Friday, October 17, 2014

Last Week in Las Vegas

I’m sorry there was no blog last week. And sorry that all I could offer was barely a sentence with no punctuation. I wrote that from my phone. I am not the best typist on a full size keyboard let alone the little binky one on my phone.

I had the best of intentions of writing my blog on Thursday evening as I usually do, even if I was in Las Vegas. It was not a pleasure trip. I was there for training for our family business and the Green Valley Ranch where we stayed isn’t even near the strip. (And no, we’re not learning how to be blackjack dealers.) I had spent an intense four hours learning new stuff, followed by a socializing event. The next day was going to be even more intense and would go from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.. By the time I went back to the room, I was tired, but determined to compose my blog.

There was supposed to be “complimentary” Internet. I had connected once already, though it took a long time to get online. But when I tried to check my email this time, I couldn’t get a connection. It might have been because we were literally in the last room on our floor and the connection wouldn’t go that far.

I fiddled with it for a while and finally gave up on being able to post my blog and typed in the excuse on my phone which luckily doesn’t need an Internet connection. It was late and all I could think of was a nice hot shower and some sleep. I was sure I had done something wrong the previous night when I had tried to take a shower and the water was barely lukewarm. After all, my husband said had said the water was nice and hot when he took his shower that morning.

The bathroom was quite luxurious. A nice big bathtub, separate shower and sink that looked like it was in a wood cabinet. I turned on the shower and let it run before I stepped in. It was just like the night before, maybe even a little cooler. I was sure I had it turned all the way to hot. Needless to say, I didn’t linger in the water.

Next morning, no problem for my husband. When I brought up the water temperature of my shower again and suggested that maybe they turned off the hot water late at night, he looked at me like I was crazy and again suggested maybe I’d turned the shower on incorrectly. I could see his point. I mean, this was Vegas. If ever there was a late night town, this was it. They couldn’t be turning off the hot water at night, could they?

On the third and last night, the same thing happened. This time I wised up and tried the sink and bathtub, feeling guilty for wasting water as I let the water coming out of the spigot marked hot, run. No hot water from either of them. Now I knew I wasn’t crazy about the temperature of the water, and I was sure I was operating the shower correctly. There was no hot water, anywhere - at least in our room.

When we complained, the hotel people seemed baffled, then reluctantly admitted that the hot water had been worked on the first night, but couldn’t explain the other nights and they said maybe I hadn’t turned the shower on correctly. C’mon, how complicated is turning the dial on a a shower. It was pretty obvious they had been turning off the hot water while it was worked on for all the nights. Then we brought up the Internet problem. They couldn’t understand why I was having a problem, emphasis on the I as though it was somehow my fault, but finally agreed that maybe our room location had something to do with it.

And what did they offer us for our (really my) inconvenience. They took off the resort fee - a ridiculous fee that a lot of the hotels add on now, which gives you the “complimentary” Internet and free local phone calls. And they offered us a food credit that basically covered one breakfast. Finally when we’d been refused a late checkout, they gave us the extra hour. I might add that we had a hassle with the food credit and even with the late checkout, the housekeeper came to the door at least twice (even though we had the do not disturb thing on) asking when we were leaving.

Boy, was I glad to get home. Internet whenever I wanted. A hot shower or bath 24/7. What luxury and no resort fee.

4 comments:

Linda O. Johnston said...

That should have been a fun time, Betty, not the miserable experience you had. Glad you're back safely and that your non-post last week wasn't an indication of anything worse.

Planner said...

Anyone who has read your books would know that if anyone knows how to get herself (and others) in hot water, it would be you!

Sorry things didn't go smoothly on your trip. Next time will be better!

Betty Hechtman said...

Linda, there was a bright spot. We stopped at Hoover Dam on the way back. I'd only seen it from a plane before. It was neat seeing it on the ground.

Betty Hechtman said...

Planner, LOL. Molly would have probably knocked on another room and asked to check their hot water.

Actually, I was so busy with the training I went there for, I didn't have much time to spend on the Internet anyway.