Creatures of the Night, part I

Just the other day, I had a man and a woman come in. It was a Saturday at 1:30am. They were both visibly and audibly drunk, although not in a totally incomprehensible manner. Just, giddy and playful, which, I'll admit, can sometimes be the most annoying. He sort of wanders aimlessly around the lobby a bit, while she does the talking. He strikes me as the kind of person who doesn't truly understand where he is, and how he got there. Now he's there, and he's accepts it. She's asking about rooms. I tell her there is a double available for 1495. They want that. She looks like she's in her late 40s, but that might just be from many years of consistent drinking and partying. Most of all, she reminds me of the kind of ex-prostitute that now works behind the bar in whatever club she used to hook at. The kind that still accepts the odd indecent proposure, if the money is right. But these two seem to know each other better than just from having hooked up that night, so I assume it's been a night out with their place of business, and they've gotten together, and want some action.

So, 1495. And they want to pay in cash, they inform me. That means there's a 1000,- deposit on top of the room price. I explain this to them. He manages to extract two very crumbled 500 kroner notes from his pocket. He puts them on the counter, and they look at me expectantly. I return the looks, and again explain to them, that the room is 1495 in and by itself. He extracts another 500 kroner note and places it with the others. They start to kiss and play around, and I tell them, for the third time, that there is in fact a 1000 kroner deposit when paying cash. It seems like a surprise to them. She launches into some speech about how this isn't something she's ever experienced before. I've never understood the point of that comment. A lot of people seem to make that very comment. "It isn't like this in ANY other hotels I've ever stayed at, and I've been around the world". It's so common. And what good does it really do? Nothing. It's not like I'll just change a procedure because they aren't used to it. Why argue? Just do what is needed to get the room.

He's out of cash by now, and she wants to pay the deposit with her card. She hands it to me. It has a picture of an infant playing in the sand, at the beach on it. I ask her for ID, for verification. At first she asks me suggests that the picture of her son on the card might be enough to ID her. I decline. She then hands me, what I can only assume is, her ID card from her place of work. It has her ID number, and her system password on it. Besides that, nothing. Not even a name. Handing it back, I ask her, slightly bewildered, what is this? She finally hands me her social security card, and I enter the appropriate details. I then run her card through the swipe - declined... Great. I try it again a few times. Still won't work. At this point, I'm really getting fed up with this whole scenario. They are goofing around, her giddy, and him oddly detached.

I inform her of the problem. She is surprised. "Why?" she asks me, and I explain to her, how I don't actually know anything about her card or account. All I know is, her card was rejected, and I need another form of payment. She turns to him and asks him if he has a card. He pulls it out, but is reluctant to hand it over. "We can't really use this card. My wife checks the statement!" he exclaims. I roll my eyes to myself. What a couple. Him with his supervised credit card, and she with her son pictured on her card. I tell him, that he can get cash at an ATM machine just across the street (literally. You can see it out the large windows). He staggers out. I'm left alone with her, and a screaming silence fills the room. She looks out of the windows, trying to spot him, but he's not anywhere to be seen. Apparently, he got lost, crossing the street. She walks off to find him. I figure - hope really - that they'll decide against the room, but they come back with an extra 1000, fill in the papers, get a key, and walk to the lift. After a brief struggle with working the lift, they depart the ground level, and thus, my life.

I can't say it was a wholly enriching experience for me, but I can't deny I found the situation a bit comic. Mostly because he reminded me of a local comic, Michael Wulff. He had the same detached awareness about him.

I originally wanted to make this entry more about my routine after work, but I got caught up telling this story, so I figured I'll try to remember and experience more weird things, and then write them in seperate posts. That way, I'll get to more in depth.