O’DAY’S TRAVEL WOES #38: “What Did I Forget This Time?”

February, 1995 (continued):

After returning home from various parts of North America, a couple of days later, thanks largely to the efforts of KBBY’s Marilyn Woods, I drove an hour north to conduct How To Create Maximum Impact Radio Advertising for the Ventura County Radio Broadcasters Association in the morning, followed by a KBBY air talent seminar that afternoon.

Although Ventura is only 50 miles away, it was decided I should drive up the night before and stay at a hotel to avoid getting stuck in rush hour the next morning.

Whenever I pack for a trip, I consult a checklist on my computer to make sure I don’t forget anything. Because this trip would be just a 60-minute drive, I said to myself, “I don’t need to check my list. I can keep track in my head.”

This, of course, is illogical; a short trip requires as much attention to detail as a longer one.

So, naturally, I forgot something:

Dan, back in 1996. Before he grew his beard.

Clean socks and underwear.

A few days later I returned to Lansing, Michigan, for my third visit with the Michigan Association of Broadcasters. They had me present Air Personality Plus+ the day before their convention. And then a few days later (still February, remember), I journeyed to Dallas for the third annual PD Grad School (which I produce).

Here’s a different kind of Customer Service than the type I usually experience (and usually report to you here), at our host hotel:

One of our attendees entered an elevator with a hotel bellman. The bellman asked, “How are you today, sir?” and the attendee replied, “I have a splitting headache. I wish I had an aspirin.”

The bellman offered to get some aspirin, but the guest said, “Oh, no, don’t bother. But thanks for offering.”

Five minutes later there was a knock on the guest’s door. It was the bellman. With two aspirin. (And no, he did not have his hand out, waiting for a big tip.)

Because of that bellman, I heartily recommended that hotel to others…until the following year when it was sold and the owners brought in a new manager who — Well, let’s just say I stopped referring people to that hotel.