Thursday, January 17, 2013

The Rocky Mountain Inn, Cardston, Alberta, Canada...A Short Story


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 The Weekly Writing Prompt

For those unfamiliar with the concept, my interweb friends (their sites can be found here: Nicole, Carrie, and Leanne) have sponsored this little writing exercise. The rules are: 500 word maximum, the story must be posted to Leanne's blog HERE by next Tuesday, and you must use five mandatory words within the story.

This week's mandatory words are:
  Scarf
Bead
Lift
Neck
Profit

This one was tricky for me. I began a story yesterday and I just couldn't finish it. I mean, the picture's interesting enough and the words aren't all that difficult, but something didn't click. It wasn't until I had an idea today for the story I wrote that it finally fell in place. I hope you enjoy it!


The Rocky Mountain Inn, Cardston, 
Alberta, Canada

To the management of the Rocky Mountain Inn, Cardston, Alberta, Canada:

I wish to state from the onset that I am disappointed that I must write you this letter. I wish my disappointment could end there, but unfortunately, it cannot. Due to the “service” we received at your establishment, you have made our 19th wedding anniversary one to remember—for all the wrong reasons.

Our first issue has to do with the look of your building. Were you aware that the main entrance of your hotel looks like a giant human-eating monster? Well, it DOES and it scared my poor wife to death when we arrived. She had nightmares each night we were with you. Please fix this. 

Next, we must take issue with a situation we experienced in room 237. The room was a little warm so we opened the window just a crack. During the middle of the night (between my wife’s nightmares…) a pigeon flew in the window and landed on the headboard, which caused us both to wake with a start. The shock of seeing a living, breathing, and—regrettably—a pooping bird in our room caused my wife to scream and bolt upright out of bed. This caused her to tweak her neck, which in turn, required her to sleep with a scarf for stability. The window situation is dangerous, I tell you. You must find a way to keep these rogue pigeons away from women with sensitive necks while staying in your inn. Maybe cats… I’ll leave that decision up to you.

The bed was lumpy, the room was drafty, the pillow mints were horribly undersized, and the bathroom—oh, Heavens! What your call a bathroom fan was hardly that. After my wife’s shower the mirror was covered with bead upon bead of perspiration. She could hardly recognize her reflection when she was done. Thank goodness she packed her travel fan to help lift the humidity from the room. You should either fix the fan or get rid of all that hot water in the showers. This is my opinion, of course, but the lack of hot showers seems to do the trick at our house.

Finally…the bill. I am not a proud man. I have no issue with a business earning a profit or paying for the services my wife and I have accrued, but I do draw the line with tipping for what I determined to be subpar service, and so we did not tip anyone. The looks we garnered from the staff as we departed…well, let’s just say, if looks could kill I would not be around to write you this letter.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions and/or concerns you may have.

Sincerely, 

Thomas J. Sidwell, Jr.

P.S. See you next year. 


Word Count:  472

4 comments:

  1. Hehehe. Oh, I have the giggles. My husband used to work in the hotel industry, so it touches home a bit. ;)

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Carrie! I had a hard time with this one...I turned to humor to get through it. It was fun to write.

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