People Who Feign Ignorance

One of my biggest pet peeves is stupid people. Not stupid people but people who pretend not to know things in order to benefit. I’m thinking all my life of all the people I’ve ever known who slip on by with their good looks and their appeal and their charm and never had to work for anything. But it goes without saying that many of the things that have been in this world have been for a reason. People can do things like this and they can do it with it. Time after time so it is not a big mystery why people always try to get something for nothing.

I have a part time gig in a hotel so I get this stuff all the time. We have four-person maximum in the rooms, the rooms are very small and it is not without the customer’s best interest in mind that we recommend that no more than four people’s share these rooms. But time and time again people try to fit 5, 6, or more and then come out on the attack me when we can’t accomidate them. These are small rooms and yet they expect to be able to fit something like a rollaway bed or a cot that they can use to sleep their tiniest persons on. What they fail to see in their upset is that there would be nowhere to put a rollaway bed even if I had one to give them.

Then they try the “well what can you do for me,” routine which I can NEVER get enough of.

“Sorry sir, it’s even against fire code for there to be more than four occupants in any of the rooms for any period of time,” and I point to the sign to my right.

“Well, I don’t understand!” They exclaim. “How was I supposed to know this?”

This is when I go to the reservation and I see that they only put in two or four people staying in their party which I, in turn, point out to them. They always deny ever having seen THAT screen, oh, and by the way, do you know how difficult it was to even GET to this hotel from the airport!?!

I apologize for that and then remind them that they were, in fact, asked that question; they wouldn’t have been allowed to complete their reservation without verifying this number.

Now they see themselves backed into a corner.

“Well, well, that’s fine. So what can you do about it?”

I love this question because as defined by my employer and by the agreement which they signed, I’m not required to do anything. The only thing I am required to do is charge their credit card for one night and send them on their way. I shouldn’t even let them check into the room, but something always is compromised; people who are wrong, either egregiously or by chance, always get their way. As my old friend Stew Leondard always reminded me in his commericals: “The Customer is always Right!”

But then there are these people at Starbucks. The people who say things like, “I’ll have a grande/venti,” or something like that. Can we all please get over the fact that we know the sizes of our Starbucks cups? Even if you don’t; just look! In every store, hanging from somewhere or posted so everyone can see are the SMALL/MEDIUM/LARGE cups with their corresponding Italian names. It’s not enough that I see people (the same people) playing dumb at neighborhood Starbucks every day getting away with freebies and upgrades as they feign ignorance.

One thing I really hate are people who order their drink form someone and pay someone else and don’t pay for the more expensive drink which they ordered. It makes me and everyone else online behind you really mad and not just because you’re getting away with a rip off right in front of us but also because you’re holding everyone on line up with your theatrics!

Where’s the toilet? Because you’re making the room stink with your bull—-.