The Hotel I Work For
Published by Antigone May 29th, 2008 in Punkass!, Teh Gay, discriminationI am a front desk clerk at a local chain of hotels that no one outside of the Midwest has heard of. I have worked at my new job for less than a month, and while I hated it, I figured I could hold on until August, when school started again* with a guilty conscience.
This job really is the epitome of contradictory corporate jargon and actual actions. We’re supposed to “go the extra mile for the customer” but every time I did that, I was chastised (do not leave the continentantal breakfast open late for stragglers, do not give the customers batteries for personal items, that sort of thing). I’m supposed to stay at the front desk for my entire shift, but I am also supposed to walk up and down the hallways and do cleaning that takes me away from the front desk. I am supposed to follow a ridiculous script when answering the telephone that wastes everyone’s time and annoys the customer (and oh-boy, I better do it in order or else I am in so much trouble). All of this, like I said, I could have put up with until the time that I could take my exit.
Yesterday, however, after our ridiculous “productivity meeting” I found out that I needed to leave. Now. I’ve turned in my two-week notice, and already have another job on the line. The reason was simple: I found out the company was run by a bunch of Christian crazies.
First and foremost, this particular hotel chain gives out free rooms to Christian pastors, called “Prophet Chambers”. This rooms are gratis, when otherwise they would be 50 or 70 dollars. Secondly, corporate has decided that, in keeping with our “family friendly” image, we are not to rent out rooms to “obvious homosexuals”. I can tell this is corporate, and not our local hotel, because our manager rolled her eyes when reading this memo. When I asked what an “obvious homosexual” looked like, she told me flat out said “nothing- this is a stupid rule that I fully expect you all to ignore”. But still, I cannot associate with a business that has such blatant discriminatory practices.
I checked the website to see if I could find a copy of this policy, but I have so far been unsuccessful. I don’t think this is something that they are publically informing people, but it is still horrible.
I have an unpleasant feeling in my gut now. Even if homosexuality was a protected class, and people weren’t capable of discriminating against them legally, I still have to wonder if they would still get away with it. As front desks, we weren’t supposed to tell them that we didn’t serve them, we were supposed to tell them that there were no rooms available. It’s a kind of discrimination that would be almost imposible to prove.
*I’m still waiting on my acceptance to law school. I haven’t gotten a letter at all.
That would be very, very illegal in the UK. Stupid USA.
I hope that once you’re gone from that job and are settled in a new one, you’ll provide the name of this chain, so we can have us a blogswarm about it and get them known, far beyond the Midwest, as the shitstains they are.
Damn, I was so hoping for hotel stories. My roommates had a bunch of them when the did hotel clerking.
You should spend the next two weeks having fun with that one. Start telling every third person there’s no rooms and tell your manager that they were all obvious homosexuals.
Or you could out the company. Out it out it out it. Out it now. I’d say wait until the flamingist flaming flamer walks in, deny him service, and then helpfully point out the policy. but this is the midwest, you don’t have time to wait for the mythical camped-up gay guy to waltz in. At the 50-70 dollar price range type of hotel, you’d wait forever for an “obvious homosexual” too stupid to realize that yours is an establishment where he’d best keep his proclivities to himself.
Better yet, wait until a pastor shows up and then tell him you can’t serve him because he’s gay.
What does corporate say to do if Ted Haggard books a room?
Of COURSE you wouldn’t find this policy on their website. If you want to really try to make a difference, don’t just leave– smuggle those internal company memos out that your boss was reading from and post them here and/or at Wikileaks. Although, by already putting in your notice, and then sharing the timing of it on the internet, I guess you might not feel safe that your anonymity will be retained.
So, another option would be to try to find a journalist (or even other blogger) who you trust and share the information with them privately. Then you and they could try to find other employees of the hotel who are willing to corroborate your story, so that it’s not just you out there making unprovable allegations.
But it’s also understandable if you choose to do nothing more than you already have (which is already more than most people would do). It’s not like you asked to be put in this situation, and it sounds like your life is busy enough as it is already. I have a friend who was a whistleblower once. He doesn’t regret it, but he said it made life very hard for a while.
I don’t know what the laws are surrounding libel, so I am very, very hesitant to “out” (har har) this company. If I DO find anything official, I’ll post it. But, they shred the memos so *shrugs*.
Is it libel in the USA if you can prove it’s true? Surely not?
No, it’s not.
I’m sort of in the midwest. I’d hate to stumble upon one of these hotels, needing a room for the night as a weary traveler, and be denied because I’m an obvious homosexual. I’m talking mohawk and boi clothes, probably with a gorgeous lady on my arm.
Some gay-bashing would reeeeeeeally put a damper on my vacation. But if this chain is no farther west than Indiana, no worries.
As Quin says, you’re right that a true statement can’t be libelous under US law. Moreover, when the plaintiff is a “public figure” not only must the statement be false, but the plaintiff must show that there was “malice” involved (e.g. the person knew the statement was false or had a reckless disregard for whether it was true or not). IANAL, so I’m not sure if a generic large corporation is a “public figure”, but this is at least sometimes the case (cf Bose v. Consumers Union).
