50 Things That Resort Workers Wish They Didn’t Witness

I worked at a small resort as a kid - family business. It was in a little village, and sometimes the water would go off. We had a backup, but it had to be switched on manually. I was in the office, and one of our guests came in and told me the water was off. Sure, no problem. I'll turn it on right now. Before I could leave to do that, another couple who was staying there came in, extremely pissed off.

"What kind of s****y place are you running here?! We haven't bathed in three days!"

The first guy turned slowly to him and replied, "The water's only been off for about an hour.".

Worked as a rep in Gran Canaria for a couple of seasons. Over New Year, two of us were asked to go visit a guest in the capital’s hospital. She’d been airlifted in from a neighboring island … honestly, I can’t remember why - this was 25 years ago - appendix possibly, whatever it was, it was obviously bad.

After a few days, Hospital staff, in broken English, told her ‘Your fiancé is coming in!’ She was so excited to see him, grateful he’d been able to get over to visit. Turns out he was coming in his own air ambulance. He’d slipped on the hotel lobby’s marble floor and hit his head, losing consciousness. He died two days later. That’s when we were asked to visit. She was such a champ. We didn’t know what to expect but she was holding it together, typical Englishwoman, worried about everyone else. Her only complaint/lament was that she didn’t have her glasses. I remember thinking ‘Christ, all this and you can’t even see’.
I suspect she must have had a huge emotional crash somewhere down the line. I think of her often, and hope she’s doing okay.

Worked at one in Vegas

One night, 2 guys wearing purge style masks surrounded my maintenance guy doing circles on bmx style bikes at 2am…. They had katanas on their back. He said I have kids and I’m not going to go easy on you. They looked at each other and rode off.

Another night dad and mom wanted some action left kiddos unattended in our pool, kids float went upside down, with kid stuck inside. Someone on their 2nd floor balcony saw….. jumped a good 3yards out over our gate hit the ground hard and rolled his body into the pool and saved the kiddo no cpr was needed. medics came transported. 90% the couple got charged for neglect can’t confirm just what security told me which he got for the officers. The hero got a few week stay, he had some minor injuries juries from his jump.

Worked at a casino resort; people will leave their children in the car (babies included), walk inside, get to the roulette table (plus other table games obvs) and proceed to order multiple alcoholic drinks over many hours until someone tells security when they see the kids and we had to track them down. Only for security to just scowl at them and not do s**t about it. Gamblers are scum of the earth.

Didn't work at one but was enjoying lunch at an outside table in a resort in Puerto Morales when a Coatimundi jumped up on the table of 4 next to me and just started eating their lunch. Everyone had a few drinks in them so there was mostly laughter.

I was a bartender in South Padre Island during the early 2000s. I saw a drunk kid try to jump from a second-story balcony into the pool. He missed the pool and smacked his head on the pavement. [Unalived] instantly.

Worked at a resort as a busboy in one of the buffet restaurants a few years ago, this rich kid got drunk at the bar, got invited to go "party" in the nearby local village by a few locals, accepted and left with them (against the staff's recommendations). He came back with nothing (not even clothes) the next morning.

Worked at The Canyons in Park City as a lifty for a winter. Worked the base lifts, including the gondola, and one day was working the top. At the lift across from the top of the Gondola (Saddleback) I was randomly just watching mid-day as it calmed down and saw a woman and her kid hop on. Thought nothing of it obviously. A few minutes later the lift stops, and doesn’t start spinning for 15-20 minutes. During this time a ton of patrollers on sleds came ripping up under the lift.

Came to find out that the woman had a seizure on the way up, didn’t have the bar down and fell off and broke her neck. Died instantly while her kid watched. Patrollers got there as soon as they could but nothing they could do.

Will never forget helping the crying kid on the Gondola to down-load with the patrollers. I am not epileptic or anything, but always put my bar down because of this now. Never know man. Still think about it frequently during the winter and it’s been 10+ years.

I worked at a small resort that had glass coffee tables. A teen girl sat on their glass coffee table, and at some point, the table broke. A very large piece stabbed her in the abdomen. Parents were there thank goodness, but couldn't call correctly to 911 (had to dial 9 first), so they called me at the front desk. I then had to call 911, direct them to us, all while also calling the manager so he could get on site. It was a small property with under 50 units, so I was the only one on site aside from 1 maintenance guy. After I showed the EMTs where to go, I found the teens brother, sitting in a corner hugging his knees, just watching everything. He was so scared. I tried my best just to be there for him and talk him. Every time we go to a hotel and I see glass tables, I just think back to that day.

