This is who I am

We had a guest stay at a nice hotel downtown back in April, but when I received the invoice it did not have the tax exemption applied to it. So I fax the invoice, along with a new exemption form, to the hotel and requested that a new invoice be sent to me.

Ten minutes after I sent the fax, I called to make sure they had received it, and a very nice young lady told me she had it and was working on it at that very moment.

I never received the fax.

I have called multiple times since then and gotten the same type of response or I’ve gotten kicked over to accounting where I’ve had to leave a voice message that inevitably resulted in my call not being returned.

Today, I called again. This is the conversation I had:

Hotel: Good morning and thank you for calling the hotel in downtown Austin. How can I assist you?

Me: Can I be transferred to accounting?

Hotel: Is it for a bill or a receipt?

Me: It’s for a bill. I’m with the University of Texas at Austin and I have an invoice that needs tax exemption applied to it.

Hotel: Is it the 6% or the 9% tax?

Me: I’m not exactly sure. Usually the exemption is applied and I don’t even see a percentage show up on the bill.

Hotel: Are you state?

Me: Yes, the University of Texas is a state agency.

Hotel: But are you state government or educational?

Me (forcing my patient and polite professional voice, while rolling my eyes) : Well, it’s the University of Texas at Austin (me thinking: like I’ve said twice now) so I assume that it would be educational. (Like, duh!)

Hotel: Well, if you are educational then we can only exempt the 6%.

Me: Ok, well I’d like to have the 6% exempted then.

Hotel: What’s your fax number?

Me: 555-5555

Hotel: OK, I’ll have it right to you. Oh, do you have the exemption form?

Me: (The one I’ve faxed you oh, five or six times?) Yes, I have it.

Hotel: Can you fax it to me?

Me: Sure.

I’m not holding my breath, and I’m trying really hard to not gouge out my eyes.