Rebecca Meyer
When this woman was 19, she worked nights at a chain hotel in her hometown. Occasionally, creepy people did come in, but she felt confident enough to handle tough situations, and her job was pretty stress-free for the most part. One night in particular, however, wasn’t so stress-free.
She spent her night shift checking in guests, doing laundry, and stocking. At the entrance to the hotel, there were two sets of doors, and once the night shift started, the inner doors were locked.
At 3 a.m., a man showed up at the hotel and called her through the lobby phone that was set up between the two sets of doors.
Before she could even assist him, he started asking her desperately for “‘medical transport.'” Because she didn’t know the man’s situation, she tried to help and asked him a few questions.
“Eventually, I just let him in so I can get a better idea of how to help, but when I do, his whole tone immediately changes. He starts speaking in this monotone voice and has this kind of dead stare. I’ve never seen eyes so void of any emotion. Not to mention, he had no physical signs of injury. At all,” she explained.
Even though she was scared, she tried to act normal, and she kept trying to ask the man questions. However, he stopped answering her and just continued to stare blankly. She repeated her questions several times, but he just stared without responding.
“At this point, I’m pretty fed up with him, so I say, ‘Alright, I’m just going to call 911 to get you some help.’ He then starts getting frantic again, going between begging me not to call and saying, ‘They won’t let me go’ and ‘I can’t go back there.’ I told him that I wasn’t really sure how to help him if he wouldn’t let me call emergency services, so he needed to leave. He didn’t even seem to need medical assistance in the first place,” she said.
After that, the man went back to his silent staring.
In hindsight, she wished she’d called the police at that point, but the man’s behavior made her feel so overwhelmed, and at her job, she normally didn’t want to call the police unless it was a last resort.
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