Friday, July 16, 2010

Postings of wonder

When you read a person’s post and you notice that every time you read one it’s nothing but negativity do you wonder if that person is just an unpleasant person and is just that damned unhappy with life in general? Or were they never trained to look for or expect any positives out of life?

Or every time you read a person’s post and it’s all about their sexual prowess does it make you wonder if that person is as great in bed as they say they are or are they feeling inadequate and use this medium to make themselves feel better? Not that you are interested in finding out if they are good because it actually disgusts you with how much they talk about it.

Or every time you read a person’s post and its all drama do you wonder if that person is just really lonely or sad or depressed and is just crying out for someone, anyone to pay attention or to help them?

When it’s all about spirituality do you wonder how spiritual are they really? Is it just lip service so they can say, “see God, see what I did”? or do they have a true walk with the Creator and are doing as they are directed to do?

When it’s all positive do you wonder how anyone can be so freaking positive and what meds are they on? Or is it because they know that life holds some negatives, some unknowns but they choose to look at things in a better light, they choose to say that no matter what is thrown at them someone else’s life is much worse than theirs at that very moment with no chance of improvement?

When there are tons of grammatical errors and misspelled words do you wonder if they are just plain stupid or lazy? Or do you wonder if they were stunted in their development somehow and no one saw fit to help them along so that they would become better at grammar and English or any subject for that matter? And then you wonder what you can do to help them without offending them.

When a person’s posts are all about what “the man” is doing to hold us back do you wonder what that person’s insecurities or deficiencies may be or if they are really and truly being held back? A lot of times when we are not where we want to be or feel we should be it’s not about what “the man” is or has done it’s about what we are not doing.

Do you wonder these things? I do…

Peace and Blessings

been absent while present

been away from the blog for a little while because life interrupted as it does sometimes. so what has happened lately? well i stayed at that "wonderful" downtown hotel again that had the horrible customer service and not so great rooms. why? because when i stayed with them the two times before they had no idea who i was, who i worked for or what my connection was to them and that's just the way i like it. i want you to give me the same service you would give another patron, i want everything to be what it would be if i were jane blow coming in off the street and making a reservation, that way i can critique you honestly on your true behavior and customer service.

so, needless to say, once they figured out who i was and what my connection was to them they offered me a night's stay in one of their better rooms and initially i wasn't going to take it because two unpleasant experiences were enough for me. but later, as i thought about it and realized that i did need a night away, i accepted it. it was on one of the busier weekends because of the holiday and that's why i chose it. i wanted to see what would happen once they were swamped with independance day celebrations as well as their normal weekend crowds.

so here goes:

1. customer service overall was great, everyone was extremely pleasant and knowledgeable and if they didn't know they did not pretend to and had no problem saying let me double check that. they also waived a fee that i had totally forgotten about and was not prepared for. they answered the phone promptly and courteously everytime i called with a question.

the one problem i had, and it's ongoing until they make a permanent change, everytime i go i bring my pod to listen to my music of choice and they don't have pod docking stations. what they have are the radios that require an adapter cord, which is fine because the radio in my office is like that and i can work it just fine, however, i have the hardest time getting theirs to work so i have to call down for an engineer everytime and everytime they send me a new radio. this time they sent the radio and i explained to the housekeeper what i needed and asked for and he said you know call back down there and insist they send you what you asked for initially because a new radio isn't going to solve that problem. i told him he was absolutely correct and i appreciated him understanding that and acknowledging that there was nothing he could do to help.

2. the room was really nice, neat and clean and overall pleasant. i had a friend come to spend the day with me and they enjoyed the size of the room, the layout and all of the comforts just as much as i did. the bed felt awesome and i had a really hard time getting out of it the next morning. my only issues were because of my allergies i request a hypo room, so no down products, they realized it before i could call down because 15mins into my stay housekeeping was coming with a change in linens (another customer service kudo for that). the other thing was that the bathroom was so tiny that i felt claustrophic whenever i was in there with the door closed and the way it was situated with the dressing area was awkward. i could not have the door to the bathroom open and be in the dressing area at the same time, just too tight.

3. meals; i did not eat any of my meals there. i think the pricing for their food is insane and i understand why, the area and the chef. my friend that spent the day took me to dinner and we ended up only paying for one meal because a bug decided to land on one of them and once that happened we were done. the morning of check out i walked down the street and for the price of a granola and yogurt parfait at the hotel i got a breakfast sandwich with chicken sausage and organic eggs, a cup of fresh fruit and a muffin. i already had a bottle of water in my room, that i brought with me, so i went back to my room ate my breakfast and was so full off the sandwich and fruit that i ate the muffin for lunch.

4. fitness facility; i did not use it the two times prior but had decided to use it this time. it is a small space, not much bigger than the suite i was in however, i did not feel crowded at all. that may have been because there were only two people in there when i came in and after they left 3 more came in and as i was leaving 1 more came in but it still did not feel congested. they had some of the latest equipment and it was easy to use.

5. rooftop deck; i'd been on it before and i thought the same thing this time around as i had before, they need more shade umbrellas because the sun was brutal up there. i know it's a sun deck however, they should provide the option of not being in the sun as much. there were only two umbrellas when they could easily have 4 and neither of the the two were up. insult to injury, it was still a little dirty, grungy, sticky from the night before.

check out was smooth with no problems at all. so overall, as i said to them in my survey, i would recommend them because of my connection with them and i know they have the ability to be a better hotel however, that one good experience did not outweigh the too really bad experiences and if anyone asked me for details i would be inclined to give them my honest opinion.

so that's enough of that and if i could legally give the name of the hotel i would but contractually speaking i can not. more things have happened in my life and they were good but i'll get to those things later.

peace and blessings!