the guy couldn’t provide a single name to attach the bag to, the employee decided it was time to shut the whole thing down.

Keep reading for the full story.

Absolutely not.

Guy wanders through our front doors at about 11:30 PM holding a blue bag. Comes up to the front desk.

Guy: “Hey, could you hold this for me?”

Me: “Sure, can I get your room number?”

That’s when the cracks in this guy’s story start to appear.

Guy: “Oh, I’m not a guest, I’m leaving it for a friend.”

Me: “Oh, I gotcha. Do you know their room number?”

Guy: “Nope.”

The guy makes a startling admission.

Me: “That’s fine, I can look them up by their last name.”

Guy: “He’s not a guest here either, but he’s planning to make a reservation later.”

The employee is now properly sketched out, but the guy continues to make excuses.

Me: “I’m sorry, sir. If neither you nor your friend has a reservation, I can’t hold items for you.”

Him: “But I’m a Filton Fonors member!”

The employee stands his ground, and the other guy is running out of leverage.

Me: “That’s great to hear, but I still can’t hold items without attaching them to an existing reservation.”

Him: “I’m gonna look awfully stupid carrying this thing around.”

So the employee tries to save face.

Me: “I’m sorry, but it’ll have to stay with you until you can get it to your friend.”

Him: “Aw c’mon, can’t you make an exception?”

Me: “Absolutely not.”

Him: storms out the front door

What did this guy honestly think was going to happen?

Redditors chime in with their thoughts.

There’s lots of problematic behaviors you used to be able to get away with, but standards have changed.

There are plenty of businesses happy to store your items, but a hotel isn’t one of them.

This user takes issue with this employee’s eagerness to reveal confidential information.

This commenter comes up with another option.

To his credit, this employee played this perfectly. Every response was polite, professional, and left the door open for the guy to provide any piece of verifiable information that would make the request work.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a customer who wants to argue about an item they chose not being on sale.

Room number? Sure. Last name? Happy to look it up. Reservation? Let’s find it.

The man had nothing. Not a name, not a booking, not a single detail that could connect the bag to an actual guest or stay.

And instead of recognizing that his request was unreasonable, he tried to leverage a loyalty card as if points on an account override basic hotel security policy.

The “I’m gonna look stupid carrying it” line is the cherry on top, because in what world would that work?

This employee deserves an award for handling this all with a straight face.