Skip to main content

Would like a fuk in your room?

In my travels, I have checked in in many hotels in the Philippines and overseas. The pleasantries and conversations are routine. It usually goes like this

Front desk: Good day sir. Welcome to Hotel_____. How may I help you?
Me: I have a reservation.
Front desk: Just a minute sir, let me check your reservation.
Yes we have it, please fill in these forms. May I see your passport
Me: Yes
Front desk: How do you wish to settle your bills? By credit card?
Me: Credit card is fine. Here it is
Front desk: Here is your key to room ____. The lift is on the right. Breakfast is at 6:30 to 9:00. The pool is on the third floor. You have complimentary use of the gym. If you have other concerns, please don't hesitate to call us. Have a pleasant stay.
Me: Thank you and good day.

But the most memorable front desk conversation was in a business hotel in an Asian city (the reader can guess where). After the usual check in conversation this was followed by

Front desk man: Sir, I 'm very sorry that your room isn't ready yet. The bathroom has to be fixed. If you want, I can put you in another room.

Me: No worries. That's fine.

Front desk man: We put you in room with office. Internet access, satellite TV.

Me: That's good. Thank you

Front desk man: Would you like a fuk in your room?

Me: Excuse me?

Front desk man: Would you expect to get fuk during your stay?

Me: Excuse me? What's that again?

Front desk man: Fuk toot toot toot toot , rring. toooooooooot!

Me: Oh you mean fax!, fax machine!

Front desk man: Yes.

Me: Thanks but I don't expect to get that kind of fukses during my stay. Email is fine.

Front desk man: OK sir, here is your key to room 426. If you have problem. Please call me.

Me: Thank you.

BTW in the same city, I had the same problem with eating utensils. Waiter: Here is your fok, sir.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

How should we remember General Antonio Luna?

Well it seems with that proposal to rename Camp Aguinaldo to Camp Antonio Luna in time for National Heroes Day has generated a lot of social media buzz. We really have to really understand our national heroes. Antonio Luna was a remarkable personality but like all of us was flawed. He likely would be an academic had the revolution not intervened. He would have been the first Dean of a College of Science of the Philippine University had the nation made the transition to indepe ndence in a peaceful manner. That was recognized by the American College of Pharmacy when they feted Dr Luna on what would have been his 60th birthday noting his work in combating malaria. But that was not to be. He became a soldier. General Luna was for a professional military within the bounds of the constitution. Perhaps that is the biggest sign of contradiction for today. Please answer the question: Would President Duterte (or a President Aquino, Marcos, Arroyo, Quezon etc) have a General Luna as his c...

Simoun's lamp has been lit, finally.. not by one but by the many!

"So often have we been haunted by the spectre of subversion which, with some fostering, has come to be a positive and real being, whose very name steals our serenity and makes us commit the greatest blunders... If before the reality, instead of changing the fear of one is increased, and the confusion of the other is exacerbated, then they must be left in the hands of time..." Dr Jose Rizal "To the Filipino People and their Government" Jose Rizal dominates the Luneta, which is sacred to the Philippine nation as a place of martyrdom. And many perhaps all of those executed in the Luneta, with the exception of the three Filipino secular priests martyred in 1872, have read Rizal's  El Filibusterismo . Dr Rizal's second novel is a darker and more sinister one that its prequel but has much significance across the century and more after it was published for it preaches the need for revolution with caveats,  which are when the time is right and who will in...

Marikina River and the "janitor" fish

My newest environmental science research project is to determine the evolutionary biology of invasion by the "janitor fish" in Marikina River. Today we made our first survey and collections. Marikina River is the"greenest"in Metro Manila but that is just on the surface. One master's student is doing her thesis on biotic integrity and a volunteer MD is working on the project too. The "janitor fish (Pterygoplichthys sp) is the dominant fish now in the river,displacing traditional Marikina food fishes such as dalag and hito. The fish are collected and left to rot on the riverbanks. Despite this, there is still some subsistence fishing on the river. The highest densities of the fish are observed near sewage outfalls where they find food to eat. It is likely that the fish can be controlled if we can clean up the river! BTW the name "janitor fish" insults janitors. The fish thrive in dirty rivers and don't clean them up. Janitors on the other hand, ...