Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Monday, March 11, 2013

Another Hotel Story From Washington D.C. And The International Inn At #10 Thomas Circle N.W.

Designed by Morris Lapidus, and constructed in 1962. It was originally constructed for the International Inn chain.
Click on the pictures to enlarge them. 

When I worked at the International Inn in Washington D.C. in 1980 I got my friend Bill M. a job there as a front desk clerk.
    He was very good at that job. But Bill had a sharp tongue and a short fuse The building was old and sometimes the engineers could not get enough hot water for all the guests when we were full to all shower at the same time in the morning.

 So one time a guest complained by calling down to the front desk. Bill told him the engineers were working on it. The guest was not satisfied. He wanted some hot water right away. He called down again to complain and again Bill put him off with some excuse.
So the enraged guest came down on the elevator to complain to the front desk in person. He said something to Bill like why don't I have hot water. Bill answered with some short probably sarcastic remark. The guest said, "Why I should just come over this desk(it was 5 feet high or more)and slap
your face". Bill ever quick with a comeback told him, "Come ahead and I will sue you for everything you have". That stopped the guest. A threat of legal action will always stop a person.  At least as long as they have something to lose by way of a lawsuit.
Bill was a small thin person but he had a quick tongue that often got him in trouble. He had a way of getting under people's skin.

He once told me about hotel guests in D.C. "We are the carpet these people walk on". I thought that was very true.

Saturday, March 2, 2013

Jive Turkey In Washington D. C 1980

When I worked at the International Inn in Washington D.C. we had valet parking attendents from Pakistan. One of them Mohammed M. told me that when he first came to this country he could not speak any English. So he was enrolled in an English class at Armstrong High School in the District of Columbia.
     Armstrong was also the school they sent some slow learners and trouble makers to back in 1980.
Mohammed soon picked up some urban city black slang that he did not understand.
He asked the teached one day, "I understand the word turkey(he pronounced it tour key) but what is this jive turkey?"
   The teacher explained to him what a jive turkey was and is.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=jive%20turkey