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I wanted to share this story with you for a little comic relief in a period of relatively high stress for most of you. It's a little long, so bear with me.
Those of you who were interviewing yesterday at Emory will recognize this story: (It's almost comical at this point, though, since it does have a pretty positive ending, fortunately.)
My Emory Med interview was scheduled for Monday, November 4 (yesterday). I flew in to Atlanta on Saturday so I could spend the weekend there since I have never been to the city before (and it could be my future home for the next 4 years),
I decided to spend Saturday evening in a hotel downtown to be able to hit all the main tourist spots over the weekend and spend Sunday evening with a host to get an insider's view of the school and be close to campus since I needed to be in the admissions office at 7:50am for the start of the interviewing day.
Saturday and Saturday evening pass with no major developments.
Sunday around noon I check out of the hotel. Since I plan to tour the city for the day, I realize it would be cumbersome to carry my bags with me and decide to check them in with the bellman at the hotel in exchange for two luggage tickets--pretty much standard operating procedure. (Little did I know, this would be my downfall.)
The day passes and i scalp tickets and attend the Falcons-Ravens football game at the Georgia Dome and then manage to exchange my consolation gift Keith Brooking bobble-head doll in exchange for a free tour of CNN Studio. (Yes, I know, ebay was calling my name, but the barter system seemed relatively effective in this case.)
Anyway, I have plans to meet up with a coworker for dinner Sunday night whose girlfriend happens to live in Atlanta. (Before you ask me why I didn't just plan to spend the night with them on Saturday night rather than the hotel, I must qualify that another friend was planning to drive in to Atlanta from Charleston, SC on Saturday and I didn't want to impose myself and one of my friends on this coworker and his gf.)
Bottom line: when I go to reclaim my bags at the hotel, THEY DON'T HAVE THEM! Yes, I know what you're wondering, how could they not have them? You checked them in and they gave you claim tickets, right? All of the above is true, and yet, they did not have my bags and did not know where they were.
To put this in perspective, I was travelling with 2 bags. One was a backpack which contained my work-owned laptop computer among other med school interview prep papers (copy of my essays, notes on my research, etc.). The other was a garmet bag that contained my toiletries, but more importantly, MY INTERVIEW SUIT!
So here I am Sunday evening with only the clothes on my back which were very casual (jeans, sneakers, and a sweatshirt), my cell phone, and my wallet AND AN INTERVIEW AT 8AM THE NEXT MORNING! (Not to mention the fact that this is Atlanta on a Sunday evening, so EVERYTHING in town is closed. No chance of picking up a last minute suit at that time.)
There was one possible lead to the whereabouts of my luggage when the bellman noticed that my claim tickets had the same ending digits as another set of bags and he speculated that the owner of those bags may have been handed my bags by mistake. I didn't really buy into this theory, though, since the bags were very different in both size and type and I couldn't imagine that their owner would have taken my bags for theirs. Anyway, the lead fell through when we managed to reach the owner and he informed us that he had not received any other bags and was planning to reclaim his own bags at the time.
Back to square one. At this point, I concede that I am not going to get my luggage that evening. I leave fuming at the hotel crew and holding a handful of business cards of individuals at the bell stand, hotel lost and found, and hotel floor manager, but still lacking my luggage.
After going to dinner and trying to keep my mind off the situation, I am dropped off at the residence of my student host, whom I have already briefed on my ridiculous circumstances.
My extremely gracious host not only offered me his scrubs to sleep in and offered to wash the clothes on my back, he offered for me try on his suit and wear it to my interview the next day if it fits. Astonished at his selflessness, I try on his suit. To my complete surprise, it is a perfect fit: from the jacket, to the pants, to the SHOES!!! (I couldn't make this up if I tried and any applicants who interviewed yesterday can corroborate this story!)
I was all prepared to go to the admissions office in my casual dress and just explain my story over and over and hope for the best. Now, I had a suit to wear!
Anyway, I go through the interview day and explain my story since I find it utterly amazing and to excuse myself for being on my cell phone all day during any break to try to check up on the status of my bags. I have to say that it made for a fascinating ice-breaker. Considering the way the suit fit me, no one could believe at first that it didn't even belong to me and in fact belonged to the student host whom I had never met before the previous evening.
Fortunately, I received a message on my work voicemail that a lady had possession of my bags, but they were in MINNESOTA! She was with a tour group came down by bus to Atlanta and had stayed in the same hotel for the weekend and checked in a ton of bags. Apparently, when they went to reclaim their bags, mine were included in the group. And, they didn't notice that any superfluous bags were with them until they returned to Minnesota and laid out the bags and then realized that a pair of bbags were not being claimed. Luckily, I had included my business card in/on both bags as my form of identification.
Expressing a great sigh of relief, I arranged with this lady for her to deliver the bags to a nearby Marriott where they would pay to ship them to me overnight express, so they would be back in my hands this morning in NYC. (I had to fly back from Atlanta last night to return to work today. Needless to say, I travelled extremely light.)
The ending to this story has finally arrived. The bags were delivered to my residence in NYC this morning at 11am, intact and complete. (YEA!!
