Sunday, June 29, 2008

Complimentary service

When checking in to the hotel in Bangkok I was surprised to be addressed as Dr. Not sure where they acquired the title from but it seemed that it would be okay to hold on to it for the duration of the stay – as long as they didn’t come knocking at my door in the middle of the night because there was some type of medical emergency on site. But it did take some getting used to – on the few occasions when I rang down for service.
I wasn’t the only one to get special treatment from the hotel. One of the HK colleagues was surprised to arrive back in her room one evening to find a birthday cake waiting for her, complete with inscription, and accompanied by a birthday card signed by several members of the hotel staff. That her birthday was in February seemed of little consequence. The next evening there was another birthday cake, complete with inscription,, but this time for another guest. She tried to have staff come to collect it and return it to its rightful owner – and she was then rewarded with a bottle of white wine for the inconvenience. Elsewhere in the hotel, one of the US colleagues, whose birthday is in April, was also receiving a birthday cake! This, though, seemed to be very small compensation for having to put up with the guest in the room next door with his or her penchant for loud music in the very small hours of the morning, and what sounded like a very bad case of “barf” on numerous occasions.

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