"Tt's just water from the teapot that i was pouring," she replies, and I realize that she did not pick up on my concern, but instead was responding in a way so as to defend herself from a chastising comment. I felt sad, embarrassed and ashamed to be lumped into a group of demanding visiting guests always expecting perfect and perhaps inhuman customer service.
My husband and I are staying in a resort for a few days in Florida for some relaxation, and it certainly is working. My iphone died several days ago and I don't really care to fix it - that would lead to a temptation to constantly check respond to work emails (I have internet access on the beach, which enables me to blog, but I have not checked my email yet!). I feel little anxiety, little tension in my shoulders, and as I write this, I'm sitting on a beach chair listening to the lapping waves as my my husband uses a paddleboard on the ocean in front of me. I look up and see a pair of dolphins bobbing up and down, unusually close to the shoreline. I recall the local travel station on TV, on which a woman repeatedly refers to South Florida as "paradise."
Even with the level of relaxation I'm experiencing, there is something about resort life that bothers me. I'm being "served" by people who are less fortunate that I - some are college students who have a summer job (our initial bell hop plays football in college), but some are older individuals who are trying to make a living. They constantly greet me with a smile and a "how are you ma'am", but I just wonder if they are even slightly are resentful of guests like me. No doubt they are trained to be as happy as possible, to provide excellent customer service, hoping for that generous tip.
I do feel that I deserve a nice vacation, especially given how hard I work - all the weekends and calls I take have been very draining. But resort life feels a bit unsettling. It's gratuitous, consuming, and can be very wasteful. I see other guests on the resort who are rude and demanding to those who are trained to have plastic smiles plastered on their faces at all times. I think of my parents who came to this country with nothing and could never afford to take me brother and I on a vacation like this. Maybe they would feel that I am spoiled.
A few months ago, some girlfriends and I shared a room at a bed and breakfast in Brenham, TX, hoping to enjoy the Texas wildflowers (shout out to The Brenham House http://www.thebrenhamhouse.com/). The service was excellent, the owners were hospitable and willingly catered to my lacto-vegetarian diet). There was nothing unsettling about the quaint and cozy weekend I spent here with my girlfriends. Perhaps B&Bs can provide the personable touch to a vacation along with the relaxation in a way that resorts cannot.
No comments:
Post a Comment