I previously wrote about my craziest hotel stories in two previous posts as well as my craziest restaurant stories coming up in two future posts. However, just recently I think I have finally got a story that tops them all!
Anyone that has worked in the industry always knows the craziest things always happen on the swing or night shift. This weekend was no different for me… So what exactly does a ferret and $5,000 dollars have to do with each other? Well… buckle up cause this story gets crazy real quick…
Disclaimer: The following blog post does not reflect the views, action or position of MGM Resorts International. All views, opinions and reflections expressed are solely my own. Some details may be modified to ensure privacy and confidentiality.
The Ferret Saga:
I am honestly not even sure how to explain this story, that’s how crazy it is! I was working the swing/night shift at the front desk. I was just wrapping up my shift when I heard another one of my co-workers talking about a phone call they just received from another department regarding a guest’s issue upstairs. The guest was staying on the 32nd floor of the hotel and while they were walking back to their room, there was a loose ferret running around on the floor causing mischief. Apparently, said ferret supposedly bit the guest as they were walking back to their room. Security was immediately called to check on the guest and to try to investigate where the ferret came from and who was responsible for it. (I kid you not…. I am not making this up, I swear! Just wait, it gets better)! It took multiple security officers to wrangle the ferret and safely handle it so no further harm was done to the animal or other guests. At this time, I do not know who owned the ferret, how it made it into the hotel, or what happened to it. All I know is that animal control came to pick up the ferret.
Now, here’s when the craziness really comes in… Apparently the guest later at night decided to go downstairs on the casino floor and play to get their mind off what happened. As the guest was playing they hit a jackpot and won $5,000! I do not know about you, but that is some crazy luck getting bit by a ferret, then also winning a $5k jackpot in the same day! This guest definitely has some luck! Maybe they should go play the lottery after this! This hands down tops every single story I have told on this blog so far and that says a lot since I have plenty more stories to tell!
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Grab your popcorn bucket and buckle up! It’s time for yet another post about the most crazy, odd, strange and unbelievable hotel stories. From handsy teenagers thinking this is prom night to crazy adults who shouldn’t even be parents! Yea… this is a wild one we got for you! So without further ado, let’s get to it!
Blake’s Stories
Save Your Drama For Your Mama!
Okay, I think this takes the cake for my most insane story ever as a front desk agent unless Hyrax or any of my co-workers can top this which I don’t think they will. So to better understand the story, just a little bit of context and background on the circumstances.
About 5 ½ months ago, this guest (we’ll call her Jane Doe for privacy purposes) called the hotel saying their house burned down to the ground and they needed a place to stay. Generally, for this they contact the Room Sales Coordinator where they can work out how long they are staying and a negotiated rate. However it was about 10 p.m. when they called. Generally, people in this situation only stay like a week or two then leave us. I quoted them the lowest rate I could for a week but they said the total amount needed to be under $500 due to the Red Cross giving them a card to pay for a hotel. After crunching the numbers with the help of my Front Desk Manager, we were able to do this for them.
From the very moment Jane Doe came in, she was a pain and just overly rude. Like listen, I get your house burnt down but when I took like 20 mins with you on the phone and went above and beyond, you could at least be respectful. This was foreshadowing of how the rest of her stay and behavior would be… Yes it gets worse!
Flashforward to the day after Christmas, all was calm on this Sunday night at the hotel until about 9:20 p.m. at night that’s when it went off the rails. Why, you may ask? Well, Jane Doe decides to call 911 from her room phone. Now, as soon as that happens there is a whole procedure you must follow and carry out as a Front Desk Agent. You have to call the room then if you don’t get a hold of them, you go down to the room with another hotel employee to go check on them.
So, I called the room three times and Jane Doe did not answer as the line was in use. After calling, I sent my housemen down there while I stayed at the desk to monitor everything. Jane claimed to have “accidentally” called 911 from her room phone and claimed to be “okay”. If you accidentally dialed, you would have hung up right away and been able to answer your room phone. She was clearly not okay, as she was acting very high strung, panicked and looked very upset. She stated to the housemen there was a fight with her partner (boyfriend. Husband, etc.) and there was a whole situation going on. She kept asking if we saw her “partner” on camera or if we bumped into him. The housemen did not as there were a lot of people coming in and out and I did not for the same reason. Think this story is crazy already? It gets crazier…
Right after asking us if we saw her “partner”, she went outside and was walking laps outside then disappeared for a solid 20 mins. After 20 mins, she calls the front desk and asks if we could check the room, make sure it’s clear and then meet her down there to give her new keys. On the phone she sounded very quiet and I could barely hear her. Anyways, I went to check her room for her and as soon as I opened the door, it was like an episode of Hoarders… Floor to ceiling was covered with crap, the floor was completely covered with clothes, and you couldn’t even open the door. To open the guest room door you literally had to push things over/out of the way. On a side note, she never came down to her room to grab the keys from me so I left.
