From the frying pan into the fire

Tonight we are dealing with a crisis .  We had a man check in and book a room for 5 days. Nothing unusual… He did not want the semi automatic bikes we had for rent and had us phone a company to supply him with an automatic motorcycle. The motorcycle was delivered and the fellow after having a shower headed out for a day around town.

We had reason to enter his room in the late afternoon for reasons of maintenance, and discovered that there was no clothing, or any other evidence that the man planned on spending the night. Our day receptionist expressed a concern that it was odd but we thought that perhaps he was going to deliver his luggage later as he had claimed that he was until now staying at friends but needed to get away to his own room. (I thought different)

He left is Id with and we registered the Id with the police at 9 pm which is normal procedure. About 11 pm we began to grow suspicious that he had not returned and had a closer look at his Id. Oh my god!!! It is fake!!  Vietnam still has a long way to go for tamper

 proof ID and this was a classic case of a cut and past photo on somebody else’s ID. It is a bit hard to tell, but after close examination, a person can see the signs. The photo has slight imperfections around the edges and it looks newly laminated. I pointed this out earlier in the day to my receptionist always being on guard for some of the low lives that try to prey on others, but she thought I was being paranoid and that everything would be OK. NOT!! I know the type and seem to be able to read them much better than they can. I have been accused about being too quick to jump to conclusions in the past, but I have been proven correct. I think those around me are now beginning to understand. This time the nail has been driven home. 10 hours ago I expressed my concern about his ID looking to new…. Now we might be in a world of hurt.

All it cost me so far for this situation is a free shower and a cup of coffee. But what about the motorcycle? Will the hotel be responsible for arranging the rental? Is this perhaps a planned retaliation of what happened in my last post by some petty assHo*es to get even in some way? I will not lose any sleep over it; however, I am sure my staff will not sleep. It may be their jobs on the line if this ends up the responsibility of the hotel. I have always limited myself to how much I was willing to invest and have always been prepared to walk away. I have never forgotten where I am and what can happen, and the episode today has just re-enforced that thinking. As a matter of fact, there could be a silver lining in that all of the rules and procedures I have been trying to drill into my staff for so long will finally not be ignored.

So what will tomorrow bring? Was I set up by the people that I confronted in

 the past few days and has this become a contest of whose penis is bigger? Or was it a random event and we are the unfortunate victims of a professional thief?

HaHa…. This is what I love about Vietnam…. I am ALIVE!! For better or worse, tomorrow will come and I will survive. There are powers that really want us to succeed and bring tourist dollars into this area. They are behind me, and part of my new stronger backbone. I cannot imagine that they would be willing to take the risk of losing the friendly and curious foreigners that I bring to this area….. as a matter of fact, I think they are thrilled and want more. Tourists in this area are loved and protected by the locals. It is only the Vietnamese it seems (me being one of them in their mind) that can be exploited.

Today is our wedding  Anniversery ……… What a unusual gift. Yea I know the spelling is wrong on the cake.

Ahhhhh I feel alive!