Misadventures with Foul Face

[HotelMinion]

I had an SC which I will call FoulFace.
FF had requested a wakeup call at 6 am.
Precisely at 6 am, FoulFace called me and complained that he didn't get his wakeup call! And that now he'll be late!!!!11
I checked the log and it said the line had been busy. When I said this to FoulFace, he yelled!

"Busy?? How could it been busy??? I didn't use it! And it didn't ring!!" -actual quote from FoulFace.

When I tried to explain what must have happened, Foul Face decreed that our time must be off and he's was right. And his said "6:35."

Knowing I was never to convince him otherwise, I mooed sorry and while rolling my eyes (this was over the phone) and FF finally hung up. I thought that was the end, but nopeeee.

15 minutes later, Foul face came to my desk. And this is where he got his name.

Me: May I help you
FF: *creepy stare*
Me: Hello?
FF: *intenser creepier stare*
Me: Ummmmm.

Finally FF spoke, after 5 min.

FF: I'm in room 1313, and I was the one who didn't get the wake up call.
Me: *internal eyeroll since he's in front of me* So sorry.
FF: And yesterday, I didn't get mine either!
Me: I'm so sorry.
FF: That's not good enough!
Me: I'm so very sorry?
FF: *begins rant*
Me: *cuts off his rant* Would you like to speak with a manager?

Manager, OMS, is called.

OMS: WHat can I do for you
FF: I didn't get my wakeup today and yesterday! This is unacceptable and now I'll be late to my important meeting!!!
OMS: Sorry to hear that. I've checked the log, and it says the line was busy and that's why it didn't go thru.
FF: Busy??? BUSY??? Thats-- *sputters*
Me: I told him that but he didn't believe me.
OMS: And I checked the log from yesterday and the wakeup call went thru fine.
FF: *more sputtering* Yesterday?? No I meant the day before yesterday! Yeah yesterday I got it fine!
OMS: Well.
FF: I've stayed in many hotels and they all were more better! They were more attentive! Now, I'm a nice guy and I don't want any one fired, but I plan to complain to corporate about this matter!!

Foul face continued to rant at OMS and I didn't hear anymore because I had other customers to check out but once he left (about 20 min later) I asked OMS if he had given a discount to Foul Face.

OMS: *sheepishly* Well...yeah.

Well the evil villian Foul Face may have gotten away with his misdeeds today, but not next time! Account flagged.

Mini story Unrelated: We were robbed a week ago, some scumbag made off with the computers in the business center! About $3000 worth! What will we have to do now, nail the computers down? :\

[Gilhelmi]

Nail computers down is not that hard. I have done it in my house before (not because of theft but to prevent it from getting knocked over). Robbers know they need to be quick, so if they meet even slight resistance, 9/10 they will move on.

I also like to put weights in things, price of lead is around $1.50/lb and I have fun with 30 or 40 pounds of it. "This is heavy, must have something valuable in it" No, silly thief, you just stupid. Another favorite was when the Postman jokingly asked if there was lead in the box. I had fun opening it up and showing him lead.

[bhskittykatt]

At the motel I worked at, we did have the TVs bolted to the counter tops (which still didn't stop everyone). I bet you could get a similar system for the PCs in the business center. After a $3k loss, could be worth it.

[CloserToSane]

It's possible, but doesn't always deter them. At a sister hotel one of the receptionists busted a couple of guys who had been booking rooms and making off with the in-room computers. We lost about 13 to this group over a couple of weeks, up and down the country. I'm glad that the CCTV mostly worked and the receptionist paid attention when they checked in.

We were told that the computers wouldn't work outside of the property, I don't believe that, I think if they knew what they were doing then they could probably make it work. Of course, I don't believe the company would spring for security measures like that either.

[mhkohne]

If you don't want to actually screw the computers to the desk, you might want to try cable locks. They aren't going to stop the determined tjief, bit they are cheap and might make him go somewhere else.

