Only a short half hour to when my hubby gets home and we get to watch Heroes together, so a quick post.
This was a funny weekend for free things.
Friday was Chad’s day off, so we did our typical run, shower, and get to the Irvine Spectrum for the 10:30 am show of the weekend’s newest release – this weekend it was Gone Baby Gone (imdb 8.6/10.0). The previous weekend we had forgotten one of our Nalgene water bottles in the theater, and I was hoping against hope that it might be in the lost and found. So I found the manager and very politely asked if he would check the lost and found for me. I knew it was in the large tub under his desk just left of his knee. The manager, Mike, basically stood up tall, crossed his arms and said, “Sorry, but we have a policy of throwing away all water bottles.” I pulled out another Nalgene, explained that it cost ten bucks and that possibly somebody might think it non-water bottle enough to put in the lost and found, would he please check?
Nothing doing. Mike just pulled himself taller, crossed his arms tighter, and said. “Ma’am even if somebody had put your water bottle in the lost and found, it would have been thrown away after three days.” Period. He would not bend to lean over and check that damn tub by his knee.
I walked away fuming. “The dude takes his job waaaay too seriously,” I muttered to Chad. No way there was anybody organized enough at that theater to be weeding the lost and found for items older than three days. The guy was just a self-righteous jerk who didn’t want to be bothered.
After the movie, I noticed that somebody else was in the customer service booth, so I ran over and sweetly asked him to plu-eese check the lost and found for my Nalgene, which he did willingly. I mean, all he had to do was flip the lid of a tub which sat not twelve inches away from his right hand.
My Nalgene was sitting right there on top. I never felt so triumphant and smug in my whole life. and I had to let Mike know about it. Problem was, once I showed Mike the water bottle, he started to say things like, “Ma’m, had you made it clear that you wanted me to check the lost and found, I would have been happy to…”
Wha?
I snapped. My finger started waggling, and I started out with, “Why don’t you start that apology again, but this time without blaming ME?” and that poor manager began to shake and tremble. I got up on my high and mighty horse and gave that guy a piece of mind – and by the time Chad dragged me away, the manager was chucking me as many free movie tickets as his nervous fingers could perforate. Well, four at least – which is not bad considering that a matinee costs nine bucks at this joint.
That was Friday, you know, before I drove up to LA to hang out with my brother.
Then Saturday at the Omni, Corrina and I got back to the hotel (don’t worry I was finished with the yelling), and the concierge hurried up to me and said, “Ms. Lee, I’m so sorry, but there’s been an accident.” My comprehension was slow, but I figured he couldn’t mean Bella or Chad or any other family member, so how bad could it be? Turned out that he’d dropped my bag. The bag with a half-full bottle of spiced rum and the snacks.
You know what? This guy was so apologetic and so ready to make amends, there was no need for anger or frustration. I decided to try quiet resignation and no tip. And I still ended up with a complimentary lunch for two at the Omni Hotel.
Not a bad amount of freebies for a weekend.