"Hey, do I get that thing I signed when I checked in?"

When a guest checks in to our fine establishment, they have to sign a page that has all of their information on it, such as their address and what not. But before we hand them the page to be signed, we first take an imprint of their credit card. All we do is imprint an image of the card on the bottom of the page.

When guests check in to a room, then find that they don't like it and decide to leave, 9 times out of 10 they'll ask for that page back, as was the case with one moron today. He didn't like the fact that he had to carry his luggage a couple of yards to his room, as his room wasn't on the parking lot side of the building. So the guy decides to leave since I have nothing available on the parking lot side to give him, but not before asking if he can have that paper he signed. I have to explain to him that his credit card wasn't charged, and that we keep those pages. He asks me why he can't have it, and I explain that I don't make the policy. He throws a hissy fit, says "Well now I know not to ever stay at a Days Inn," and leaves. As he walks out the door, I here him muttering something about how the place is empty and how he can't believe we have nothing on the parking lot side.

Now, this guy shows many of the same characteristics of just about all of the dickwads who causes us trouble. The first, they seem to think that this little piece of paper is the only record of them that we have. Apparently they think we could wave it up in the air and pray to the almighty god, Visa, holy is thy name, and have the card charged and the money placed in our accounts. They're never worried about the fact that we still have a record of them and their credit cards in our systems which we never delete (and technically can't be deleted; after all, why do you think the government breaks their hard drives into a million pieces and incinerates them when disposing of them?). So naturally it goes without saying that they never ask "We've been removed from your system, right?"

Secondly, there's the whole "never stay at Days Inn" remark. All of these dickwads seem to think that all Days Inns are owned by this giant cooperation. In reality, Days Inn is a franchise. Meaning, each Days Inn individually and separately owned and operated. Saying you're not going to stay at any Days Inn because of a bad room you got at one in some shitty little town is like saying that you aren't going to shop at Walmart ever again because the milk you bought at Food Lion was spoiled. So go ahead and not stay at any more Days Inns anymore... It's not like we were getting any money from any of the others in the first place, you jackass.

And the third and final thing (for this post at least), the whole "oh but they look so empty" business. Well, duh we look empty. Just look at the damn time. People generally eat diner at about 5:30, you know. I doubt people like to spend half a day cooped up in a hotel room either, and would like to spend the evening out watching a movie or bowling or something. And then let's not forget about all of the reservations remaining, and since they got their rooms days, weeks, months, and occasionally, a year in advance of the walk-ins, we like to give them the better rooms on the parking lot side. Of course, in this particular case with this particular dickwad we had maybe five reservations at the time. But still, given everything else I've just said...