when i travel and have the chance to sleep late or stay in and rest or work, i generally like to do so.
i always keep my door chained and bolted or whatever the option may be so that housekeeping doesn't come barging in on me during my moments of solitude.
to enforce my wish for privacy, i ALWAYS hang the "do not disturb" sign on my door handle.
in fact, i almost always leave it on the door handle when the room is vacant, simply because i do not want my possessions rearranged or exposed to theft or damage by strangers, etc.
"do not disturb"
seems to me to be a pretty straightforward phrase.
why is it then that the front desk or housekeeping always calls me on the telephone (probably at the point they want to go home) to ask if i want housekeeping service?
i can't help but classify a telephone call from the very people i posted the virtual "KEEP OUT" sign for as a "disturbance."
i'm pretty sure they know what the sign means and who the message is addressed to. they did in fact spend the money to have the sign printed and left a copy of it in my room for my convenient use.
so where's the confusion happening?
what i'm trying to say is: leave me the fuck alone.
theenks!
jay
Monday, July 28, 2008
"do not disturb" : open to interpretation?
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16 comments:
i hear ya! you pretty much have to draw them pictures to make them understand, i had a cleaner come in my room one time when i was still asleep!!! i had the sign on but i forgot to put the chain on ( i was a bit wasted at the time) , she got an eyeful when she came in though lol i like to sleep in the nude, I was half asleep when she came in, I'm not shy so i just lay there and looked at her and said that i ordered a male (gigolo)and that she wasn't even wearing the right outfit that i wanted him to be in!! She was sooo embarrassed!
BTW LOVE your youtubes of your tour!!!
cuz it's their job! for every privacy-seeking person like you there are probably ten forgetful people who leave the sign on their door all day long yet would still be pissed if they came back to an unmade bed. hence the pesky call...
just mention your needs when you check in, or if they don't have a system set up to handle that, travel with sticky notes and leave cute/funny messages for housekeeping which you can then turn into an art project :)
well, who in their right mind wouldn't want to get into your room?
i agree, however i did feel obligated to tell you that on two separate occasions, i had the same thing happen to me.
granted, both were at vegas hotels and the first time, the lady was very apologetic for calling and waking me at 3pm--however she told me they call because sometimes 'people never wake up,' she said in broken english.
'you mean they are dead?'
'yes'
'oh. well i didnt drink that much, but appreciate the thought.'
so the next time it happened at another hotel i asked 'did you call because sometimes people die and the sign is up?'
'basically'
just something else *i* would have never considered.
*knock knock knock*
HOUSEKEEPING !!
*knock knock knock*
HOUSEKEEPING !!
enters the room...
Please come and do a show in Paris. We don't enter rooms that have "do not disturb" signs on them". :-)
A.
Oh my god yes! Jay, you have verbalized my longstanding sentiments exactly!
ALL of the above are exactly the pet peeves I have when I travel and always complain to my friends about.
I do not want anyone in my room when I'm not there, "organizing" my stuff, moving towels from where I want them, and occasionally making favorite clothing items etc. disappear -- I'm perfectly capable of keeping my room as clean as I want it myself and calling for more towels if and when I need them.
I do not want to be awoken by a phone call any more than I want to be awoken by a knock on the door. Do Not Disturb means do not disturb.
I HATE that they insist on those moronic phone calls, and I've found that neither notes (apparently most of the housekeeping staffs can't read English or Spanish, as I've tried both) nor requests to the front desk on arrival (the messages don't get passed on appropriately) are of any use in stopping them.
So, my empathy Jay. I'm there with you.
