I did a stint as a maid in a no name motel by a busy highway. I learned a few things there. I learned that a few rare people are absolute pigs (towels are for wiping wet bodies not for wiping…). I learned that there were incredibly nice people everywhere.
I also learned that all soaps and shampoos, opened and unopened, are thrown away after each guest’s stay. You see they could be tampered with (there are some sick people in the world) and our little hotel couldn’t risk the lawsuits (not to mention the guilt).
If this truism applied to the hole in the ground Norman Bates hotel I was working at, it must apply 1000 times more to the big name hotels with something more to risk. So now whenever I travel, I pack up the shampoos, conditioners, and the soaps (not the towels or comforters or tv sets…that would be stealing).
The unopened toiletries are used for the guest bathroom (did I mention that this gal who had grown up without indoor plumbing now has 2.5 bathrooms? Yeah? Well, prepare to hear it a few more times. It’s my pride and joy). Guests always comment on how they feel like they’re staying in a bed and breakfast (except that the breakfast consists of Cheerios with week old milk that tastes like the fridge and they have to make the coffee themselves).
The opened toiletries are used for washing that nasty ring around the collar out of the hubby’s dress shirts (how does his neck get so dirty?).
Oh, and if you were wondering…we washed the linens after every visit but the comforter only once a month. Having seen what guests left on comforters (some guests practice safe…well, you get what I mean. Yes, I had to pick those up and dispose of them. Completely gross), the first thing I do now is remove it from the bed.
