As Mr. Huang walked past the front desk, he paused his steps and pointed to Xu Mi Yu and Shi Huan Huan, asking loudly: “Which one of you just rang my doorbell?”
The duty manager came over at this time, seeing Mr. Huang’s serious expression and loud voice, hurriedly stepped out to apologize: “Sorry Mr. Huang, may I ask if someone disturbed your rest?”
After speaking, he also turned his head to look at Xu Mi Yu and Shi Huan Huan, lowering his voice to ask: “What happened? Who disturbed the guest?”
Shi Huan Huan shook her head: “It wasn’t me.”
The duty manager then turned his head to look at Xu Mi Yu, with an accusatory look in his eyes. He quickly turned back to apologize to Mr. Huang: “Sir, I’m truly sorry, if she disturbed your rest, we will criticize and strengthen her training, please calm down!”
Mr. Huang ignored the duty manager’s apology, pointing at Xu Mi Yu: “It was you who rang my doorbell, right? Wait here for me, I have something to say to you in twenty minutes!” Afterwards he hastily asked another question, “Where is there a pharmacy selling melatonin and stomach medicine around here?”
The duty manager informed him: “Turn left after exiting, there’s a 24-hour pharmacy on the street.”
Mr. Huang responded with an understanding sound, then did not forget to warn Xu Mi Yu again before leaving: “Don’t you dare leave, wait for me to come back, remember!”
He spoke with his tone hurried and angry, turned around and walked out of the hotel.
In the lobby, everyone’s eyes turned to Xu Mi Yu.
The duty manager looked more irritated and at a loss, loosening the top button of his suit jacket while catching his breath: “Alright, tell me what exactly happened, how did it end up with the guest storming out in the middle of the night to find a pharmacy?”
At this, Shi Huan Huan was not negligent in the slightest, eloquently recounting the whole wake-up call incident from the beginning to the end for the duty manager.
The duty manager asked Xu Mi Yu a few more details, then still holding his breath irritably, told Xu Mi Yu: “Our front desk job requires brainpower! Even if the guest had turned on ‘Do Not Disturb’, why did you still go knock on the door? Moreover, even if it was to wake him up at three in the morning, he didn’t make himself clear at the time, right? Why did you have to stick your nose in?”
Up until this point, Xu Mi Yu had been patiently listening. But at this, she couldn’t help but argue back: “But at that time, we didn’t make ourselves clear either, did we?”
The duty manager was immediately stumped. This was indeed the hotel staff’s fault for not clarifying properly.
But he insisted on blaming it on Mr. Huang’s anger: “Anyway, now Mr. Huang is mad because you disturbed his sleep, and it looks like he couldn’t fall back asleep. If he comes back with an account after buying melatonin, there’s nothing I can do but handle it according to his will! You said we should let you quietly do your shift, how come you keep looking for trouble?”
Shi Huan Huan stood by nodding in agreement. Seeing an opportunity, she added a jab at Xu Mi Yu: “Manager, I had told you earlier not to stick your nose into other people’s business, but you didn’t listen. Now you’re being warned by the guest not to leave – you better start thinking how to face him when he returns!”
Xu Mi Yu listened silently to the duty manager and Shi Huan Huan’s words without feeling regret or fear. Compared to worrying about herself, she was actually more concerned that the guest wouldn’t have any health issues.
About twenty minutes later, Mr. Huang returned. But he wasn’t alone – accompanying him was a woman of similar age, graceful and ladylike in bearing.
They walked over to the front desk together.
The duty manager hurried over as well, with Xu Mi Yu and Shi Huan Huan both standing up.
Mr. Huang ignored everyone else, finding Xu Mi Yu with his eyes and immediately locking onto his target.
“It was you who knocked on my door and woke me up, right?”
The duty manager, hearing his tone was still rather hurried, couldn’t help apologizing again: “I’m very sorry Mr. Huang, if she disturbed your rest, we willcriticize her and strengthen her training. Please calm down!”
Mr. Huang turned to look at the duty manager, his tone even more hurried: “Who said I’m angry? This is just how I talk! And she didn’t do anything wrong, why do you keep wanting to criticize her?”
With these words, everyone present was caught by surprise.
Mr. Huang turned back to Xu Mi Yu, thanking her sincerely and apologizing: “Sorry, I didn’t react when you knocked on my door just now because I thought someone had the wrong door. I even rudely scolded you, I’m very sorry!”
The lady with him also smiled warmly in thanks.
