Having been at Cleves for 41 years you can bet I have met some interesting people and I hope to share lots of stories with you about some of the greatest characters of the bunch. This of course includes visitors, staff and guests (I can hear the 'At Kellerman's' song playing in my head right now! Dirty Dancing people!!!) This is very mean of me but remember I warned you, I can hear a song and instantly be transported to an event...a few days ago the song 'I Wish' by Stevie Wonder came onto my ipod.......
One of the things Clevelands House has always done really, really well is provide great service. If a Guest comes into the office and complains, the way one should complain, we will all do everything we can for them to alleviate any problems and make their stay as enjoyable as possible. During the summer of 2008 we had such a complaint. When the booking for this particular couple was taken we had been told that the husband was legally blind. A few weeks later the incredibly nice couple checked in and headed down to their suite. When they got into their room the wife called up to the office to say that they wanted to change the layout of the suite's furniture to make it easier for her husband to get around. Obviously this was something we were eager to help her with so our head problem solver (Maria) headed down to the suite to help. After many attempts the Guests felt better with the new layout and they were confident the husband would manage just fine now.
The next day the wife called up to the office to say that they were struggling with the new layout and that even though we did our best to help them, they would have to check out and go home to a more familiar environment. We adjusted their bill and they drove up to the office immediately to settle their account with us.
The wife came into the office and I had the pleasure of checking her out. She assured me we had done everything to help them manage in their suite and that Maria had been amazing (what else is new). It was just difficult to be away from their home environment where her husband knew where everything was. She paid their bill and headed out to the parking lot. I had a direct view of their car from where I was standing in the office.
In case some of you have forgotten, Clevelands House is one of, if not the largest family resort in Canada. At any one time we can have 150-200 children in our kids' program running around the resort. Imagine my horror when I hear 'Everywhere we go... everywhere we go... people always ask us... people always ask us... who we are.... who we are... so we tell them...' (you are all singing it now aren't you!!) and I SEE HIM GET IN THE DRIVER'S SEAT, PULL THE CAR OUT OF THEIR PARKING SPOT AND DRIVE BACK TO THEIR SUITE BY THE BEACH!!! A legally blind man who had to check out of his room because we couldn't rearrange his room such that he wasn't constantly bumping into things was driving a car back to his room past about 70 kids!!!!!!!!!!!
We called Maria to tell her what had just happened and like the CSI Minett agent she is she hopped onto her golf cart and headed down to their room to ask why he was driving and the wife said, 'sometimes I let him drive short distances'. I don't think 'I See...' was what instantly came to Maria's mind as a response. (Sorry about the pun I couldn't resist!!)
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