Timing, Pandemics, and Toilet Paper

6 months!!  Can you believe it?  This week marked the 6 month anniversary that Mark and I have been Innkeepers at the wonderful Fleur-De-Lys Mansion.  Some days it seems like it has been weeks and other days it seems like it has been years.  This week was particularly interesting since it started with Daylight Savings time and ended with Friday the 13th and a national emergency over the coronavirus.   

I’m not really sure how to describe this anniversary week for us other than it was full of firsts that resulted in an interesting comedy of errors.    Here are our firsts:

1.  Early check in on Sunday shows up on 11 pm Monday
2. Guest runs out of gas in our parking lot
3. Guest has dead battery in our parking lot
4. Guest hits a car in front of the Mansion
5. 2 guests check in, 3 check out
6. Guest warns me that there may be some strange noises coming from the room
7. I learn how to record footage from our security cameras
8. I call the police
9. I ask a guest not to return
10. There are no carts available at Costco on a Thursday afternoon
11. I can’t find toilet paper anywhere in town and …..
12. I learn how to process countless cancellations and refunds

After all is said and done, we celebrated our 6 month anniversary with a nice bottle of wine, a great home-cooked meal, and a Netflix binge.  We are grateful – grateful to the wonderful and understanding guests this week.  Grateful that we have a safe place to stay and that we can provide a safe place for our guests.  Grateful to our continued health, the health of our staff, and the health of our families.  Grateful that there is hope for the future and most of our guests chose to keep their reservations and come see us in the future when there will be hockey, plays, comedy acts, and baseball.  

So…come see us – we have plenty of toilet paper.  

-Leslie