Working in hospitality gets a bad rap. People think that it's badly paid, the customers are always rude, and the hours are usually long. The proportion of vacancies in the industry has indeed increased by 48%, at least in the UK, signaling that people don't see it as a desirable job. But it's also a place where you'll probably meet the most interesting people and witness some unforgettable moments.
This time we're covering the experiences of people who work at resorts. Beaches, mountains, islands, ski and spa resorts – we're covering every kind. But the stories might not be uplifting this time, since the person who started this thread asked: "People who have worked at resorts, what's the most [messed-up] thing you've seen?"
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I was a bartender in South Padre Island during the early 2000s. I saw a drunk kid try to jump from a second-story balcony into the pool. He missed the pool and smacked his head on the pavement. [Unalived] instantly.
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Worked at The Canyons in Park City as a lifty for a winter. Worked the base lifts, including the gondola, and one day was working the top. At the lift across from the top of the Gondola (Saddleback) I was randomly just watching mid-day as it calmed down and saw a woman and her kid hop on. Thought nothing of it obviously. A few minutes later the lift stops, and doesn’t start spinning for 15-20 minutes. During this time a ton of patrollers on sleds came ripping up under the lift.
Came to find out that the woman had a seizure on the way up, didn’t have the bar down and fell off and broke her neck. Died instantly while her kid watched. Patrollers got there as soon as they could but nothing they could do.
Will never forget helping the crying kid on the Gondola to down-load with the patrollers. I am not epileptic or anything, but always put my bar down because of this now. Never know man. Still think about it frequently during the winter and it’s been 10+ years.
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When I was 18 I worked at a ski resort in Lake Tahoe and there was a really sweet girl celebrating her 21st birthday. She came in and talked to all the staff, etc. Well she got wasted and for some reason her and her friends decided to (still drunk) ski. She slammed into a tree and died instantly. It was so sad.
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I worked for Carnival Cruise lines back in the days. I remember the story when a lady didn't take her antidepressant medication of a cruise, and jumped off the top deck in the middle of the day. She ended up on someone's balcony few level down. Ship never stopped sailing .
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At a certain massive theme park that I can’t name, here are some incidents- 1) Some people got together that had closed the restaurant in the park got on the wheelchairs and raced each other to the front of the park and interestingly, it was learned that there were some places that were downhill. 2) Two of the costume characters fell in love. Late night after the park was closed, these two characters wearing their costumes were caught making love. everyone made fun of it on a daily basis for at least a year.
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Witnessed a bartender p**s in every glass of champagne for a single table at wedding. The guys at the table were from NJ slapping multiple banquet server bums (mine included) and being obnoxious a**hats. Too much money would be risked to ask them to leave. Lots of presidents have stayed here and it’s been around longer than we’ve been a country.
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I worked at a small resort as a kid - family business. It was in a little village, and sometimes the water would go off. We had a backup, but it had to be switched on manually. I was in the office, and one of our guests came in and told me the water was off. Sure, no problem. I'll turn it on right now. Before I could leave to do that, another couple who was staying there came in, extremely pissed off.
"What kind of s****y place are you running here?! We haven't bathed in three days!"
The first guy turned slowly to him and replied, "The water's only been off for about an hour.".Worked as a rep in Gran Canaria for a couple of seasons. Over New Year, two of us were asked to go visit a guest in the capital’s hospital. She’d been airlifted in from a neighboring island … honestly, I can’t remember why - this was 25 years ago - appendix possibly, whatever it was, it was obviously bad.
After a few days, Hospital staff, in broken English, told her ‘Your fiancé is coming in!’ She was so excited to see him, grateful he’d been able to get over to visit. Turns out he was coming in his own air ambulance. He’d slipped on the hotel lobby’s marble floor and hit his head, losing consciousness. He died two days later. That’s when we were asked to visit. She was such a champ. We didn’t know what to expect but she was holding it together, typical Englishwoman, worried about everyone else. Her only complaint/lament was that she didn’t have her glasses. I remember thinking ‘Christ, all this and you can’t even see’.
