The trip, the breakfast and the moldy bucket
Paul and I got back LATE last night (Monday) from Houston. After us both getting lost several times, a trip that led us both to south of Houston and a trip to Pauls Valley needlessly, we got in a bit before midnight. I dropped him off, got back to my parent's house, chatted with my dad for a few minutes then crashed into sweet relief.
Here's a tidbit about Houston you may not be aware of. Much like Washington D.C., a complete lunatic designed the street layout. Between a map given to me by the hospital, a Rand-McNally atlas and information from MapQuest.com, we still got lost more times than I really care to admit to my reading public. It was very embarrassing to be with a friend I've known since junior high that I am driving and I am in fact, completely unknowing of where we are at this very minute. I'm glad Paul kept a sense of humor about the whole thing because I was stressing (imagine that!) a tad so it was more of an adventure than a bad situation.
I would also like to mention that if you have a choice of staying at the Holiday Inn on 6800 S. Main St in Houston, that you do it during a time when there are not wall to wall refugees occupying it. We got a left-over 'non-smoking' room with two noticeable cigarette burns on a chair and one of the bedspreads, not to mention that the curtains smelled of "something evil" and that our ice bucket was not changed between our visit and the previous occupant's, as it contained about an inch of water and smelled strongly of mildew. Just yuck. I had no ice while staying there as I was afraid of what the public ice machine would have produced.
I know what some of you must be saying, "Jay's doing what he does best, bitch about a situation that wasn't as bad as he said it was." To that, I say "Ney ney." Paul can back me up on this one, I have a verifiable witness that I speak the truth. Oh, and do you know when you're at a bad breakfast buffet? When the head waiter gives you no notice at the downstairs restaurant in the hotel your staying in, the eggs dish and the potatoes dish have to share one crusty spoon, when the milk, orange juice and V8 pitchers they have are room temperature, when the cereal they offer is not in handy single-serve boxes but instead in a huge bowl with a tiny spoon so you can share germs with other nasty refuges that come down to a public restaurant in THEIR SMELLY BATHROBE AND SLIPPERS! Come on, black lady we saw... Don't set your race back 50 years by acting like a complete degenerate. Show some class, put on some clothes, try wearing shoes next time and the act of brushing your hair would have been a nice touch. Not a demand... Just a request that you not be a complete jackhole when getting your free hotel stay on. Thanks.
Other than getting lost, having a smelly room, watching social gotards slurp down breakfast and having no Cinamonster to mollify my anger, it was a very good trip. I'll write about that tomorrow, after I get my happy on. Word.
8 Comments:
Jay, what if a smelly bathrobe and slippers were all that woman had?? What if she had lost everything she owned in New Olreans and was THANKFUL to be in a shitty hotel eating germy cereal and warm milk? Thankful to be sleeping in any room, regardless of smoking or non smoking, or moldy ice bucket. What if she had seen bodies floating in the street and lying in the Convention Center? I know, I know, you don't like nasty places.. I told you that maybe you should check about that before going down to Baylor. Do you listen to me? Ney, Ney I say. I'm glad you made it back ok though. How much was gas btw?
True, that may have been all she had, but that still does not bely the fact that she was smelly and disheveled looking. She has amenities provided to her by the hotel, and it's not like she has a job to do so I'm sure she could find time to make use of the free shampoo and soap (soap?) and use of the hotel's clothes cleaning services.
Gas was ok, not much more than it is here. I think some places ranged between $2.79 and $2.99, depending on the place.
And even if that was all she had and even if Jay is being overly sensitive to her behavios, it does sound like that hotel had some serious management issues.
When leaving our room on Sunday morning, the cleaning lady was about to come in, so I asked her very politely if she wouldn't mind swapping out our ice bucket as ours was moldy. She looked at me like I was speaking an alien tongue.
I know she was from Mexico, I'm sensitive to the fact that she makes around $6 an hour, but how hard is it to learn the phrase "I do not speak English" in English? I certainly know how to say "No hablo Espanole" in her language, why can't she learn just that little bit? All she did was shrug her shoulders and make weird noises. Gah!
Everyday, Archie Bunker makes more and more sense to me.
Capt'n I agree that the hotel is probably poorly managed even in the best of circumstances. I am sure though that it can't be easy cleaning up after a ton of people from New Orleans. They treat their own city like a garbage can so why would they treat Houston any different? A non english speaking housekeeper is probably a tiny part of a poorly staffed, horribly managed business. Just think Jay.. you ate the food! If you thought the rooms (that customers see) were dirty, how do you think the kitchen looked? YUM!
Is that what that funny feeling in my stomach was all day? And here I thought it was nerves, turns out it was the tapeworms...
I noticed, Jay may have missed it, The bathrobe lady very nice hair and very expensive jewlery. I know the day I land on my ass my will be done up in an $80 dollar doo and I will be able to wear me jewles and forget the clothes. Every conversation I ease dropped in on was about the damn adjuster sending me check.I have stayed in worse places but the fact is even in a crisis or a depraved moment in life I try to live with my self respect. Bathrobes to breakfast in a public restuarant is more terrifing thatn my spelling!
Paul
Yeah I guess I must have missed her with the nice hair. I can only assume I blacked out after seeing her in the robe. :)
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