It Has To Get Better!

This is our thirtieth year leading our Awana program. For many years I wished that I could attend the three levels of training called Commander College. But the costs were always too prohibitive and the locations not convenient. However, this winter the first level training was held in Hershey and Dianne and I decided to kick in the required fees and attend. We thoroughly enjoyed the three day training and met some very nice dedicated people. And we passed. Since I know that I don't have too many years left to serve as Commander, I decided that I would really like to try and attend the second of the three levels while I still can. The course was announced to be held this weekend in Pittsburgh. After much prayer and consideration we decided to again pay the $600 fee and attend. I thought it would also be good to extend our stay there, going one day prior and staying two additional nights after the training. I went on the internet and found a senior rate at the hotel which was actually less than the Awana rate and I booked these extra nights. Doing this also qualified us for an additional free night sometime in the future. Then the problems began. About two weeks before the conference I was notified that because we were part of the conference I would be required to pay the higher Awana room rate for all of our extra nights and I wouldn't be able to use my credit card. I would need to pay Awana directly. This made no sense to me - not only would it cost me additional money but I would not get the points towards a free night. Now here comes the problem. I believe in standing up for my rights. I often write letters when things are wrong. I'm not afraid to protest. But in this case I didn't want to ruin Awana's testimony or my testimony. So I felt in the middle. When we registered I was told that we couldn't do it any other way. I considered going to another hotel but it would have cost me almost twice as much and that was out of the question. I asked to meet with the manager and we finally reached a compromise. Then I was told that even though I had requested early check-in, our room wouldn't be available for two hours. So we "calmly" waited. Finally we were given a room only to find it was three floors down. There were no luggage carts and even if there were, it wouldn't have done any good because there were no elevators. I hadn't told them that Dianne is wearing a cast on her foot and is receiving physical therapy for her hip. So we hauled our luggage and food supplies down the long steps. It took several trips. And after the problems with the room rates I felt that I couldn't go back and complain again. At least we finally had a room. Then we found out that while there is a refrigerator, the rooms don't have microwaves. That wouldn't normally be a problem but since I am now off gluten we had brought things that I could make to eat in our room. But alas, I guess I will eat the gluten free food cold the next few days. We also found that the room had very limited electrical outlets which we needed for things like my computer. And the bathroom is very small. Oh yes, the door is very hard to open and bangs when it is closed. Sorry neighbors. I guess we are just spoiled since we normally choose to stay in Marriott family hotels which are guest friendly and in good shape. We're not used to places like this Comfort Inn and Conference Center in Monroeville. However, we did find that they have a beautiful, large indoor pool and we enjoyed using it - until a group of kids suddenly appeared. Then walking back to our room we had to wind our way through a group of teenage girls who were practicing to canned music for some sort of dancing performance. They are practicing just down the hall from us. And so we got back to our room and watched a movie - at least we were watching it when the cable, telephone and wireless systems crashed. I guess it was good that the phone was out so I couldn't call the desk and ruin my testimony. I wonder how that movie turned out. So we will soon head to bed - I don't know when I will be able to upload this blog. Tomorrow the conference begins and hopefully tomorrow will be a better day. I guess the positive spin on this is that even with the higher room rates, it is still about half of what we would be paying at nearby Marriotts. Oh yes, we did check for signs of bed bugs!