Long story short, after all this happened, Jane Doe comes to the lobby, stops, shoots me a very evil and crazy look and does so for a solid 30 seconds before walking out. It was at this point like eight cop cars pulled up front so I guess she called them again? After this, I am unsure of the outcome since one the cops most likely took care of it and I did see her the rest of the evening.
So yes, this 100% takes the cake as the most insane hotel story ever for me. I don’t think there’s any topping that… Although anything is possible. Speaking of anything, that reminds me of my next story.
No-no, don’t touch me there, This is my no-no square!
Well… I honestly don’t even know how to tap dance around this one so let’s just get to it. During the peak summer season at nightime, a teenage couple thought it would be fun to do after prom things in the fitness center after coming out of the pool. Little did they know, there was a security camera in the fitness center area watching over them as they did so. I think you know where I’m going with this… Need I explain more? Anyways, as they started to do adult things the evening housemen walked past and caught them as they awkwardly tried to play it off as they didn’t do anything. After that happened, they left the fitness center, kissed as if it was a romance movie then went into their room. This was one of those WTF moments (can I even say that on this platform? I totally think I can…) for me and sticking out is one of the most interesting stories of the summer. Speaking of summer, what’s the summer without a nice refreshing swim in the pool or in this case a parkour course.
Wipeout! Pool Mayhem Edition.
Remember the television show Wipeout? For those who don’t know, it was a game show where contestants raced each other to complete crazy, ridiculous obstacle courses and at the end you can win prize money. Anyway, this story reminds me a little of the show.
One summer a group of two adults came up to the desk and told me there was an unsupervised kid who was throwing pool chairs into the pool, taking said chairs out and then jumping off them into the pool. The kid was pushing tables towards the edge of the pool deck, jumping off those tables and was also taking tables and chairs, putting them in one stack and diving into the pool from them. The adults said that the kid almost at one point slipped backwards and cracked his head open on the pool deck. Luckily, this didn’t happen since that would have been a headache to deal with.
You Say Potato, I Say Pot-ato.
Ahh yes… Good ol’ Ramada, always good for a good laugh and fun time. While I was at our Ramada property converting the desk for a couple hours while they had their staff holiday party, the front desk agent told me there was a gentleman staying there who was very intoxicated and would keep stopping down by the desk and just talk non-stop. And sure enough what happened? That exact thing just as the front desk agent was coming back to the desk. So the crazy drunk guy came to the desk for 10-15 mins and would not stop talking about mashed potatoes. He kept asking me if I had any mashed potatoes I could give him or if I could smell mashed potatoes since he apparently smelled them. I swear you can’t make this nonsense up…
Flooding The Hotel & Power Games
Nothing is worse than coming into the hotel and having problems with power, water or any other utility. So during the summer time I remember coming in and the hotel had half power. Literally half of the hotel had power and the other half did. Oddly enough it wasn’t evenly spread out. For example, parts of a floor would be dark, while others had light while the rest of the floor would keep flickering. If this wasn’t interesting enough shortly after having half power, the power went out fully for a couple hours. Ahh yes doing everything old school… So not fun! Luckily, the power did come back on before it got dark and before the crazy evening rushes started.
Bonus Story – Pizza Time!
Speaking of crazy evenings, this next mini story is yet another interesting interaction with a drunk person. A gentleman was attending a wedding and had too much to drink during the wedding so he decided to get a room for a couple hours to rest then go back to the wedding later on. After getting his keys he went to the room to put his stuff down and then came back to the desk. He asked if there were any pizza places around that delivered to the hotel. I gave him a menu, he looked at it and then said to me “Yo man… I’m way too wasted to order right now. If I tell you what I want, give you the cash for it, can you order for me, please?” He then proceeded to pull out his wallet and gave me $45.00 for his order. His pizza came to like $18 with the soda he wanted. I gave the pizza guy $25 total with the tip and the rest of the money was mine. I asked the guy what he wanted me to do with his change and he told me to keep it. So yea, I got a $20 tip just for calling to order a pizza.
