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Friday, July 15, 2011

A Hotel Maid’s Nightmare



A Hotel Maid’s Nightmare - They work too hard to suffer such stress!



Following on from the previous story about a hotel maid’s trouble, I relate here how easy it is for a maid to find herself facing a serious and overwhelming situation.

I was the night manager at the time when a wealthy, high society New York couple checked into the hotel. They spent their first night without incident, but at dinner time the next day they stormed into my office yelling at the top of their voices: “We’ve been robbed!” They went on at great length about the disappearance of a Cartier diamond necklace worth $30,000.

The hotel was accused of not having safes in the rooms. The fact was that valuables, such as this "missing" piece was clearly supposed to be recorded and placed in the hotel’s principal safe. “Your maid has stolen my necklace. Call the police!” I called the general manager who hot-footed it to the hotel, and we called the maid and the police. The maid was a long-term employee, and thankfully a professional who had heard it all before.

This situation took up all our time that night, and in the morning the hotel received a call from a local law firm to advise that they were being retained to represent a big deal New York law firm who were the rich couple’s lawyers. They insisted that the police should charge our maid with theft because the rich and powerful couple were insisting on it. “That woman should be in jail!” That was how they put it. Also, they wanted the lawyers to promptly start a civil lawsuit against the hotel.

The next thing we heard was a call from the Minister of Tourism himself. What are you people doing down there at your hotel? People were sent out from his office to visit with the couple, and everyone was duly concerned. Then the local bloody newspaper got hold of the story, and in short order the New York talk shows ran with the story, with interviews by telephone with the distraught couple. “Bloody bunch of thieves on this island” said the woman. “We’re coming home tomorrow, and good riddance to this island!”

On the fifth day, the local lawyer asked for an urgent meeting with The Minister of Tourism, The Chief of Police, the hotel chambermaid and her lawyer; with the lawyer for the hotel and management, and with media representatives. He said, more or less the following: The couple had returned to their home in New York, and while putting away her other jewellery in their safe she found her “missing” Cartier diamond necklace sitting where she had left it. The lawyer was being instructed to offer to all concerned the profound apologies of the complainants, and in particular their heartfelt concern for the stress they must have caused the maid.

They promised that they would take immediate action to recant to the media, both on island and in New York their previous story, and they suggested that the maid must receive immediate compensation from them. They said that the local law firm was empowered to enter into negotiations to reach a legal settlement with her attorneys.

Within a short period of time that smiling hotel maid retired, having received a confidential, and apparently substantial apology. We had had complaints before about missing things from rooms, and all had been resolved because the items had been found. We even suggested to this lady that perhaps she had not actually brought the item with her in the first place, but that was met with outrage. What impressed me most about this case was that the couple had reversed themselves so publicly. The embarrassment for them must have been tremendous, but they were a very special couple who were highly principled. They were wrong and faced the situation straight on, regardless of the consequences Good on them! To the best of my knowledge, they were not sued by anybody for slander.

In the hotel business “the guest” could be anybody. The next person to check in could be your best, or your worst advertisement.

Copyright © 2011 Eugene Carmichael