I suspect she must have had a huge emotional crash somewhere down the line. I think of her often, and hope she’s doing okay.Worked at one in Vegas
One night, 2 guys wearing purge style masks surrounded my maintenance guy doing circles on bmx style bikes at 2am…. They had katanas on their back. He said I have kids and I’m not going to go easy on you. They looked at each other and rode off.
Another night dad and mom wanted some action left kiddos unattended in our pool, kids float went upside down, with kid stuck inside. Someone on their 2nd floor balcony saw….. jumped a good 3yards out over our gate hit the ground hard and rolled his body into the pool and saved the kiddo no cpr was needed. medics came transported. 90% the couple got charged for neglect can’t confirm just what security told me which he got for the officers. The hero got a few week stay, he had some minor injuries juries from his jump.Worked at a casino resort; people will leave their children in the car (babies included), walk inside, get to the roulette table (plus other table games obvs) and proceed to order multiple alcoholic drinks over many hours until someone tells security when they see the kids and we had to track them down. Only for security to just scowl at them and not do s**t about it. Gamblers are scum of the earth.Didn't work at one but was enjoying lunch at an outside table in a resort in Puerto Morales when a Coatimundi jumped up on the table of 4 next to me and just started eating their lunch. Everyone had a few drinks in them so there was mostly laughter.Worked at a resort as a busboy in one of the buffet restaurants a few years ago, this rich kid got drunk at the bar, got invited to go "party" in the nearby local village by a few locals, accepted and left with them (against the staff's recommendations). He came back with nothing (not even clothes) the next morning.I worked at a small resort that had glass coffee tables. A teen girl sat on their glass coffee table, and at some point, the table broke. A very large piece stabbed her in the abdomen. Parents were there thank goodness, but couldn't call correctly to 911 (had to dial 9 first), so they called me at the front desk. I then had to call 911, direct them to us, all while also calling the manager so he could get on site. It was a small property with under 50 units, so I was the only one on site aside from 1 maintenance guy. After I showed the EMTs where to go, I found the teens brother, sitting in a corner hugging his knees, just watching everything. He was so scared. I tried my best just to be there for him and talk him. Every time we go to a hotel and I see glass tables, I just think back to that day.
She wasn't a big person, tables were not old, just a freak accident. So please, do not sit on glass tables.I worked in a restaurant in the Greek islands for a couple of years. A group of English tourists in the building next to me decided to hav a bbq inside their room oe night because it was pissing down rain. The closed up all the windows and all 3 of them died from carbon monoxide poisoning.I was at a beach resort about 10 years ago. I was chilling on the beach when suddenly a lady close to us started screaming and looking towards the ocean. Me and another guy ran to her and she screamed that her son was out in the ocean and stuck in an undertow and kept going under. I looked out in the water to see a 9/10 year old boy struggling hard to stay above water. Me and the guy ran into the water and was able to grab the kid. I carried him back onto the beach in my arms. He was scared and exhausted, but otherwise ok. When I got back to the beach, I was looking around for the mother who was screaming hysterically just moments before. I looked around and couldn’t find her. I sat the boy down and a nurse that happened to be present, started checking him out. I kept looking around for the mother and when I turned back towards the ocean, I saw her floating face down in about 3 feet of water. She had obviously followed us out into the water when I went after her son, but couldn’t swim and drowned. I immediately went and grabbed the woman and pulled her onto the beach while two bystanders immediately started CPR, but it was too late. When I looked back towards the boy, he had stood up and was looking directly at his dead mother lying at my feet. **. I say she couldn’t swim because I was later told that by a relative of the boy and mother, who was inside their condo when all of this happened.I worked the early morning shift at coffee shop inside large hotel. One morning I came in to open at 4:30am and I’m still half asleep, see a fat naked man come “running” around the corner and get in the elevator. I couldn’t believe my eyes. About 30 seconds later 2 cops run around the corner and say “HEY DID YOU SEE A GUY RUNNING THIS WAY!?!?”
