Advocating for others

Hmmm...sigh. I've been meaning to write this post for a while. Seems I can't seem to get online to blog! Shame.

We recently had the opportunity to stay at the Hotel Bel Air. This is a very lovely hotel. Our first time there. The location is tucked away in a residential neighborhood and it's so quiet and peaceful there. I highly recommend it for a staycation.


Whilst there, I encountered two times where the customers/patrons were treating the staff really poorly. Why?? Why do people feel like they can speak or treat certain people a certain way just because they are service staff? One, it was the end of the evening, 2am to be exact and the bar was closing. They turned on the lights because it was really well past 2am and one of the patrons got all upset and started speaking rudely to the staff. Hello? The bar is closing. I'm sure the staff is pretty tired and they need to clean up and get home themselves. It's pretty unbelievable that some people feel entitled to treat others poorly.

2nd incident. We are checking out. The bell staff came to our room (upstairs) to get our bags. They were talking to each other about the bags, what to do, etc. and the downstairs guest opens her door and starts yelling at the bell staff to "be quiet!" "We are sleeping..." etc. Hello? It's 10am. Sorry that you stayed up til all hours but that does not give you the right to yell at staff who are just doing their jobs.

I overheard her when I was walking up the stairs. I got upstairs and shared the story with the hubs. At which point, it dawned on me that what I really should have done was advocated for the staff. Instead of recounting the story to the hubs, I should have turned myself around when I heard that guest yelling at the staff and I should have said something. The only way to change things is to address it when it happens and it's okay to advocate for others who can't find their voice. Or, as staff at an upscale hotel they probably could not say something. But as another guest, I absolutely could have been their voice. I will try my best to be the voice for others who can't find theirs. Luckily, I have not been in another situation where I've had to voice up.