ForeverAutumn
05-20-2004, 05:50 PM
Have you ever had one of those days where you keep thinking that things can’t get any worse and then they do? Here's my "what could go wrong, did go wrong" Tuesday.
I’m on a business trip, by myself, in a fairly small Northern city called North Bay. A nice little town nestled between two lakes. I checked the weather forecast before I left Toronto and the report called for the possibility of a few scattered showers on Tuesday. Well, Monday night a major storm rolled into town. Totally unpredicted. We’re talking flash floods and washed-out roads. The lights in the hotel began flickering. I called the front desk to see if they had an extra flashlight that I could borrow “just in case”. The very sweet girl at the desk told me that they did have extra flashlights, but she didn’t’ know where they were. :confused: Five minutes later, the power went out. I remembered that I keep a flashlight in my car. So, using the glow from my cell phone as my guide, I ran out into the rain to my car. The flashlight that I normally keep in my glovebox was nowhere to be found! And I was now soaking wet.
The power returned about a half hour later. But, of course, I didn’t sleep very well because I had a 9:00 meeting and I was afraid that the alarm clock wouldn’t go off if the power went out again during the night. And the very sweet desk clerk wasn’t sure if my wake-up call would stay programmed in the system if the power went out again. :rolleyes:
Tuesday morning it’s still pouring rain. I get to my 9:00 meeting only to find out that the client cancelled. Apparently, he called the hotel to tell me but missed me by a minute. The desk clerk ran outside (or so I was told) to try and catch me but I was gone. Stupid client didn’t call my cell phone! A wasted morning. And I could have slept. I did have some productive afternoon meetings.
Late in the afternoon I drive from North Bay to Sudbury. About a 1.5 hour drive. I get to Sudbury on Tuesday evening, totally exhausted. I check into my hotel and it's being renovated. No ceiling in the hallway. Pipes and wires hanging everywhere. No lighting. The beds in the room looked about 30 years old and dusty as can be. Not what the internet picture looked like! And they want $100 for me to stay there. They should have been paying me!!! I walk into the room and, just as quickly, turn around and walk out. I go to my car and phone the travel agent to book me somewhere else. She does. Along the way, I lost the room key. So, not only do I have to go to front desk with the insult that I'm not spending the night there and try to convince them not to charge me for the room, but I have to do it without the room key that they gave me less than five minutes ago. I did finally find the room key and returned it to them before driving away. Whew!
I get to my new hotel. The room is a beautiful newly renovated one bedroom suite (for only $20 more than the dusty hole). I think to my exhausted and hungry self, "finally, things are looking up". I get my luggage from the trunk of my car. I close the trunk and promptly realize that my car keys are no longer in my hand, but are locked in the trunk of my car! It's a good thing that I have a sense of humour because I was truly ready to cry, :( but instead, I laughed. So, I called CAA to come and rescue my keys. The CAA guy uses a slim jim to unlatch my door lock, but then can't get the slim jim out. It snagged on something. He must have jiggled that thing around for a good five minutes before he finally got it out. After that, I just had a quick bite to eat and went to bed. I really need to end Tuesday as quickly as possible! I've never been so happy to see Wednesday! :D
I’m on a business trip, by myself, in a fairly small Northern city called North Bay. A nice little town nestled between two lakes. I checked the weather forecast before I left Toronto and the report called for the possibility of a few scattered showers on Tuesday. Well, Monday night a major storm rolled into town. Totally unpredicted. We’re talking flash floods and washed-out roads. The lights in the hotel began flickering. I called the front desk to see if they had an extra flashlight that I could borrow “just in case”. The very sweet girl at the desk told me that they did have extra flashlights, but she didn’t’ know where they were. :confused: Five minutes later, the power went out. I remembered that I keep a flashlight in my car. So, using the glow from my cell phone as my guide, I ran out into the rain to my car. The flashlight that I normally keep in my glovebox was nowhere to be found! And I was now soaking wet.
The power returned about a half hour later. But, of course, I didn’t sleep very well because I had a 9:00 meeting and I was afraid that the alarm clock wouldn’t go off if the power went out again during the night. And the very sweet desk clerk wasn’t sure if my wake-up call would stay programmed in the system if the power went out again. :rolleyes:
Tuesday morning it’s still pouring rain. I get to my 9:00 meeting only to find out that the client cancelled. Apparently, he called the hotel to tell me but missed me by a minute. The desk clerk ran outside (or so I was told) to try and catch me but I was gone. Stupid client didn’t call my cell phone! A wasted morning. And I could have slept. I did have some productive afternoon meetings.
Late in the afternoon I drive from North Bay to Sudbury. About a 1.5 hour drive. I get to Sudbury on Tuesday evening, totally exhausted. I check into my hotel and it's being renovated. No ceiling in the hallway. Pipes and wires hanging everywhere. No lighting. The beds in the room looked about 30 years old and dusty as can be. Not what the internet picture looked like! And they want $100 for me to stay there. They should have been paying me!!! I walk into the room and, just as quickly, turn around and walk out. I go to my car and phone the travel agent to book me somewhere else. She does. Along the way, I lost the room key. So, not only do I have to go to front desk with the insult that I'm not spending the night there and try to convince them not to charge me for the room, but I have to do it without the room key that they gave me less than five minutes ago. I did finally find the room key and returned it to them before driving away. Whew!
I get to my new hotel. The room is a beautiful newly renovated one bedroom suite (for only $20 more than the dusty hole). I think to my exhausted and hungry self, "finally, things are looking up". I get my luggage from the trunk of my car. I close the trunk and promptly realize that my car keys are no longer in my hand, but are locked in the trunk of my car! It's a good thing that I have a sense of humour because I was truly ready to cry, :( but instead, I laughed. So, I called CAA to come and rescue my keys. The CAA guy uses a slim jim to unlatch my door lock, but then can't get the slim jim out. It snagged on something. He must have jiggled that thing around for a good five minutes before he finally got it out. After that, I just had a quick bite to eat and went to bed. I really need to end Tuesday as quickly as possible! I've never been so happy to see Wednesday! :D