So there I was, just aching for a Mountain Dew since this hotel does not have Starbucks in the lobby (completely outrageous, letter to hotel chain president to follow) so I explain to the concierge that I am Peter King and need a soda, pronto, because I am just not going to pay $7 for a soda from the minibar (second letter to hotel chain president to follow). Fortunately the young man is a Brett Favre fan, and orders a bellman to take me to the business center, which houses the only soda machine in the building. I thank the bellman but felt a tip would be inappropriate since I had been so completely inconvenienced in the first place.
I get to the business center, and look for an open work station--somehow I have lost the charger to my laptop, I suspect Costas swiped it, he is always sneaking around my stuff. There is one open computer (I'm sure when the guy got back from the bathroom he understood why I had to move his stuff, I left him a note explaining I was Peter King), so I put down my stuff, and hop over to the soda machine.
AND WOULD YOU BELIEVE: there is no Mountain Dew in that machine. Caffeine Free Pepsi, Diet Sprite, and a very dusty looking Grape Fanta. I stand there stunned...what would Brett do? This is all about forcing people to use the minibar, I am positive. But now I have no choice, I am going to be stuck with that Fanta. One dollar and twenty-five cents for a Fanta. Unreal. I slide two bucks into the machine, out comes the Fanta which looks like it has been there since Mike Ditka played for the Cowboys. But no change. I wait, but there is no change. And believe me, I am not willing to pay $2 for a Grape Fanta. I tap the machine...nothing. Tap a little harder....nothing. Well, you can imagine how aggravating this was, so I bumped it just a tad harder....you would think I was Jerome Bettis the way that thing shattered into a thousand pieces. What a mess, plexiglass and Sprite everywhere. And still no change.
Of course I told the lady in the business center that NBC would pay for the damage, minus the missing change. Probably would have been easier to expense it to SI, but since it was Costas who stole the charger, I figure this should be an NBC issue.
Note to self, remind idiot travel agent to only use hotels with Starbucks in lobby.