The worst part of my job...

[F4lconF16]

I work the night shift at a hotel on Friday nights. It's not particularly great, but it could be worse. I get to talk to people: I've had a number of multiple hour long conversations with random guests. I get paid above minimum wage a bit, which is something. On occasion there's free food, or a guest will offer various things (you'd be surprised at what they'll say sometimes). It's a crappy job that could be worse.

But there's one part I've never gotten used to, and I hate it every time I have to do it. We're the cheapest hotel/motel in the area, but we're still pretty expensive--a simple queen room on a Friday night will run you close to $150 a night. When a family shows up late at night, with a kid sick in the hospital nearby, exhausted, and needing somewhere to crash for a night, and they don't have quite enough money...it's an awful feeling, sending them back out into the rain. I do what I can, giving lower rates if it's late and the room wouldn't sell otherwise, but I can't drop the price too much. The looks on their faces, the dejection in their voices as they say thank you anyways and walk off...kills me every time.

Bleh.

[Cheese Sandwich]

1. Ugh that's rough.

I once was a temp at an insurance company. My job was to check if people had certain pre-existing health conditions and if so send them a letter denying them health insurance.

[Skittles]

2. how did you find out if people had pre-existing health conditions

[Cheese Sandwich]

5. I was just like a clerk processing paperwork and computer files

So I would look at the papers and the stuff on the screen and if it said they had certain conditions I would follow some procedures. I guess it was self reported info by the applicant. This was about maybe 20 years ago.

[djean111]

18. There is a company in Boston called MIB - Medical Information Bureau.

A really loooong time ago, maybe 1970 or so?, my first job as a programmer, I wrote a program for a life insurance company that transmitted new application names and addresses and ages and SS numbers (I think) to MIB in batches, MIB would return the file with any medical information that they had on them. Before my program, the information would be mailed, and that meant a bigger chance that someone could die and collect before all their information was known.
I believe all health insurance companies just automatically send your info here, it is a clearinghouse for life insurers. At the time, there was a three day window between when the agent wrote a binder and when the company could find out if the applicant had failed to report a health condition that would affect whether they wanted to sell the applicant a policy.

We have not had any privacy, I think, for a very very long time.

[Skittles]

21. wow

I had wondered how they all seemed to know everyone's business

[uppityperson]

22. I worked for a couple companies in the 80's, doing pre-insurance interviews, blood work

I got to ask all sorts of personal questions and record their answers, basic blood pressure, pulse, temp check and draw blood to send off for testing. It was intrusive but something required from some companies at the time. It was interesting, the answers I got from people I knew, taking them at their word and writing down what they told me and promptly forgetting it all. I never lied, but just wrote down what people told me.

[Skittles]

24. now they give people financial incentive to give it up

yup - they have that kind of thing yearly where I work

[uppityperson]

25. One place I worked had a health thing where you got benefits for getting more

healthy. Your height, weight, bp, p, etc were entered and periodically checked and no damn way was I going to do that.

[Doctor_J]

16. there was a person with your job in Sicko. she did phone interviews.

At the end of her spiel she was sobbing.

[C Moon]

3. Wow. That's sad. :( Hang in there.

[Suich]

4. Yikes, that's a tough one.

Is there a possibility that you could check with the nearby hospital and see if they have any suggestions?

I know it's way outside your job description, but it might help, maybe...worth a shot.

Good luck!

And good on you for caring...

[inanna]

6. This is very good advice actually.

A few years ago my father was quite ill in hospital and myself + two siblings had to travel quite a distance to be with him.

Once there, we arranged to stay at a hotel the first evening. When it became apparent we'd need to stay a few days longer, we asked around at the information desk in the hospital emergency. Turns out we could rent (short-term) a vacant interns apartment in residence for less than half the cost of any other hotel/motel in the area.

And it was directly next to the hospital where Dad was.

So it's really worth checking out.

[Sherman A1]

7. Agreed

Perhaps there is someway that you, your employer and the hospital could work out a win-win situation for all. Might be worth mentioning to your manager as a means of filling an unsold room for the night with a referral from the hospital or something along those lines.

Be worth mentioning, the worst that they can say is no.

[7wo7rees]

8. Night auditor/front desk is difficult, at best.

Not much to add.
There is a quote. . . .
I do not know right now where to find it.
The gist of it is....
If you do all tbe right things, for all the right reasons the people you need in your life will come along.
Something like that.
Peace.

[merrily]

9. So many injustices in our world, but you are not responsible for this one.

It's not as though you can secretly give them a room.

I get how hard it is for you, though.

[glowing]

10. I work as a manager at a hotel. And yes, it sucks because

we are people and we feel empathy for the person and their situation. However, it is a business. You couldn't go into a store or restaurant and haggle prices; even though we often do. The only thing that could perhaps help would be to ask a sales person to negotiate a price for the hospital like they would an airline company (which gets rooms for dead cheap). They could negotiate out a cost of maybe $79 to $99 for patients or family members. Of course, if you have a busy weekend, you won't have rooms. But if you have someone needing a room for a week, you have guaranteed money and a sale and a stay over room cleaning service the entire time, plus, they won't be using the room much other than to sleep. I'm surprised that the hospital doesn't have a concierge desk that can give people a suggestion on where to stay. They may already have a negotiated rate plan with other hotels in the area.

