A guest walked up to the front-desk agent, Karen Fredrickson, in an upscale hotel, ready to check out. As she would usually do when checking out a guest, Karen asked the guest what his room number was. The guest was in a hurry and showed his anxiety by responding, “I stay in a hundred hotel rooms and you expect me to remember my room number?” Karen then asked for the guest’s name, to which he responded, “My name is Mr. Johnstone.” After thanking him, she began to look for the guest’s last name, but the name was not listed in the computer. Because the man had a heavy accent and Karen assumed that she had misunderstood him, she politely asked the guest to spell his last name. He answered, “What? Are you an idiot? The person who checked me in last night had no problem checking me in.” Again, Karen looked on the computer to find the guest. The guest, becoming even more frustrated, said, “I have a plane to catch and it is ridiculous that it has to take this long to check me out. I also need to fax these papers off, but I need to have them photocopied first.” Karen responded, “There is a business center at the end of the counter that will fax and photocopy what you need.” The guest replied, “If I wanted your opinion, I would have asked you for it. Haven’t you ever heard of guest service? Isn’t this a five-star hotel? With your bad attitude, you should be working in a three-star hotel. I can’t believe they let you work here at the front desk. Haven’t you found my name yet?” Karen, who was beginning to get upset, asked the guest again to spell out his full name. The guest only replied, “Here are my papers I want faxed if you are capable of faxing them.” Karen reached to take the papers, and the guest shouted, “Don’t grab them from my hand! You have a bad attitude, and if I had more time, I would talk to someone about getting you removed from your position to a hotel where they don’t require such a level of guest service.” Though very upset, Karen kept her manner calm to prevent the guest from getting angrier. Continuing to provide service to the guest, Karen sent the faxes and made the photocopies he had requested. Upon her return, she again asked the guest to repeat his last name because he had failed to spell it out. The guest replied by spelling out his name, “J-o-h-n-s-t-o-n-e.” With that clarification, Karen was finally able to find his name on the computer and check him out while he continued to verbally attack her. Karen finished the encounter by telling the guest to have a nice flight. Questions 1. Would it be appropriate to have the manager finish the checkout when this sort of difficulty with a guest arises? Or should the front- desk agent just take the heat? 2. Would you have handled the situation in the same manner? 3. What would you have done differently?