Motel 101
(Make Them Laugh, Advanced Speech Project #3 in The Entertaining Speaker Manual, Nov.6,2006, Kimberly-Clark Phils., San Pedro, Laguna. Evaluated by Leonor Cristobal)
(Make Them Laugh, Advanced Speech Project #3 in The Entertaining Speaker Manual, Nov.6,2006, Kimberly-Clark Phils., San Pedro, Laguna. Evaluated by Leonor Cristobal)
INTRODUCTION
Good Evening Toastmasters!
You guys still remember my recent wonderful speech entitled “That Extra Mile”, right? That speech was my contest piece where I told the story of my first time to ride a plane, go to the U.S. and meet an incredible person by the name of Jim Bradley. Yes?
Now, if you remember, after helping me at the airport, Jim helped me register in a motel just for an overnight stay. So you still remember it up to that point.
BODY
First Motel Experience
Well, after Jim left, I was curious with the room I got. Remember that I just graduated from college and I’ve never checked-in anywhere, whether motel, or hotel or wherever.But it was late, I was tired and I just wanted to take a quick shower and then sleep.
The motel room had it’s own nice shower. I quickly undressed and positioned myself under the shower head. I turned the shower knob and YOW! It was the hottest, scalding, boiling water that my skin felt! I quickly jumped out of the shower.
I said “What IS this?” Why do they have boiling water in the shower? So while I was outside the shower stall, I turned on the shower full blast. I waited… hoping that the hot water coming out will soon run out and will be replaced with warm water.
That didn’t happen and all it did was to steam the entire shower room and fog all the mirrors. Yes, I was THAT ignorant.
I had to think of options. Because if I couldn’t shower that night, I still had to shower the following morning! I looked around. There’s a lavatory or a bathroom sink near the shower. But how do you take a bath using the bathroom sink?
You could probably wash your hair and arms, but what about the rest? (roll eyes) I gave up. I needed outside help and so I got dressed and went out the door to approach the the manager downstairs – three floors down. Three floors!
Motels in the U.S.
Who among you here frequent the local motels here? Come on, don’t be shy. (play with audience). Well, motels in the US are big. They are like apartment complexes with big parking lots.
So yes, they ARE awake. I said to myself, if there are helpful folks like Jim Bradley, surely there must be others like him. I knocked on the door. (knock) No answer. I knocked louder. (knock). There was an angry voice who said “who IS it?”
My mind went blank. I mean what do I tell the guy? I couldn’t tell him my name. Nobody knows who I am. So, after scrambling for words, all I could finally say was “I’m your neighbor!” Of course, that sounded even silly because I’m really not THEIR neighbor.
Then I heard heavy steps approaching the door. The door opened and I saw the biggest, baddest, meanest looking guy. The guy had a thick moustache, he had hair on his chest and was only wearing a towel. He was big. He was like 6 foot 23!
But that’s not the worse part. The worse part is that I saw a lady on the bed with the bed sheets up to here. So obviously they were about to do or were already doing something which I rudely interrupted. When he saw me at the door, he shouted “what is YOUR problem?” (hold mouth)
Trembling in Fear
Now you could imagine, I was already trembling at that point. You see, this happened a long time ago when I was 24 years old. At that time I was shorter and skinnier. You see, I wasn’t always this muscular (muscle pose), you know.
Anyway, I mustered enough courage to calmly describe my problem regarding the hot water in the shower and asked if he could help. After hearing me out, the big guy said “just a minute” and closed the door.
At that point I could only think of two things that will happen:
One, either his dear guardian angel took a hold of him and convinced him to help this poor disoriented Filipino or
Two, he was about to get a baseball bat, come back out and whack me.
Luckily, I realized that the reason he got back in was to put on his pants and get dressed. So, the big guy and I went to my unit and there he showed me that there was a lever at the shower knob that you could move left to right to control the temperature of the water coming out from the shower head.
I was a little embarrassed with my limited knowledge but strangely, he understood me.
CONCLUSION
This little episode in my first day at the states taught me two things: One, that it always pays to seek help from anybody who may be willing to help. And Two, that no matter how big, scary, mean-looking a person is, you will never know the amount of kindness he’s capable of until you talk to that person.
I hope you enjoy the rest of the evening.
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