Don't Talk To Me

I've mentioned this before in an earlier post about when guests talk to the person behind the front desk and how awkward it is. I want to talk about this a bit more. No one likes that. No front desk person that I have ever met actually wants to talk to the guests. There are very few instances where I have been involved in a conversation with a guest/customer and actually enjoyed it. These examples are not those.

Too Long

When I worked at the office supply store I had a customer who came and got some prints done. It was a five minute job and therefore the exchange between us should've lasted the same amount of time. This guy stayed to talk to me for over an hour. At the hotel, an hour talking to a guest is nothing. At a retail store, an hour talking to a customer is equivalent to an entire shift. I have no idea what this guy was talking about. I don't think I got in more than eight words the entire time. Outside of not giving a shit, he was distracting me from my job. He continued talking while I was helping other customers as if they weren't there. He finally left and I could not have been happier. I can only imagine that a person would talk to a complete stranger for such a long period of time if they honestly had no one else to talk to in their life.

Old and Lonely

This is probably the most common amongst hotel guests. The older people want to talk. I can understand they have things to say and no one they know is living to tell these stories to. I had an older guy who was staying on the first floor and he came to the lobby. He told me he ordered a pizza and wanted to wait for the pizza guy in the lobby. That is all good and well, and then I went about my business. He then began asking me questions about my school and what I was majoring in.

Side Note: If you ask me what I'm doing and my response is "doing homework" then DO NOT CONTINUE TALKING TO ME! That has happened to me thousands of times. I've told guests I was taking timed tests, studying, doing homework, doing something for work and yet they still continue talking. Take that as a hint that I do not want to talk to your ass.

Back to the old guy, his pizza finally arrived about 20 minutes later and I thought that was the end of it. Apparently he felt so comfortable with me that he decided to eat his pizza in the lobby and continue to talk to me. He stayed there and talked for two hours until he finally shuffled back to his room leaving me with "I guess I'll let you get back to your school work."

Don't Talk To Me and Don't Ask Me for Shit

This one was a rare occasion. This girl came down and just started talking to me. She dressed as if she was about 15 but looked much older than that. She started talking about everything and anything, I later came to find out that she is mentally challenged. Shockingly enough, I have a soft spot. I have a god brother who has very severe Down Syndrome and I love him. I want nothing more for him than to be able to talk, play and and do everything that not only I can do, but things that other children with down syndrome can do. He can't do any of it. He made me want to talk to the girl. I continued talking to her as she told me about the Special Olympics and all the things that she wants to do. I was fine talking to her.

Then an hour went by...

Then a second hour went by...

Then a third hour went by...

Then the fourth hour went by....

Then my patience and caring started to wear thin. I had things to do. I had to work. I had homework. I didn't want to be rude but I also couldn't spend my entire eight hour shift letting her talk at me. Towards the end of it she started talking about how much she liked the Backstreet Boys. I am a huge BSB fan and actually had tickets for an upcoming BSB concert...I made the mistake of telling her that.

Chit Chat MaGoo: Can you buy me a T-shirt?
Working Girl: What?
Chit Chat MaGoo: Just buy me a shirt. As a gift.

Okay. Now my kindness flew out the goddamn window. I will talk to you, I will pretend to care but in no way shape or form am I going to spend my money on someone I don't know. I don't care how inspirational your story is. I felt bad saying no so I just brushed it off.

Working Girl: We'll see.

That actually got her to go away. If I had known that I would've offered to buy her a damn Ferrari after the first hour.