I’m in Washington DC this week helping a client with some content development for a site we’re about to launch. I’m staying at a Red Roof Inn in Chinatown. While I was checking in, these three things happened:

1. A girl came down to say “Okay, thanks…our shower finally started working. But our toilet still hasn’t flushed since we got here. Lucky we have friends down the hall.”
2. A man was waiting for the elevator the entire time I was checking in. “I’ve been here for twenty minutes,” he said. Bless his heart, it was broken. I took the stairs.
3. A cop came in to resolve a “disturbance” on the third floor. “Please don’t make a scene,” the front desk lady requested of him as she handed me my room key.

Should be fun.

Update (4/29, 9am):

This morning the hotel’s GM, Kris, called after having read this post. He apologized, and explained that the disturbance was just a couple of teenagers who weren’t supposed to be there (which was why the elevator was delayed).

Very cool that Red Roof Inn, or at least Kris, is on top of what’s being said about them and so quick to respond.

This week I’m in Poughkeepsie, New York visiting a client. This morning Ross, one of the guys I’m working with up here, told us this awesome/traumatic April Fools story:

One time my buddy Charlie and I were on a roadtrip, and he was documenting the whole thing on video. There was a point in the trip, I think early one morning, he flipped the camera onto me. I was suddenly very conscious of my actions, my facial expression, my tone. I got awkward.

“Sorry, I have nothing entertaining to say,” I said.

“You don’t have to be entertaining, you just have to be real,” he said back.

I think that was a good call.