Hyrax’s Stories
Charlie The Rock??
So let me first explain how this story actually started. During the time that I was working at the motel, I worked the second shift as per usual. My motel is located right on the edge of downtown, with the main river running thru the city just a few blocks away. Though the river is rather popular for tubing during the summer time, people also love to go fishing in the river and catch some amazing sized trout. (For example, the winning trout was a whopping 8 POUND 7 OUNCES!). Our pool that was located right by our main building had just opened for the season and guests like to relax in the water while beating the heat.
Once I had arrived for work, my manager and I got to talking about how the situation with COVID was progressing as well as any news for the day. As we walked the property to make sure things were all good, I noticed in the bottom of my eye something in the pool. My manager and I both entered the pool and I looked fully to find a huge rock in the shallow end of our pool. I am not talking about a pebble, this rock was probably the size of a watermelon or smaller. Unsure about why there was a rock in the pool, I went over and grabbed the cleaning net. Once I pulled the rock out of the water, my manager said for me to take the rock into our garden. As we were about to past the gate, a woman bathing on a sunchair beside the gate shouted “Not Charlie!”
You can imagine the looks on our faces. Just pure utter confusion. The woman explained that her daughters and herself had gone to the river earlier in the day. While river walking, they came across the rock and decided to take the rock for themselves. They brought the rock back to our hotel, washed it in the shower, then gave the name of Charlie. Then since it was so hot, “Charlie” decided to go swim and they put the rock into our pool. These would be probably the most hilarious memories I have of this year. If you were to adopt a rock, what would you name it?
Not Impersonators, It’s Entertainers.
Halloween is my favorite personal holiday. It’s the one day where you can look silly as you wish and no one questions it. The week of Halloween, we had a group of Elvis enthusiasts book our entire property. My manager warned us that calling the group Impersonators would upset the main leader. The group arrived without any issues, checked in and settled for a weekend of themed shows.
The first day was Halloween, in which I dressed up as Symbiote Spiderman. The second day was themed to Elvis Woodstock, or mainly the 50s Era. The lobby was full of Elvis singers walking, laughing and talking. The Third day was Parrothead paradise, or Margitaville themed. The funniest scene was watching this woman wearing a parrot costume with wings walk into our elevator. The last day was themed to Cousin Jethro’s Backyard, or hillbilly/redneck themed. All in all, I think it was a successful group event and honestly look forward to the next time they come around.
What day would have been your favorite? Honestly, I enjoyed Halloween as it was the only day I was able to dress up.
Cops Mania
Before I start with this story, let me explain a few things. The title is not stating I had to actually call the cops, though I had to do so sometimes at my old job. My lodge is rather popular to be booked by several groups and events including weddings, meetings, and reunions. We had two events back to back weekends where we hosted two groups of cops at our lodge.
One group of cops were actually cops from all around Georgia schools to be trained while the other group was retired cops who enjoy going on bike rides named the Blue Knights. Imagine my surprise after asking that there are also multiple groups similar to the Blue Knights but for other types of First Responders and even military branches.
It was honestly the safest I think anyone would feel with several cops at the lodge. Even the bears were deciding to hide away due to the noise of the motorcycles.. Speaking of which, that is my next story!
A Big Furry Friend Visits
During one of my evening shifts at my motel job, I had just finished folding the laundry after a rather slow night. I walked back into the office to get a cup of coffee and imagine my surprise when the horse carriage driver came barging into the office. He was rather spooked and slammed the door shut behind. I walked over to ask what the situation was and he told me of a friend digging around outside in a bin. So at a quick speed, I locked the door and grabbed the mobile phone off the hook in case of an emergency. After a while the bear left and I was able to unlock the door so the carriage driver can go home.
I am also going to add a Part 2 to this story, though it is probably a different bear. After I had just gotten off work and was heading home, I pulled up to the main street to turn right and head back south home. As I stopped and looked both ways, I noticed something moving ahead of my lights by the bakery. I took a double take to see a big black bear roaming across the street ahead of me. Quite spooked as I knew that some guests were still sitting outside having a drink, I called our Night Auditor and warned her.
