The General Manger wants to issue a disciplinary to me and my two friends. I guess he’s pissed off that a number of guests swindled their way out of paying for about £300 worth of drink on Saturday by faking signatures all night.

You see, when a guest arrives at the hotel they can preauthorise their room account with their credit card which allows them to charge goods and services to that account during their stay. Everything is tallied up to a single bill which is paid for at reception. At the time of check-in, they are issued with a room charge card which has on it the booking name, the room number and signature of the card holder. When a guest wants to charge to their room account, we staff are required to ask for this card for proof of residency in the appropriate room. The customer must then sign their itemised till receipt which is retained by us and used as evidence of purchase should there be any queries by the customer when they come to pay their final bill.

And queries there were. Should a guest deny the purchase of goods and services that appear on their room account, we will show them the signed receipt.

But it’s not that simple. It is so easy for a customer to put any signature they like on those receipts so long as it differs from their actual signature on the charge card. They can then claim that the products bought were not by them and the hotel has no choice but to write off of the bill and it all comes back to us.

It’s not plain to see that we as bar staff are in the wrong. We should always be asking for the charge card and we should always be checking that the signatures match, but we don’t, and with good reason.

Saturday night was host to a wedding for approximately 200 people. Some were guests in the hotel and most were not. The function bar is privately hired and remains open until midnight. The residents or public bar, which I was serving on, is only open to the public until 11pm. After 11pm, we close to non-residents, stop taking cash transactions and only guests can be served using their room charge accounts.

So imagine this. It’s 12:03. The private bar has just pulled down the shutters and there are 80+ residents in the hotel. Most of them are drunk and lairy. A lot of them want to buy another round, so they come to me in the public bar. No problem! I’ll be here until I close at 3am.

“I’ll have 3 pints of Stella!”

“Sure thing! Can I see your charge card?”

“ER?>!”

“I can only charge these drinks to a room account and for that I need to see your room charge card that you were issued with at reception when you checked in”, pointing to the example on the wall.

“ER?>!, dunno where it is!”

What I am supposed to do at this stage is deny the customer service, which might not be so bad if you’re dealing with only one guest, who isn’t ratted off his face. However, when there’s a stream of 20 queuing at the bar the situation required a little initiative.

“OK, what room are you staying in and what name is the room booked under?”

“SMITTTTTHY!! OI LOUISE, WHAT ROOM ARE WE IN?! 21 mate.”

Sure enough, room 21 is booked in the name of Smith. The guy gets his drinks, squiggles on the bit of paper and everyone is happy. I haven’t checked a signature because I have nothing to match it to, so all I can do at this stage is hope everything goes O.K. in the morning.

I’m caught between two brick walls. If I refuse service to upwards of 20 people I am going to have a serious riot on my hands. Perhaps the tables and chairs won’t be smashed to pieces but there will be kicking and screaming. Not only that, I am costing the hotel business, something I am sure to get in the neck for from my superiors the next day.

I’ve stressed before that we are not being offered any help. It takes the receptionist all of a few seconds to state to the guest, on arrival, when they are not yet stinking of beer and tobacco, to make it specifically clear that you cannot buy drinks in the public bar after 11pm without presenting your charge card, so be sure to bring it with you when you attend tonight’s function. So easy! Instead they turn up to me, pissed and unruly and there is no hope in Hell of getting them to see reason or compromise.

So that’s the story. After Saturday’s loss the General Manger is clearly looking for someone to take the rap and the barrels are pointed firmly at me and two of my barmaid friends, who were working the function that night but were similarly caught out by forged signatures not checked. We are expecting a letter any day now that will invite us to an disciplinary interview where we will be asked to explain our actions that night, the appropriate procedures we should follow, and to state our case. Well, my case is all ready to be stated.

I know almost exactly what I’m going to say. I believe that the case in question that has prompted these proceedings is not a case that’s prompts disciplinary action. I accept that I have failed to follow operating procedures for accepting room charges as a result of failure to be fully trained on these. In addition, there was no malicious intent and I believe that I am being unfairly targeted because this case of human error has a significant cost value attached to it.

Bang. Rebut that.

They might argue that I have been fully trained on the procedures for room charges. I have already detailed about asking for the charge card and matching the signatures on the till receipt. Sounds easy, right? A 12 year old could do it. But what if the signatures do not match? I’ve already prepared the drinks order. Naturally, the customer ain’t getting them, but what do I do with them now. Put them in the fridge for the next guy? Surely not. I wouldn’t want someone else’s flat ale. Pour them down the drain? I can hardly see how management would so readily condone that sort of wastage which is ultimately costing the company that same £300 – the only difference is the liquor was poured away instead of freely drunk. In the situation of signatures not matching and the customer is unable to use an alternative form of payment, I really do not see any other options. You can’t put the beer back in the barrels.

I will happily bring up the fateful event of Sunday 19th August. I was Duty Manager at the time, and due to an error in communications from the meetings and events staff, a group arrived for a private Christening function only to find that only half of their rented suite was prepared, the other half was still in a shocking state from the Wedding before (which happens to be the night in point) and their private bar was also closed. As DM, it took some serious butt kissing and £60 worth of free wine to keep them sweet. This mistake was potentially far more damaging has the organiser of the event walked out and demanded a full refund for the £400 worth of food, £200 in room hire and various other expenses. Surely if we are to be disciplined for our crimes, then someone must also be facing the same proceedings for this blunder. At the same time, I don’t see myself and my staff who were working that Sunday getting any pats on the back for rectifying the situation in record time and providing what turned out to be an enjoyable afternoon for all who attended.

I’ll also argue the case for the amount of money I have saved the company through my continued services to the bar and restaurant. It is not my job to oversee the stock orders, balance the cellars and keep the monthly stock take result in check. After all, I am a mere food and beverage assistant on minimum wage. I do not take on responsibilities of a supervisor or managerial role for my health.

If I receive a disciplinary then the company are walking a tight, tight line. Both I and my two friends are indispensible to the hotel, especially as our operations manager is leaving his post within the next two weeks rendering our entire department free of any sort of management. Should we walk, and this would be no new concept, there will be no one capable of performing the administrative side of things that people forget about. It’s not all pulling pints.

We shall see how things pan out.