Morning gals! Brother what a nightmare. We seem to always get into trouble when we go away! lol We get to the casino and go to check in, well Kelly just reserved the room with her cc and didn't prepay so we had to pay for the room. I specifically asked about a room deposit as I was going to give it in cash so as not to tie up money on our credit card it takes about 3 weeks to get back. She said we didn't have to if we didn't want to so I passed on giving it to her. We didn't want to use the mini bar and had both our cell phones to call if we needed and didn't want their over inflated movies which is what the deposit is for. Then they only had smoking kings which I couldn't have stood, so they ended up giving us 2 doubles so we slept like Dick Van Dyke's show in separate beds. They put us on the second floor, which come to find out was the last floor of the original hotel. They added rooms onto the floor when they remodeled and we walked about 1/4 mile, honestly, to our room. We got off the elevator and followed the hallway to the end, then turned and followed it to the end, then turned into a long hallway and this is where the ice machine was and it had approx 30 rooms in this hallway and we walked to the end of that then we turned again and they had us at the very end of another 30 room hallway. So I was exhausted just getting to and from the room let alone the hike to the ice machine, which was the only one on the whole floor and the elevators we got out of were the only ones on the floor too. We get into the room and there is this loud humming. Come to find out, our room faced out onto the roof and it was heating or cooling or fans or something. We had to put up with that annoying sound. I then looked in the bathroom and the tub would have maybe fit Thomas in it sitting down. It was narrow, short and it had nothing in the bottom to keep from slipping or any kind of handles or towel bar or anything so I knew I was going to have a problem. I have never been in a hotel or casino hotel room that didn't have something, a soap holder with a hand hold, a towel bar in back, or a regular handle. They couldn't provide us with another room and if the bell hop had not already put our stuff in the room, I would have checked out right then and there but it gets worse. Jack was hungry and he had forgotten our free buffets so he went to the front desk and they told him to just have them put it on the room. Well, they did, but they charged us $30 for the buffet and the $92 for the room, which was supposed to include the buffet. Little did I know until I got home and checked my bank, which is where we have our credit card, that the little snot that checked us in put a $100 hold plus the room cost onto our credit card and charged the authorization for $197!!! We went to eat and the buffet food areas were sparce of food. The desserts were practically non existent, which used to be just the opposite. A lot of the food was not hot and it just wasn't that great but it was supposed to be part of the deal. So, now we finish and trek back to "timbuktu" to our room as we didn't want to gamble right away. We watched tv for awhile (it did have a 40 inch flat screen hd so we got to see what that experience was at least! ) We then went down a bit later, but Jack and I play different things. I am your numbingly boring slot player and Jack likes Baccarat. He went his way and I went mine though we had our phones if we needed each other. I sat down at a video slot machine, put in $40, it did it's first spin then had call attendent sprawled across the screen. I could do nothing but sit and wait until someone showed up. Ten minutes went by and someone came by me so I grabbed her and she said just a minute. She came back by about 5 minutes later and I stopped her and she said someone would be with me in a minute. Half an hour passed and my bowels decided they were going to become a problem so on top of sitting there, I started stressing about needing a bathroom, which of course, makes it worse. Someone else came by and said to me, just a minute let me drop this off and went around the corner. Back she came, but instead of servicing me, she said, "She is on her way," and walked off. I sat there for 45 minutes before someone came and by this time, I wasn't sure I would get to the bathroom without having an accident (one of the side effects of having less colon is the urge is harder to control) She walked up and rudely said, "What's wrong?" Well how the heck do I know what is wrong with the machine, isn't that your job (I thought this silently and only said, that I didn't know but that I just wanted to cash out.) I wasn't comfortable explaining my urgency if you know what I mean. She fooled with the machine about 5 more minutes before finally giving me my ticket with only a mumbled. "sorry, " then off she walked. Well, that did it. I took care of myself then walked to the desk where they issue the rewards cards because those ladies had been so nice to me. I asked how I went about making a complaint regarding a slot issue and she very nicely said I could talk to someone and she would gladly have her come to me. I told her thank you and she called someone and told me someone was on the way to talk to me and I told her I was going to sit at the machines across the aisle, which I did. By this time, I guess I was in full realization what could have happened and how embarrassing it could have become and I started crying so when the slot manager got there I was in full bawl mode. She was so taken back when I spilled everything including the fact I have had 2 colon surgeries and have trouble holding it that she told me she would do anything I wanted. She begged me not to cash out and leave the casino and go next door to the Gold Strike, which is where we usually stay. She gave 4 free buffets. The young woman who had told me that someone was on the way was very upset and put her arms around me and profusely apologized about it and said that next time to tell the person you want to cash out immediately and not wait. Yeah, like that would have made things better having them mad at me and making me wait besides because that's what would have happened I bet on it. They have unreasonable people in there all the time making stupid demands and I know for a fact there is a payback mentality. I told them, 10-15 minutes wouldn't have been so bad, but 45 minutes was ridiculous no matter what the circumstances and of course I got the we are understaffed bologna as an excuse. I went to another part of the casino and sat down at a penny machine and played a little and a slot lady walked up, said hello to me by name (it shows up on the machine when you have your card in it) and said, I am giving you free buffets how many would you like? lol Ok, so when I went back to my room about 3 minutes later, (some old dude smoking an ugly cigar sat down and puffed in my face and by this time it was "that's all brother I have had it."), I was the proud owner of not one, two or three, but 6 free buffets! I kind of forgot about it and Jack came back to the room and I told him what happened but didn't mention the buffets. We went to sleep early then he got up at 2, showered and went down and played and I got up and read a book then went back to bed. He came in around 5:30 said he'd won $300 when he decided to quit and said, "Oh, and they comped me 2 buffets, isn't that nice!" I couldn't quit laughing enough to tell him we were now the proud owners of 8 free buffets. The only problem is his had to be used by Monday next and mine were all only good for 3 weeks. Besides that, they have your name on them and rewards # so only you can use them because they ask for id when you use them. We used his for breakfast this morning, which was much much nicer than last night. Long story is I am going to really let the hotel manager have it in an email or letter. I told Jack they could comp us a week and I wouldn't stay there again. On a nice note, I have lovely nails and toes since my pedi and nail appt!
I will be in here tomorrow and do replies and such. Just wanted to blow off steam and let you know we are back home all safe and sound.
Faye