Hotel Employee Is Celebrated For Her Patience After Video Of Her Dealing With A Manipulative Dad Goes Viral
You should never, ever bully or try to force the staff anywhere into doing what you want. It sounds like common sense, right? Well, some customers, clients, and guests are running dangerously low on that most precious resource. Instead, they resort to threats and aggression when things don’t go their way. Colloquially, they’re known as Karens and Kyles.
While many of you Pandas have probably run into some challenges and mixups when it comes to booking a hotel room (especially when using third-party sites), odds are that you didn’t take out your frustrations on the hotel staff. Now, let’s see how a professional handles someone who does.
TikToker @localtumbleweed, a Hotel Inn employee, literally got tens of millions of views from all around the globe after sharing a powerful video of how cool, calm, and collected she was while dealing with an incredibly rude guest. The angry dad tried to intimidate the worker into giving him someone else’s room because he was unhappy with what he’d booked for his family. Scroll down to see the video in full, as well as how the internet reacted.
Bored Panda has reached out to @localtumbleweed, and we’ll update the article as soon as we hear back from her via email!
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This hotel employee filmed how she dealt with an extremely rude dad who tried to bully and intimidate her into getting what he wanted
Image credits: localtumbleweed
Here’s how the conversation went between the Hotel Inn worker and the angry man
Image credits: localtumbleweed
Image credits: localtumbleweed
Image credits: localtumbleweed
Image credits: localtumbleweed
The hotel employee shared what happened in her viral video, as well as a couple of follow-up TikToks. She explained the context behind the entire incident. In short, the dad—aka a stereotypical Kyle if ever we’ve heard one—had initially made a reservation for a room with two queen-sized beds. However, finding that it was too expensive, he then canceled the booking.
He then booked a room with a king-sized bed, as well as a pull-out couch. Now, having arrived at the hotel with his partner and two kids, he decided that what he ordered wasn’t good enough. No, no! He had to have something better. That’s when he started demanding a better room from @localtumbleweed. Something that was impossible because everything was booked. However, that didn’t stop the dad, who wanted to get someone else’s room. The employee couldn’t do anything because the booking was made through a third party, not via the hotel itself. Her hands were tied.
The interaction escalated with the dad getting progressively ruder and more aggressive. He even started spitting on the floor. Seriously, it’s 2022, who does that in this day and age? However, the hotel employee behaved extremely professionally throughout the entire encounter, doing her best to help the guest in whatever way she could, all the while without compromising her own dignity.
The video had over 32.6 million views at the time of writing. What @localtumbleweed went through is something that plenty of hospitality and service industry workers have experienced while on the job. While the vast majority of guests will be absolutely fine, there will, at one point or another, come a time when you have to deal with someone extremely toxic. If anything, the TikToker showed everyone how to deal with difficult situations without giving in to intimidation and without taking things personally.
You can watch @localtumbleweed’s video right here in full
@localtumbleweed WWJD #karen#karensgoingwild#karensoftiktok#hospitality#hotel#frontdesk#caught#travel#fyp#wwyd#customerservice#problemsolved#war♬ original sound – 4 4 4
Not taking things personally is exactly what Alexander Kjerulf, from Positive Sharing, told Bored Panda previously, during a chat about dealing with rude customers at work.
“Keep your cool and remember that whatever abuse they’re giving you is no reflection on you as a person. That customer doesn’t even know you, so there’s no way it could be. But on the other hand, don’t be subservient. Don’t be afraid to stand up for yourself and tell customers that abuse is not tolerated. And if it persists, hand them over to a manager as soon as you can and let them deal with it,” he shared how workers ought to deal with troublesome clients, and that managers ought to step in to protect their subordinates from abuse.
“You have to remember that in many cases a customer who behaves badly is not necessarily a bad person—it can be a good person having a bad day and that’s why they’re acting out. But the sad truth is that some customers act this way because they’ve learned that it works and will get them discounts or preferential treatment,” he mentioned to us that not all rude customers are awful people. Though some use various underhanded means to get what they want. It falls to employees to distinguish between the two.
