People on vacation can get themselves in some of the most interesting situations. Every now and again you’ll have a mundane week interrupted by news of something incredulous that a guest did. Some of it is funny like the couple so drunk the guy was giving his girlfriend a piggyback ride and then missed the sliding glass doors and bumped into the wall, leading to her falling on her butt. Both laughing it off as they walk by the desk and ensure us they’re fine.
There’s also the people who decided to try and skinny dip only to be seen by others on the 2nd floor balcony and be reported by security. Hearing this story in the morning meeting was certainly entertaining. No judgement, you’re on vacation and nobody knows you so why not have some fun. It perks up my day, wondering what was going on in your head at the moment. Of course it’s not only our young and free guests that get themselves into these situations.
Sometimes however these shenanigans can go a bit too far and lead to personal injury. I remember at least one case of someone so drunk they stumbled and fell into a cactus plant, stood up and fell right back into it. The story alone made me wince, but the video was even worse to watch, luckily this person was so drunk I don’t think they actually felt it. I’m sure the hangover and pain the next morning was completely unpleasant.
Some people aren’t even drunk they just like to have a good time. There was a day we came into work and there were all these random pictures of people hung up on the office doors. Getting closer you realize there’s writing under the pictures and one guest is obviously playing a prank on one of their friends. To answer the question, staff can assist in setting up harmless fun pranks, we like to have a good time and see people laughing too.
My favorite has to be this one group, who come down every year and are always plotting pool deck pranks on their friends. The best one being the case of the mysteriously appearing toilet that ended up under a chickee, while all the pool furniture from that chickee was nowhere to be found. I must admit, hearing about this and subsequently seeing the perpetrators on camera had me cracking up to the point of being unable to breath. Just the sight of these toilet ninjas inconspicuously carrying a toilet they’d borrowed from maintenance over to this hut, you can see how much planning went into this and the timing and efficiency. I applaud the effort and execution. I look forward to the next prank.
All of these little surprises make the work day a bit more entertaining for us and as long as people are safe, having fun and enjoying their vacation it’s all the better. So all you good people continue to go forth and be goofy. Just please do it in view of the security cameras for everyone’s benefit.
Aruban born and bred Shanella Pantophlet is passionate about tourism. That is the world she studied and works in, so we might as well call her a specialist. Luckily for Aruba Today Shanella also loves to write. And together with the fact that the majority of our readers are tourists, we found ourselves a perfect combination for a column: Hotel Hustle.
