WHILE waiting in the hotel to meet a guest from Manila, we requested for a glass of water from the waiter.

“I am sorry, sir, we do not have a glass of water. We only have bottled mineral water,” he replied.

“Okay, bottled mineral water then,” I replied.

“That will be P30, sir,” he said.

“All we asked was for a glass of water to drink. Now you want us to buy a bottle of mineral water and pay P30?” I retorted.

“Well, the tap water in the hotel may not be safe to drink, sir,” he explained.

We did not want to argue further. We were thirsty. We paid P30 and grabbed the bottled water.
After drinking, we asked, “can we use your phone?”

We wanted to check the airport if the plane from Manila has landed.

“Yes sir, do you have a phone card?” we were asked.

Why would we need a phone card? All we want is just to make one short telephone call,” we explained.

“Sorry, sir, you cannot get an outside line from our telephone here,” we were told.

“Okay, then give us a phone card,” I snapped.

“That will be P100.00, sir,” I was told.

We need to make the call. Grudgingly, we gave him P100 and took the card.

“You are all business here and no service,” we murmured.

“Thank you very much, sir,” he replied.

2 Responses to “All business, no service”

• 1
  Mon Exmundo
  May 19th, 2009 11:24

  Which hotel was this? I would like to avoid it.
• 2
  Terry
  May 19th, 2009 11:35

  It’s fair that you pay for the service. You asked for bottled water, pay for it; you want to use the phone, pay for it. The hotel provides service, so pay for it. There is no more such thing as a free ride.

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