Apologies to Marriott

So when I travel for my 4 months of the year I stay the majority of the time in a Marriott Courtyard up in Washington. My coworkers know that I have been absolutely ROASTING this hotel all summer long mostly because they lost a couple important items of mine.

Back in May during one of my first stretches of staying, I left my set of P90X DVDs at the hotel. I called back as soon as I realized they were gone and asked if they turned up in the lost and found. Of course, they didn't. I would have expected a phone charger or computer cable of course but once something of actual value (these DVD's cost about $150) it mysteriously "was not found' by the cleaning people. I have been so upset about it all summer I have constantly bad mouthed Marriott.

Then, on my second to last week of staying in October I left my set of retainers that I wear at night while I sleep (value of $200 or so). This time I was gone for all of 2 nights before I came back to check in. I promptly asked for them and of course they didn't find them. I figured in this case, while they were valuable items, the cleaning people probably just saw a plastic case and threw it away. Nevertheless, I was even more infuriated as this was the second valuable item lost this year.

Yes, some of this is my own fault; I can't be forgetting things in my hotel room. I could've sworn in both cases I hadn't. Especially in the case of the retainers; once I had lost the DVD's I did a 3-times over clean sweep of my room every time I checked out. But alas, they were both gone forever. (You already know where this is going, right?)

So on Sunday night I go to put my "Sunday nap" blanket back under the bed and it gets jammed and won't go in all the way. I have to get down to see what it is. There is an old shoe box deep under the bed that has stopped the blanket. I grab the shoe box to pull it out and can feel that it has stuff inside of it. "What did I ever put in a shoe box under the bed?" I pull it out and open it and to my astonishment my DVD's are sitting in the box! Buried in the box are various other items that no doubt Cannon had gathered up and stored in this little treasure chest. The DVDs had endured their 5-month burial in prime condition. I took them out and flashed them to Rachel; she too was surprised and we both started chiding Cannon for losing our things!

I immediately knew that if the DVDs were home, so were my retainers. "Where are my retainers!" I started screaming at him. I asked him that same question over and over the rest of Sunday night and as soon as I got home yesterday. He must have got the message; Rachel walked in his room after I had been home for about an hour last night and my retainers, with my little case, were sitting on the floor in the middle of his bedroom. He must have fished them out from his secret hiding spot and left them there for mom and dad to find.

Dang kids. I can't believe it. I was literally on the verge of writing Marriott a letter berating them for their poor service because it was on my mind so often. I guess now I should write them a letter of apology.