Chillin' At The Quality Inn

I've stayed in my fair share of hotels. There was the $35 a night UFO themed hotel along route 66. The hotel in Florence, whose shower refused to drain, which wouldn't have been a problem except that there was no tub or even a lip separating the shower from the rest of the bathroom. And, of course, the Comfort Inn in South Central L.A. That particular hotel was special since it's where Matt and I found out we were pregnant for Bella and also I spent the night lying as flatly on the bed as possible trying to stay below the line of the window. You know, in case there were any stray bullets.

For our pilgrimages to Buffalo we always stay in the same hotel, The Days Inn in Tonawanda. It's not spectacular but we know what to expect, plus there's a Burger King next door. A Whopper Jr and a milkshake can make you overlook a lot. For example, if there had been a Burger King next to that Comfort Inn in L.A. I would have totally recommend that motel to my friends. Unfortunately, not even the Original Chicken can make us overlook a $50 price hike. So Matt looked around the Buffalo area for a cheaper hotel and found a Super 8 in Hamberg.

The Super 8 was a little tricky to find. Apparently in an effort to drum up business the Super 8 people decided to hide their hotel behind a Quality Inn. Seriously these two hotels were so close together that I thought they were connected. Once we finally figured out where the Quality Inn ended and the Super 8 began, G.G. and Matt check us in and came back to the car with no idea how to get to our room. We drove around the building until we saw a door that would let us inside and parked. I'm going to be honest here, my very first impression of the Super 8, before we even got into our room was, crack den. I felt right at home.

The stairs up to our room were too narrow for us  to even walk next to each other as we went up and they were carpeted with a cheap carpet that was so old there was no way for them to even make it look clean. Although I suspect it was since there were cleaning carts around. Then again maybe those were just for show. Maybe I'm being a little harsh, I mean it's not like the lights on the stairway were yellowed and flickering. The hotel was pretty well lit actually. I had no problems spotting the junkies passed out on the stairs and was able to avoid stepping into any of their vomit on the way up.

The very first thing G.G. did upon entering our room was to grab the ice bucket and head out to find the ice machine. I'm not sure why she thought she needed ice because the room was FREEZING. I can't say for sure when the last time the heat in that room had been turned on, but I suspect that it was before Daylight Savings since the room clock was an hour ahead. Ryan turned on the heat and G.G. returned with an empty ice bucket. She couldn't find an ice machine so she called down to the front desk. After a few minutes of intense conversation the Super 8 employee told G.G., "If you need ice just go over to the Quality Inn and use their machine."

I respect that. Times are hard, you've got to save wherever you can. Frozen water can be expensive. Can you think of a good reason not to steal the competitor's ice? Me either.

A few hours later after we got back from dinner and had settled in to watch T.V. the room phone rang. Since I was expecting an important business call from the Stay-at-Home-Mom's union (we're working on getting sick days), I answered it.

Me: "Hello"

Woman with thick Indian accent mumbling as fast as possible.

Me: "I have no idea what you just said." (I'm forthright and honest and also slightly rude)

Indian Woman: I was just calling to see if I rented this room out.

Me: Yes you did.

We had another few seconds of confused conversation and then I hung up. It was later pointed out to me that I should have lied and told her that she had, in fact, not rented the room out and that we had broken into her hotel and were helping ourselves to the competitor's ice.