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The Unsinkable Stool
Hotel Toilet Horror
I am still often amazed at what guests complain about in hotels. Don’t get me wrong, it certainly is a guest’s prerogative to voice his or her opinion, to advise when something is broken and to denounce when things aren’t right, be it something physical or a lack of service.
But there are limits of decorum that some people exceed and here is a perfectly surreal example of what I mean. This happened to me in London, UK when I was on duty in a busy, city-centre hotel. I got a call to go and attend to an angry client…
Two knocks on the door of 525 and seconds later it was opened by a large American. Mr Cayenne was grey haired, mid-50’s and sported the hotel dressing gown which was evidently too short for him as the bottom came to well above his knees.
“Good morning Mr Cayenne, Adrian Padina, Duty Manager. I believe you have a complaint regarding our maintenance department?”
“Sure do”, replied Mr Cayenne, “come here”, and curtly beckoned me in with his hand.
After nodding courteously to a strangely embarrassed-looking Mrs Cayenne sat on the edge of the bed, I found myself in the bathroom. Mr Cayenne proceeded to open the lid of the toilet and pointed inside: “Damn thing won’t go down!”
