In transit to Griboedov's

So I imagine that if we were to sit down for a chat, I would get a question like,"what are some of the crazy stories that you have from working at the hotel?" I think this, because most people I know have asked me this.

A good one from the other day:

At around 10ish at night I got a call from a guest. He and his wife had just checked in. His son and daughter in law had a second room. He called and the conversation went like this:

"What can I do for you Mr. X?"
"Do you have problems with your water in Albuquerque...I mean, is it safe to drink?"
"Our water is perfectly safe to drink."
"There is a bad smell coming from your water. Does the water in Albuquerque smell bad?"
"It smells of chlorine...
"I know what chlorine smells like. This is different. There is a bad odor comming from the water."
"I can move you to a different room if you like. Let me see what I can do for you."

Completely puzzled, I look for two rooms on a higher floor that might suit him. I make some new keys and then it is off to his room. When I get to the door, he answers and promply makes me go into the bathroom and smell the water. He turns on the faucet and I can't smell anything. I am thinking that the odor would be noticeable.

He says, "you can't smell it from there. You have to put your head in the sink." WHAT?!?! He is going to make me put my head in the sink? I bend down a little into the sink. I don't smell anything. So, we move up to the next room. 41st floor. (we don't have that many but it sounds fun to me today) I open the door and the first thing he does is go into the bathroom and stick his head into the sink, like he was going to get a drink from the tap. "I smell it." I walk up to the sink and put my nose right up next to the running water. I smell a faint odor, but not from the water.

At this point I have him return to his room and I bring up a maintenance worker. We stand in the bathroom more than puzzled about his. No one else has ever come up with this problem. We stand there some more, he fixes the running toilet. Then another maintenance worker comes up. He shows up with a glass in his hand. He pulls off some water. In the glass it does not smell at all.

I pick some rooms on our 101st floor. We go up and smell the water before the guest will. I get Mr. X again and we go up. It passes the test. He even trusts the other room without smelling it. Now I go get a luggage cart and keys. One cart wasn't enough. Mr. X and his wife filled it completely. These are big carts. They can fit 5 luggage pieces easily. I needed to call for a second to be brought up.

So it is off to the 3200th floor (The floor with the pacific ocean view). I get Mr. X and his wife settled. At this time his son and daughter in law come up. I open their room(the one we bypassed before). I enter before they do and this one smells bad. It smells like funk mixed with airfreshener. either the bathroom after a bout with a lysol can, or the smoker who is trying to clear the air. It stank. NOTICEABLY.

So, very quickly, I go back out the door. I look at them and say, "This room has double beds, if you prefer, I have a king at the end of the hall right next to your parents."

"That would be nice."

-HG