I catch some heat for the "constant complaining" I do while traveling as I post my tales of woe here at Blogography and on Twitter. I'm regularly told that I have the worst luck ever when traveling. In truth, this is not really the case. Most of my travel experience is positive. But when you travel constantly, the probability of running into problems goes up. If you take four trips a year, you might have one or two bad experiences. If you take forty trips a year, you'd have ten to twenty bad experiences under the same odds. So, in reality, I'm no less lucky than the average traveler... I just travel more so it seems that way.
Last night I ran into an old friend I haven't seen in many years. He was staying here at the same hotel, which made it easy for us to catch up. It was a great experience on top of an already amazing day... but it did mean that I didn't get to bed until 2:00am. This was no big deal, because I just planned on sleeping in.
Wrong.
Two-and-a-half hours into my slumber, I hear loud, constant knocking. At first I thought it was on my door, but it actually ended up being on the room next door. After no answer, a woman starts shouting loudly "OPEN THE DOOR! YOU'VE GOT TO OPEN THE DOOR! OPEN THE DOOR NOW!!! Eventually, somebody opens the damn door and I hear the full exchange. Apparently, the room was paid for with a stolen credit card, and the woman was wanting full payment immediately, or the "guest" would have to leave. This resulted in a lot of loud yelling on both sides, making it impossible for me to go back to sleep. Instead I had to listen to things like "I'M IN A FIGHT WITH MY BROTHER AND HE CANCELLED THE CARDS! THEY'RE NOT STOLEN!!! and IT DOESN'T MATTER, WE NEED IMMEDIATE FULL PAYMENT OR YOU HAVE TO LEAVE!!! A second card was declined, which resulted in another visit and still more yelling. Eventually, the screaming man must have straightened everything out with his bank, because I think he got to stay.
Whatever.
My point her is that the hotel's treatment of this situation was fucked up.
I would expect this kind of thing to happen if I were paying $69 and staying in a Motel 6. But I'm not staying in a Motel 6, I am staying at The Driskill Hotel, which is Austin's most prestigious and exclusive hotel (just ask them!). THEY took a bad card. THEY had the problem. Yet it was their GUESTS who were made to pay for it. Why the hell would you wake up and entire floor of guests because of something like this? It's YOUR fucking problem, NOT mine, yet I'm the one rudely woken up at 4:30am? How is that fair? How is that right? How is that in accordance with the policy of treating guests well when they stay at your hotel? The Driskill is not a Motel 6, so stop fucking acting like one! Handle problems with discretion and don't make your guests be the one to suffer. Otherwise, all the fancy trappings, expensive accents, and classy rooms don't mean a thing... your hotel ends up coming off as a piece of shit and I'm embarrassed for you.
And, while I'm at it, one more complaint before I write my "real" entry for today...
What do you have to do to catch a fucking bus in this city?
I was standing at the stop for the No. 4 bus going north on 6th street. I saw the bus coming, but it wasn't slowing down so I waved my arm. The bus driver ignored it, and blew right past me. WTF?!? Not one to give up easily, I ran after the bus and caught up to it as it arrived at the next stop a block away. It barely slowed down at the stop and, just as I got to the door, it ignored me again and sped off. Fucking douchebag! What the hell are you doing driving public transit if you're not looking out for passengers? No wonder your bus was practically empty!
I guess next time I'll just throw myself in front of the fucking bus and hope for the best. But given how oblivious the driver was tonight, I'm guessing I'd end up dead.
Oh well, I guess the TWO-MILE WALK to The Mean Eyed Cat so I could say goodbye to Karla was good exercise.
Still, Capitol Metro... YOU FUCKING SUCK! FAIL! EXTREME FAIL!!!
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I hope you complained about the noise to the management the next day. That frakking sucks!
Well shit now i feel guilty. If I had known you came all that way just to say bye (and have a beer or two) I would have grabbed your ass or something when I gave you a goodbye hug! Seems like you should have gotten something more out of the deal!
I hope you give the Driskill What Fer. (That’s Texan for given’ em’ hell…what for.)
And Cap Metro is known for skipping stops…..
Sounds like you’re staying at a real classy place. I wonder if this is a night staff thing – maybe they are used to doing things their own way.
AND WTF on the bus? This isn’t Italy, jeez. I wouldn’t expect that here!
I hope you complained to management at check out… that has to be worth at the very least an apology.
You are 100% correct in your bitching about the hotel experience. That was something they could have waited until morning for. At least a paper slid under that guys door would have been more appropriate for the rest of the guests staying there.
So does Capital Metro suck more than UTA Trax here in SLC?
I have to agree that the way they went about the whole situation was wrong. I would have probably gone out into the hallway and said something knowing me.
That was a hotel employee’s idea of how best to deal with the situation at hand? And the hotel paid to have them trained this way? You and everyone else got a refund on their rooms, right?
Next time you come to Austin, you can stay with us. We’re out in the middle of nowhere on 3.5 acres… plenty of room to hide a body, er I mean, have an Obama Campaign party.
I’ve been reading your blog since forever and I have to say that your “adventures” are mild compared to my husband’s. That man had “Please lose my luggage” pasted to his forehead, I swear.
He could write a “Traveling For Dummies” book because he can outline everything that could possibly go wrong.
Hey! You should write a Traveling For Dummies book.
Good Gawd. I hope you spoke to management about this!
next time i’d recomend the San Jose’ its a much cooler place and a better location!