Entitled Parents

Hockey EP causes over $10,000 in damage to hotel, then blames the hotel

The last night of the tournament lined up with a big fight on PPV, and the EP's were slowly filtering back from a sports bar down the road. I was on the late shift this time, and the Head of Security (we'll call him Don) and I were laughing it was almost peaceful. Around 11pm, we get a call from a frantic guest, saying their bathroom light was 'raining'.

I sent engineering up to the 5th floor and a few moments later, he calls out on the radio he needs Don, and the other 2 engineers immediately. Then the kitchen manager radioed, saying part of the ceiling collapsed and water had flooded into the kitchen. Another call rang out from Housekeeping, saying the same thing just happened in the laundry room and break room adjacent to the kitchen.

All the flooding reports were from the same wing of the building, and we just renovated rooms on that side. We were concerned something happened to a water pipe somewhere during construction, but the head engineer wouldn't be back until morning. We get another call, this time from a business man on the 8th floor, water was flowing into his room from the hallway, and Don heads up there.

Don comes back down about 30 minutes later, furious, and soaked up to his shins. One of the California EP's got wasted, then decided he wanted a bath. He plugged up the tub and turned the nozzle on high. He then went to sit on the couch, and fell asleep with the water still on. Based on the timeline talking with other parents and EP's son (who left the room when his dad came back drunk), the tub had most likely been running for hours. The EP was still plastered, and Don left him up there in the care of a fellow hockey parent so he could decide what to do with the General Manager (GM) in the morning.

I gave the rundown to the overnight staff and told them I would be back in the morning to relieve them. It was one of the few times I was glad to have back-to-back close / open shifts, because I could see how the whole story played out.

The next morning, the GM and Head Engineer were still wracking up the cost of the damage, but it was easily over $10,000. In addition to his own room, he damaged recently renovated rooms on floors 8 through 4, and once it got to the 3rd floor it followed the wiring / pipes through the walls down to the kitchen, laundry room and lifeguard break rooms, where it busted through the ceiling. There are safeguards in hotels to deal with the occasionally overflow tub or toilet, but the volume from the constantly running tub was enough to overpower the system.

It was up to me to get a copy of EP's ID and get the GM when he arrived. EP comes down 2 hrs after checkout time, his hair well done and wearing a Rolex the size of my head. I knocked on the desk twice to signal my front desker to get backup, while I talked with EP. When I asked for ID, he got ugly.

EP: There is no reason you need my ID.

Me: I'm afraid there is, sir. I have been instructed to get a copy for our records, as there was some significant damage during your stay.

EP: *leaning in, laughing smugly* Look lady, if your shit hole can't withstand a little water, that's not my problem. I build hotels in California, ones that make this place look like a crack house. I know for a FACT hotels are supposed to have systems to prevent flooding.

Me: Yes, sir, they do. But in this case-

EP: I know you're only doing this because I make more money in a minute than you will see in your entire life, but you don't wanna go down this road with me.

I just smiled politely, and reiterated he needed to hand over his ID, then the GM came whipping around the corner. He relieved me to go on break, but I heard the GM say "I am trying to handle this civilly. If you want to make this difficult, I'm sure the police would be thrilled to accommodate you."

I know they filed a claim with insurance, but I don't know much of what happened after that. I hope he paid for every penny.