I just started cracking up laughing and pointed to the elevator. Couldn’t get a word out!Mountain resort that catered to wealthy hunters. Two rooms decided that walking to each others rooms was too much of a hassle so decided to smash a huge hole in the wall that separated them. Not even contrite about it, stayed for three more days. And the resort was privately owned by a family, it wasn't some big chain.I work at all the resorts in Vegas and it never fails to amaze me the amount of wasted food in the conference space. Enough to feed 15,000+ people is thrown away EVERYDAY. Honestly probably closer to 30k/50k depending on the season.I worked at a Hotel in Paso Robles that had private hot tubs outside every room and we checked in a couple of squatters. They stayed holed up in the room for several weeks. When they figured out we were onto them and attempting to evict them, they smeared poop all over the walls. We had to call hazmat to clean it and remove all the carpet. Then after that incident it was the most popular and requested room because it was all remodeled.As a very young man (too young). I used to work at a camping site in the south of Sweden, for the "midsummer festivals". There's probably not many f****d up things that I haven't seen. They used to leave their vehicles upside down, burning, when they left the premises. It looked like a war zone. It *was* a war zone.I think the worst thing was the sheer amount of cheating. Super high end resort. The phone calls coming in from wives looking at credit card bills and demanding to know what/when/who…our billing department having the utmost privacy but always having to be honest that it was a hotel in xx (romantic) city. Not the convention where they said they were.
We also had a computer system full of notes because the men would bring multiple cheat partners AND their wives. So notes about who was who, who not to say welcome back to, no references to prior trips, etc. So sad to be complicit in that.Resort worker found a snake (non-venemous) right outside the resort, which was located in a fairly "natural," not highly developed area. Proceeded to pick up the snake by the tail and beat it to death against a wall, in front of guests. Little f*****g idiot thought he was being a hero too.La jolla beach and tennis club, 2006. i was part of the beach crew. i came upon a kid who had fallen while skimboarding and was bleeding on his face. trophy wife mom was nearby as i called a paramedic on our radio.
as we waited for the medic, i saw the shadow of a man walking up to us. i looked up and saw that he was wearing cowboy boots and jeans, very strange for being at the waterline on the beach. then i saw he had a pint glass full of whiskey, a half buttoned shirt with a dragon on it, and crazy white hair blowing in the wind.
thats when i recognized him as Bill, from Kill Bill. Yes, it was david carrodine and his wife and her kids. he kind of shrugged and walked on.
i didnt see him again until later that night, when me and a couple colleagues had to physically carry him up the stairs to his room at the hotel next door because he was so drunk. not terribly long after that i learned he died, but i will never forget that encounter.Worked at a resort in Nevada for a summer. The amount of bodies found in rooms would shock you. Las Vegas averages one a day across 150,000 rooms
You never hear about them in the news.Not me, but knew a guy in the "entertainment" team at a popular UK family chain resort who was basically an evil version of Patrick Swayze in Dirty Dancing. He specialized in seducing unhappy housewives. So many marriages destroyed.This is what I heard from people at front desk then I walked in seeing the rest.
So apparently, this couple was supposed to meet together in our hotel (Cancun). Assumed they were in a long-distance relationship because they were both arriving at different times. The guy checked in early and requested the staff to let him know if she arrived because he was decorating the hotel with flowers and romantic stuff and whatever. They said sure and the dude gets to decorating.
Around 5 hours later (i think around 10pm), girl still didnt show so he was concerned and kept calling her. He ran to front desk and asked employees if they ever seen a girl and they said no. He hung around front desk for another 2 hours and he still didnt hear from her. He then ranted a bit to the staff that they fought on the phone before the flight and didnt think it was serious but starting to think it was. He started drinking like a bastard (around midnight now).
He then started slurring and such and ranted more to the staff like they are therapists. Staff genuinely felt bad and offered something to eat. He refused and even started to tear up and had his eyes attached to his phone (this is where I came in the beginning of my shift as security). I had to watch him for security reasons but noticed on his phone that it looks like he was going through photos of multiple women with lingerie. He then abruptly left and went outside the front door for like 10 minutes and brought back a girl. Except it wasnt HIS girl. Very certain it's an escort. Got even more awkward because out of happiness and relief, one of the staff members said pretty loud, "THERE SHE IS! SO HAPPY SHE IS SAFE!". and the dude kind of gave him the *cuts throat* signal and went straight to his room. I mentioned to staff what I saw on his phone so we concluded he definitely hired an escort. We all put our heads down and just continued to work.