If you work for a larger franchise or a corporate hotel, contacting the "owners group" regarding the situation, they sometimes override the GM for positive public PR spin. Knowing how much a room costs the company whether booked or not is a good way to know where to start with a minimum rate to charge. For my smaller hotel without a restaurant in it, our cost on a room sitting occupied or not is about $40.00/ night. So, if I have the room rented and I'm above that price, I've made money on the room. However, if you aren't 100%, then you want to maximize all of your room rates to cover the rest of the rooms.

I often describe working at the front desk of a hotel like being a bartender without the alcohol. You end up hearing a lot about someone's personal life; more than the average worker does. For some reason, many people dump their entire lives at your desk. And we don't even get to take a shot to take the shock of a story out of our systems.

At the very least, the hospital may have a Ronad McDonald house nearby or some sort of hospice suggestion or a group of hotels that offer them discounts if the concierge person calls for them. However, late at night, the concierge desk is likely unstaffed, and the visiting family is better off chilling at the hospital lounge area until the next day when the world wakes back up and more people who help families or patients are around.

We all know there are the haves and the have nots in this country. Many people can't afford any hotel, let alone $150.00. And it sucks that we are on the frontline of seeing that everyday. Corporate people don't have to work the desk or get to feel empathy for who walks in the door and their story. Perhaps if they weren't in their bubble so often, they would decide different business practices. Most hotel chains set up employee discounts because they know that their own workers can't afford to stay at the place where they work. Maybe you have a friends and family discount you could offer them late at night and make the guest your "friend"?

[LittleGirl]

11. excellent suggestions.

You have a heart and a brain. So hard to find these days. You'll do well in life.

[glowing]

17. Thanks, from your "lips to God's ears" because Lord knows I could use a positive financial lift like

so many others. Have a Great Day!!!

[Shrike47]

12. One possibility for you would be to make up a list of cheaper hotels with directions.

You are a good person with a caring heart. If the more sophisticated suggestions don't work for you, perhaps you could at least offer alternatives, with distances indicated.

[Liberal_in_LA]

19. good suggestion. i worked a job that put me in contact w folks

On the verge of homelessness. I had a handout ready.. of options

[MrScorpio]

13. I used to run the night shift desk at a Holiday Inn in VA

Did that around nine years ago.

I know exactly what you're talking about.

[Art_from_Ark]

14. I remember staying at a bunch of fairly decent m/hotels for less than $10 a night

That was in the late '70s. One in Hickman, Kentucky, and one in Athens, Texas, were both $5, and were both run by little old ladies. As was the $8 motel in Winnsboro, Louisiana, where the little old ladies had had a pet alligator, and the $9 motel just outside of Columbia, Missouri. I thought I was really stretching my travel budget one night by staying at a $12 motel in Portageville, Missouri. I can't believe how high hotel rates have gone up since those days.

[ashling]

15. I was in the same position

night shift at a Holiday Inn Express. It was a crappy job that way, but I did what I could. One night there was a pretty bad wreck that had the highway closed down just down the way. It was cold - for this area - and stormy. Not a fit night out fer the proverbial man nor beast. The Highway was backed up for miles.


we had people sitting in the breakfast are waiting for the highway to clear. Families with young kids sleeping in the lounge, etc. The owner didn't want us letting people come in out of the cold and sit in the lounge area. We were instructed by the owner to clear the place out.

My attitude was tough shit It helped that a DPS trooper came in and explained that the highway was backed up. The owner was pissed, but I told him that the DPS had told them to wait there and that there was nothing we could do.I kept the coffee hot.

not exactly the same thing -

I was doing night shift once when I was in school in Jackson, MS. Another rainy night (go figure). A white guy came in followed by a young black woman with he small child. The white guy came to the desk and asked for a double. I looked at the board to see if we had anything.

The guy was kind of obnoxious. Just before I started to sign him in - everything was manual back then and it took a little time and I was new -

The guy rubbed the kids head and asked if he had cut any watermelons today. I think my mouth dropped open for a second ... I was appalled.

I told him that I was sorry, we didn't have any rooms left. He left and as he was driving off the black woman asked if there was anyplace else around that had any rooms.

"you know what," says I "it turns out we have one double left."

It felt good to miraculously find that open room (wink, wink)

Never felt bad at all about turning that guy away.

[Stardust]

20. The Ronald McDonald House was a godsend for us after an auto accident put one of us in the hospital.

Maybe there's one near you...

[steve2470]

23. this happened to me and I'm NOT recommending you do this....

I was in Fort Lauderdale many years ago, at 3 AM. I didn't have enough money for a hotel room of any kind, and I had a young lady with me (long story). I went to two hotels and asked politely for a break. Of course, they had to say no. I didn't want us sleeping in the car or outside.

The third hotel I went to, the front desk clerk was a devout Christian lady. She took pity on us and gave us a room for free, but made me promise to repay her ASAP, which I readily agreed to and even suggested upfront. The room cost $85 I think. As soon as I got back home to my checkbook, I mailed her a check and thanked her profusely.

There are some really wonderful people in the world, as this front desk clerk was. She had the money to pay for it, which I'm sure many (if not most) desk clerks do not. If she had refused us (which I expected), we would have had to bite the bullet and sleep in the car.

[Vinca]

26. Maybe you could compile a secret list of cheaper hotels in the area and give it to them.

[elleng]

27. Awful situations.

Thanks for caring.

[raven mad]

28. My heart hurts.

I have been one of those people. And the host of the motel was gracious and I had a place to stay for the night.