Meanwhile, during another interview, Dr. Gabor Forgacs, from Ryerson University, shared his thoughts about maintaining high-quality, prosperous hotels with Bored Panda. He noted that guests become returning customers because of the good memories they had staying at the hotel, “not necessarily a gold plated doorknob or the extra skirt hangers in the closet.”
These memories are created by interacting with the people working at the hotel. If the service exceeds expectations, the guests will remember that.
“Languishing hotels need to take an honest look at themselves to understand the reasons why they can’t create special memories,” he said.
“Following up is a secret weapon. Comping, offering a discount, or an upgrade for a mishap is what a typical hotel would do. The better ones will always follow up with the guest and on top of a remedy, tell their plan how the mistake will be prevented from happening again.”
TikTok stood in full support of the employee. Here’s what they said after watching the viral video
People were applauding the way the employee handled the stressful situation
The guy that tried to help was completely right. My sister and I share a bed every time we go to a hotel and we've slept on the pull out couch. It'll definitely fit two people on it. What an a*****e.
Also I'm sure if he was nice to the staff they could find him extra bedding, so even if they had to share a mattress they'd have their own blankets etc
Load More Replies...Isn't a pull out sofa the one that turns into a bed? If so then the parents can sleep in 1 and the kids in the other right? That's definitely do-able.
Apparently Mr. Karen's children are too good to sleep on a pull out sofa. Or hes an idiot. Or both.
Load More Replies...It's not the hotel employees responsiblity to check every booking that comes in and see if it's possible to fit as many people in the room as booked. It's the guests task to book a room suitable for their need ffs
Can you imagine? "hello yes I'm Monday calling you from ScamMeDaddy Hotel. I noticed you only booked one room but it says here that you are a party for 4. Are you sure you wanted to just book the one room? Could I perhaps interest you in booking another?"
Load More Replies...I literally had this exact thing happen to me two weeks ago! Booked a Holiday Inn Express through Booking.com, requested two beds, and ended up with a King Suite, which is one king bed and a pull out sofa bed (technically two beds). ALL booking.com reservations for Holiday Inn Express are for King Suites since they are less desirable. The hotel was fully booked, so I just asked if we could switch rooms the next day, and they kindly accommodated me (also because I was staying a week). Easy peasy. The two rooms are exactly the same size: one has a king bed and a sleep sofa, the other has two queen beds. It would NEVER have occurred to me to make a scene! To be fair, booking.com does not make it clear at all that it’s only for the King suite, but that doesn’t excuse bad behavior. Honestly, with two kids, the king suite makes more sense because you gain a sitting area in the day imo. They also have a really great hot breakfast buffet included. I hope the guy ended up at a Super 8!
If you are booking an IHG hotel, it's better to do it through the IHG website or their app. Bonus is that you can sign up for their rewards program and get rewards.
Load More Replies...Stop booking on third party sites, people. It's actually not cheaper, and if it is, hotel management can work with you if you book directly with them.
Yes!! I was having technical issues on a 3rd party site once so I just called the hotel and they got me the same room I was looking at online for cheaper :) I always check both the hotel and 3rd parties now
Load More Replies...I wonder if he doesn’t know what a pull-out sofa is. I own and operate a wedding venue with overnight accommodations. Each casita has a pull-out sofa. I’ve had a handful of guest who were genuinely unfamiliar with the concept. I usually have to pull the bed open to prove there is a queen mattress tucked into the base of the sofa. With that being said, I’ve been in the hospitality industry long enough to know this dad is most likely trying to scam the hotel, but you never know.
"What do you expect us to do?!?" over and over again, like idk maybe ACT LIKE A GROWN UP and figure it out yourself?? I would be embarrassed to be seen with this dude.
Well, guy. I expect you to pull the couch out into a second bed and have your kids sleep on it." I've slept on one of those. It was quite comfortable. Not big enough for two adults though.
Load More Replies...We have 3 kids. A hotel room for a family of 5 is always tricky to find. We almost always end up with 2 double beds and a pull out couch. The kid who get the pull out couch is the kid who doesn't have to share a bed. It works out fine. I don't know what this guy's problem is.