But the real kicker? His actual girlfriend finally showed up at 11am and said her flight was canceled (damn Spirit Airlines) and she forgot her phone charger at home. We had to call the cheating dude's room because he didnt seem to pick up her calls and looked really shocked when he came down. Girl was happy, guy was still shocked which confused the girl and I overheard the guy say, "I will explain everything...." as he was walking to his room. Escort already left (according to staff) thankfully but man really unfortunate over miscommunication.So I wasn’t there to see the whole thing but it co worker told me
So I work at Disney World in Recreation (pool greeter so I’m always at the pool area). My coordinator told me one day a couple came in to our resort (Riverside) to swim and drink and they brought the kids along. Throughout the day, the parents are getting drunker and drunker until they start fighting and screaming at each other. Well security and cops get called and they started freaking out and flee. They forgot the kids and one of the parents ended up at Old Key West and the other at Disney Springs where they got arrested
Lots of poop in the pools.- Like, first day, absolutely my first week I watched a guy get fired for stealing from the kitchen. Owner himself walked out to the dude’s car, grabbed the stuff he’d taken, walked it back inside.
- Housekeeper got fired after he disappeared for a while, but they found him on camera sneaking out to a van to hook up with his girlfriend.
- Middle-aged woman took two teen boys up to her room. The room overlooked one of our pools and *everybody* knew. Their parents were not happy.
- My last month, walking out the employee entrance, I overhear a guest complaining that another guest at their birthday party has a gun and were afraid he’d use it. Got outside, called the desk, desk called the cops. Happy birthday, kid.
All in all, great year.I work overnights and as I was walking the property one night I heard somebody moaning in pain. Turned out it was an elderly woman with dementia who had wandered out of her villa in the middle of the night and fell into a ditch. Her face was covered in blood and it was December in arizona so probably 35-40°. Paramedics came and took her to the hospital and fortunately she wasn’t seriously injured. I still feel bad about it because I have no idea how long she was out there.The room drinking glasses are simply rinsed in hot water from the bathroom tap.Not me but a family member worked on an Australian island off the east coast. After a group of Chinese visitors stayed over the weekend they noticed there were white feathers in the hotel room kettles, (This island is known for cockatoos wreaking havoc around the island and in the hotel rooms) so they must have been catching the birds and boiling them. All the kettles across the resort had to be thrown out and replaced.I worked at a roof-top, rotating restaurant near Sea-Tac Airport. On my third day, I was bussing a table and looked out the window at a high-rise apartment building a half mile away. There were flames visible on the balcony and they were growing. They appeared to be involving the apartment above. I yelled to my boss and the two of us raced down to the first floor, after directing one of the servers to call 911. As we ran down the street toward the fire, it became apparent that what we were seeing was a hibachi that some guy was firing up. As we slowed to a slow walk, we heard the fire trucks in the distance.I worked at a high end boutique resort in Asia as a dive instructor.
One night I was partying w the students after they “graduated.” I passed out naked and covered in barf while floating on a float in the pool.
For some reason no one (that I remember), woke me up till the AM. I was covered in mosquito bites, cold, hungover, and probably quite the shocking.
Somehow I wasn’t fired but I’ve never touched Sambuca again!I worked at a historic hotel when I was on summer break from college and I had to show a room to a guest that wasn’t made up from a previous guest. We told them we wanted to show the room after it was made, but they insisted on seeing it because they had limited time. The room was a mess and had multiple used condoms on the bedside stand and floor. I walked in and threw a towel over one when I saw it and stood awkwardly over the one in the middle of the room as the guests looked around.More heart breaking than f****d-up but my first job at a casino/resort on the Strip I noticed an older couple, 60- something sat at the same table in the food court for days. The wife would cry almost uncontrollably and the husband would berate her while he argued with someone on the phone. Found out later from a coworker that the husband lost the 4 grand they came to town with their first night at the tables. They didn't have enough money to get home and their relatives didn't either. I quit before they left though, so I have no idea what happened to them. I've always wondered.Less f****d up but still crazy.....Just a regular hotel, but at the breakfast buffet in the morning a homeless woman came in and stole everything she could grab in the middle of the service.My Airy Lodge in the poconos (it’s now closed but reborn as a casino)
They had honeymoon suites. The type that had heart shaped hot tubs and a newly built pool with a glass wall overlooking the golf course.