At this, Xu Mi Yu hurried to say: “Please don’t stand on ceremony, this is what we should do!” For her, whether Mr. Huang was apologizing or thanking her now didn’t matter; she had been more concerned about something else since twenty minutes ago. “Mr. Huang, I want to ask – when you asked about where to buy melatonin and stomach medicine just now, was it because you had insomnia or stomach discomfort?”
Mr. Huang shook his head with a smile: “No no, I was worried my wife wouldn’t be able to sleep after arriving at the hotel this late, so I suddenly thought of buying melatonin for her at the pharmacy. Also, her stomach isn’t very good, with the change in environment I was afraid her stomach would feel unwell, so I wanted to buy some stomach medicine in advance.” He paused, then added: “Just now I was so angry, but you were actually concerned about our health – you made me feel even more that my attitude towards you was very wrong and inconsiderate!”
Xu Mi Yu smiled and started handing out favors: “There’s no need to stand on ceremony, we duty manager and my colleague have also been concerned about your condition all along.”
Mr. Huang looked around at the duty manager and Shi Huan Huan, saying: “Alright then, since she was also worried about me, I won’t lodge a complaint against her work mistakes. That’s enough.” He seemed a bit vexed as he complained, “Tch, I have no principles at all, I can’t stand even a bit of flattery.”
His wife laughed beside him, holding his hand as they took the elevator back to their room.
Shi Huan Huan glanced at Xu Mi Yu, wanting to say something but not knowing where to start. In the end she said nothing.
The duty manager did not give up and was still trying to backtrack for his previous misjudgment: “Actually, Director Xu’s approach was not wrong at all, it even had a somewhat heroic hue to it! Because you actually wanted to handle it yourself even if it meant being complained about, so as not to affect the guest’s important matters.”
“…“ Xu Mi Yu thought, this duty manager really has a mastery of rhetorical skill. At least in terms of twisting words, he was a consummate expert.
When writing the log of that night’s shift, Xu Mi Yu did not emphasize her own brilliance, nor describe the front desk staff and operator’s mistakes. She simply recorded everything as normal.
The next day when the operator came looking for Shi Huan Huan after her night shift, she also wanted to privately complain about how Xu Mi Yu had stuck her nose into persuading her to make a wakeup call at an ungodly hour in the middle of the night, according to the records. This was definitely being senile, wasn’t it? As for herself, she employed negative resistance. You had to say, this woman who was air-dropped in, how could she understand our lobby department better than we did ourselves? Always wanting to teach us this and that – it was really something.
Shi Huan Huan listened with a changing expression, starting from quietly listening to awkwardly listening, then feeling guilty. In the end she couldn’t stand it anymore and told the operator: “Enough, stop putting on an act. If it wasn’t for Xu Mi Yu last night, both of us would have been complained to by the guest!”
She recounted what happened, telling the operator.
The operator chewed her words for a long time after listening, saying: “So in the end, Xu Mi Yu not only didn’t punish us, but directly buried this matter?”
Shi Huan Huan nodded.
The operator was stunned for another long while, then angrily said: “How considerate!” She paused angrily, even more angry: “But I really hate it, why does she have to be so considerate! Huan Huan, how is this woman? Why does she have to be so good at being a person? It’s making me frustrated, I almost can’t stand to dislike her anymore!”
Shi Huan Huan was also very annoyed: “Who isn’t feeling this way? At this rate with her both capable and considerate, I fear I’ll become a turncoat of the lobby department soon! I can hardly dislike her anymore either!”
The two angrily yet helplessly linked arms as they left for their break, still unsure what exactly they were annoyed and angry about.
Two days later when Shi Huan Huan returned to work, she thought she couldn’t be so easily persuaded by Xu Mi Yu. After all, the fact that this woman came through personal connections of the new boss could not be washed away no matter how hard it was rinsed.
Just as that day, when the new General Manager Ji came back from handling affairs outside and passed through the lobby on his way in, Xu Mi Yu who was helping at the lobby greeted him with a smiling “General Ji, hello.”
Shi Huan Huan watched from behind the front desk – indeed, this charming General Ji didn’t give even a bit of a nice expression upon hearing, but revealed a lot of disdain and impatience on his face.
“Why yell so loudly, trying to get into my good graces?”
Compared to his expression, his words and tone were even more vicious. Shi Huan Huan thought if it was her in Xu Mi Yu’s position, her legs would have gone weak already.
