Find out what it means to me!
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
(sock it to me…sock it to me…sock it to me…)
Ahhh. Aretha can belt it, can’t she?
That’s ok, feel free to sing along…
(sock it to me…sock it to me…sock it to me…)
You know you are dancing…
(sock it to me…sock it to me…sock it to me…)
She also makes a convincing argument on the virtues of respect, something we all appreciate in life. Including, us hard working B&Bers. As I’ve said, we love the guests we’ve had…99.9% of ’em, anyhow. And, that other 0.1%? Well, all you can do is laugh.
Want in on the fun?
Here are just a few of the things that 0.1% has done to lighten our day.
They don’t understand that No Smoking Signs, and all related signage including, but not limited to Non Fumare, Ne pas Fumer, No Fumar, Kein Rauchen, or even, ???? apply to everyone.
– Bonus Tip #1 for the 0.1% – Hanging your head outside the window does not qualify as “outside.”
– Bonus Tip #2 for the 0.1% – Unless you are in junior high, don’t hide in the bathroom. That’s sooo not cool.
Hairdryers are placed in the rooms for their convenience, not their mamma’s convenience who isn’t staying here. Please don’t take it home to Mamma. We will notice.
We have a full kitchen available for our guests, complete with a refrigerator, where guests can keep food and beverages, a stove, microwave, dishes, and flatware. Again, most guests are appreciative of this service and are fully respectful of our things. However…
– We have arrived to prepare morning breakfast…ok, yes, it was Pep who arrived, and found dirty dishes, napkins, and cups. He, of course, cleaned their mess prior to serving breakfast to other guests.
– We have arrived to prepare morning breakfast, (again, it was Pep) only to discover that someone finished off the orange juice and severely depleted our supply of apricot jam. Luckily, we had an extra box of juice…warm. Yum.
– We have arrived to prepare morning breakfast (don’t you just hate redundancy) to be told that our 400 Euro coffee maker was malfunctioning.
“It isn’t malfunctioning,” Peppe spit through clinched teeth.
“You just have to know how to operate it. That’s why we make the coffee.”
Think they caught on to his clue?
They didn’t.
We’ve had “no-show” arrivals checking in after midnight, and had folks leave waaaay past the appropriate check-out time. Although breakfast hours are clearly stated, we’ve had groups show up at 1:00 PM – wanting breakfast.
Ahhh, but what can you do?
We are new at this. We are learning as we go. Peppe views each new experience as a chance to learn something new about the business.
And, I get blogging material.
We both win.
Playing with the coffee machine is so not cool. Bastardi.
Cherrye I have to tell you that I just LOVE these posts. They almost make me want to run a B&B myself… except that I’d keep the coffee machine in a locked cupboard. You really should consider that.
At least blogging material makes us all smile. I’m sorry that some people are so selfish. I promise when I stay over (hopefully one day) I’ll be a good guest.
Agreed, Michelle. Agreed.
Annika, thanks! I am glad you are liking these posts. I see that you are anxious to do something new…
I also LOVE the idea of being able to lock up the coffee machine. With our current layout it isnt really feasible. Peppe thinks that if we ask ppl not to touch it, they won’t. We will try that and see!
Nadine – I am SURE you would be a great guest. Most people are, really. I think the people who aren’t just don’t really have respect for other people’s things. I think they know better, they just don’t care.
Well, I really do like people, but it’s stories like these that make me glad I’m only a vicarious B&B proprietor and I really pay the rent by sitting behind a computer and a microscope all day.
It’s ok, J. I like people, too. Pep and I really are learning as we go. Someone will do something and we’ll say – we’re gonna have to make a “rule” about that. Previously we only verbally told people about the no smoking rule. When that didn’t work, we put up signs. We even had one smoking guest apologize to us.
I think one of our biggest problems is that we get too personal with our guests and then it is hard to tell them if they are out of line (like the hanging out the window-smokers). I think if we were more stand-offish, people might not feel so comfortable helping themselves to our coffee makers, etc. But, we like being that friendly and that is our highest “rating” on our cusomter service surveys…so, what do you do?!? đŸ™‚
Can you put up another sign that says ‘Don’t touch the coffee machine-you break-you buy ‘ or something like that or will it just be ignored like the no smoking one? How about a sign that tells clients that they are free to use the dishes but must clean up after themselves?
Locking everything up sounds like a good idea though.
JDoe – all very good ideas. We actually just made a “please ask us to prepare the coffee” or something similiar sign. Peppe thinks this will work. The coffee maker is fairly large, so we can’t easily move it around at the end of the day. If we keep having problems, we might have to find a cabnet that will lock where we can use it and then lock it up at the end of the day.
My mom suggested taking our coffee upstairs at the end of the day, but once the coffee beans are in the machine, they have to stay there, too.
I hope the coffee problem was just these people.
On another B&B-related note…we just had a group call and reserve 3 rooms for the month of Feb!! đŸ™‚
Oh my land!! that is crazy…. I promise to be a well behaved guest when I come..which hopefully will be some year soon!!!
Great blogging material!!