I recently spent 3 days at an annual conference in the mountains at a very hoity-toity resort. I've heard for YEARS what a wonderful place this is and how nice it is and all that 'stuff'. And, I had my psychology all 'set' to deal with a hoity environment I'm not naturally comfortable in.
The place was nice and the scenery was beautiful - and everything. However...my lasting impression of the entire resort was tainted by the VERY FIRST person I had to deal with.
Apparently, I arrived during a rush. Attendants have a setup where you drive up to the front door - into one of 3 or 4 lines of cars. You go check in while a bellman gets your bags onto a trolley for you. When you come out - they tell you which side of the building to park on - depending on your room assignment. And in high rushes - they ask you to leave your keys so they can cycle the cars through. Sounds like a workable system.
Here is where it got interesting. I pulled into one of the lines of cars. Before I could get my seat belt off there was a lady pulling on my door handle and knocking on the window. When I got out of the car - with my keys in hand - she started reaching for my car keys telling me I HAD to leave them in the car so they could move my car.
Those of you who know me should expect my response.
I reacted to her impatience, demands and personal intrusion (the reaching) with a definite "NO". And my attitude rose to meet hers.
She actually stopped and stared at me...completely lost as to what to say next. I spoke first and asked her where I could park and be out of their way while I checked in. She continued by insisting I give her my keys...
I only took TWO more "NOs" from me for her to realize I wasn't going to give her my keys. She finally seemed to gather herself and pointed to small side lot for valet and handicap parking I could park while I checked in. From that point on I was out of the way and no one was inconvenienced.
All the years of comments about how wonderful this place is were gone. That one person tainted my perception of the entire resort.
Think how differently that could have gone if she has just slowed down and allowed me to understand the system instead of making quick demands before I could even get my barings.
In fairness, every other staff member I dealt with was wonderful. And our conference went well.
Though, I'll not voluntarily go back to this particular place.
.