Kids – 0, Dad- 1
I was told by my parents that I wasn’t a bad child to raise. Yes, I did get in alot of trouble at times. I was a curious boy who wondered if a RVC would play a sandwich, yes I actually did that. My lodge has 3 floors at our Conference Center , where you check in for the lodge. On the 2nd floor of the Center is our Fireside Room where we have our Table tennis, while the 3rd floor holds a pool table in front of our Tavern. You can imagine how popular the two upper floors to people to relax
Sometime during our Thanksgiving week, we had a full house at the lodge. Our Tavern was dealing with several guests and groups that night. While the kids decided to wait for a table, they put hand sanitizer all over the door of the 3rd floor. The kids also broke some of our pool cues, but were called out by our staff at the Tavern. Now, most of the time, parents can be like “my child is perfect. You are lying.” I am not saying all parents are like that. This father decided to take matters into his own hands and investigated the situation. He asked the kids first if they put hand sanitizer all over our Elevator door, which they denied. The father, skeptical, asked the kids to hold out their hands. You can imagine what was revealed… The kids had lied to the father.
Because kids were bored, our staff had to start logging the pool cues and supplies to guests from the front desk. Another issue would come from kids who decided to stand on top of table tennis, which caused them to break in half. Now things have changed to where we just keep the pool cues and supplies on the 3rd floor to make things easier. Lesson here: Don’t lie to your parents.
We hope enjoyed our post about even more of our craziest stories as Front Desk Agents. We always enjoy creating this posts recapping these kinds of things. Do you have a crazy work story? Share it down below!
Welcome back to Touristican! Just when you thought hotel work was all about room service and fresh towels, think again! Get ready for some laugh-out-loud moments as myself and Hyrax spill the beans on the top 10 weirdest and craziest encounters we’ve had so far. You won’t want to miss these hilarious tales! Let the storytelling extravaganza begin!
Blake’s Stories:
Man Vs Bush – Who Will Win?
This honestly was a first for me, even as I tell this story today, I still can’t wrap my head around what happened. So a gentleman comes up to the desk and tells me there is a gentleman outside the building, by himself just screaming at a bush. So of course hearing this, I have to go and check it out! So I peek outside and sure enough there is a gentleman outside just having it out with the bush. Legit screaming and yelling at a bush! At this point, the man wasn’t causing any harm or doing anything dangerous so, I ended up just going back to the front desk.
Wallet? Check! Suitcase? Check! Gun? Uh-oh!
Okay buckle up now, because this one gets interesting. So I had an off duty law enforcement officer call up on the phone and state he left his off duty side arm. He flat out said he thought it wasn’t loaded. I couldn’t help but say to myself “YOU THINK IT’S NOT LOADED?!?!?!?” So now I had a potential situation where I had a possible loaded gun in a room. Luckily there was no one in the room and the firearm was not loaded. (Thank god!). So my manager and I went up to check and sure enough the gun was there in its holster sitting in the nightstand. I then proceed to call the guy back, he shows up, collects his firearm and then leaves.
Suspicious Bag or Just Simply Garbage?
To be honest… I don’t even know how to even explain this one since it’s just so hilarious. A lady dressed in her pajamas comes down to the desk and states there was a “suspicious looking tied up plastic bag” next to her room. As soon as I heard this, I already knew it was just a garbage bag outside the door. Late at night, people will tie up the trash bags and leave them outside so housekeeping can go pick them up in the morning while they are sleeping. So, I politely told her this but she insisted it was something dangerous. “Oh, well wait if it is something dangerous? For all you know it could be a bomb.” At this point I just sent security up to “go check” even though we knew it was garbage. Sure enough, security came down with the plastic bag and it was a garbage bag full of Popeyes and fast food packages. I couldn’t help but laugh.
Legally Breaking & Entering.
Ever had to break and enter a hotel room before? Well, I have! Now before you go calling me a criminal, please allow me to explain. This couple had two rooms that adjoined. They locked the hotel door in the other room since they had the adjoining doors open. So what’s the problem, you might ask? The adjoining doors for some reason didn’t stay open and closed causing them to be locked out of their other room. In one room was all the family watching television and in the other was a sleeping infant by themselves. The infant was alone in the room that was locked. The couple couldn’t get in from the adjoining door nor the normal room door from the hall. Since it was later at night, it was just me at the desk and one other employee in the building. I had to grab the tool bag and tools and race upstairs as panic was starting to set in with the mom of the kid. I calmed her down and told it would be okay and the door would open. I took the master key and was only to open the door a crack since the top latch was locked. In an opening less than a couple inches, I had to reach my hand in with a screwdriver, and unscrew the latch. So I got the screws all undone but the latch was still on the wall (there was one tiny middle screw I couldn’t get to) so I had to take the screw diver and use it as a hammer to pry and break it off the wall. Finally, I got the door open with no damage done to the lock, door or wall. And that’s the story of how I broke into a room and saved an infant.
