bits and bobs part deux

i've got my cranky pants on for a minute so just indulge me.
the thing is i was feeling a tad bitter about gettysburg tho' i promised myself i would let it go.
i wanted to write a blog called 'the gettysburg address' and tell you about the place NOT to stay in gettysburg.
but then i thought i'd done enough cranky stuff recently and i don't want people to think that i'm completely negative.
because i do try not to be.
even tho' it's hard sometimes.

but i just want to quickly mention this, and then i will move on.
honestly.

we booked a hotel online.
have done this many times in the past and never had a problem.
on the contrary, we have been fortunate every time.
this time however, not so much.
the hotel was awful and we knew it as soon as we pulled up outside.
but we didn't want to walk in and say 'no way!'
that would just be rude and we are nice people.
so we asked to see the rooms, knowing they'd be bad.
and they were.
the bates motel had nothing on this place.
just nasty.
i could practically taste the pubic hairs on the bedspread when i stuck my head in the door of the room we were shown to.
you couldn't see them, but you just knew they were there.
you knew there'd be bed bugs too .
lying in wait.

so we went back to the desk and said we wouldn't be staying and had to cancel.
but they refused to give us a refund.
why?
because they could and that was it.
so we had to pay for NOT staying in a rotten hellhole of a hotel.

to say i was livid is an understatement.
the manager was a complete prat and tho' i tried to appeal to his better nature (arf arf) that was a complete waste of time.
after some back and forwards debate which went nowhere, and after i'd spoken via phone to the people thru whom we had booked, i.e. some pennysylvania hotels' website, he left me no option but to tell him that i/we wouldn't stay there if he paid us and to kick the huge ashtray/can thingy at the door on the way out.
that'll teach him!
(NOT)
well i aimed a good kick at it but unfortunately i missed.
which just made me look stupid and did nothing to make me feel better.

the thing that really ticked me off was that next to the coffee stain on his shirt and the dandruff on his shoulders was a pin.
stating his name and his title:
'Dick Wad. Manager'
and underneath that;
"100% customer satisfaction guaranteed!!!!!"
what?
obviously the exclamation marks are mine.

i did draw his attention to that guarantee.
he laughed.
then he smirked.
how i restrained myself from jumping over the counter i'll never know.
well i suppose i do know.
m.o.h., my sister and her husband were pleading with me to leave.
"let's GO!" they warned me.
i think they were afraid of what i might do.

but, and i think that i deserve accolades for self-restraint, i left head held high, with my nose in the air.
dignity (reasonably) intact.
($150 poorer)
however,
if you do want to know,
this is the place NOT to stay in Gettysburg,
i beg of you.
********