Hugs.
so true. hope this wasn't in Chicago...we loved you so much. maybe the staff just wanted to hear your voice. anyway...here in Chicago, still humming "housewife" and finding it odd that "beat wise" ..."a housewife" has the same number of beats as "jay Brannan" so i have been singing any number of uplifting, (and one truly inappropriate) verses like "I wanna see Jay Brannan" or "I wanna hug Jay Brannan"....someone much more handsome than me should make you such a video, strumming, shirtless in their apartment. Chicago loved you. Sign me Stephen
so true. hope this wasn't in Chicago...we loved you so much. maybe the staff just wanted to hear your voice. anyway...here in Chicago, still humming "housewife" and finding it odd that "beat wise" ..."a housewife" has the same number of beats as "jay Brannan" so i have been singing any number of uplifting, (and one truly inappropriate) verses like "I wanna see Jay Brannan" or "I wanna hug Jay Brannan"....someone much more handsome than me should make you such a video, strumming, shirtless in their apartment. Chicago loved you. Sign me Stephen
hahaha. I feel the same about my solitude. I need to be alone sometimes but not always this is possible because the people disturb! I think they have to ensure themself that you don't need this service to give a good impression. But it's true... the sing message it's easy, don't disturb and if you put it on the door, it's a good sing that they can interpret like you don't want the service so you will not disgree with the service.
Enjoy your solitude moments Jay!
Your debut is fantastic.
Especially "Can't Have It All" and "Bowlegged & Starving"
Love!
Hello, Jay.
I thought I'd come by and offer my advice on this matter after reading your entry.
By the way, I'm liking the YouTube tour videos as well.
If you're having trouble with phone calls, here is what I would do: try unplugging the phone (if that's an option).
Throw it out of the damn window...I can't even stand it when my landline rings, but I digress.
Andrew Anthony
i am so with you on this one. of course, when i travel, it is always for a vacation and that makes being disturbed an even bigger nuisance because it's the ONLY time i can sleep in as late as i want to. i don't need new towels (because, honestly, if you're staying somewhere alone, you can't possibly use all the towels that are in the room for starters unless you are staying more than a week), i don't need someone to pick up after me, and i am perfectly capable of turning down my own bed, thanks all the same.
i once forgot to put up the sign right upon arrival at a Disney resort. i'd checked in, taken out a few things, and then headed to the parks for the day. when i came back to the room that night, the articles that i had taken out of my suitcase earlier that day had been used, along with some towels and various things already in the room had been arranged on my bed and made to look like there was a man lounging there reading the tv schedule. they also gave me a little magnetic photo frame and a certificate stating that i had been chosen as housekeepings "family of the day"...after that, they heeded my "do not disturb" sign and simply left a bag hanging from the knob with fresh towels every other day.
so, yeah, if you want a hotel that will actually listen to you? go with a disney hotel. of course, that could just be me wanting you to come to florida...
Isn't this the same thing that started on the Who tour right before Moon started destroying Hotel rooms.
I will allow that to happen once, then I talk to the housekeeper, the housekeeper surpvisor and lastly the manager.
My job requires me to work 4pm to 4am and if I travel and stay somewhere, I will let them know once, then warn once and then call the disctrict manager of the chain.
But usually it doesn't happen.
BTW: If you raise your voice too loud, they'll ask you to leave the property. Found that the hard way.
Hotels are strange places.
It’s what happens when you cross a place of living with a commercial enterprise.
It’s a strange feeling that my living needs make daily work for other people; never seem like that a home. Private help staff normally have rules so they’re unseen and you can go about life oblivious to there existence as long as there doing the work. Petty I don’t have that set up, but my bf is just as good I’m band for doing the laundry for good reason and am aloud to experiment in the kitchen provided I sort the pots.
My last hotel I was staying at I was running some light experiments in the bed room for an art installation, ripped off my pants to throw them in front of the door to block the light there and then the cleaners came in. Conversation in my undies “no no its fine we check out this afternoon”. It’s a really disturbing feeling people just coming in at random; like it’s a place of work. Lucky I was going work and in work mode, if it was personal, I would have been really embarrassed.
I do like fresh towels though.
wow! okay, that should be fairly straight forward. You could, when you check in, let them know that you will not require housekeeping service unless he looks hot and cleans the room naked. You might want to leave out the last part but otherwise good advice. yes?
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