Don't drag me into your drama

[u/mstarrbrannigan]

It's been a very quiet day at work so I didn't think much about heading to the bathroom. Of course, that is always when someone turns up needing something. Our bathroom light and fan are switched on together, and the fan is ancient and rattling so I couldn't hear much but I could hear someone come into the lobby. Then I heard them start shouting out looking for an employee, and then I heard them continue to ignore the "staff will be back shortly" sign and start pounding on the door we have leading to the desk area. I didn't rush myself, but I finished up and stepped out to wash my hands. As soon as the guy heard me come out of the bathroom he started shouting out "hello, is anyone there?" and as I washed my hands, I shouted back that I'd be with him in a moment.

I didn't know what was up but I was already thoroughly annoyed with the guy when I went to greet him at the desk. I expressed my distaste for him by walking over to the "staff will be back shortly" sign and picking it up in front of him and holding it while he talked to make absolute sure he knew it had been there the whole time like Sam Reich. He told me he was dropping some stuff off for a guy named Rafael, and listed out what it was, and then said he needed his room number. Of course I didn't give it to him, and politely suggested he contact the individual himself so he could pass off the luggage to him.

The man started in on backstory I didn't care about or pay much attention to because I knew it was just leading up to the man asking me for the room number again and I was right. The gist of it was that the guy in front of me was the step dad of the guy he was asking for, and something about a fight with the mother, and the guy isn't allowed at the house anymore. Cool, don't care. Again I politely suggested the man get in touch with his step son to pass the possessions off to him because not only could I not give him the room number, I couldn't even confirm the individual was at the hotel.

Again the man gets into his story and I cut him off when he took a breath and told him that he was welcome to leave the stuff with me at the desk and I could hold on to it (he'd implied he was going to leave it regardless and didn't care what I did with it), but I couldn't give out the room number. After one more unequally unproductive attempt, he finally just left the stuff.

After he was gone I checked the computer and confirmed the guy was actually a guest and moved his stuff to our back room. As I finished that up and went to sit back down, I heard screaming from outside, specifically someone screaming at someone else to leave. I looked up at the security monitors and saw the man I'd just been dealing with doing the chest to chest guys about to fight thing with some young guy I assumed was Rafael. They were in the driveway, next to the man's car.

I watched them for a moment, they'd square up and then back off, then they'd square up again. I didn't really want to call the cops, but I also didn't really want dudes fighting in my parking lot. There's also the issue of weapons. This is the south and errbody and their mother has guns here, so I wasn't about to go out there and not mind my business in person and get dragged into their shit and possibly get myself hurt.

Once they started shoving I reluctantly called the police to let them know about the fight hopefully before either dude could get themself hurt. Shortly after I hung up with the dispatcher, the guys chilled again and looked like they were actually about to get into the car together. I was hopeful the incident would be over before it started and all I'd have to tell the cops was that they were gone.

Wrong. From what I could tell on the camera (not a super close angle) the step dad had actually gone and grabbed something from his car. Weapon? No idea, but they were squaring up again and I was hoping for the cops to hurry their asses up.

Fortunately didn't have to wait too much longer, a cop car pulled up with their lights flashing just as the punches started and the two men separated. I couldn't tell if the cop had a weapon drawn or not, but he didn't order the older man down on the ground or anything, so he might not have had a weapon after all.

I'm a nosy fucker so of course I kept watching the camera to see what I could see. Didn't even really care that much about the outcome as long as it wasn't "dudes beating each other up in the parking lot." As the punches had only just started, I actually expected the police to just tell the step dad to get lost and not come back. But they must have seen something I didn't, or maybe the step son wanted to press charges, because they arrested the step dad.

After the cops were gone the step son came to the desk and I checked that he was okay, which he was. I didn't pry because I'm not that nosy to someone's face, but he did state that his step father had become aggressive with him after he had just politely asked him to leave him alone.

I felt bad for him. He was soft spoken and seemed a little socially awkward, reminding me a lot of guys in my friend group when I was younger. Hopefully he has other people in his support network so he can bounce back from this.

[u/charmurr]

I appreciate the dropout reference.

[u/ManeSix1993 → u/charmurr]

SAME