Saturday, June 9, 2007

Looney Tunes!

Some of you guys from the Banff Caribou Lodge may remember this incident. In the hotel and hospitality business you get to meet some very strange individuals; especially when you are the Night Auditor. This one particular night at approximately 12:45 am, a British male guest who I will call “Wally”, came to the Front Desk and whispered: “Is there somewhere in private I could speak to you?” He seemed to be slightly upset but before I could answer he said in a much louder voice: “I AM 20 years old!”

In my mind I was thinking; “Man, what’s going on now!” I told him we could go into the Office and I showed him the way and followed him in. I did not close the door to the Office because I was unsure what this guy was going to do, so for my own safety I stayed next to the door and left it open. When we were both in the Office, he told me he believed he was being drugged. I asked him how he was being drugged and he told me that someone was spiking his drinks. I asked where he was drinking and he told me it was at the Keg Lounge.

I asked him if he would like to speak to the Manager on duty in the Keg. He told me no. I then asked him if he knew who was spiking his drink. At this point he told me he believed it was his father. He then told me he wanted the police called. He was also beginning to get quite upset. I brought him out of the Office and asked him to have a seat in the Lobby while I called the police; which I did. I told the Officer on the telephone what “Wally” told me. The Officer told me they would be there as soon as possible, as they were very busy with a major incident downtown. I told them that would be fine and that “Wally” would wait for them in the Lobby.

Meanwhile “Wally” began to get more and more upset with every passing minute. I tried to calm him down as best I could by talking with him, as this, it seemed, is something he really wanted, someone to talk to. He told me he smokes and he left to get his cigarettes in his room. He came back and said he could not find them. He asked if he could get some in the store and charge it to his room. I told him it would be no problem and I got some cigarettes for him. By this time he is crying like a baby at the Front Desk. I continued to speak with him but sometimes it was hard to understand him through his crying and his British accent. He went outside by the door to have a cigarette and I could hear him crying from the Front Desk. The Keg Manager came to the Front Desk at this time with dry-cleaning. I briefly explained the situation to him while “Wally” was outside by the door. “Wally” came back to the Front Desk. The Keg Manager asked him if he would like a glass of water and he said yes. He got “Wally” a glass of water but by this time he was getting worse and then told me that he was convinced his father was going to kill him.

He also told me at this time that his brother and sister were being drugged also. He continued saying his parents are divorced and that his father (and his girlfriend) brought all the children on vacation so he could kill all of them. He was extremely paranoid and was talking about suicide instead of having to go through this hell. “Wally” then started having hallucinations. He was convinced that his father and girlfriend were trying to escape from the hotel and he saw them leave through the stairs to the parkade. With this he sprinted out through the front doors to try and stop them. Of course nobody was out there.

As soon as he came back, I tried to calm him again and to get him to sit down. He did not. I also called the police back and told them they had to send someone immediately as “Wally” was now hallucinating and extremely upset and convinced that he and his siblings were going to die. I was actually in fear that he was going to do something to injure himself or others around him. The police immediately sent 3 Officers and they arrived within 1 minute of my second phone call.

Upon entering the hotel, one Officer took “Wally” outside to his patrol car to talk. Within a couple of minutes the Officer came in the Lobby to tell us that he was going to take him to the hospital immediately to be checked. “Wally” also told the Officer that he never smoked or taken any type of drug since being in Banff. The other 2 Officers went into the Rooms to check on the father, girlfriend, brother and sister. After approximately 10 minutes an Officer came out to tell me that everyone was fine. The Father told the police that the son was acting very strange since his arrival in Banff. The Officers took the Girlfriend and Father to the hospital to visit their son.

Approximately 2 hours later the Father and Girlfriend came back without their son. It was discovered later that the son was a drug user in Britain and then got some “bad” drugs in Banff. This was the effect they had on him.


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