She saw Xu Mi Yu hurriedly apologizing after retreating, clearing the path that wasn’t even blocked to begin with – letting the distinguished General pass through unobstructed.
Shi Huan Huan clicked her tongue wonderingly, exchanging glances with the front desk staff Xiao Yan beside her, conveying a “So so” meaning. That meaning was – it seemed the new boss and Director Xu weren’t as close as a relationship after all. He seemed rather impatient with Director Xu.
Xiao Yan also replied in a low voice: “You’re right, our colleague Wen Xue from the guest rooms department told me before – this new boss can be quite unpredictable in mood, very hard to grasp. Most of the time he’s not in a good mood. But Wen Xue also said Xu Mi Yu is actually a good person, capable and low-key. She told us to slowly understand and not be impatient.”
Shi Huan Huan went “Oh” in response.
Once in the VIP elevator, Xue Rui couldn’t help but ask Ji Feng: “Boss, were you in a bad mood just now? I saw Sister Xu looked quite stunned by your scolding just now at the lobby.”
Ji Feng glanced at him coldly: “When will you stop talking rubbish?”
Hearing this non-sequitur reply, Xue Rui suddenly gained enlightenment. Ji Feng would only answer non-sequitur when he didn’t want to directly reply.
“Ah boss, I suddenly had a thought… is it possible you were doing it on purpose? To let the front desk people see you actually don’t treat Sister Xu very well, so they wouldn’t resent her as much?”
He hadn’t finished when Ji Feng pressed the elevator door open midway and shoved Xue Rui out without hesitation.
He coldly informed Xue Rui: “You talk too much, you’re noisy. Take the emergency stairs up yourself.”
Xue Rui watched helplessly as the elevator doors slowly closed, carrying away the merciless Ji Feng. He regretted slapping his own mouth – why did he have to blurt out such a big idea thoughtlessly!
After being yelled at by Ji Feng the last time for greeting him, Xu Mi Yu privately examined where exactly she went wrong to offend Ji Feng like this. But no matter how much she thought about it, she felt maybe touching his face with tissue to wipe away meat scraps had crossed his “boundary”, just like she was reprimanded before for inadvertently grabbing his sleeve.
Yet she was still somewhat unclear about Ji Feng’s standard for boundaries – sometimes he seemed to tolerate her being very close, but other times he inexplicably kicked her far away, just because of her regular greeting.
Therefore it’s probably that he himself is a bit unpredictable in temper?
Xu Mi Yu consoled herself this way. Then she warned herself that next time if she encountered Ji Feng at the lobby, she must retreat as quickly as possible if able to, or call out “General Ji, hello” softly and carefully.
For the following period, Xu Mi Yu consciously maintained the proper distance and boundaries, which should satisfy Ji Feng.
But strangely, Ji Feng seemed to be even more displeased, and even scolded her during one of her recent careful greetings: “Are you trying to get on my good side? Last time you said I scolded you for being too loud, now you’re trying this muted as mosquito act? What, I can’t scold you anymore, and you immediately resort to negative resistance?”
“…” Xu Mi Yu stared wide-eyed, unable to say a word.
Whether it was straightforward or winding back, Ji Feng would twist her words – she had no rebuttal.
Big or small, she felt she should lose her voice from now on.
This period of time, Xu Mi Yu noticed Ji Feng seemed even more irritated with her, despite her best efforts to maintain a proper distance. She couldn’t figure out what exactly was setting him off.
One day, Ke Wen Xue came to the front desk during her lunch break, taking the chance to privately gossip with Xiao Yan who was also on break.
“Don’t even mention it, we’ve gotten a particularly difficult guest on our floor – he’s an old man but truly not ordinary in being difficult! Heaven, he can really wear people out with his tactics, he’s left our entire floor staff and head exhausted!”
She vividly described how the troublesome old man disrupted everyone, drawing admiring “ohs” from Xiao Yan, the receptionists and attendants listening in.
“This old man’s ability to disrupt is worthy of being a top ten torturer in ancient times!” Ke Wen Xue commented with a shake of her head.
“We really sympathize with you all, while we may be disrupted as well, it’s basically just check-in and check-out. But you guest room staff really got it hard, having to face off whatever eccentric directly up close for long periods.” Xiao Yan comforted.
Ke Wen Xue sighed, looking around she asked: “Where’s Director Xu?” She was looking for Xu Mi Yu.
“Why are you looking for her?” The receptionist Dong Rong rather contemptuously asked.
