Assignment 2: Reflection On An Interpersonal Communication Problem

During my latest internship at a hotel, I encountered several communication issues. One of the most memorable was the encounter with these hotel guests that travels in a group of ten families.

It was the day for this big group of guests to check out. Each family came down to the lobby and they requested for bottles of distilled water at the concierge counter. Initially, I was not aware that these guests travel in a large group. Thus, upon the request of the first two families who reached the lobby early, I went into the luggage room which was quite a distance away from the concierge counter, to collect the distilled water which each guest room is entitled for.

Some time after, another batch of this large group of families came down and requested for the complimentary distilled water after seeing the first two families drinking from it. Once again, I went into the luggage room to collect the bottles of water, thinking that this group of families have all reached the lobby and not expecting this group to be so huge. Only after I passed this batch of guests the distilled water and they went to sit at the lobby couches, then I realize that they were waiting for more families to head down to check out.

Finally, the last batch of most families came down to the lobby. They too, requested for distilled water. This time, there were six families that came down at one go and they were all surrounding the counter and requested for the distilled water one by one. The situation was chaotic so I decided to ask for a total number of bottles so as not to make extra trips to collect the bottles.

However, only two distilled bottles were left and I had to went back to the guest who told me the total number of bottles a while ago and inform him about it. By this time, this large group of families have gathered and overcrowded the lobby area, to sing a birthday song for one of the family members. As I was finding the guest with the intention of informing him about the lack of distilled bottles, the "leader" of the group came forward and ask what was I doing. Before I was going to explain to him about my situation, he told me off as they are going to sing the birthday song. Thus, I explained to him in short about it, and he responded by saying he did not request for any bottles of water. I then identified the one who requested from me. To my dismay, the "leader" told me not to listen to him and gestured his own head, signifying that the one who requested has mental problems.

At this point, I felt all my time and efforts in finding more bottles of water have been wasted and I could have used this time to do the work I have on hand. So, what or how could I better communicate with this large group of families so as to be more productive?