She only lost her patience after answering the same question multiple times, being accused of having made the mistake when she clearly had nothing to do with it, after him trying to make her feel guilty for doing her job and following protocol. He had an agenda, and she was blocking it. I am thankful for the guy who helped - by the other dude's reaction, he was close to blowing up on that poor girl. People need to figure out that the world doesn't revolve around their needs and stop falsely playing victim in order to manipulate situations to get their way.
The guy that tried to help was completely right. My sister and I share a bed every time we go to a hotel and we've slept on the pull out couch. It'll definitely fit two people on it. What an a*****e.
Also I'm sure if he was nice to the staff they could find him extra bedding, so even if they had to share a mattress they'd have their own blankets etc
Load More Replies...Isn't a pull out sofa the one that turns into a bed? If so then the parents can sleep in 1 and the kids in the other right? That's definitely do-able.
Apparently Mr. Karen's children are too good to sleep on a pull out sofa. Or hes an idiot. Or both.
Load More Replies...It's not the hotel employees responsiblity to check every booking that comes in and see if it's possible to fit as many people in the room as booked. It's the guests task to book a room suitable for their need ffs
Can you imagine? "hello yes I'm Monday calling you from ScamMeDaddy Hotel. I noticed you only booked one room but it says here that you are a party for 4. Are you sure you wanted to just book the one room? Could I perhaps interest you in booking another?"
Load More Replies...I literally had this exact thing happen to me two weeks ago! Booked a Holiday Inn Express through Booking.com, requested two beds, and ended up with a King Suite, which is one king bed and a pull out sofa bed (technically two beds). ALL booking.com reservations for Holiday Inn Express are for King Suites since they are less desirable. The hotel was fully booked, so I just asked if we could switch rooms the next day, and they kindly accommodated me (also because I was staying a week). Easy peasy. The two rooms are exactly the same size: one has a king bed and a sleep sofa, the other has two queen beds. It would NEVER have occurred to me to make a scene! To be fair, booking.com does not make it clear at all that it’s only for the King suite, but that doesn’t excuse bad behavior. Honestly, with two kids, the king suite makes more sense because you gain a sitting area in the day imo. They also have a really great hot breakfast buffet included. I hope the guy ended up at a Super 8!
If you are booking an IHG hotel, it's better to do it through the IHG website or their app. Bonus is that you can sign up for their rewards program and get rewards.
Load More Replies...Stop booking on third party sites, people. It's actually not cheaper, and if it is, hotel management can work with you if you book directly with them.
Yes!! I was having technical issues on a 3rd party site once so I just called the hotel and they got me the same room I was looking at online for cheaper :) I always check both the hotel and 3rd parties now
Load More Replies...I wonder if he doesn’t know what a pull-out sofa is. I own and operate a wedding venue with overnight accommodations. Each casita has a pull-out sofa. I’ve had a handful of guest who were genuinely unfamiliar with the concept. I usually have to pull the bed open to prove there is a queen mattress tucked into the base of the sofa. With that being said, I’ve been in the hospitality industry long enough to know this dad is most likely trying to scam the hotel, but you never know.
"What do you expect us to do?!?" over and over again, like idk maybe ACT LIKE A GROWN UP and figure it out yourself?? I would be embarrassed to be seen with this dude.
Well, guy. I expect you to pull the couch out into a second bed and have your kids sleep on it." I've slept on one of those. It was quite comfortable. Not big enough for two adults though.
Load More Replies...We have 3 kids. A hotel room for a family of 5 is always tricky to find. We almost always end up with 2 double beds and a pull out couch. The kid who get the pull out couch is the kid who doesn't have to share a bed. It works out fine. I don't know what this guy's problem is.
She only lost her patience after answering the same question multiple times, being accused of having made the mistake when she clearly had nothing to do with it, after him trying to make her feel guilty for doing her job and following protocol. He had an agenda, and she was blocking it. I am thankful for the guy who helped - by the other dude's reaction, he was close to blowing up on that poor girl. People need to figure out that the world doesn't revolve around their needs and stop falsely playing victim in order to manipulate situations to get their way.









































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