The Guest Who Dialed 911… For Shampoo: Hilarious Tales From the Front Desk
Anyone who’s ever worked in hospitality knows that no two shifts are ever the same. One minute you’re checking in the Smith family and answering questions about the pool, the next you’re managing a minor towel crisis. But sometimes, just sometimes, a guest will take “room service” to a whole new level—like, say, the level that involves emergency services.
Today’s tale from r/TalesFromTheFrontDesk is a wild reminder that in the hotel world, you need quick thinking, a thick skin, and apparently, a direct line to 911 just in case someone runs out of shampoo.
Let’s Set the Scene…
Our protagonist, u/Zelgadiss007, is working solo at the front desk—no houseman, no backup, and a dwindling supply of towels. After a short scavenger hunt for linens in the Housekeeping storage, they return to a blinking phone and a flurry of missed calls—all from the same ground-floor room. The guest? A young woman with a small child.
Cue the chaos. The phone rings, they answer, and… silence. Hang up. Ring again, same routine. Four missed calls in a row. At this point, our weary desk clerk suspects a bored child playing with the phone and prepares to call the room back. But before they can, another guest walks in for check-in (because of course, hotel timing is impeccable).
And then, the phone lights up with an alarm notification: the guest has dialed 911.
From “Room Service” to “Emergency Services”
With visions of an emergency (or a mischievous toddler) dancing in their head, our hero dashes to the room. The door opens to reveal… a very wet, towel-clad woman. Her child is fast asleep on the bed. Our front desk friend inquires, with a healthy mix of concern and confusion, about the 911 call.
Her answer? She just needed more shampoo and conditioner.
Apparently, she’d dialed “0” for the front desk, but when no one answered (because, you know, they were out hustling for towels), she assumed the phones weren’t working. So she decided to “test” the phone with 911. “But someone answered right away, so I hung up,” she said, as if this were the most logical troubleshooting step in the world.
Meanwhile, the front desk phone is blowing up with missed calls from police dispatch. Our hero answers on the seventh try (lucky number?) to reassure them it was just a shampoo-related misdial, not a crime scene.
The cherry on top? The guest called back soon after—this time to ask how much longer she’d have to wait for her shampoo.
What’s Going On Here?
Let’s break this down:
- Hotel phones are confusing. The classic “dial 0 for the front desk” isn’t universal, and when it fails, guests get creative—sometimes a little too creative.
- Some folks have never heard of “room to room” etiquette, or emergency service etiquette, for that matter.
- Customer service workers are secretly Olympic-level multitaskers, able to juggle check-ins, urgent towel runs, and police dispatch calls without breaking a sweat.
Can you imagine being the 911 operator on the other end of that call? “911, what’s your emergency?” “Uh, yeah, I’m out of conditioner, and the front desk isn’t answering.” That’s a first responder’s nightmare—or maybe just their best story at the next holiday party.
The Realities of Front Desk Life
While this story is hilarious, it’s also a window into the unpredictable, often thankless world of hotel front desk work. You’re the first line of defense against the bizarre, the clueless, and the downright demanding. You’re expected to be a mind reader, a mediator, a lost-and-found detective, and, apparently, a backup 911 dispatcher.
It’s also a gentle PSA for travelers everywhere: if you need more shampoo, call the front desk. If there’s no answer, try again in a minute. And please, for the love of hospitality, don’t “test” the phone by dialing 911. The only thing that needs rescuing is your hair, not your life.
Final Thoughts: Have You Experienced Hotel Hijinks?
So, next time you’re staying in a hotel and tempted to call 911 about a minor inconvenience, remember the hardworking folks at the front desk who are probably sprinting down the hall with fresh towels.
Have you ever had a wild hotel experience—either as a guest or as a staff member? Share your craziest tales in the comments below! And if you’re a front desk worker with a backlog of incredible stories, let us know. The world needs more hospitality humor.
Stay safe, and may your next hotel stay be blissfully uneventful (with plenty of shampoo to spare).
Original Reddit Post: Guest dials 911 for service