“This is one time the hotel will not be able
to charge the bill,” reported the manager one evening when he called about a
Middle-Eastern family.
Since I usually collect from the guest, I
assured him that that was not a problem.
He connected me to the room where I spoke to
someone whose English was not good. The speaker or perhaps someone else had an
allergy or maybe a rash that needed a cream. Did I know the proper
cream?.... After much to and fro they decided I should come at 11 a.m. the
following day.
The guest who answered the door showed me a
rash on her neck. It was a simple contact dermatitis. I explained and handed
her a tube of cortisone cream. That, of course, was the easy part.
The room was a luxurious suite. The patient
was Philippine, so I knew she was a servant. It was disturbing to notice that
she was alone. I suspected she did not expect to pay; sure enough, she looked
puzzled when I presented my invoice and more puzzled when I explained that the
hotel would not pay.
I passed an uncomfortable ten minutes as she
noodled with her cell phone, trying to reach her employers. Had they
deliberately absented themselves to avoid paying? It might not have been
deliberate; sometimes extremely rich people never concern themselves with
paying for stuff because it’s always taken care of.
She asked if she could call the hotel. I
shrugged, resigned to being stiffed. But it turned out the current manager had
no objection to charging the bill.
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