Failure to represent
I recently got an e-mail from one of my International students who is spending a month with seven other students traveling the United States before returning to China.
While in New York her laptop was stolen from the hotel room. Everything was on it - photos, applications to graduate school, the works. When she tried to discuss it with hotel management, she was rebuffed. I feel bad about this, hoping she does not see this horrible treatment as representative of America.
Except in some ways it is. I, too, have had similar experiences. Once, in Fargo, I left my hypoallergenic pillow in the hotel room. I called the hotel two hours after checking out and, nope, they hadn’t seen it. This has happened over the years with other items - a new shirt, a curling iron, a swimsuit left hanging in the shower. So I surveyed friends and not a single person has had a positive response when looking for a missing or left-behind item in a hotel. Not one single time.
