I am in Ohio for a few days for work. There are a total of 8 of us here from my company and after work today we were able to grab a free drink five minutes before the hotel’s complimentary happy hour was over.
Then one of my coworkers wanted to visit Graeter’s, a famous ice cream place in the area, and I told her I’d go along. We met in the hotel lobby where we asked the front desk if the shuttle would take us to Graeter’s but it couldn’t. The two people working the front desk told us they didn’t think the ice cream was worth the price of a cab ride. Now what to do?
A few pieces of cheese were all that I’d eaten since breakfast at 8:30 a.m. so I was hungry and now ice cream was not going to be my dinner. I ordered a chicken Caesar salad in the hotel restaurant and told them I’d be back to pick it up in order to avoid a room service charge. They told me it’d be 20 minutes.
In the meantime, I wanted a couple of sodas for the next two days so I went to the vending machine on my floor. The machine would not accept my dollar bills. I came back to my room and did a few things and then went back down to the restaurant to pick up my dinner. It was on a large serving tray, which I carried onto the elevator and up to the floor below me to try for sodas again. This machine wouldn’t work either.
Now I’ve got to carry my dinner tray back onto the elevator, up to my room floor, put the tray in my room and go back to the elevator to ride down two floors. The machine on this floor took my money, but the first two soda buttons I pushed were sold out.
I finally got two Diet Cokes and once again got on the elevator and came back to my room. I sat on my living room floor (I have a suite), turned on the TV and could find NOTHING to watch and ate my $15 salad. I had asked for the dressing on the side but it came on the salad.
Never underestimate being able to go to your kitchen and make yourself something to eat. Or your refrigerator. If absence makes the heart grow fonder, I’m gonna give my kitchen a big hug when I get home.