She wasn't a big person, tables were not old, just a freak accident. So please, do not sit on glass tables.

I worked in a restaurant in the Greek islands for a couple of years. A group of English tourists in the building next to me decided to hav a bbq inside their room oe night because it was pissing down rain. The closed up all the windows and all 3 of them died from carbon monoxide poisoning.

I was at a beach resort about 10 years ago. I was chilling on the beach when suddenly a lady close to us started screaming and looking towards the ocean. Me and another guy ran to her and she screamed that her son was out in the ocean and stuck in an undertow and kept going under. I looked out in the water to see a 9/10 year old boy struggling hard to stay above water. Me and the guy ran into the water and was able to grab the kid. I carried him back onto the beach in my arms. He was scared and exhausted, but otherwise ok. When I got back to the beach, I was looking around for the mother who was screaming hysterically just moments before. I looked around and couldn’t find her. I sat the boy down and a nurse that happened to be present, started checking him out. I kept looking around for the mother and when I turned back towards the ocean, I saw her floating face down in about 3 feet of water. She had obviously followed us out into the water when I went after her son, but couldn’t swim and drowned. I immediately went and grabbed the woman and pulled her onto the beach while two bystanders immediately started CPR, but it was too late. When I looked back towards the boy, he had stood up and was looking directly at his dead mother lying at my feet. **. I say she couldn’t swim because I was later told that by a relative of the boy and mother, who was inside their condo when all of this happened.

When I was 18 I worked at a ski resort in Lake Tahoe and there was a really sweet girl celebrating her 21st birthday. She came in and talked to all the staff, etc. Well she got wasted and for some reason her and her friends decided to (still drunk) ski. She slammed into a tree and died instantly. It was so sad.

I worked the early morning shift at coffee shop inside large hotel. One morning I came in to open at 4:30am and I’m still half asleep, see a fat naked man come “running” around the corner and get in the elevator. I couldn’t believe my eyes. About 30 seconds later 2 cops run around the corner and say “HEY DID YOU SEE A GUY RUNNING THIS WAY!?!?”

I just started cracking up laughing and pointed to the elevator. Couldn’t get a word out!

Mountain resort that catered to wealthy hunters. Two rooms decided that walking to each others rooms was too much of a hassle so decided to smash a huge hole in the wall that separated them. Not even contrite about it, stayed for three more days. And the resort was privately owned by a family, it wasn't some big chain.

I think the worst thing was the sheer amount of cheating. Super high end resort. The phone calls coming in from wives looking at credit card bills and demanding to know what/when/who…our billing department having the utmost privacy but always having to be honest that it was a hotel in xx (romantic) city. Not the convention where they said they were.

We also had a computer system full of notes because the men would bring multiple cheat partners AND their wives. So notes about who was who, who not to say welcome back to, no references to prior trips, etc. So sad to be complicit in that.

I work at all the resorts in Vegas and it never fails to amaze me the amount of wasted food in the conference space. Enough to feed 15,000+ people is thrown away EVERYDAY. Honestly probably closer to 30k/50k depending on the season.

I worked at a Hotel in Paso Robles that had private hot tubs outside every room and we checked in a couple of squatters. They stayed holed up in the room for several weeks. When they figured out we were onto them and attempting to evict them, they smeared poop all over the walls. We had to call hazmat to clean it and remove all the carpet. Then after that incident it was the most popular and requested room because it was all remodeled.

As a very young man (too young). I used to work at a camping site in the south of Sweden, for the "midsummer festivals". There's probably not many f****d up things that I haven't seen. They used to leave their vehicles upside down, burning, when they left the premises. It looked like a war zone. It *was* a war zone.

La jolla beach and tennis club, 2006. i was part of the beach crew. i came upon a kid who had fallen while skimboarding and was bleeding on his face. trophy wife mom was nearby as i called a paramedic on our radio.

as we waited for the medic, i saw the shadow of a man walking up to us. i looked up and saw that he was wearing cowboy boots and jeans, very strange for being at the waterline on the beach. then i saw he had a pint glass full of whiskey, a half buttoned shirt with a dragon on it, and crazy white hair blowing in the wind.

thats when i recognized him as Bill, from Kill Bill. Yes, it was david carrodine and his wife and her kids. he kind of shrugged and walked on.

i didnt see him again until later that night, when me and a couple colleagues had to physically carry him up the stairs to his room at the hotel next door because he was so drunk. not terribly long after that i learned he died, but i will never forget that encounter.

Worked at a resort in Nevada for a summer. The amount of bodies found in rooms would shock you. Las Vegas averages one a day across 150,000 rooms

You never hear about them in the news.