“Kid, you need to get clear – I came specifically looking for her. I just happened to chat with you all on the side!” Ke Wen Xue immediately retorted.
Xiao Yan asked: “Do you have something you need Director Xu for?”
Ke Wen Xue said: “Of course, I want to ask her how we should handle this difficult old man. You all don’t know, she’s got the best methods for dealing with such oddities.”
The others were rather surprised: “Really, is she that capable?”
Ke Wen Xue raised her voice: “What nonsense are you talking about? If she wasn’t capable, how could she have been appointed acting manager here?” As she spoke, she got more spirited, unwilling to hold back voicing support for Xu Mi Yu: “All of you, be a bit nicer to Director Xu! She’s a great person with amazing abilities!”
Just then a voice sounded from behind: “What are you all gathering here for?”
Everyone turned their heads to see Xu Mi Yu walking over gracefully in high heels.
“Don’t congregate here chatting idly, it doesn’t look good.” Xu Mi Yu smiled faintly in reminder.
Ke Wen Xue wasted no time burrowing out from the crowd towards Xu Mi Yu like seeing a savior.
“Sister Xu, save me! Please give us some ideas on how to handle this old man!”
Xu Mi Yu asked what had happened.
Ke Wen Xue vividly described once more how the troublesome old man on the upper floor disrupted everyone as she and the others had described, leaving them at their wits’ end while even Luo Qing Ping was disrupted into submission.
“In short, he’s just like this, deliberately disturbing people with no reason, constantly finding faults – he’s practically tortured us to death! Now even Luo Qing Ping is beaten down, she told me to come down and ask if you had any ideas on how to resolve this thorn in our side!”
Ke Wen Xue pleaded piteously. Xu Mi Yu glanced at the time, seeing there was still some before break ended, she said to Ke Wen Xue: “Come on, I’ll go up and take a look at the situation.”
Xu Mi Yu followed Ke Wen Xue up and assessed the situation briefly. In a short time she directly witnessed the old man doing exactly as Ke Wen Xue described, deliberately disturbing others with no reason while wearing down everyone’s patience.
Seeing the old man’s behavior, Xu Mi Yu strangely felt a sense of familiarity.
She thought about it, and asked the old man if he had any family or friends locally. The old man scolded her for meddling, then scolded and complained loudly about various other things in his barrage of rebukes.
Within these scoldings and complaints, Xu Mi Yu subtly guided the old man to gradually reveal what she wanted to know –
It turned out the old man had come here on a tour group.
Exiting the old man’s room, Xu Muyu returned to the lobby. At the front desk, Lan Xiaoyun and Shi Huanhuan who were on duty also wanted to know if Xu Muyu really resolved the troublesome old man, but seeing Xu Muyu return with a serious face silently looking for something, they dared not ask.
Lan Xiaoyun secretly paged Ke Wenxue through the walkie-talkie, asking in a coded way: Did Sister Xu resolve the old man?
Ke Wenxue replied that not yet, Sister Xu said she had something urgent and hurried downstairs in a rush.
Lan Xiaoyun shook her head at Shi Huanhuan waiting for news next to her.
Shi Huanhuan shrugged as if meaning “nothing much”. That attitude implied that the guestroom department had overpraised Xu Muyu.
After returning to the lobby, Xu Muyu searched for a while and finally found the contact information for the tour guide in charge of the old man’s travel group upstairs.
She immediately called the tour guide, urgently requesting the tour guide to immediately contact the old man’s family, and seriously told the tour guide it would be best if the old man’s family could buy tickets tonight and come to Xingcheng as soon as possible.
She emphasized, “The old man’s situation is a bit complicated, it’s best if his family can hurry over, please trust me on this.”
The tour guide agreed, saying after hanging up he would try contacting the old man’s family to come to Xingcheng and pick him up, so he wouldn’t continue causing trouble at the hotel.
Shi Huanhuan gave Lan Xiaoyun a meaningful side glance, meaning look, she’s not that great either. Her only idea was to have the old man’s family quickly come over to pick him up.
Lan Xiaoyun also felt Ke Wenxue’s hype had set their expectations of Xu Muyu too high, now seeing Xu Muyu’s resolution was just like this, she couldn’t help feeling a little “nothing much” and disappointed.
The other staff in the front desk had similar feelings as Lan Xiaoyun and Shi Huanhuan, that sense of something being raised high up and gently lowered back down.
Leave a Reply