“We had this long-term guest who was a heavy drinker, not so fondly nicknamed ‘Dopey’ by the other workers. He was always polite to me, but I guess when he’d been drinking he could get a little mean, not that I ever saw that. Dopey liked to go out to our pagoda and smoke and drink his nights away, before napping and going to work. He could be somewhat aggressive when aggravated, as this kid found out.
One night, three guys got together, got hammered, and decided to share a room. Two of them were ‘together’ and slept in the same bed while the third got the floor. The third guy, more trashed than he should have been, left the room and couldn’t even remember anyone’s names because he was so hammered, so obviously, I couldn’t let him back into the room, as he couldn’t even tell me what room that was. I told the kid he needed to leave, so he went out to the Pagoda. He was smart enough to not go far.
Dopey was outside, drinking from a bottle of Jack, when this kid came up, drank straight from the bottle, and proceeded to ‘talk too much trash’. Dopey, mad that someone stole his drink, started to get worked up. His roommate was out there with him, also smoking, and started to get alarmed so he came to fetch me.
I don’t know what was said, or how it was said, but I know that Dopey got super angry and asked me to call the police, as he was about to hit this kid. So I called the police dispatched, asked for a patrolman for some poor trashed kid, and they obliged.
I was behind the desk sorting some paperwork, when Dopey came charging in, angry as all heck, not mad at me but definitely venting as he went to his room to grab some things to take back outside while ranting about what he’d do to the kid if he ever saw him. I went outside. The kid had had a backpack, and it was sitting there on the table, but the kid was nowhere in sight.
Just then, the police cruiser pulled in, and Officer Super-Bish got out. Officer Bish spoke to everyone present, while I ran back inside because I had two very nervous looking guys standing at my desk. One of them asked. ‘Have you seen our friend?’
It clicked. That young kid was friends with these two guys, and now he was missing. No one knew where he’d gone. Officer Bish came in, reported that everything was calm, and he’d do a quick browse of the nearby area for this kid.
Now, that kid leaving his backpack on the table tickled me. Usually hammered people don’t just leave things lying around like that unless they’re planning on coming back for it. Officer Bish had his bag in hand, which he gave to me. As Officer Bish left out the front door, I hurried out the side door that faced our Walmart SuperCenter across another hotel parking lot and a large five lane road. I did a quick scan, and thought I saw something weird in the grass.
Found the kid As Officer Bish was about to drive past, I flagged him down. Pointed out said kid, who was passed out face first in the grass. His friends were standing not too far away, smoking, watching with interest. When I gestured them over, they came running, and there were a lot of clucks of dismay. A second patrol car came pulling up, filled with Officer Heavy-But-It’s-All-Muscle-Don’t-Mess-With-Me.
After a brief discussion, it was decided that the kid could sleep it off in the friend’s room on the floor. I let the officers in the side door, then went running interference with Dopey, as the officers had to walk past his room to get the kid to the friend’s room.
Dopey was understandably upset to see the officers walking past his room, but after much soothing, calmed down enough to at least have a mild conversation. The two friends came and thanked me repeatedly because they had been worried about this kid when he didn’t show back up.
In the end, everyone was okay. Man was it wild. I think the wildest part was the kid.”
