At the Club - What not to read.

Going back to the "Club" days.

I was hired to work nights at the Lake Placid Club in 1983.  My shift was 11 PM to 7 AM.  I was one of the auditor responsible for posting charges to customers room bills. Balancing the days work for the hotel/bar/restaurant and stores.

This is just one of the stories I will write about the LPClub.

It was really early in the morning, about 2 AM, and our work was done.  We could not leave and both brought books with us to pass the time.  Dave was near the switchboard reading and I was on the couch in the outer office by the big fireplace.  The security guards were out on patrol of the grounds.  The LPC was huge and large portions of the property were closed off.  Kids and people loved to sneak in. About 100 rooms in this one wing were so run down it never opened while I worked there.  As you entered the massive lobby this wing was on the right, just past the salon.  I remember several time hearing the saloon type wooded doors swing and gently rub each other as they passed in the night. Probably just the security guards checking the salon and the wing of unused guest rooms.

I mentioned the club was OLD, (founded in 1895) The Lake Placid Club was a social and recreation club founded 1895 in a hotel on Mirror Lake in Lake Placid, New York, under Melvil Dewey's leadership and according to his ideals. It was instrumental in Lake Placid's development as an internationally known resort. 

By New England Ski Museum - New England Ski Museum, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19066235


it was also in receivership so not a lot of upkeep was being done.  It was so bad you could not run the heat and have hot water.  You could only have one at a time. We generally had heat running during the night and about 6 AM we would turn the boiler over to water so the guest would have hot water for their shower in the morning. One night the pipes were making so much noise it was hard to concentrate on our work.  We kept going into the lobby to see if we could figure out where the noise was coming from.  The 2 security guards were with us as we walked around the lobby, up stairs and down this hall towards the library.  We hear the swish of those doors down stairs and all four of us look at each other.  If we are the only ones here - WHO is swinging the door.  Clearly not the security guards because they were right next to us.  hmmm.  The pipes quieted down and we went back to the desk and the guards continued down the hall.  

Dave went back to sitting at the switchboard ready, and I went back to the couch.  After a short time the pipes started up again and we looked over at the security office to see if the guys were close by so we could check it out again.  It seemed like the noise was coming from a different room.  No security so Dave and I left the front office and head down this outer hall in the direction of the noise.  It sounded like music, but through the pipes.  Looking at each other almost afraid to ask if the other hears music, we keep walking down this hall.  Silent. We round this corner when above us we feel heavy footsteps and they are running.  Again, Dave and I look at each other, afraid to ask... We get to the stairway and the 2 security guys are running down them asking if we hear music.  I feel relieved.  I'm not crazy.  We, together, head towards the music.  Since this building is so old and was constructed at different times the floors and sections change a lot.  It's not easy to get from one spot to the next without a lot of work.  The music is louder now as we reach the Agora section of the hotel.  The security guards ask us to return to the desk, just in case anyone calls.  Our eyes were bugging out - me thinking I am not going back there ALONE!!!  Dave, I'm sure, has the same thought as neither of us moved.  The four of us approach the chapel, which is beautiful.  Stain glass windows, huge windows.  I bet the Sun coming in them makes beautiful colors.  There are the church pews, and they are big, wooden and smell musty, but we can make them out and don't run into them.  There is a large pipe organ in the center of the room on a stage and it's playing!  No one, however, is  playing it.  The piano seat is empty.  The music is beautiful... It is playing on it's own.  Dave and I stand there staring at the organ and the security guards don't move.  One of the guards clears his throat and the music stops immediately and I felt this calm body of air pass by me and leave the room.  No more music that night.  All Quiet as we return to our assigned posts.  I pick up my book from the couch and the security guard Frances ask me if I am really reading "The Shining" by Steven King.

Yep, I was, actually, didn't really think about it.  I never brought that book back to work.  I started doing word searches.

Story on the Hill

This really happened - holding luggage hostage.

The day started like any other when you're at a hotel and the tour buses are leaving.  Porters are picking up the bags from outside the guest rooms on their lists and delivering them to the motorcoaches outside.  Drivers count bags and when the numbers match, they are set to go.

One bus is missing a bag - How did this happen?  We need to find it ASAP and the bus is on a schedule and needs to leave by a certain time to make the ferry.  While the guys are going through the list again, we get a call at the desk to have someone come up to the 4th floor - some one is running around in their underwear!  Really!!!  Call for someone else to check on the runner.

Bus Driver getting antsy for us to find his bag.  Porters go into each room to see if maybe the guest didn't put the bag outside the door.  Nope - no rooms with luggage, no extras in the hall.  Great.  Get another call about the naked runner who is now on the 3rd floor.  Called on the radio for someone to go check it out.

Bus leaves knowing it is missing a bag.  We have description, color and name of person the bag belongs too.

About 8:30 I receive a Manager call about a suitcase and she is holding it hostage until her boy friends gets his clothes and wallet back?  I really have no idea what she his talking about except the suitcase I what I focused on... Who is calling from outside the hotel talking about a hostage situation and a the hostage is the suitcase?  I take her name an phone number and tell her I will look into it, but she needs to return the suitcase immediately as she is in possession of STOLEN property and will be prosecuted.  

I call down to housekeeping to see if they found clothes and a wallet and sure enough they did.  I asked them to bring the items to the front desk.  I called the police and they arrived at the desk.  I told him the story I knew.  The housekeeping manager came to the desk with the items and I called the woman back from my cell phone on speaker so the police could hear too.

Apparently, the boyfriend was in the hotel and hooked up with a guest.  He was getting phone calls from his girlfriend who said she was outside the hotel and he better get his azz home.  The BF ran out of the room carrying his stuff down the stairs and lost some of his items in the stairwell.  He ran into the main hotel and up the stairs and found all these suitcases and took one thinking he would be able to find something to wear - WRONG - he picked a little old lady's with nothing for him.  GF in the parking lot waiting for him to come out so he leaves with the suitcase and calls the hotel to exchange this stolen suitcase for his clothes.  The police tell them to come inside and get their stuff and return the suitcase.  They do come inside and the police talk to them in the back office.  We are all stunned by the stupidity of this day.  Barely 9 AM and this is happening.  We get the suitcase and call the driver of the bus, send one of our staff heading down the road to catch up with the bus.  He makes it just in time.

Police in the back for a while and later we find out the naked senior citizen suitcase thief is an employees son!!!  Can't make this up people.  Hope you enjoyed this.