I Know I’m Gonna Get Blamed For This

I’ve spent enough nights in hotels (and not in a good way!) to pretty much know exactly what to expect when I walk into a room. That way, if anything is out of place, I know it immediately.

I have a ritual of sorts whenever I walk into a hotel room. First I check for unwanted visitors. I heard a story about a friend of a friend of a friend that walked into his hotel room at the end of a work day and someone was hiding in the room. Supposedly this intruder beat the crap out of him and robbed him. Well, tell me a story like this and it sticks with me. Every time now that I walk into a hotel room alone, I have to do the sweep first. That’s looking in the closet, on the other side of the bed and even in the shower to make sure I’m alone in there. Last night, I did that.

Then, I unpack. The first thing out of my bag will be my disinfectant wipes. I wipe down the room from the remote control (huge eww!), the telephone, the buttons on the TV and the a/c, the door handle and lock, the bathroom fixtures, toilet handle, light switches, desk top and the top of the night table. Yes, anal retentive. Then, I unpack my clothes and put them in the drawers or hang them in the closet.

Then I’m ready to go get dinner!

Last night, I went through my routines. However, before I even started, something was terribly wrong with my room!

Every hotel room, be it a Motel 6 or the Hilton, will have some kind of cookie cutter pictures hanging on the walls. That’s what was missing in my room; the pictures. These are usually bolted to the walls (yes, even at the Hilton) to ensure no one packs them as extra items in their suitcases. So, now I have no pictures and some really bad patch jobs on the bolt holes where pictures used to hang.

When I left for dinner last night, I stopped by the front desk. I told them about the missing pictures and that I was afraid I was going to be blamed for stealing the bad art! I was assured that maintenance had removed the pictures as some of the rooms are going through an upgrade which will include a paint job and new pictures on the wall. Whew!

I’m still checking my bill carefully on Friday. I have a feeling that somehow, this will still be my fault!