What a day...

As I pulled into work this morning, there was a fire truck, and ambulance, and some cop cars in the parking lot... never a good thing. Someone dialed 911. I get into the hotel and find Eric pointing the group of emergency people in the "right" direction. "What the Hell?" I asked. He explained that one of the construction guys passed out in the bathtub, and their boss asked Eric to call 911, which he did. At this point no one really knew what was going on. This is a construction crew (they work maintanence on railroad tracks) stays with us ALL the time. They usually come in the spring and we have about 9 or 10 guys in and out for weeks at a time throughout the summer and into the fall. This year, it was a pretty new batch, we didn't really know many of them from the past year. but we know these guys pretty well by now. They're trouble makers most of the time. They go out drinking every night. They're super dirty (from their jobs) and make a complete mess of the carpets from the entrance to their room and we end up throwing most of their linens away because they are just that dirty. They're loud, and we have noise complaints all the time. But they're contracted. For a rate that is BEYOND reasonable. they only pay $33.00/night. Anyway back to my story.

Eric tells me as we're changing shifts and he's heading out the door, that the guy that they are checking on came in just WASTED last night around 3AM. We're assuming then, that he has alcohol poisoning. The rest of the crew is sitting in the lobby eating breakfast and laughing it up before they leave for work. Eric leaves, the fire trucks leave, as they have no purpose being there, and my morning goes on as normal, except for the ambulance in the parking lot. 45 minutes pass, and I have still not seen anything or heard what is going on. Then the construction boss comes down and gets coffee and gets a paper and an apple and heads out the door for work. I stopped him and asked "Well, whats going on, is he okay?" (I still didn't know exactly what guy it was) and he said flat out as he took a bite of his apple "No, he's dead"

"Seriously!?" I asked, I mean he was so nonchalant about it, I didn't know if he was serious, or pulling my leg. "seriously" and he leaves for work.... FOR WORK!

So I wait... and wait... and wait... and call my manager with an odd message of "uh.. I don't know whats going on, but one of the construction guys died... I don't know how, but please call the hotel when you get the message"

Now that I know that there is a deceased guy upstairs in one of the rooms, and no one has found it necessary to tell me.... the front desk. I don't want to head upstairs as I don't know what to expect and I didn't feel like surprising them. So just then, the Childrens Youth Choir from Canada all come down to eat breakfast. PERFECT TIMING. A cop comes down FINALLY, and tells me he needs a hammer and a scew driver. Odd request but I give it to him. I asked him what was going on, because I would really like to know, and he said he didn't know. HOW COULD YOU NOT KNOW!!!

Then I told him that before the body was moved, I would like to be warned so I can get the other guests... mainly the poor childrens choir eating breakfast in the lobby, out of the way and into their rooms. He says he'll let me know.

And I wait... for what seems like forever.. in reality like 15minutes. The EMT lady comes down to get her cot thing... which she wheels right through the lobby and leaves setting at the bottom of the stairs (After they asked if we had an elevator, and I said no, they said "oh this 'ought to be fun")

Then the lady and the cop come to me and tell me they're just waiting for the coronor. So we wait... dead guy upstairs in my hotel. I must say I feel very bad for his family and I mean no disrespect... but it was kind of creepy.

They give me the "okay we're ready" and I asked them if they can avoid bringing the body through the lobby, because.... well that would be disturbing for me AND the children. They agreed, and we closed the fire doors to close off one wing of the building, and I told the chaperones what was going on, and that it would be in their best interest to make sure all the kids were in their rooms and NOT in any of the hallways. What does that stupid bitch do? She announces to the children "The ambulance is going to bring someone downstairs and put them into the ambulance now, if that is going to bother you, go to your rooms" First of all, I was very happy when the kids didn't know what was going on, and I was TRYING to be tactful and quietly clear the entrance and hallways... but the teacher was just an idiot. I told her "no, all the kids have to be in the room now" so they left.

I went upstairs, and I tried to get the nosey guests with their heads peeking out of the doors to close their door and wait just a couple of minutes (I mean this guy was a human being here... not a side show, show some respect) the minute the old ladies start minding their own business.. the cops drag the body (in a black body bag) out of the room... do I wish they would have waited until I was around the corner... yes... and no.. morbid curiosity I guess) I say drag... because that is what they did for the first coupld of steps... because the gourney was downstairs.. then one of the other cops grabbed the foot end and helped the rest of the way.

A cop comes down to the desk... goes over what happened. They don't really know how the guy died. He said it may be natural causes, but they were drinking heavily... so I didn't get a straight out answer. Then he told me that all of the guests things are still in the room. He also said that the bathroom will need to be professionally cleaned (I don't think I have to explain what happens to the human body when it dies...) The cop leaves and said that they are finished with the room, so go a head and do whatever we need to do. I asked him who I call about cleaning like that... he said he had no clue... thanks fella... that is something you should know!

I call my manager... still no answer. So I start calling places to clean up. Its Saturday... and people don't like being bothered with that very odd question... that I tried to put very nicely and clearly... but there is no easy way of asking if they clean up that sort of mess (or if they have the right clothing to do so.) I called the hospital... they didn't know... I called the police station... they didn't know. My manager finally called back, and she called around and finally found a married couple that does that stuff... but they were on vacation at the lake, but would come into town anyway (becuase that is just something that can wait) I wanted to get the room clean before this guys room mate needed to get in the room to get his things. Manager asked me to go into the room and open the window and turn on the fan. I pause... "okay"

I go up there and the roommate stops me and asks if he can go in with me so he can get his things (obviously broken up about this...) I said that I don't suggest it, but if he has to then he can come in with me. I even offered to look around for the things he needed, but he declined.
We walk in the room, and I make a straight line for the window... tunnel vision... then I turn around to walk out and I was going to very quickly shut the bathroom door.... so I close my eyes as soon as I get the the door way and reach for the door... but there isn't one, so I open my eyes... big mistake BTW. and find that the reason the cops needed the screw driver and the hammer, was to take the Bathroom door off the hinges. and in the process I get a look at the bathroom. WHich I feel does not need explaination.

Surprisingly, it didn't bother me as much as you'd think. Working at Ramsey Photo, I saw some pretty icky photos from the police investigations. I guess it numbed the whole death scene thing a little for me. The room mate didnt' find what he was looking for and was obviously very uncomfortable, so he left with me right away.

The cleaning crew arrive, and I asked them if they could gather the clothes and belongings that were still in the room and put them in a bag, so we can give them to whomever would like to take them to the guys family. They cleaned... and packed... and finally, it all came to an end.

All day I had guest asking about it. I feel bad for the room mate, they had been best friends since they were little. One other co worker seemed pretty... okay with the whole thing. I'm sure he was just shocked a little... but the other workers, including the boss just went to work. It was weird because I had called the boss to ask him to remove the belongings out of the room but I got "I'm 75 miles away working, I can' t come back, can't you guys do it and we'll take care of that later"

But the guy that died was 24 years old. He had a fiance, and a baby on the way. I feel bad for his family and his friends. I hope things smooth over tomorrow, and that room isn't looked at as "the room that guy died in" because that is too sad. He was a person, and even though we had to act very business about the whole thing, we can't just think of him as "that dead guy" which I did for most of the day, because I didn' tknow his name or anything about him until I later when I was talking to one of his friends.

So that is my story. I hope that never happens again. But at the same time I'm surprised that in the 6 years I've worked in hotels that this hasn't happened before.