I was tired, cranky, and hungry.
Sometimes during business trips, all I want is a simple meal delivered to my room.
I was traveling for business, and after a busy day all I wanted to do was head to my hotel room at the Hilton in downtown Atlanta. Atlanta’s downtown is depressingly bleak when it comes to decent restaurants. There are a few options that will satisfy you, but long wait times are almost always to be expected when there are large trade shows taking over downtown. So I decided to resort to room service.
Normally I lose all respect for room service as my frustration over the high cost of each entrée, the random service charges, and the required tips seem to all add up to more than the cost of spending a night in the hotel room. But I felt I would try to play nice and stay calm and picked up the phone. I called room service and politely asked for a simple bowl of berries for my evening meal. I was very tired and just wanted something to snack on as I settled in for bed. The nice voice on the other line explained that the fruit was going to cost me close to $20.00. I was shocked.$20.00 was the price of the all-you-can-eat buffet downstairs! It just did not make sense that a few room-deliverd pieces of fruit would be the same cost. I explained this calmly to the lady and very respectfully asked for a slight discount.
She agreed with my point and after a brief moment of hesitation, she decided she would bill me around $10 for the fruit. I was still feeling ripped off. $10 is more that I spend on a week’s worth of produce when I go grocery shopping.
..and then I heard the knock on my door and this beautiful bowl overflowing with perfectly picked berries was dropped off.
A massive bowl of fresh berries delivered to my room…and by asking nicely, it was affordable too! Now if only we could get cheap internet in some of these hotels.
Damn. DAMN. That was some of the best damn fruit I have had in a long time.
Sometimes you forget how being nice can provide you amazing with results….
That’s a good-sized bowl of fruit!