Thursday, September 17, 2009

Before my head hit the pillow...


I don't know what happened except several passengers were stranded in Atlanta and scrambling for hotel rooms...My job? to find somewhere to lay their heads...ahem...within the Marriott system of course. Last night was a challenge in maneuvering people to make it to one property or another. These wonderful businessmen and women were exhausted, frustrated and just needing a dry room and a fluffy pillow to comfort them. One gentleman called me 20 minutes before my shift ended at midnight. This man HAD a reservation with a confirmation number and yet the hotel had lost his reservation. He was rightfully frustrated and I understood that. It wasn't me...it was the situation. He told me the gentleman at the counter was scrambling to find him a room and was coming up empty. After relaying all the information I set my fingers to work, hurrying to find a room nearby for this worn gentleman. At midnight, yes I was off, but more importantly at the strike of 12 I would be unable to see the inventory of rooms available to this gentleman. Just 4 minutes from my cutoff time I found a room for him and the front desk took it from there. The now relieved and weary traveler asked me to stay on the line with him until the front desk verified with the other property a room was available. After all was said and done my customer, once irate and undeniably frustrated thanked me for staying with him. Yes, I was unable to make reservations and increase my rating with my coworkers, but more importantly I knew before putting my head on my pillow he would have his settled on his own pillow. A few of my fellow co-workers were surprised I would take that tie with the gentleman, but what it boils down to is this...if I were in his position...wouldn't I want someone there for me to help make things better?

I think sometimes in life we find ourselves rushing our lives along without taking the time to make a difference in others lives. I'm guilty of this more times than I can count....however, I'm starting to change my attitude to think of others again more than myself. It is that selfless service that brings us closer to our goal of being more like the Savior and less like the natural man.

3 comments:

Cynthia said...

I'm so glad you took the time to help him. I'm not surprised though- it's who you are.

As for service to others, there is a time and place for all things. When your own life is on fire (as yours was) is NOT the time to deal with the added pressure. Now that your life has settled into more of a routine, you can find ways to serve that fit within your time and talents.

H.K. said...

That man will remember the nice lady who helped him finally get a room to sleep in!

This is a great post and a reminder to treat others the way you would want to be treated. I wish I applied that when I was younger!

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