)
The only outstanding question to be answered at this time is what additional compensation does Marriott owe me for my inconvenience?
Those of you who were interviewing yesterday at Emory will recognize this story: (It's almost comical at this point, though, since it does have a pretty positive ending, fortunately.)
My Emory Med interview was scheduled for Monday, November 4 (yesterday). I flew in to Atlanta on Saturday so I could spend the weekend there since I have never been to the city before (and it could be my future home for the next 4 years),
I decided to spend Saturday evening in a hotel downtown to be able to hit all the main tourist spots over the weekend and spend Sunday evening with a host to get an insider's view of the school and be close to campus since I needed to be in the admissions office at 7:50am for the start of the interviewing day.
Saturday and Saturday evening pass with no major developments.
Sunday around noon I check out of the hotel. Since I plan to tour the city for the day, I realize it would be cumbersome to carry my bags with me and decide to check them in with the bellman at the hotel in exchange for two luggage tickets--pretty much standard operating procedure. (Little did I know, this would be my downfall.)
The day passes and i scalp tickets and attend the Falcons-Ravens football game at the Georgia Dome and then manage to exchange my consolation gift Keith Brooking bobble-head doll in exchange for a free tour of CNN Studio. (Yes, I know, ebay was calling my name, but the barter system seemed relatively effective in this case.)
Anyway, I have plans to meet up with a coworker for dinner Sunday night whose girlfriend happens to live in Atlanta. (Before you ask me why I didn't just plan to spend the night with them on Saturday night rather than the hotel, I must qualify that another friend was planning to drive in to Atlanta from Charleston, SC on Saturday and I didn't want to impose myself and one of my friends on this coworker and his gf.)
Bottom line: when I go to reclaim my bags at the hotel, THEY DON'T HAVE THEM! Yes, I know what you're wondering, how could they not have them? You checked them in and they gave you claim tickets, right? All of the above is true, and yet, they did not have my bags and did not know where they were.
To put this in perspective, I was travelling with 2 bags. One was a backpack which contained my work-owned laptop computer among other med school interview prep papers (copy of my essays, notes on my research, etc.). The other was a garmet bag that contained my toiletries, but more importantly, MY INTERVIEW SUIT!
So here I am Sunday evening with only the clothes on my back which were very casual (jeans, sneakers, and a sweatshirt), my cell phone, and my wallet AND AN INTERVIEW AT 8AM THE NEXT MORNING! (Not to mention the fact that this is Atlanta on a Sunday evening, so EVERYTHING in town is closed. No chance of picking up a last minute suit at that time.)
There was one possible lead to the whereabouts of my luggage when the bellman noticed that my claim tickets had the same ending digits as another set of bags and he speculated that the owner of those bags may have been handed my bags by mistake. I didn't really buy into this theory, though, since the bags were very different in both size and type and I couldn't imagine that their owner would have taken my bags for theirs. Anyway, the lead fell through when we managed to reach the owner and he informed us that he had not received any other bags and was planning to reclaim his own bags at the time.
Back to square one. At this point, I concede that I am not going to get my luggage that evening. I leave fuming at the hotel crew and holding a handful of business cards of individuals at the bell stand, hotel lost and found, and hotel floor manager, but still lacking my luggage.
After going to dinner and trying to keep my mind off the situation, I am dropped off at the residence of my student host, whom I have already briefed on my ridiculous circumstances.
My extremely gracious host not only offered me his scrubs to sleep in and offered to wash the clothes on my back, he offered for me try on his suit and wear it to my interview the next day if it fits. Astonished at his selflessness, I try on his suit. To my complete surprise, it is a perfect fit: from the jacket, to the pants, to the SHOES!!! (I couldn't make this up if I tried and any applicants who interviewed yesterday can corroborate this story!)
I was all prepared to go to the admissions office in my casual dress and just explain my story over and over and hope for the best. Now, I had a suit to wear!
Anyway, I go through the interview day and explain my story since I find it utterly amazing and to excuse myself for being on my cell phone all day during any break to try to check up on the status of my bags. I have to say that it made for a fascinating ice-breaker. Considering the way the suit fit me, no one could believe at first that it didn't even belong to me and in fact belonged to the student host whom I had never met before the previous evening.
Fortunately, I received a message on my work voicemail that a lady had possession of my bags, but they were in MINNESOTA! She was with a tour group came down by bus to Atlanta and had stayed in the same hotel for the weekend and checked in a ton of bags. Apparently, when they went to reclaim their bags, mine were included in the group. And, they didn't notice that any superfluous bags were with them until they returned to Minnesota and laid out the bags and then realized that a pair of bbags were not being claimed. Luckily, I had included my business card in/on both bags as my form of identification.
Expressing a great sigh of relief, I arranged with this lady for her to deliver the bags to a nearby Marriott where they would pay to ship them to me overnight express, so they would be back in my hands this morning in NYC. (I had to fly back from Atlanta last night to return to work today. Needless to say, I travelled extremely light.)
The ending to this story has finally arrived. The bags were delivered to my residence in NYC this morning at 11am, intact and complete. (YEA!!
)The only outstanding question to be answered at this time is what additional compensation does Marriott owe me for my inconvenience?
