Have you ever walked into a hotel lobby and wondered if you were on candid camera? As I lined up this particular day to check out, I sure did! I even looked around to see where the cameras might have been hidden!

Why?

The line was unusual long, and the customer complaining to the hotel clerk was taking his own sweet time: “My phone didn’t work! This is scandalous! What kind of hotel are you running! I want a refund!”

“You should have contacted us immediately, sir! We can’t do anything about the problem now!” There was a note of disgust in the clerk’s tone as she continued: “Complaining about it at check-out is a bit too late!”

“Sure you can do something! You can give me a discount!”

Right at that moment, the phone rang. The hotel clerk jerked it from its cradle and before the person on the other end could say a word, she snapped: “I’m busy right now. Call back later!” Then she slammed down the phone.

There went a sale out the door. I wondered what the manager’s reaction might have been!

“Now, about my discount!” grouched the complainer.

The clerk looked him right in the eye and said, “You will have to deal with management about that. Here is the phone number.”

The client left, huffing and puffing. There was no doubt in anyone’s mind: He was NOT satisfied!

To the despair of the clerk, the next hotel guest had found an error in his bill.

“You’ll have to wait until I’ve taken care of the rest of the people in line,” she said firmly.

“But, I don’t have time for this!” he argued. “The line is long!”

The clerk’s tone was controlled, almost non-chalant: “Do you want me to help you with the error, or would you prefer to argue with me?”

The fuming customer stepped aside to wait for the line to thin out. If I were him, I would have quietly disappeared!

I was next, and as I looked into the clerk’s eyes, I could see that she really didn’t want to know if I had any complaints. “I had a delightful stay at your hotel,” I said quickly. “Thank you!”

She stared silently and suspiciously at me for a long moment, and I was starting to wonder if there were really nasty goblins on the loose in this hotel!

“You left something in your room!” she barked finally.

My eyes grew big. “I did?” I looked at my son and found him staring at me. The question mark in his eyes was equally as big.

“Sir, did you hear me? You left something in your room!”

“Who, me?” I gulped.

We quickly retrieved the missing item and sneaked out the lobby as fast as we could. Amazingly, nobody shouted after us!

Have you ever had days like this? Have you ever let circumstances dictate your day? Have you ever tried to make sense of what might have gone wrong that has caused you to snap at everybody? Here is my advice:

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” (Prov 3:5-6 NIV)

And if you are ever tempted to snap at anyone or anything in particular remember:

“And be careful that when you get on each other’s nerves you don’t snap at each other. Look for the best in each other, and always do your best to bring it out.” (1 Thess 5:15 The Message)

“Next! Now don’t say a word or I’ll bite your head off!”

Rob Chaffart