Worse than homework.

OK so,  the first order of the day was to put in a decent effort at looking over some sort of report that Travelling Companion has to write up/modify/make sense of,  and offer any suggestions in terms of this thing we call the English language. 

*sigh*.

 I really and truly think I'd sooner tackle an essay on the cod fisheries off Newfoundland,  but that's not what is sitting there waiting for me at the table.
 I then figured I'd take a little break in the midst of sourcing out some crazy terminology that was included (turns out,  it's just poor usage and will be removed)  and thought I had better book our Easter weekend trip to Rome.

 More agony.

 In the whole time that we've been living in Europe,  and at all the hotels we've stayed at over the last two and a half years,  there have really only been a couple places that I wouldn't recommend.  Don't worry,  I put my two cents worth on Tripadvisor,  so that others could have a heads up.
Each of these times,  they were booked by someone else.   Hm.
One was in Belgium,   like that's a surprise,  and another one was in Denmark.   The one in Denmark would have been just fine except that the hallways smelled like someone opened a keg of stale beer and let it run out on the carpet,  and in spite of there being other rooms available,  the front desk put us directly over a street where construction started really,  really early in the morning.   Any place that hires staff who,  perhaps in spite of being pleasant, are either that stupid or uncaring,  need not be visited by me ever again.
Now that I think of it,  they were both part of a "chain".   Funny about that.

Whatever.

The third place was right here in Wienerland,  (well,  out in Strebersdorf) and that had more to do with the management being the cheapest tight wads I've encountered in a really long time.   For example, when there are two guests to start with,  and then one of them leaves to go back to The Netherlands,  why would you remove the bedding from the unused side of the bed?  Was there a shortage?  Did they need the pillow elsewhere?  It was only a thin crappy thing,  I can't see that it would have made that much of a difference,  but putting two crappy pillows together to make one half-assed decent one would have been kinda nice,  don't you think?

You think I'm kidding.  Even I can't make up that kind of stuff.

Mind you, there have never been any really truly bad experiences,  since the internet is chock full of all kinds of information if one is willing to do the research.  If you end up in a hotel with bedbugs for example,  then you either don't have the wherewithal to even stay in a hotel to start with,  since you're going for the cheapest deal out there, or you're just a dimwit, and have no right to complain.

 That's the thing,  the information can be found.

Not only does one have to do the research,  but each snippet of information has to be taken with a grain of salt.  Different people from different cultural backgrounds have differing expectations.    Like,   maybe it's OK to take away the extra pillow.  I mean,  it could go missing or something.  Maybe there's some sort of "pillow black market"  that I'm unaware of.
 

 Just one more thing,  and then I'd better get my nose back to the grindstone.

 The hairdresser story.

 It turns out that the assistant didn't really leave as a result of "stress",   although that might have been a reason given so that she can now collect some sort of unemployment while she tries to figure out what she wants to do with her life.  I didn't really get into that in our conversation.
Apparently she no longer has hairdressing in mind as a life long career.    She and the boss lady were at some sort of conference the week before,  and the story as I understand it was that her eyes were opened to certain levels of productivity that she figured she'd never be able to achieve (if she wanted to go out on her own I'm assuming)  and so she just packed it in.   No warning,  just a letter of resignation.
The only thing I could offer was that perhaps she didn't want to disappoint her mentor with a long drawn out process.  Other than that,  no clue.
Now,  herein lies the big difference when it comes to being able to speak the lingo or not.   See,  Friseur Lady and I converse only in German,  whereas one of the reasons that this place was chosen was that Friseur Lady could also speak English.   To some extent.
The thing is,  this goes back to that notion that the Austrians think they can speak English,  but the fact of the matter is,  sometimes the proof is not in that particular pudding. 
 That,  of course brings us right back to the papers that are spread out on the table to which I'll need to shortly return.  It too was written by a German speaking person who thinks they speak English.  It's mostly a smattering of business phrases that appear to be lifted from other documents,  but wherein the meaning has been somewhat buggered up.
  
That last one is a highly technical business term,  by the way.


Just thought you should know that.


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