Truck Driver Training Installment: Phase 0.5
Well I've made it to Indianapolis. I had a smooth drive out, despite Mother Nature trying her best to dissuade me from hitting the road. But her little snow squall didn't stop me and within an hour of leaving the house the sun poked out from behind the clouds and kept me company for a majority of my trip.
Upon my arrival I checked into the hotel and was quickly disappointed at how far downhill this once 4 Star hotel has gone. The hotel used to be owned by another major chain and when it was under their higher class management, it was a stellar hotel. The rooms were always SPOTLESS and the hotel in general always appeared sparkling.
Not so much now. The entryway is about as lackluster as it gets. I remember being greeted with friendly professional faces, now replaced with young trashy looking chicks who were about as friendly as a doorknob and appeared to think their cleavage was more important than courtesy.
The foyer used to have a nice table with fancy fake flowers, informative fliers and pamphlets. A large screen tv was once mounted on the wall behind the table. All now gone. There were also a half dozen or so large, comfortable chairs and love seats placed about the area as well. Which have been lessened in numbers to two and are so WELL worn I believe I'd think twice before sitting on the.
The ride up to the room in the elevator wasn't too much different from my memories past. One elevator works, the other is forever "out of order". Once I made it to my room I found it appeared "meh" upon first glance. Then I turned it lights on. The carpet is stained in many places and there is an abundance of stains on the sheets, pillow cases, curtains and the damn lampshades. How does that even happen?
I immediately sat my things on the only hard non-fabric surface, the table in the corner, and began my "bed bug" inspection. I do this, not only here, but at every hotel I stay in. With the increase of bed bug cases in the US over the past 5 or so years I'm uber paranoid about picking up the little buggers. So I started my search for signs of them. After a few minutes of checking over both of the full size beds thoroughly I determined it was, at least, bed bug free.
I then decided to call the hubby and let him know I made it and was getting settled in. As I dialed him up I splayed myself across one of the beds. I suppose having feared creepy crawlies clouded my vision because as I looked over to my right where the comforter was draped across the end of the bed I saw that there was dried crusted something all over the edge of it. It could be food. Could be something else. I promptly wadded it up and placed it in a pile outside the door in the hallway.
I wonder how long its actually been since they have laundered the sheets and such in this room. But if I wonder too much, I'll creep myself out and keep myself awake about it all night. Best to pretend it's all sparkly clean, like it used to be, before the change in name and management turned it into what it is now.
After catching up with the hubbles on the telephone I headed down the road to the local grocery store to buy some stuff to feed myself with in the evenings this week. During training we're fed at the company terminal for lunch, and allegedly there is a continental breakfast here at the hotel, but we're on our own for dinner. So since I have a room with a mini fridge and a microwave I picked up some stuff to help me save some money.
I will splurge one night this week and have myself a nice tasty steak dinner downstairs in the restaurant. But I haven't decided when. But I'm so afraid that they have ruined it too, and that my meal with be less than acceptable. Maybe... just maybe they haven't screwed with the food portion of this hotel.
But enough of my whining about this hotel. Let's just sum that up to EPIC FAIL.
I'm anxious to get started tomorrow with the real reason I'm here. I have a good idea of what to expect but I'm still kind of scared. Just the normal anxiety kind of stuff really. But I'm also totally excited. I can't wait to get behind the wheel again and jam some gears. I wonder if we'll get to do any of that tomorrow or if we have to wait a day or so. Regardless I'm just ready to get it started. I have to be at the terminal at 8:00am, but after talking to the front desk clerk the latest shuttle I can take to get there and be on time is 6:45am. Which kind of sucks but does mean that if the continental breakfast here sucks I can at least go to the terminal and get a half decent hot breakfast.
So now that it's 9 o'clock at night and I'm already a wee bit tired, I'll sign off and make my bedtime hubby call and then hit the hay.
Training installment: Phase 1.0 to come tomorrow night.
