How many Nights?
A new $10 million new
hotel opens in Ribrock, Tennesee. Ribrock
resident, Leola Starling is very pleased. 'It's
good for our town,' she tells friends. 'It will
bring us jobs and business.'
Then Leola's phone starts ringing.
‘Is that the Plaza Hotel?’
‘I’m sorry,' Leola says politely. 'You have the wrong number.’
She puts the phone down. Immediately it starts ringing again. 'I'd like a double room please.'
This time Leola is a little less polite. 'You’ve got the wrong number.'
'No, I don't,' said the caller, and he’s right. The problem is the telephone number of the new hotel. It’s almost exactly the same as Leola’s.
Same number?
The calls keep coming. Many are late at night. Leola
finds it very stressful.
She contacts the hotel. 'Could you please change your
number?' she asks. 'I'm getting all your
calls.'
But the hotel refuses to
co-operate. 'That number is on all our stationery,'
they complain. 'It’ll cost too much to replace.
Why don't you change your
number?'
The phone company is not helpful, either. 'A number is
a number,' they say. 'It's not our fault if people dial
the wrong one.'
Angry
Leola is now very angry.
She decides to take action.
The next call is from Memphis. 'Can I have a room for
Tuesday?' the man asked.
'No problem,’ says Leola. ‘How many
nights?'
Then a secretary wants a suite with two bedrooms for a
week.
'We have the Presidential Suite on the 10th floor,' she
says. 'It’s $600 a night.'
'That's perfect,' says the
secretary.
The next day Leola takes
many more bookings. One lady wants a hall for her
daughter's wedding in June. ‘Will the hotel
arrange the flowers?’ she asks.
'Of course!'
Chaos
Very soon there is total
confusion at the Ribrock Plaza Motel. ‘But we
phoned you,’ angry clients tell the
receptionists. ‘You confirmed our
reservation!’
The hotel loses business and is about to close. Then
one day Leola’s phone rings. It’s the head
of a big hotel chain. ‘We're prepared to offer
you $200,000 for the motel,’ he says.
‘Okay,’ says Leola. ‘But only if you
change the telephone number.’
Activities