[Monterey Jack]

I had an SC which I will call FoulFace.
FF had requested a wakeup call at 6 am.
Precisely at 6 am, FoulFace called me and complained that he didn't get his wakeup call! And that now he'll be late!!!!11

Wait, what? How could be possibly be late if he called you at the precise time he requested to get a wakeup call? And, if he was in such a hurry, why did he waste even MORE time going to complain and just standing there for FIVE MINUTES without saying anything?

[EricKei]

MJ: Well, he was on the line calling the desk right at 6AM, and yet he couldn't figure out why the incoming wake-up call didn't get through...

We were told that the computers wouldn't work outside of the property,

That's something I would expect bosses in a retail environment to say; not in a hotel. The main reason to say stuff like that is to deter the employees from stealing them...despite the fact that the EE's know damn well that they're on camera pretty much at all times, and highly unlikely to even try. Remember, every corp thinks that 90% of all theft is internal, even when there is evidence to the contrary.

[figgyx]

wake up call losers

At one hotel I worked at our phone system had a printer that printed out records of all outgoing calls and wakeup calls. 99 percent of the time the losers who complained they did not get a wakeup call had either answered the phone and hung up or never bothered to answer any of the three attempts to call the room. They would still yell and complain even after we checked the printout and demonstrated proof of their dumbasseryness.

[Silent-Hunter]

We were told that the computers wouldn't work outside of the property, I don't believe that, I think if they knew what they were doing then they could probably make it work. Of course, I don't believe the company would spring for security measures like that either.

Most likely they wouldn't boot the OS that was on the computer. But they could put Linux on them, and replace Windows along with the security program. Or more likely reinstall Windows.

[Captain Trips]

When I worked for "Fat Actress", our computers at the various locations truly would only work when there, and nowhere else. They were "thin client" computers, without hard drives. They had locked flash drives, and Windows Embedded (which can't be removed because it's actually burned onto chips.) These computers wouldn't work unless they communicated with their control unit at corporate hq. We even had labels on them at one time "this device will not work outside of a <fat actress> centre." (Which, in this case, was true.) Hell, they wouldn't even work in a different location unless we in Tech Support made the necessary changes! (We had some district managers who tried that. They got in trouble for unauthorized computer moving.)

They still ended up getting stolen on occasion, but would only be large paperweights.

[Gilhelmi]

When I worked for "Fat Actress"...
They still ended up getting stolen on occasion, but would only be large paperweights.

Well, better them be a heavy paperweight. It would at least discourage repeat offenders. (maybe)

[Sapphire Silk]

Honestly, I don't understand why people bother with wake up calls in a hotel anyway.

I'm a habitual slapper of the "snooze" button. I use my cell phone as my alarm clock when I travel

[otakuneko]

Computers are so cheap I wonder why anyone would bother stealing a desktop computer. When my old house was broken into, all the desktops were completely ignored.

[earl colby pottinger]

Pawn shop

Many of the thieves are stupid enough to think that computers are really valuable to pawn shops. If you ever watch that pawn shop show you know what I mean.

If a computer costs $1000 to buy (and most cheap desktops are more like $300-450) then after a few months it's only worth $500 at best on the used market. But a pawn shop has to think about what happens if they can't sell it for a few more months when it is only worth $100-300. So their best offer on a $1000 computer will be something like $50.00

Worse a smash and grab thief stands a good chance of damaging the computer and no pawn shop is buying a damaged one.

PS. I just bought a new I7 desktop last month for $1300, and I am already preparing to upgrade the CPU and maybe the motherboard come this fall when Intel's 8-core CPU comes out. Computers lose a high percentage of their value in the first 6 months.

[smileyeagle1021]

PS. I just bought a new I7 desktop last month for $1300, and I am already preparing to upgrade the CPU and maybe the motherboard come this fall when Intel's 8-core CPU comes out. Computers lose a high percentage of their value in the first 6 months.

Hell, they lose a whole lot of their value sitting on the shelf waiting for you to buy it.
I don't know if it is still true, but at least at one point, hardware advances were coming out so quickly that it was almost guaranteed that the model on the shelf you were buying was already outdated.