of pigs, fish, bulls and rabbits

We stopped at the good ol’ Super 8 in Battle Mountain, Nevada last night.

I could have guessed we were in for a real treat when we walked into the pool room and the temperature was in the mid to high eighties.

Eric went for a ride and I decided to work out while the kids swam - it was nicely situated with the fitness room within the pool area, treadmill directly facing the pool.... exercise and mind the kids at the same time.

About 15 minutes into it, I saw all the kids turn and look towards the door.  Obviously they were listening to someone talking to them.  I hopped off the treadmill and went out to see what was up.  

I interrupted an off-duty employee chewing out my kids for being in the hot tub.

 Now, the rule is posted - kids under 14 aren’t allowed, not that we paid any attention to that sign.

We were the only ones in the pool, as I pointed out to this guy.  That didn’t seem to matter to him.

I wanted to ask him if it mattered to him that it appeared that these four children were in the pool at all without any adult supervision (that is by far the largest posting in the room).

I wanted to ask him that if by some odd chance he did know that I was in the fitness room, watching their every move, why he didn’t come and talk to me first.

I wanted to ask him why he couldn’t just ask the kids nicely to please not go into the hot tub instead of getting visibly upset at them and bawling them out.

I wanted to, but I didn’t.  

I held my tongue and tried to be respectful.

The respect only lasted so long, I’m afraid.

I got more upset the more I thought about what he did and how (especially caring more about the hot tub rule than the safety of four kids).  

Mockery set it (hard to believe, I know).

It was a low, but through proper, or not-so-proper, disrespect, mockery and tongue-in-cheek exaggeration, we managed to make it our high of the day..

I wasn’t exactly a great role model to the kids as I suggested bringing a potbellied pig into the swim area the next time we visited (see rule #3 ).  Cade suggested some fish that we could swim with but Mia went for more for a more forested approach with deer, rabbits, etc. or the farm variety of animals, bulls, cows and that type.

We wanted to ask if we would have to stay in the pool room eternally since we didn’t have any slippers with which to return to our room (rule #6).

We wanted to ask how we were supposed to both return to our rooms with our pool towels and leave them in the receptacle provided (#6 as well).

We wanted to see if we needed to all cut our hair in order to swim - we had no swimming caps, after all (#7).

We didn’t even want enter into debate about #5.  What defines an unnecessary noise exactly?  Laughing is good, but necessary?  Talking with each other is also rather a nice noise, but I wouldn’t deem it necessary in most cases.  We won’t venture into the area of bodily noises......

I would also like to point out that you may not be in the hot tub/spa by yourself, but there can only be two people in at one time.  That seems to limit things a whole bunch.  Maybe it’s just me.

We did some pretty hardy laughing.  So much so that I am glad the whole thing happened, although I’d still like to give him a piece of my mind.  

If I do get a chance, I promise I will speak to him with the proper respect with which I wish he would have spoken to us.

I wrote that yesterday, the day it happened.  Instead of erasing this last portion, I thought I’d just add to it.

I did get the chance to speak with this employee at breakfast - he was in uniform, complete with the dirtiest fingernails I’ve seen in a while.  I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that means he is a very hard worker instead of a slob.

The conversation took place right by the front desk, with his boss present.

My calm approach and gentle words didn’t last too long as he kept cutting me off.  I finally asked (actually, I had to do it twice) if he could just let me speak.  I summed up my words by pointedly but calmly saying that it isn’t so much what was said but how and to whom it was said (I tried to be an example in this case).  

After he left, the manager said she agreed, apologized and would “have words” with him.

They might have been sent in panic mode when the saw me taking pictures of the signs in the pool area about 15 minutes later.

I probably should have put them out of their misery and told them not to worry, I wasn’t trying to build a case against them.

I probably should have, but I didn’t.