The hotel lobby looked spacious and dreamy but hauntingly empty.
Shouldn’t someone greet incoming guests, caring enough to ask how they could help?
But no. There was no one in sight, and we wondered, “Who should we go to and inquire about our point of business?”
After a couple of impatient minutes, there was a utility guy who showed up, so I directly asked him about our purpose of visit. And he said that he would contact the receptionist.
Yes, ironically, the receptionist wasn’t playing the role a receptionist is expected to do in a hotel lobby.
More impatient minutes passed, and while the breeze of a cool dry season calmed us a bit, a woman showed up, still catching her breath after walking a couple of meters back to the hotel.
“Hello, ma’am,” she probably greeted me in a hurry. I can’t remember. Because it wasn’t as if she was excited to see a potential customer either. In fact, it looked like we were an inconvenience, especially when we learned she wasn’t supposed to be the person we’d be talking to.
Yet, she still obliged to tour us around the hotel to show us the amenities they offer.
It was an old hotel and seemed like it lacked a lot of care because you could easily smell the old sheets and the dust that had already settled in.
But what caught me by surprise, which almost made me laugh to wit, was how she wanted to hurriedly close the doors of the hotel rooms right after she opened them. We wouldn’t really get a glimpse of what’s inside unless we pushed ourselves in to explore the rooms so she’d be forced to open the door for us.
After finishing the tour, the receptionist left the hotel just as we went back to our car.
We laughed about how weird the experience was, seeing that nobody seemed to care about the business. Seeing a hireling in action, lacking care, made us realize why the hotel lobby looked spacious and dreamy but hauntingly empty.
The owner would surely be unhappy about it.
jessa 