Bump goes the Hotel in New Orleans
Part 6 part 5 of the Rick travel series
Thankfully for most this will be the last in this series for regular readers. Thanks for reading the series or some part of it. I promise no more. Tomorrow I will return to other maybe more important items.
They say that the name of the ship was Bright Field. I really don’t know all I heard and felt was the crash. The good news was that I was not in the hotel. Being inside might have been tragic, though there were no deaths. According to the accident records 15 shops were damaged, 450+ hotel rooms were damaged, and 116 people were hurt. Fortunately I had just check out, and was in the cab on my way to the airport.
Here is the story. I was assigned once again to be the adult, this time for a group of city councilmen. Now, one can complain about groups of people, and I am not one to complain about public servants. This group however was a rowdy bunch who wanted to test the limits, especially since I was the one on the hook for the legality of their actions.
The crazy trip started with the Mayor asking if I wanted to go to New Orleans in his place. I actually did not know what he was talking about. But he generally filled me in, he had an event that he needed to attend, and would I go in his place. Well, New Orleans is not my favorite place, but it was a chance to travel and I had only been New Orleans once. So I said yes.
After I said yes the trouble started. The first thing that happened was that 5 City Councilmen were accompanying me, which is why the Mayor did not wish to attend. There is an old saying in City Hall, Where three or more city councilmen are gathered, trouble is sure to follow. I had five to ride herd on. The second thing was a visit by one of our less than super intellectual members who announced that he was going to a horse track and he wanted his winnings repaid. The next thing was making arrangements for the ride to Indianapolis. Every person wanted to drive except one councilperson. Of course I got him in my car. All the way to Indianapolis he talked about the fun things he wanted to do. I didn’t hear a thing about doing work.
When we arrived, the council members wanted to go to the French Quarter. A couple of them might have even unpacked, though I doubt it. Instead the calls started immediately when was Rick taking them to the French Quarter? How soon could we get there? What would we do once we go there? This was the first day of 5 that was nonstop chatter about things they wanted to do and could not.
On day two I knew I had made a terrible mistake by standing in. It was a constant drum beat of what will Rick let us get away with. I hate being the parent for a bunch of grownups, especially my “boss’s” and especially knowing that their drinking could land me with a bill I could not afford. It just got deeper and deeper. On day three I had stop them from ordering drinks at dinner. On day four it was the racing guy, showing his horse racing tickets and wanting reimbursement. Later it was the idiots who wanted buy booze with the city credit card. I hate being the parent.
I finally rounded them all up and on day 5 I got them in cabs. There was a small ruckus over my horse racing council person and his desire to use a limo to the airport. Ahh voters are sometimes not the cream of the crop either I suppose.
Anyway on the way back to the airport I arranged lunch and then took them to the airport where once again I took them thru airport check in and I got many of my chickens to the baggage check in. Working to get each their tickets Democrats together Republicans together, and this time me stuck with the guy no one wanted to talk with. I was so looking forward to this trip being over.
In the airport bar, we saw the TV and the crash at the hotel we had just left. Had we not stopped for lunch we would have been right there. I originally planned to make them get their own lunch in the festival marketplace, the part of the complex most damaged. I was glad I had gotten them out, sort of, actually by this time a missing council member or two might have been a blessing. At first it looked like there may have been fatalities. Of course all my wards needed a drink to celebrate their cool luck.
When I got my brood home the mayor was laughing. He said he knew for certain he had made the right decision to stay home. Oh and yes the councilman did dump 238 blown racing tickets on my desk and demand payment. He said that he needed reimbursed in order to keep his wife from finding out her had gambled. I took them to the Mayor and suggest he might want to talk to the councilman and the two of them decide my proper course of action. I never heard of it again. Somehow I knew I would not.
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Rick