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This story is a year old, but with all the SC hotel stories recently, I thought I'd post a story about the most awesome hotel clerk I've ever had the pleasure of dealing with.
A year ago I was living in North Dakota. Two of my children have a rare disease (though one is far more severely affected than the other), and the nearest specialist that was able to care for them was in Minneapolis, MN. It was a pretty long drive and I normally stayed overnight at a local hotel when we had to go there for appointments or surgery.
So, last July 2nd, my little one had an appointment. I did the usual reservation (thank God for hospital rates) and headed into the city. During the appointment Very Bad News was discovered. We would not be going home any time soon. He needed surgery ASAP for a life threatening issue. Because we were from out of town, this caused some logistical problems. In addition to that, the doctor wanted to do the operation in the other hospital where he practices, so a direct admit was going to be tricky. Also, he couldn't get it scheduled until after the holiday. I tell him I'd figure out a way to stay in town until the day of surgery, and then we'd work out accommodations while my son was in inpatient recovery. Fair enough.
I head back to the hotel and explain to the desk clerk what was going on. Now, remember this is a holiday week in a major city. The hotel was downtown and only a block away from the civic center and a reasonable walk away from the old Mill District on the river. It was full to capacity. I have no idea what this woman did, but she managed to keep us in our room for "however long you need". I was about to cry from relief, but that's not even the best she wound up doing.
She was a really nice lady, and we chatted a bit. I told her it would be nice to see the fireworks on the river, but I didn't have the child's wheelchair with me and he wouldn't be able to make that walk, especially now that we knew his hip was a ticking time bomb. She gets this look on her face and tells me to hang on, and then proceeded to call her husband. I didn't know what she was asking him at the time. We chatted for a little bit more, then I decided to walk to Target (just a couple blocks) to get some food that could be microwaved. When I got back she waved me over and told me she had something for me.
Imagine my surprise when I found that she had asked her husband to bring me this awesome canvas sided wagon so I could pull my son to the river so we could watch the 4th of July fireworks! I nearly burst into tears. This woman had no obligation to do any of what she did, but to go so far out of her way so a kid could have one last happy day before undergoing major, very painful surgery/recovery was so amazingly awesome that I didn't have the words to thank her.
A year ago I was living in North Dakota. Two of my children have a rare disease (though one is far more severely affected than the other), and the nearest specialist that was able to care for them was in Minneapolis, MN. It was a pretty long drive and I normally stayed overnight at a local hotel when we had to go there for appointments or surgery.
So, last July 2nd, my little one had an appointment. I did the usual reservation (thank God for hospital rates) and headed into the city. During the appointment Very Bad News was discovered. We would not be going home any time soon. He needed surgery ASAP for a life threatening issue. Because we were from out of town, this caused some logistical problems. In addition to that, the doctor wanted to do the operation in the other hospital where he practices, so a direct admit was going to be tricky. Also, he couldn't get it scheduled until after the holiday. I tell him I'd figure out a way to stay in town until the day of surgery, and then we'd work out accommodations while my son was in inpatient recovery. Fair enough.
I head back to the hotel and explain to the desk clerk what was going on. Now, remember this is a holiday week in a major city. The hotel was downtown and only a block away from the civic center and a reasonable walk away from the old Mill District on the river. It was full to capacity. I have no idea what this woman did, but she managed to keep us in our room for "however long you need". I was about to cry from relief, but that's not even the best she wound up doing.
She was a really nice lady, and we chatted a bit. I told her it would be nice to see the fireworks on the river, but I didn't have the child's wheelchair with me and he wouldn't be able to make that walk, especially now that we knew his hip was a ticking time bomb. She gets this look on her face and tells me to hang on, and then proceeded to call her husband. I didn't know what she was asking him at the time. We chatted for a little bit more, then I decided to walk to Target (just a couple blocks) to get some food that could be microwaved. When I got back she waved me over and told me she had something for me.
Imagine my surprise when I found that she had asked her husband to bring me this awesome canvas sided wagon so I could pull my son to the river so we could watch the 4th of July fireworks! I nearly burst into tears. This woman had no obligation to do any of what she did, but to go so far out of her way so a kid could have one last happy day before undergoing major, very painful surgery/recovery was so amazingly awesome that I didn't have the words to thank her.
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