Wacky Hotel Guest Misunderstood How Non-Floridian Seasons Work, So She Demanded The Hotel Replace The Bare Trees Overnight
by Benjamin Cottrell
Most people check into a hotel expecting comfort, but these particular guests checked in expecting the impossible.
For this Florida couple, bare branches went beyond just a regional difference – they took them as a personal affront. Her solution? Replacing them entirely!
Read on to find out how the conversation went down.
Florida woman would like our trees to be removed and replaced ASAP.
This conversation just took place verbatim 10 or so minutes ago. An older couple from Florida, maybe in their 70’s are checking into the hotel.
Woman: Gosh….the trees look absolutely awful without leaves on them.
Me: You just missed our peak fall season. It was beautiful, but now most have lost their leaves for the season.
Woman: It’s horrible. It looks ….depressing.
Me: Yes, I can imagine that winters in the north can be a bit dismal compared to Florida.
This appeared to be the wrong thing to say.
Woman: I knew it was going to be cold. I expected the cold. I’m not stupid. But the trees? Are all of them going to be like this?
Me: Most trees in our region are deciduous and lose their leaves for the season, other than the evergreens.
Woman: But the ones you have out front are ornamental, right?
For reference, the trees in the front of our property are flowering crab apple trees.
Me: I guess you could say that, they are absolutely stunning in the spring. Covered with flowers.
The guest appears to not have a great understanding of seasons.
Woman: Well why just leave them there during the winter when they look so horrible?
I kind of just gave her a blank look, as I wasn’t quite sure what she was inferring.
Next came a mind-numbingly unreasonable request.
Woman: Can’t you remove them? I really think you should have them removed. They look awful. It’s upsetting. (Yes, she said the trees were upsetting. *Eye roll*) If they are good for the spring just plant new ones in the spring, why keep these ones when they are done blooming?
Me: (Not even knowing how to respond to the fact that this woman just told me we should remove our trees and replant new ones every year) Oh, well, those are full grown trees.
She was ready to take this request all the way to the top.
Woman: Is there a manager I could talk to about this?
Me: I am the only one on site at the moment, the owner will be present here in the morning when you check out.
She won’t be letting this go easily.
Woman: OK. They need to be removed. It’s very ugly. Just awful! How is anyone supposed to be comfortable staying here when all they see out their window are things that look DEAD! Are you sure that they actually aren’t dead? I mean….they really look dead to me. I think you should get rid of them. I think they are dead. You could probably hire someone to come and do that tomorrow. And maybe when we get back to the hotel I won’t have to look at dead things.
So the employee tries to get her off their back.
Me: Well…you are welcome to make your suggestions about them to the owner in the morning. I can leave him a note about your concerns in the mean time if you like.
Woman (Sounding excited): Yes! Leave him a note. We will be gone all morning tomorrow. I hope you get some pine trees so it will look festive! You know? For the holidays! It will be so much better! You’ll see!
The employee is already imagining what she’ll do when she finds out this is impossible.
And with that, they went off to their room. They are here for 5 days.
I’m now just imagining the conversation that will take place when she returns tomorrow to find that we had not done something completely ludicrous like removing and replacing all of our trees for her….
Winter may strip the trees of their leaves, but it certainly doesn’t strip some guests of their wild ideas.
What did Reddit think?
People like these guests just completely lack self-awareness.
Who knew trees would be such a complex topic of discussion?
This commenter wonders where she got her crazy expectations from.
The guest better be ready to put her money where her mouth is!
The trees may have been bare, but her persistence in trying to replace them was anything but.
Nature, as always, had the final say.
If you liked that post, check out this story about a customer who insists that their credit card works, and finds out that isn’t the case.
Categories: STORIES
Tags: · customer service, difficult customers, difficult people, hotel, hotel staff, picture, reddit, Tales From The Front Desk, top, unreasonable requests
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