And here we are again….

I travel. Mostly for work. I love to travel for leisure as well, but it’s been a while. So for the time being, it’s the work kind of travel I’m doing.  I recently arrived at my new job location in Santa Clara, California. I’d spent the day driving from Utah so by the time I arrived at my hotel, I’d been in my car for 10 hours. I checked into my room at the Homestead Studio Suites.  Not my first time around with this particular hotel chain.  I was tired and wanted a shower. I think I may have actually thrown my bags onto the bed, or onto the floor, or whatever people do with their bags in movies after a long trip….I did that with mine. After surveying my room, which took all of 30 seconds, I went into the bathroom, turned on the shower and stripped down to what they call my “birthday suit”. Ready for a hot shower. So I went to one of my carelessly thrown bags where I was sure I’d stashed my shampoo and conditioner only to find they weren’t there. I searched other bags and then remembered where I’d put them….on the counter in the bathroom at my parents’ house in Utah. I’m sure they’re still sitting there. So I thought, “No problem, I’ll just use the complimentary hotel versions of shampoo and conditioner”. For a second I considered skipping the washing of my hair. It’s been known to happen. But it had been a couple of days since a good wash and didn’t think it a great idea to show up to my new job the next morning sporting an oil slick on top of my head. So, hotel shampoo it is. I looked in the usual locations to find said hair washing products…side of the sink, that corner of the tub, the far end of the bathroom counter. Then to less obvious places, like under the sink, in a drawer, maybe on top of the fridge. Damn. No shampoo to be found. So there I am, 10:30 pm, nude, dying to just get in the shower and facing the realization that I’m going to have to go shopping. What else could I do? So back on with the discarded clothing, back into a car that one might mistake as a semi truck if they were blind, and off I went to hunt down the nearest grocery store.

Thirty minutes later I’m back in my room and in the shower.  About 90 seconds into my shower something somewhere inside the pipes started a high pitched…squeal is the only word I can think of.  Highly irritating but not much I could do about it.  Once out of the shower I went over to the lovely hotel bed ready to just kick back for a minute, maybe watch TV for a bit.  But then I sat down and immediately discovered that entire side of the bed had no legs. None. Legs supporting one side of the bed, no legs on the other side.  So when I sat on the edge, down it went with me.  Awesome.  I’d never experienced that before so I had no idea how to solve this problem.  The obvious next step would be to call the front desk and that’s exactly what I tried to do.  The funny thing about phones is that they need a cord attaching them to the phone jack in order to work.  This phone had no such cord.  I had a completely useless phone in my hands.  It may as well have been a toy for all the good it could do me.  I almost cried.  I just stared at the bed for a while, as if I expected it to tell me what to do now.  For 2 seconds I considered walking down to the front desk, but the 75 yard or so walk involved deterred me.  So I did the only thing I could think of.  I just laid down on the good supported side of the bed and hoped I wouldn’t roll over in the middle of the night.  The last thought that ran through my head: this is my life.