Joy was not sure what to do, a male guest was sitting in her breakfast room, singing to the radio. Last night he had disturbed her three times, the first time to ask for a toilet roll when she thought he had plenty, the second time to ask her how to use the shower, and the third time, with a towel round his waist asking for another towel. While all of these reasons could have been genuine, and if they were, Joy didn’t mind, she was becoming uneasy at his behaviour.
Joy left him singing and walked back in to the kitchen, where she deliberately retuned the radio so that it went slightly off the station, causing interference over the song “The Candy Man” that her guest Mr Dines had been singing along to. She reached for a glass to pour herself a drink of water and realised that her hand was shaking slightly.
For the first time since opening her new B&B, Joy wondered if she was completely safe, a female on her own with complete strangers in her house.
Her husband Sam would soon be retiring from the army and living here with her permanently. If she told Sam of her unease, would he make her close until he was home for good. He was on his way today, Joy wondered how long it would be before he arrived. She decided that she did not want Sam to arrive and find her in a situation she could not control, she had always told him not to worry about her while he was away, she could take care of herself.
Joy emptied the remainder of the water into the sink, put the glass down, smoothed her skirt and steeled herself. She walked back into the dining room, Mr Dines had stopped singing. She smiled at him and said “Am I right in assuming, as you didn’t order, that you don’t want a cooked breakfast today? Please help yourself to cereals and anything else you fancy on the cold buffet. Would you like tea or coffee?
Mr Dines turned and studied her for a few moments. Joy was fairly certain he was playing games and she lost patience. “I’m sorry, Mr Dines, normally I would be happy for guests to enjoy a leisurely breakfast, but my husband is home on leave, and he will be arriving shortly, so I would like to clean the dining room and kitchen now, so that we have plenty of time together. If you don’t want a cup of tea or coffee now, that is ok, you still have tea and coffee in your room. Have you taken all you want from the cold buffet, as I am about to clear it away.” Joy was aware that her breakfast time was not over, Mr Dines had about another 20 minutes but it was up to him whether he spoke up and pointed it out or not.
He didn’t speak up, he stood up.
“I’m not hungry” he said gruffly, and walked out of the dining room. Joy heard him walking back upstairs. He was booked in for tonight as well, but at least Sam would be here for the duration of his stay. Joy quickly locked the dining room door from the inside, to prevent him from coming back in, and then checked that her office door was also locked from reception.
Joy tried to ring Sam on his mobile phone, the answer phone cut in, so she sent him a text message asking him how far away he was. A few minutes later her phone rang, it was Sam, he told her that his train was just pulling into Southend Victoria Station, and he would get a taxi. He would be there in 15 or 20 minutes at most, Joy was more relieved than she wanted to admit to herself. She busied herself cleaning away the breakfast dishes and cleaning the kitchen and dining room.
As she worked, Joy heard the front door slam, then shortly afterwards, she heard the front door bell. SAM. Joy hurried to the front door, a huge smile on her face. Sam stood in the doorway, and swept her up.
“Well, what do you think of your new home?” asked Joy, when they had greeted each other like excited teenagers. “Yes, you’ve done well, it looks good from the outside, I can see it has had a recent lick of paint, and I like the name plaque, a huge yellow sun with Sunfair written across the middle. “Yes, I like that, it was inherited, I didn’t have it made. Come into the office, while I put the kettle on, then I will show you our flat, it is on the top floor”.
Sam started to follow Joy, then stopped, he picked up a key lying by the vase of cut flowers and handed it to Joy. Joy looked at it. “Oh, it’s Mr Dines’ key, he must have checked out. He didn’t say, He was supposed to be here another night. Let me just go and check his room.” Joy tapped on the door of the room occupied by Mr Dines, there was no answer, she tried the handle, the door was open, she looked inside the room. All Mr Dines belongings were gone, the room looked neat and tidy. Joy locked the door and went back to Sam.
Sam looked up “a guest gone?” It was a question. Joy nodded, “Yes, he has left early, I am not sure why, he didn’t say he was going, but I am not sorry to see the back of him”. “Has he paid?” Typical of Sam. Joy shook her head, “no, I took a 50% deposit, which paid for last night, he still owes for tonight, it is too late for him to cancel now.”
“What will you do about it” Sam asked. Joy thought for a moment and said “I will write it off, I don’t want to contact him, he made me a little uneasy.” Joy promptly kicked herself, now Sam would want to know why. He did. Joy decided not to mention the previous night, she just told Sam about the guest singing to The Candy Man and ignoring her, and she told him how she had handled it.
Sam looked a little uncertain. “I’m not sure it is right for you to be on your own with strangers, that has been bothering me, I must admit.”
Oh fiddlesticks Joy said to herself. To Sam she said “No, its ok, it’s fine, I can lock myself in our flat, and it won’t be for much longer.
Sam wasn’t sure, but he decided not to pursue it at present, instead he said “Why don’t you take payment up front on arrival?”
Joy was glad to change the subject “I’m not sure, I have been wondering about that myself. It is a nuisance when I have to break off in the middle of breakfast to take the remainder of the money, if someone wants to check out while I am cooking for another guest. I haven’t had anyone check out without telling me before, but I just feel that some people expect to pay on departure, and if someone is not happy with the service, I have already charged them, when I might want to give them a discount”.
“I think you should take the deposit in advance, and the remainder on arrival. You can always give a refund if is is appropriate.”
“I will log on to the forum later and ask the friendly lot on the forum what they do” Joy replied.
“What forum” Sam asked. Joy told him about www.bedposts.org,uk, and how everyone had given her lots of advice, and how much she had come to rely on the forum members.
Joy decided she would post two messages on the forum later. She would ask whether other members think she should have told Sam the full story, or whether she was right not to worry him, and whether it is a good idea to take the balance on arrival.
What do you think?
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Hi Joy
Like you, I run my B & B solo too; people think it’s amazing (probably because guys are’nt supposed to multi-task I suppose).
It’s funny isn’t it how guests will pay chain hotels in advance but when we ask for it we get the look of “Why, don’t you trust me?” In the early days, I had a few non-paying departures which made me nervous while people were staying in case they were going to do the same; also, I have an appalling memory so I was always worried that I would forget too. My solution was to take payment on arrival; it’s a dream; no more worries about being left without payment; it makes me strangely happy and if someone isn’t sure how many nights they’ll want to stay for they can choose whether they pay in advance and definitely have a room reserved or they can take their chances on the room being vacant and paying as they have need. This works for me because bookings tend to be for the week ahead rather than in advance (working people mostly) but a holiday orientated establishment might not be able to be as flexible. One place I visited by the sea side said we could have keys as soon as we paid (but not before) I thought this was very reasonable.
My side of the ‘odd’ person is less acute than yours as I am 6′8″ although sometimes I get some rough looking characters. My simple rules for all are: “I don’t discriminate against anyone: as long as they pay in advance and do not disturb other guests” The only one’s to give me odd looks are the one’s most likely to ’storm’ off without paying on some flimsy pretext of dissatisfaction and as my happiness is when people smile with satisfaction; I can do without those types!
Richard
I think that Joy should have told her husband as trust between the two of them is essential to their relationship ‘going forward’ as they say. And why not let him help protect her from this wierdo?
If he is as nice a guy as she says, then she has no reason to keep secrets. I would be a little upset if someone I trusted as a partner had kept back a secret like this ‘to protect me’. For me, complete honesty is at the heart of a loving relationship.
Gilly