A Hotel Manager Creates Some Magic

--by luna1969, posted Sep 16, 2010

About nine years ago I worked at a large downtown hotel. Since we were connected to a mall and a public parking garage, anyone could just pretty much walk into the hotel area.

We started having a big problem with homeless youth living in our stairwells at night. The stairwells went largely unused because of their hidden nature and the fact that once inside, you could only go down and exit to the street, all the doors locked behind you and you could not travel between levels and exit back into the hotel. As night manager, I ended up being the one to evict these youth, night after night after night.

One night there were seven homeless young people and a puppy, in a total of three locations. I hated to do it on rainy nights, but it was my job, and some guests felt threatened when encountering tattooed and pierced youth late at night. They never gave me any trouble though, they always just moved on when asked. One guy in particular stood out. He was over 6 ft. tall and 200 lbs, and a tall mohawk. We'd find him everywhere, asleep sitting on a toilet stall in our banquet floor or sleeping on the stairs up to the roof, for instance.

One early morning on my rounds I opened an emergency exit and found him face down snoring in the little exit cavity by the fire hose. I started to yet again wake him and send him on his way, but for some reason, I couldn't do it that day. Maybe I was tired. I stepped back out, closed the door quietly and left. What I did next I don't know if I will ever understand. I went downstairs and bought a large coffee and a chocolate donut, went back upstairs, opened the emergency door and set the package by his feet. When I closed the door this time I let it slam so he would wake up. I wish I could have been there to see him wake up to hot coffee and a donut, dropped off by magic.

4296 Reads

Posted by luna1969
Sep 16, 2010
Comments (20)

Readers Comments

smileamile wrote: "no act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted". :-) smileamile

Virgis wrote: Thank you :)))

Todd wrote: @ smileamile:

I love that quote by aesop

Ðí´«¿¡ wrote: This is really a kind of creation of kindness. There are so many that need help. , but i don't think the so young and strong boy needs the manager's coffee. Why didn't he go and find some jobs to earn his break? Anyhow, the manager is a kind angel.

faeanne wrote: I started reading your story and felt so sorry, not only the young homeless ones, but for you as well. But at the end i had a smile on my face. That was a wonderfully kind act.

ÖÐ¹úµÄÐí´«¿¡ wrote: Helpothers. Org is a nice paradise where people can live a noble life with smile. All stories are moving and inspiring. I'm a teacher of english in china. I often quote some stories for my students to enjoy. And many of the stories have now been turned into my texts in class. Thank you, my dear helpothers. Org.

I'll adopt the above story to my stedents today and i will have a class debate about "whether young men needs sympathy or not". These days, we are learning charles dickens's a christmas carol, which has the same kind of topic to talk about. Maybe i will post what we have done in the classroom about this topic on this website.

magsue wrote: That's very sweet of you. After drinking the coffee and eating the chocolate donut he must be smiling for the whole day

luna1969 wrote: I don't know what set of circumstances makes people homeless. Bad home life, mental issues, and once you are in the situation it's hard to break the cycle; i imagine it's hard to get a job with no clean clothes, no sleep, and no identification papers. You can be in foster/state care, but once you turn 18 the system dumps you out like a hot potato.

anzanie wrote: Im sure he was happy when he woke up because its not something which happens daily for a homeless guy to have to wake up to a hot coffee and a dougnut

Aarthi wrote: Another surprise is that i actually read this entire story even as i am busy at my work. I am pleasantly surprised and this story brought a smile on my face! I have experienced the same thing many times but never thought that it was some miracle. I mean, sometimes, the good part of our characters play out themselves and we have no clue how that happens. God is the puppet master from above who is making such little miracles happen in our lives. Either someone helps us without a reason or we do so for others. Life is one big mystery!

Stories of Kindness from Around the World