I’m pretty sure if someone sues for libel, they have the burden of proof to show that the statement in question is not true. Don’t take my word, though. Consult a lawyer.
On the bad service thing: One of the great jokes about people who think capitalism is the best thing ever is that they are often the same people quick to blame lazy workers for bad service. Which makes no sense. The whole point of a capitalist investment system is that you provide the minimum amount of services or goods for the maximum price, so that you can provide the greatest return to your real customers, the shareholders. Thus bad service is generally a product of the corporate culture that, as you’ve experience, is in a battle to provide the least amount of service to the customer for the maximum return.
The traditional control for this, of course, is competition. Your baseline of service goes up if someone else is providing more for the same price. But of course, the worshippers of capitalism are also the enablers of destroying the free market. Our corporate culture of buyouts and oligarchies means we’re all victims of profit-centered highway goods and services robbery.
Is it Knight’s Inn? I saw that one a lot traveling in the midwest but never seen it elsewhere.
Ooh, fun, let’s all leave a guess, then Antigone can say “no” on the ones it isn’t and refuse to comment on the one it is!
My guess: Stony Brook Inn, which made the news for dropping terrorist-supporting CNN from its TV channel lineup a little while back.
It’s got to be Settle Inns. I googled “prophet chambers,” hoping that that was not a common crazy Christian term, and this came up on the first page, admist a sea of crazy Christian chats room:
“Settle Inns have prophet chambers, call ahead and rooms are free for preachers. http://www.settleinn.com”
Bastards. I’m tempted to doll myself up dull-dyke, head out (Mid)West and try to rent a room. It’d be a good mission if gas prices weren’t so high. Bastards all around!!!
Well sleuthed, Shelly.
By the way, I just have to say how much I LOVE the name “prophet chamber”. I can’t put my finger on why, exactly, but it sure does crack me up.
I am seriously not going to give the name- no evidence, I’m not making a claim, pseudo-annyonomous or not. I know that the law is PROBABLY on my side on this one- but I also know they’re not strictly doing anything illegal. Any publicity will be good for them, horrible for me, and not do any good for anyone else. I will say that there are more places than the Settle Inn that offer “Prophet Chambers”. IF I can get a hold of a memo, or an official policy, I will scan it, post it, and chant it from the rooftops.
On the bad service- I particularly hate having to do the bad service, because it grates on my Midwestern work ethic. I want to “go the extra mile for the customer” because it means I have to listen to less people complain in the long run. The customers are happy, the workers get the satisfaction in a job well done, and corporate gets a repeat customer. But, oh no, we want form with no function: corporate wants their employees to make the customers happy without actually doing anything.
An additional complaint: they have no training manual. My “training” was “well, just play around on the computer” and I had to be with another front desk person for my first few weeks. Then I get in trouble for not knowing how to do something, or doing something wrong *sigh*.
I just realized– this guessing game really isn’t fun unless Antigone actually decides she wants to reveal any more information herself. Otherwise we’re playing around with stuff that could have repercussions on her actual real personal life. So let’s quit it unless she says it’s okay for some reason. I apologize for starting it.
By the way, it appears that “prophet chamber” is a fairly common term, often applied to guest rooms of the Christianist variety, so no, we don’t have a definite answer yet.
Oh, *now* I see your reply. Hate when that happens.
Anyway, didn’t say it before, but I admire that you put in your notice the instant you found out they discriminated against homosexuals.
Nothing to admire- a few bucks an hour is not worth it to discriminate against people. This wasn’t even a hard choice: I didn’t like the job, I found another one that pays MORE money, I’m not supporting a family. Those are the kind of things that make a choice to leave a bad company hard, and I don’t have them.
Oh, and I could post hotel stories, but most of them are sad/ infuriating instead of funny. I could talk about the crazy old guy who decided in his 50s that hitchhiking from ALASKA was a good idea, and wanted a room without a deposit. I could talk about the South African soccer team that I had a great conversation because they were stranded in the lobby for about an hour. I could talk about this women who needed someone to bring her to her room because she kept getting lost down one of two of our hallways. I think out-of-town tired = crazy.
The world needs lawyers like you. Good luck.
I disagree that publicity like this will be good for them–the people who already know they’re like that and want to stay there won’t be affected, and anybody else who would care but wouldn’t normally have a clue will be warned. I don’t see how posting their identity is any different that when people post reviews of hotels on all the sites that do that, unless you signed some sort of nondisclosure agreement about company policies. JMO
Even if she did sign a non-disclosure agreement, I’m pretty sure that doesn’t have any bearing on reporting company policies that break the law. (Unless having an official company policy of discrimination against people based on their sexual orientation is legal, and I didn’t know it.) But I do think Antigone’s probably right to be wary of naming the hotel without at least first consulting somebody who knows more about these kinds of issues. Amanda mentioned going to a lawyer; if that seems like too much trouble, you could also just pop a quick e-mail to the local branch of the ACLU (offices in every state) and see if they have any reaction.