This call is from some Inmate Somewhere

[Evil Queen]

I swear to gourd, I am the only one who gets these calls! More of an annoyance then a sucky customer, since this guy isn't a customer but an inmate in some jail somewhere.

I answered the phone today with my usual canned greeting: "Good afternoon. Thank you for calling <hotel>, this is EQ how can I help you?"

Long greeting, don't you think? I get this:
"Please stay on the line, this is an inmate calling from <place>." Naturally the machine spoke fast enough for me to get as far as "Wha?" before it connected.

I will admit; I was not that polite.

IM (inmate): Hello?
Me: Listen, you got the wrong number buddy so hang up and never contact this place again.

Then I hung up. Short. To the point, and mildly cranky because I haven't eaten yet, but these stupid calls keep coming and coming! I deal with them almost daily! And they aren't calling a private residence; they're calling a Hotel! Who the heck do they think they're getting??

[Legal Eagle]

an inmate could be calling a hotel for a legitamite reason

[Gothicsmurf]

If I recall... inmates cannot be released with out a place to sleep so they might be calling to look for a place to crash upon release.

I could be wrong because I've never been to jail... Where is our resident corrections officer?

[Evil Queen]

Kara's somewhere...

I doubt an inmate being released from jail can afford $122.85 (taxes included for my cheapest room). This has been going on for longer then I've been with the hotel (I've been with the hotel since two weeks before X-mas)

[Javarod]

Might be a mix up, we've got an outfit out here in Phoenix advertising that you can receive collect calls to your cellphone. They might think they're calling some kind of switchboard company like that.

[Evil Queen]

That could be true. Next time I get a call I'll ask about it (though I'm hoping it won't happen any more).

[Bliss]

The immate could be calling a family member or friend currently staying at the hotel....

[RetailWorkhorse]

I'd have stayed on the line if only to find out which Prison it's coming from....then start marking them off a list like when we were "collecting" out of state plates (I found Hawaii AGAIN! Isn't it kinda Early for Hawaii to be here?).

[Evil Queen]

The immate could be calling a family member or friend currently staying at the hotel....

My trainer has been here for 5 years. She said that she was getting them when she first started. I doubt it's someone looking for a person that has been here that long.

I'd have stayed on the line if only to find out which Prison it's coming from....then start marking them off a list like when we were "collecting" out of state plates (I found Hawaii AGAIN! Isn't it kinda Early for Hawaii to be here?).

I seen one on the way to work yesterday that said Rhode Island. I never knew those existed! (You never see Rhode Island outside of the north and I'm in Texas!)

[Andara Bledin]

My work gets those calls in spurts.

I actually tracked down one of them because the guy was being obscene.

The prison in question actually made it really difficult to contact them from the outside. I ended up making a formal complaint to the local sherrif's department.

^-.-^

[Snowbird]

I used to get those a lot when I worked at the bookstore, usually very early in the morning before we'd opened. It freaked me out until my boss explained that sometimes the guys in prison have no one to call or talk to and just want to hear a friendly voice on the other end for their allotted time. That sorta made me sad, even understanding where they were and what they'd done to get there.

[thehippie777]

I haven't personally recieved phone calls from prisons at the hotel, that I remember. I have gotten quite a few, for awhile, telemarketers (the kind where you have to wait on the line in order to actually speak to someone). Trying to tell them we have multiple lines/numbers was like pulling my own teeth... Eventually those stopped.

I think you did the right thing by telling them to not call anymore. I find that people don't tend to listen to my speal, and the first thing they say is, "Is this the *hotel name*? (Yeah...already said that). OR I get the person who got a call from one of our 122 rooms & asks, "Who called me?" (I don't know, we have 122 rooms...take your pick ) I have even been asked why we don't monitor calls that go out of our hotel! (uh, that is illegal, pretty sure). Yeah, we can tell what long distance call was made if they didn't use a calling card or what-have-you, but local calls are impossible.

[friendofjimmyk]

I would wait to hear what the inmate has to say before hanging up on them. You stated that you hang up before they really get a chance to say anything - so you can't be so sure that its the same inmate. There are some valid reasons an inmate would be calling...just because they are just getting out of jail does not mean they can't afford the rates at the hotel. Maybe a family member is putting them up, maybe they have money saved (not highly unlikely), maybe they're meeting a girlfriend there when they get out...maybe they do have family staying there. Who knows. But I would definitely wait for them to say something - if anything, it may just be some entertainment for a minute at work.

[tamezin]

Then I hung up. Short. To the point, and mildly cranky because I haven't eaten yet, but these stupid calls keep coming and coming! I deal with them almost daily! And they aren't calling a private residence; they're calling a Hotel! Who the heck do they think they're getting??

You can have these blocked by calling the phone company.

[icmedia]

Just to be fair, you should realize that not EVERY person being held in a jail/prison has actually been convicted of a crime.

I know this because, well, I was accused of a crime that I did not commit once. I was held in a county, then state, facility because I could not afford bail for 3 months. Then, I was acquitted (found NOT guilty) and released.

I have to say, I would have been rather upset if that had been me trying to use my prison issue phone card (which charged $5.00 per call connected, regardless of length) to contact a family member who may have been staying at your hotel.

Also, to point out, I could have easily afforded to stay at your hotel upon my release, if I had the need. Between friends and family members putting money in my commissary account and the pittance I earned at my prison job, I had easily a thousand dollars upon my release.

Like I said, just trying to be fair. Your caller may very well have been a multiple murderer or sexual deviant up to some nefarious misdeed...just as easily it could have been a scared, lonely nonviolent offender or wrongly accused inmate just trying to connect to the outside world for a few minutes. Since you hung up on them, you'll never know.