Two Desk Chairs Lead to a Good Night’s Work . . .

One of these days, I will get around to telling stories from the shows in Akron and Allentown (or maybe I won’t – after a while, they probably get a little stale).  But this is an Akron story that I promised to tell.

This is a shot of my room at the Country Inn & Suites in Cuyahoga Falls, OH – I took it just before I checked out on Sunday morning.  This hotel is about four miles from the Knight Center and is very convenient – we always use it if I remember to make the reservations early enough.  But my room didn’t start with two desk chairs – it started with the bigger one in the corner.  And it hurt my back . . .

I had spent three days on a golf trip in Georgia – in an area so remote that we didn’t have internet access or a cell phone signal that was good for more than an occasional text.  I got home late Wednesday night, spent all day Thursday getting ready for the show and packing the truck, drove to Akron Thursday evening, got up early Friday morning and set up all day.  What this meant more than anything was by Friday evening, I had a week of e-mails to work through.  But I have back trouble – and five minutes after I sat in that desk chair, I was in pain and knew it would only get worse.

So I went to the front desk and asked if I could borrow a chair from the breakfast room for the evening.  Kelly at the front desk did even better.  He told me to go to the business center and try the chairs there – and if I found a comfortable chair there, I could take it to my room and keep it for the weekend.  I did, and I did . . .

And it gets better.  Saturday morning, I needed to print some signs to announce the new Limited Edition Distress Inks.  Printers in hotel business centers are usually black & white, and color signs are simply better.  So I found a FedEx Office (I still call them Kinko’s) nearby and drove there at 7:30 in the morning.  But I didn’t realize there were Kinko’s that weren’t open 24 hours – this one didn’t open until 9:00!

Oh well – back to the hotel and black & white signs from the business center.  Or so I thought – until I got there and found that there were people at both computers.  So back to the front desk I went, where I explained my dilemma to Lia.  She took my flash drive, went to the manager’s office, and printed color copies for me.

I travel a lot, and usually am treated well by the hotel staff.  But these two went above and beyond the call – and I told both of them that I would send an e-mail of thanks to their manager when I got home.  And it seemed only fair that I share it with you as well.