Welcome to my Kill to Get Crimson 2008 tour blog!

My name is Isaac, 30 years old from Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. I have set this blog up for the purpose of documenting the journey I am taking following Mark Knopfler’s Kill to Get Crimson tour in North America, in the summer of 2008.

The North American leg of the tour, as well as my journey, begins June 24th in Morrison, Colorado and ends on July 31st in Miami Beach, Florida.

Even though I intend to write on a daily basis, publishing the stories onto the server would be tricky. After all, we’re talking about vast distances which will be primarily crossed by driving, and there is no way for me to predict the availability of Internet connection throughout the way.

So… make yourself at home and feel free to drop a comment.

Yours,

Isaac

Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Hospitality in Regina

So I made my way here to Regina. Concert is in about 3 hours but I have already had my daily dose of aggravation.

People told me before that Regina is not a great city to visit, as the crime rate here is considerably high than other parts in the country. They were mentioning that people here are rather rude. I got the first (and hopefully last) taste of it today.

Before leaving Saskatoon, I checked some places to stay in while in Regina. I came across this motel called “Inntowner Motor Inn”, quoting me the rate of $48.95. Not bad.

So I’m arriving at the place. Looks a bit run down and the area doesn’t appear to be safe. Door was locked, then the owner of the place shows up. The minute I saw him, I knew that something is just wrong in this picture.

First it turned out that the rate is higher than what he quoted me. OK, that’s fine. No big deal. Probably my mistake.

Then I basically asked him two things:

  1. Can I see the room?
  2. Is this area safe?

So he showed me one of the rooms, which appeared to be fine. Then I got to ask him the second question about whether the area is safe or not.

Guys, believe me when I tell you that he started to give me a 20 minutes lecture about, basically, how dare I ask such a question. At some point, he told me that if it was Saturday, I’d probably not get a room there as I ask too many questions (on Saturdays, occupancy rates are higher).

I was amazed and waited for him to finish. I couldn’t believe what I heard. After he was done with his lecture, I asked him: “Are you the owner of this place?”

He said: “Yes, I am the owner. Any more questions?”

”No” I said, and fled the scene.

Now I don’t know what this guy’s problem is. It’s very easy to say that he’s an a**hole and so forth, but one thing I learned in life is to refrain, as much as I can, from judging somebody before I put myself in his shoes.

Still, we’re trying to operate a society here. If you’re in the lodging business, better be patient and kind. Whatever problems this guy has at home or in his personal life, this is really inappropriate. If you can’t show at least a bit of professionalism, don’t own a motel.

Too bad that this guy, and similar other people, are giving Regina such a bad name.

So there you are. The place is called “Inntowner Motor Inn”. My suggestion: never stay there.

Consulting my GPS, I ended up parking my rear in Sherwood House Motel, further down the road and closer to downtown. $75, but at least I feel safe in here.

Time to eat, and then the concert…

See you soon,
Isaac

2 comments:

Unknown said...

"Still, we're trying to operate a society here." What a great way to put it - love the righteous indignation. We all know what you mean, Isaac. There's a great book by Robert Sutton from Stanford University called "The No Asshole Rule." (I spelled it out because he did, right there in the title, and the publisher let him.) We became friendly and he ended up quoting me in the book. I can get up on my hind legs too when people can't be civil to their fellow earthlings.

Continued safe travels.

Rod.

Anonymous said...

Hi Rod,
Thank you for your comment.

The book you mentioned has just been added to my Amazon shopping cart and will arrive at my doorstep shortly after I get back to Ontario.


Thanks again,


Isaac