People are Crazy, Redux

 Morning All! Hope y'all had a restful weekend.  Unfortunately, Mrs. J and I were in sad shape this past week with whatever it was that MBD and Pastor Bob had Easter weekend.  I started feeling better on Saturday, Mrs. J is still suffering as I write this.  Hopefully she'll feel better soon.

The end of February, I posted a story about a puzzlement involving our guest houses.  Now, by and far, we've had good luck with our guests.  I enjoy going to meet them on arrival as it's nice to have someone new to talk to.  I mean, after nearly 40 years, Mrs. J has heard all my "War Stories".  Indeed, she can tell them better than I can.  So, meeting new people brightens my day.

Sometimes, though, meeting new people...Well...

It's mid-week, Holy Week, and Mrs. J tells me we've had a cancellation for Casseta Al Mare (the one on the right above).  No big deal, happens quite frequently,  situations change, life goes on.  A couple of hours later, she tells me it's been reserved again, by a foursome.  This whole iteration is not unusual either.  We are ranked high on AirBnB's recommendations for this area.

So, it's now Friday after Lunch, I notice a car parked down there and make a note to go down and say hello.  But by the time I get free, the car has departed.  Important shopping mission downtown no doubt.  Meanwhile the guests for the other cabin, Casseta Toscano, arrive.  It's a Mom and her two daughters.  They're celebrating her birthday.  So, we go down and say hello and bring a small cake.  Nice people with a nice friendly dog.  The vibes are good.

A bit later, we notice two cars at Al Mare. Ok, all present and accounted for.  Shortly thereafter, we get a call saying the Casseta is locked and they can't get in.  It's a puzzlement, so I grab a spare key and drive down to meet them.

At this point, I'm thinking they inadvertently locked the door when the first folks went into town.  Oh, No, it's MUCH worse than that.  I unlock the door and they enter, the first thing they see is someone's bags.  They're concerned.  I'm confused, hadn't they been here earlier?

No, juvat, they hadn't.  I said I'd be right back as I needed Mrs. J's help in straightening this out.  On the way back to the house, I call her and explain what's going on.  She's on the phone with AirBnB when I get there.  The folks that are currently there are the correct people as the prior reservation had been cancelled.  

Unfortunately, the reason the reservation had been cancelled was the final payment hadn't been made.  It took a bit of digging to figure out how all that had happened, but while we were trying to figure it out, our foursome had gone online and reserved another place.  I came back down to explain it to them,  They told me they had a function to go to that evening and needed to get ready.  

I couldn't blame them and apologized for the mix up.  The Dad was ex-Navy and understood the concept of "Semper Gumby", so we were good as far as they were concerned.  However, we are not good with the guy staying not having paid.  Mrs. J is pretty adamant about that.  Turns out the reservation was made by the guy's brother.  Mrs. J contacts him through AirBnB and explains what's going on.  He said, that he made the reservation in his brother's name.  OK, that makes sense.  However, when he tried to make the final payment, he couldn't as his credit card didn't match the name on the reservation so wouldn't be accepted and when the final payment date passed, the reservation was cancelled.  He didn't inform his brother of this.  His brother arrived first, dropped off his bags, grabbed the keys and went about his business.

After quite a bit of back and forth between Mrs. J, AirBnB, the Brother and the Guest. the Guest finally ponied up the final payment.  He checked out Easter Sunday and left.  Locking the door behind him.

Meanwhile, it's Saturday, the Ladies in Casseta Toscano are sitting out on the porch enjoying a bit of fresh air.  My nearest neighbor has his extended family over to celebrate Easter.  He's got about a half dozen Grandchildren in the 6-12 age range.  His ranch is about a hundred acres with a fair sized herd of cattle on it.  He's also got a small draw on it where he sets up targets.  He's teaching the grand kids how to shoot and how to shoot safely.

As always, the first round causes me to jump, then I realize what's going on and settle in.  Our Ladies?  Not so much.  Shortly thereafter, Mrs. J's phone rings.  The daughter's are asking if we can tell them to stop shooting, it's distressing their dog.  Now, Mrs. J is a very diplomatic woman.  She explains that they are not on our property, that it is not against the law to shoot on their own property, that he is teaching his grandchildren about gun safety and that we are not going to jeopardize our relationship with him by asking him to stop.

She says it won't go on very long and suggests a wonderful nature trail in the city park for their dog to visit in the interim.  Later, that evening I'm returning from town and pull on to our property.  I notice the Mom and the dog are out for a walk.  I stop and talk to her.  I apologize for not being able to do much about the noise.  She said she understood and would explain it to her daughters, but didn't expect much.  Ahh Well!

I like this song and, while I've embedded it before, I think it apropos.  Enjoy!

God is Great, Beer is Good, People are Crazy.

Indeed!