Anne and I had a wonderful time with our son Kevin and daughter-in-law Melody and our grandsons Brody, 16 and Gannon 13.
Kevin met our flight, took us to The Lodge At Whitefish Lake to check in, and then drove us up to their home far into the Montana mountains, over an hour drive. There we saw their beautiful new home and enjoyed the many trees and pristine air.
The next day, the whole family joined us at The Lodge, for a big brunch, a ride on our rented pontoon boat and swimming in the pool and lounging in the jacuzzi.
We also joined many other people at the outdoor kitchen and bar for all the food everyone could eat, as we talked into the afternoon in this bright sunshiny day, with an 80 ish temperature.
The following day, Kevin joined us for brunch and we had the pleasure of his company. He then took us back to the airport.
But there was an incident in the hotel dining room it is important I share:
On Sunday, August 15th, well before Kevin and his family arrived for brunch, Anne and I went to the dining room for breakfast.
Earlier that morning, fire bells rang and everyone was forced to vacate the hotel until the fire department arrived, checked for a fire (there was none), and signed off so everyone could return to their rooms.
When we arrived for breakfast, the dining room was still playing catch-up but everyone was being served. That is everyone but a dark-skinned Indian (India heritage) family.
This family consisted of a father, mother and two teenage children, all of whom were polite and well-dressed, better dressed than most of the other guests.
No-one would take their order. I called this to the attention of the food servers, but nothing changed.
The family got up and quietly began to leave. I went to a veteran waitress, Kathleen and quickly told her this story. She ran out and caught them before they left the building, and walked them back in.
They received immediate service and warmly thanked us for intervening.
But then we couldn't get service. I spoke to the manager Walter who blamed it all on the earlier fire bells but by this time, everything was current.
It became clear he was already aware of what happened to that Indian family and what was happening to us now. He did nothing.
Finally, under pressure from me (I was prepared to speak to the new hotel general manager I met during the fire bell incident) he assigned Jill, another veteran waitress to us and moved us to a luxury part of the restaurant.
But at first she was slow in her service, I believe uncomfortable with everything that had taken place. Then when Kevin and his family arrived, it was now so late, we made it a brunch.
So everything worked out much better than planned and Jill and others did an excellent for us. I think she had gotten to see we are very friendly, not the ogres we had apparently been described to be.
Later, when it came time to pay the bill, I gave her a big tip for a job very well done. But Walter charged us full-price for Anne's and my portion of the bill, with no credit for all that had happened.
He and I had a talk, and he decided to comp Anne's and my breakfast after all, and we went on to enjoy a beautiful day with our family, other hotel guests and the hotel staff.
With Love To All - Dick
Note: The Lodge employs people from Africa and from the Caribbean. But I don't know if the breakfast service does.
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