Wifey: “Ahem. Say what now?”
Walmart check-out chick: “Aaaahm sawry Ma’am, but it’s a Sundee. We don’t sell aylcahaaal on a Sundee.”
Wifey: (thinking to herself “deeeeep breaths. Caaaaalm down. She’s probably just joking”) “Are you serious?”
Walmart check-out chick: “Yes Ma’am.”

Well whaddyaknow? Alabama doesn’t sell alcohol on a Sunday. Usually this would be fine. Well, not fine, but not so bad. But I gotta say, the proceeding events would have been SO much more bearable if that chick has sold me that damn bottle of Rose’. (I’ve also gotta say that this is really long, and may or may not be worth the effort in the end!!)

We got back to Motel 6 with our carrot and celery sticks, dip, and chicken tenders we’d bought for dinner. We had booked a room with a microwave and a fridge, and had paid extra for it. We had also paid for wireless internet. We had also paid for, you know, TOWELS. None of these were in the room. Oh well, I thought, after I put a load of washing on, I’ll go and ask for my money back for the fridge and microwave, and ask about the internet, and collect some towels.

So off I go down to the laundry. There were 2 washing machines and 2 dryers so I choose a washing machine and put a load on, and someone else came in to use the other machine. We had a wee chat to the girl using the other machine (Hubs had popped down) and she was younger than us (maybe 22?) and was living at the Motel, cos apparently it was better than living at home. It sounded like she had had a bit of a rough life.

After that I popped to the office and there were 4 people lined up to speak to the duty manager, who would have only been about 25 as well. One guy (about the same age) came in and she said “the usual?” and he nodded and they didn’t have to speak another word. She booked his room, knowing exactly what he wanted, for 1 night. Weird. Then 2 other people were there looking for towels so I piped up as well. But then I had to wait in line to get my money back for the lack of fridge (and internet) so it took about 20 minutes all up.

Anyway, once the load of washing was done, it was about 9:30pm on a Sunday night by this stage remember, and I had been refused a bottle of wine WHILE ON HOLIDAY, I loaded the clothes into one of the dryers and put in my 6 quarters. And this is what showed on the display:

ERROR

Hmmmm…. that’s no good. It was also showing that I had only put in $1, instead of the $1.50 I’d actually fed in. So I tried to press the coin return button. Nothing. Hmmmm…. annoying. I tried to re-set, which got rid of the ERROR message, but no money came out. So I went back upstairs, grumbling, and got some more quarters. I tried again, but EXACTLY the same thing happened. GRRRRRRRRR. I took a deep breath, cos, my life really isn’t THAT hard, and went back to reception, only to find another 4 or 5 people either checking in or complaining about various crappy things to do with their rooms.

Finally it was my turn. I told them my problem and was given this response:

Reception: “I’m sorry, that’s an independent company. You’ll have to give them a call and they’ll come and look at the machine and refund any money that might be in there. I can’t give you your money back”
Wifey: “Can I please have the service number?”
Reception: “Ummmmmmm… I’ll need to call my supervisor.”
Wifey: “I can wait.”
Reception, dialling and waiting: “She’s not answering. Can I call you in your room and give you the number?”
Wifey: “Fine.”

It would have been around 10:30pm by this stage. At 10:45pm I hadn’t heard anything so I went down.

Reception: “Oh yeah, sorry, here’s the number…..”
Wifey: “Thanks.”

So I rang them and surprise surprise their customer service centre was only open 9am til 5pm Monday to Friday. But I could leave my name and number and machine details and they would call me back asap. Super. No, really. That’s great! I have a pile of wet washing, no dryer and no line. AND I possibly could have used the other dryer but the other girl was using it and seemed to have 4 loads of washing. (It’s not her fault though. Not once in this whole “experience” did I begrudge her.)

So I go down to reception and explain what happened.
Reception: “Oh, I wish I could help but it’s a separate business.”
Wifey: “Fine. Thanks. Good night.”

I decided to cut my losses and just try and hang the washing up in our room (a smoky non-smoking room) and dry them off in the other dryer the next morning which is exactly what I did. And you wanna know something hilarious? The reasons we chose Motel 6 was that it was cheap (and nasty), the lady at reception was nice (until something went wrong) and it had laundry facilities!!!

NEVER STAY IN MOTEL 6!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NOTE: Just writing this now, I am aware of 2 things:
1. I have an easy life so when little things go wrong it’s very obvious.
2. I’m reminded of this Jimeoin joke:

“So I was in a hotel lobby and I wanted a pack of cigarettes so I put my money in the vending machine but no cigarettes came out, so I went to the Manager and told him what happened and he said “It’s got nothing to do with me.” And I asked what he meant and he said “It’s got nothing to do with me – that’s a freelance company. You’ll have to write a letter to them and they’ll either give you your money back or a packet of cigarettes, whatever you prefer, but it’s got nothing to do with me.” So I grabbed one of me mates and he got on one side, I got on the other and we started walking out with it and the Manager said “What are you boys playin’ at?” And I said “It’s got nothing to do with you!”

Ha ha ha ha ha ha. (That one was for YOU Durdlin!!)