So, two weeks ago I traveled with my soccer team to Kansas for a couple of games versus conference foes. We played a game on Friday, stayed in a hotel on Friday night, played on Saturday, and traveled back on Saturday afternoon.
Well, we assigned ourselves in groups of four to various rooms, and I led my group up to our hotel room, #316. I used my card key to unlock the door, and we walked in and started to unpack. About half an hour later as I was settling in and reading a book, our door opened up. A stranger peeked in and said in a startled voice, “Oh, I’m sorry! This is the third time I’ve had to go to the front desk and get a different room.”
Startled ourselves, we assured him that it was no big deal, and he closed the door. We laughed about the whole situation but we felt bad for the guy who kept getting other people’s rooms.
The evening progressed and we fell asleep one-by-one. Trying to get a lot of reading finished, I was the last one to call it a night. But before I got in bed, I left the room to go refill my water bottle. I found some refreshing distilled water in the fitness room and then I journeyed back to my room.
I inserted my key into the lock, and voila! It didn’t work! What in the world? So I knocked and knocked some more, but my roommates didn’t hear me. I looked at the room number, and yes, it was room #316.
I walked downstairs to the front desk and asked the lady to reset my room key. Well, doing her job correctly, she asked me what room it was and looked it up in the computer to make sure I was being honest. “There’s nobody in your room,” she said.
“Um, that’s weird. Because I just came out of there.”
“Are you sure it’s #316?”
“Yes, it is.”
“What’s your name?”
“Joshua Huang. But I’m with a soccer team, so the room is probably under my coach’s name.”
“What’s his name?”
“Gary Backous…or maybe Lance Augsburger.”
“What school?”
“Faith Baptist Bible College.”
“Ozark Christian College?”
“Um…no. That’s the team we played today in soccer.”
“Well, it looks like your booked under that name.”
“Oh, okay. I don’t know how that happened.” By now, I was even more confused than ever!
She asked for my name again, and this time she found it in the computer. “This says that you’re in room #369, on the far end of the hall.”
“Um, no, I didn’t even go down there at all.”
“It doesn’t look like there’s anyone in the rooms around you either. Were the other guys near you?”
“I think so. I don’t know for sure, but I think they were.”
“Well, it looks like your coach is in #315.”
“Okay.”
“JJ Parkhurst…Ryan Poorman…”
“Yes…”
“They’re also supposedly in #369 with you.”
“Um, no, they’re not with me and they’re not even in the same room together.”