Couple in the pool swimming when the glass wall fell. It was sealed poorly.
Couple had some cuts but no serious damage.
I dunno how much the settlement was.I worked at a Sheraton and there was some kind of dentist convention going on. They reserved a conference room for a medical device demonstration. A fellow worker told me to go up and check it out. There were tables arranged in a square, with human heads neatly arranged for, I guess, practicing some sort of new technology. Circa 1985.I worked as a maid, and I noticed that the shift managers were pocketing the room tips.Worked in the kitchen of a resort and I also managed the dinning hall. We served food buffet style. Watched a mother let her kids “attempt” to serve themselves, kid stuck his hand in a container of cheese and then dropped his tray of food all over the floor and the mother said nothing about it. Had to find out myself smh ??♀️.I was working the night shift, and at 3 AM, a woman called asking to change rooms because she had vomited all over the bathroom. The hotel was fully booked, so we had to clean it ourselves.One summer in college I worked at a fancy lodge in the mountains that had a big banquet hall with massive wooden tables. At the end of summer we had to move the tables for a thorough floor cleaning, and when moving them back into their rows a coworker got four of his fingers caught in between two tables. They looked like hotdogs that had been run over by a car.Used to work where the NXIVM cult had a conference. They rented the whole campus, brought their own WiFi routers so they could spy on what everyone looked at, and wouldn’t speak or look at most employees bc we were “parasites”. I gave Kristen Kreuk a double take because I didn’t expect to see a celebrity on a random Tuesday, never spoke a word to her, bc as soon as she saw me look her in the eye she gave me the most vile, violated, atrocious dirty look I’ve experienced before or since.
Edited to add: they also followed Keith’s vegetarian diet, and since they rented the whole campus, the dining hall couldn’t cook or serve meat their whole stay - to anyone.Okay this blew up in an unexpected manner, Jesus. I have a few stories but none as extreme as this.
First one: about a month into my job, we had a shootout at the resort between some gang members, and the whole place went into lockdown just as my shift ended. Had to stay over for a few hours until an all clear was called, but we did get paid overtime for it, so that was kinda nice.
Second one: around Easter, we had a guy dressed as the 'dancing bunny' (I don't know either) try to touch a bunch of kids. Cops got called and he was escorted away fairly quick.
Third one: Full on brawl happened in the water park area. Two people were hospitalized, one was arrested, pretty sure someone got brain damage.Old man out with a proper death. 65 years old, wife rode him to death. Viagra and his heart didn’t mix. Heard the whole story in the lobby as the crew upstairs radioed down to the chief on duty. Every single one of us guys lined up and saluted him on his way out on the stretcher. Was a 26y army vet recently retired… but only us guys knew the real reason behind the salute. The wife wrote the resort thanking us guys for saluting her husband on his way out. Management patted us on the back for it.One time at the resort I worked at, I caught a guest trying to sneak into a restricted area where the staff keeps all the cleaning supplies. When I asked him what he was doing there, he admitted he was trying to steal some bleach to use in a prank on another guest. It was definitely one of the weirdest and most messed up things I've seen while working there.I came late but a group of girls started screaming and throwing glass drinks at each other causing the pool station to shut down because one group of girls f****d someone else's boyfriend together.. lmao.It was before I worked there but one of the pool lights malfunctioned and a woman was electrocuted when she dove in. Apparently it was horrific.I worked at a “Great w**f lodge” as a life guard, first off they treated us like c**p. Long hours, unpaid training, couldn’t eat food from the lodge (the food looked amazing) the water is why people come and you treat the life guards like s**t?!
We were rotated from position to position every 15 to 30 minutes, so let’s say baby pool to giant water slide to wave pool. The problem some of us ran into was horny teenage girls, you can pick how you want to go down the slide on the tube, front or back or spinning. Well bathing suits don’t hide much when you are spread eagle for no reason. None of the life guards were under 18, we couldn’t take our eyes off the guest when in water, we as life guards weren’t allowed to talk with guests as well it made some shifts pretty uncomfortable.I’ve heard of a drunk guy roll a golf cart into water. Fled.