Upon my arrival I checked into the hotel and was quickly disappointed at how far downhill this once 4 Star hotel has gone. The hotel used to be owned by another major chain and when it was under their higher class management, it was a stellar hotel. The rooms were always SPOTLESS and the hotel in general always appeared sparkling.
Not so much now. The entryway is about as lackluster as it gets. I remember being greeted with friendly professional faces, now replaced with young trashy looking chicks who were about as friendly as a doorknob and appeared to think their cleavage was more important than courtesy.
The foyer used to have a nice table with fancy fake flowers, informative fliers and pamphlets. A large screen tv was once mounted on the wall behind the table. All now gone. There were also a half dozen or so large, comfortable chairs and love seats placed about the area as well. Which have been lessened in numbers to two and are so WELL worn I believe I'd think twice before sitting on the.
The ride up to the room in the elevator wasn't too much different from my memories past. One elevator works, the other is forever "out of order". Once I made it to my room I found it appeared "meh" upon first glance. Then I turned it lights on. The carpet is stained in many places and there is an abundance of stains on the sheets, pillow cases, curtains and the damn lampshades. How does that even happen?
I immediately sat my things on the only hard non-fabric surface, the table in the corner, and began my "bed bug" inspection. I do this, not only here, but at every hotel I stay in. With the increase of bed bug cases in the US over the past 5 or so years I'm uber paranoid about picking up the little buggers. So I started my search for signs of them. After a few minutes of checking over both of the full size beds thoroughly I determined it was, at least, bed bug free.
I then decided to call the hubby and let him know I made it and was getting settled in. As I dialed him up I splayed myself across one of the beds. I suppose having feared creepy crawlies clouded my vision because as I looked over to my right where the comforter was draped across the end of the bed I saw that there was dried crusted something all over the edge of it. It could be food. Could be something else. I promptly wadded it up and placed it in a pile outside the door in the hallway.
I wonder how long its actually been since they have laundered the sheets and such in this room. But if I wonder too much, I'll creep myself out and keep myself awake about it all night. Best to pretend it's all sparkly clean, like it used to be, before the change in name and management turned it into what it is now.
After catching up with the hubbles on the telephone I headed down the road to the local grocery store to buy some stuff to feed myself with in the evenings this week. During training we're fed at the company terminal for lunch, and allegedly there is a continental breakfast here at the hotel, but we're on our own for dinner. So since I have a room with a mini fridge and a microwave I picked up some stuff to help me save some money.
I will splurge one night this week and have myself a nice tasty steak dinner downstairs in the restaurant. But I haven't decided when. But I'm so afraid that they have ruined it too, and that my meal with be less than acceptable. Maybe... just maybe they haven't screwed with the food portion of this hotel.
But enough of my whining about this hotel. Let's just sum that up to EPIC FAIL.
I'm anxious to get started tomorrow with the real reason I'm here. I have a good idea of what to expect but I'm still kind of scared. Just the normal anxiety kind of stuff really. But I'm also totally excited. I can't wait to get behind the wheel again and jam some gears. I wonder if we'll get to do any of that tomorrow or if we have to wait a day or so. Regardless I'm just ready to get it started. I have to be at the terminal at 8:00am, but after talking to the front desk clerk the latest shuttle I can take to get there and be on time is 6:45am. Which kind of sucks but does mean that if the continental breakfast here sucks I can at least go to the terminal and get a half decent hot breakfast.
So now that it's 9 o'clock at night and I'm already a wee bit tired, I'll sign off and make my bedtime hubby call and then hit the hay.
Training installment: Phase 1.0 to come tomorrow night.
Comments
That said - isn't there another hotel you could go to? I would NEVER stay there if it's as you described. I don't even get out of the car/truck if the room isn't up to par - Ed and I look for the same thing in a room (although I'm less tolerant than he is - surprise) and he goes in to check out the room before we even bring a bag in. We've left several hotels after one look.
But I guess you won't be in the room all that much, so it might not be so bad.
Best of luck on your first day. You'll be in our thoughts!!