The Best Wake Up Call Ever

One thing that can be frustrating about living in a hotel is the constant flow of different neighbors. Some neighbors come and go, and we don't even notice them. But sometimes, the people in adjacent rooms are loud. They turn the tv all the way up, they blare music, they yell, or they make noises that I can only assume are the result of spontaneous 2am clog dancing practices.

Noisy neighbors drive Thomas crazy. Sometimes he will call the office, and say something if the noise gets ridiculous, but they are busy, and that is a lot of trouble. His new thing is to call the noisy neighbor himself, and ask them to please turn down their music/tv/yelling/clog dancing. But sometimes when he makes those calls, he slips out an Indian accent that sounds just like the manager. So he doesn't say, "This is the office calling." He just doesn't say who he is at all, and then he asks them to be quiet.

Over the weekend, Thomas called the people behind us, accent fully in place, to ask them to turn down their music. The man who answer said, "Oh, gosh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize it was so loud. I'll definitely turn it down. And, hey, since I have you here on the phone, I need you to give me a wake up call at 9pm. Thanks!"

Thomas hung up the phone, looked at me, and said, "I have to make a wake up call at 9pm."

"What? Why?"

"The guy clearly thought I was calling from the office. And as I couldn't exactly say I wasn't the office, I didn't argue. But I also don't want him to miss work, or be late for something tonight because the phone never rings, or for him to yell at the girl in the office tonight because no one called. You know, because they didn't know he needed a call."

At this point I laughed. Really hard. And Katarina laughed with me.

We spent the next few hours teasing him about his wake up call...

"Do you want to try a new accent? You could be Australian!"

"Will you sing? Everyone loves a nice wake up song."

"Maybe you should tell him a joke? Start his night out with a laugh."

"Seriously, now, what exactly are you going to say? Do we need to do a practice run? I'll pretend to sleep, and you can call me on the cell phone to wake me up."

For some reason, Thomas didn't seem to enjoy this quite as much as we did.

We enjoyed it a lot.
And I might have even messaged Lizzi to let her in on the fun.

But Thomas was a little stressed by his new wake up call job. He set two alarms so he wouldn't be late. And in between the helpful questions and suggestions Katarina and I were sharing, he kept saying, "You just don't understand. I have to make a wake up call tonight."

Nine o'clock finally arrived, and the alarms rang out the deadline. "What are you going to say?" I asked.

"I don't know, but I have to call him now!"

He picked up the phone, dialed, took a deep breath, and quietly said, "It is nine o'clock."

The neighbor responded, "Thanks!" and Thomas hung up really fast, before he could be asked for any more calls. He achieved wake up call success.

The most important part of the story is this: Thomas said this experience has cured him from ever calling a neighbor in a vaguely Indian accent again. He will always just be very much himself.

But if YOU ever need a wake up call, I'm sure he would be happy to try out any accent you want. After all, he is a wake up call master now.

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