Soap Police
I think this story might take the cake for the most ridiculous story ever! So, I was at the Ramada property we own to train with the GM for the day. So, the GM was showing me some stuff in her office when she got a call from the front desk. There was a guest there who claimed the houseman cursed him out when he asked for free laundry soap for the washer. The man wanted to call the police and file a report over soap! Did any of this really happen? No! Here’s what actually happened: the housemen, whose English is not the greatest, politely said to the man he could either buy soap from the machine or he could go to the grocery store across the street to buy soap. The housemen even suggested that he could try asking the front desk if there was any spare soap he could have. So yea, everything the guest said never happened and was all a big story. At the time I was an Intern so I found it very strange, odd and funny.
Hyrax’s Stories:
Parking Lot Mayhem
This event happened after I went home for the night to the Night Auditor. She was by herself when a woman staying in town came stumbling in our parking lot screaming at the top of her lungs. I understand that my town of Alpine Helen is themed to Germany and drinking is quite big … but there has to be a limit. Don’t go running around like this maniac and disturbing guests.
New Years Party Gone Wrong
When one thinks of New Years, they tend to think of parties, a fresh start and the famous ball drop across the world. Typically, around Holidays in major towns, cities or tourist areas usually see a peak in business during this time. During our New Years week, we had guests that decided to take partying to a whole new level. In the span of one week guests decided to smash a mirror, punch holes in the walls, and smash the sinks in the bathrooms. While it’s okay to have a good time with friends and celebrate the New Year, it is not okay to damage property. Treat your hotel room like your own home. It makes it easier on Housekeepers and hotel staff. I don’t understand why our guests decide to break a mirror, a sink, and punch a hole in our walls. Do you understand that it costs money for us to repair this? We will charge you for the damages you do, the amount depends but can be $250 or more.
The Great Water Balloon Fight
If you had a business during 2019/2020 it is no doubt you struggled and did all you could to stay afloat. As cities and towns reopened, they where in desperate need of tourism to help recover. This was especially for the hotel industry which was one of the hardest hit industries during the time of shut downs and restrictions. The city in which I work was so in need of tourism, that they begged the Shriners to come back and stay in town this year. What I did not realize at the time, was the events that where about to happen in the parking lot and around town would be some of the most unforgettable events of all time for me. Imagine if you will a crowed parking lot full of Shriners riding on golf carts having a water balloon and water gun battle. I think after the tough times we had this year, this was nice to see for a change honestly. I’d say the only issue our hotel had during the celebrations was the number of noise complaints from other guests that night. We discussed possibly booking out to only Shriners next year so others are not complaining.
Dog On The Loose!
So, I don’t understand why this happened or how. A guest checked in with their emotional support dog, which was a big dog to begin with. Our rules stated we had to accept any service or emotional support animal, no questions asked. However, the family leaves to eat dinner and doesn’t close their door all the way. Using its nose, the dog pulls the door open enough to run out and escape. The guest goes on to blame my staff and housekeeping for letting their emotional support dog escape. I’m sorry but front desk staff are not pet sitters, nor is it the task of our housekeepers. You aren’t supposed to leave your animal in a room if it’s a support dog anyway, that is considered a pet… So what does the man try to do? He tried calling the cops over it and blaming us for it.
Firepit Harassment
A group of sorority girls were staying in the cabins of our state park. We also had a house full of seniors from a private high school staying with us as well. At our property, we have a community fire pit where you can make your own fire and use it. The leader of the girls asks for the firepit to be reserved for them to use. Since it is a community space, others are allowed to use it like I mentioned. So the group of male seniors from the private school start to harass the college girls. Not a good situation to be in honestly. Both groups came to complain about the situation, so I had to ask my MOD (Manager on Duty) what I should do with the situation. All of this drama over a fire pit? Seriously??
That concludes our our top 10 weirdest & craziest stories of all time so far. We really enjoyed creating this post and with so many more crazy stories to tell, we plan on posting another top 10 in the future. If you enjoyed today’s post, be sure to subscribe to the blog to never miss a single post and follow us on social media!
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