Thread: Should I really feel guilty or hide behind the "I'm just doing my job" excuse?

So as I've mentioned in like every post, I work at a hotel. Well most hotels nowadays need a valid credit card to check in, even if you are going to pay cash for the room because we make far more money that way AND we have our asses covered in case someone damages the room. So now that you're up to speed on our policy, here is the situation I was just caught in.

It's midnight, and our last guest just came in. He's a nineteen year old kid from Columbia, who for his big birthday, is visiting the states for the first time (Why in God's name he choose to come to Utah is beyond me). Anyway, he gives me his credit card which is declined. He asks if he can pay cash, and I tell him we need a valid credit card. So he tries to call his old man in Columbia to try and find out what's wrong with his card or if his father has a CC number he can give me over the phone.

Turns out to reach the province or whatever they have in Columbia, you need a time card or whatever they are called. He does not have one. The poor guy is on the verge of a panic attack and I am trying to keep him calm long enough to get a hold of my boss. I manage to call the big cheese and explain the situation and he informs me that under no circumstances am I to check in ANYONE without a valid card. Really helpful.

Anyway, I manage to get a hold of the one dumpshack motel (the kind where the room next door is probably a methlab) and it turns out they accept cash up front for the entire stay. Now since the kid was dropped off here via shuttle, he doesn't have a ride. I offer to call him a cab, but he says that the only cash he has is a ten dollar bill and a declined credit card.

Fanfuckingtastic.

So, I had to turn this kid away. I gave him the hotel number and told him if anything went wrong, to call me and I'll help him out. Then I gave him a crudely drawn map to the hotel twelve blocks away and he left, hauling his junk through the rougher part of town. I absolutely, one hundred percent feel like shit. I'm worried about opening up the newspaper tomorrow and seeing the headlines "Columbian Visitor Murdered brutally while trying to check in to shithole!" So now I'm nervous, feeling guilty, and have no idea what more I can do to help if he even manages to call me back.

/vent.