2. Check Every Room Before Departure
I would think that checking every room before you leave would be a no-brainer. Based on my experience; I find this just isn't the case.
When I was in the Air Force (a lifetime ago); it was customary to do what's called a FOD walk on and around the flightline.
Everyone would gather up in a straight line and then begin walking. The idea is to pick up anything which might be hazardous to an aircraft intake or to the airmen who work on the flightline.
It is my contention that when a group of people depart from a beach rental they should conduct a similar exercise....a C.E.R. Walk or Check Every Room.
When my extended family comes to town to celebrate a Reunion or Holiday and they rent a huge home up at the Beach, they make everyone responsible to check all drawers, under the bed, under the sheets and blankets and the bathrooms.
When the check is complete; the door is closed to that room. Everyone then gathers in the common areas and checks over, under and behind everything!
How long does it take? Maybe ten minutes? In a hotel room or condo...maybe five?
It saves a whole lot of grief for everyone concerned to take this quick extra step before bidding Myrtle Beach farewell.
It takes me, as one person, a lot longer to check everywhere when I first enter a rental property vs. the renters conducting a search before they leave.
If you'll do that, then you won't have to hear your son or daughter in the back seat exclaim when you're hours down the road that they think they left their iPod at the condo.
If you'll do that, then you won't have to wonder where that expensive bathing suit is that you bought at Evita's while in Myrtle Beach...the one I found hanging on the back of the bathroom door.
If you'll do that, then you will be the one to find the little pile of poop that your youngster left behind on the bathroom rug because you were bellowing at them to hurry up and they jumped off the toilet and some remains fell out.
When people try to get into a rental early, they have no idea that it has now taken me a full half hour to check every room and to clean up bowel movements off the floor.
S**t happens...and on rare occasions... quite literally.
And it's stuff like this which delays everyone...all because folks don't take five or ten minutes to check the status of the place before they try to anxiously get a jump on traffic.
Some of the items left behind recently have included a little travel bag filled with sex toys left under a bed, a whole drawer full of little girl dresses, expensive earrings, grilling untensils, cases of beer (thank you !!), iPods, medical insurance cards, bathing suits, poop on the floor (redundant), bloody tampons in the garbage, piles of sand and hair in the bathtubs/showers...and the beat goes on.
I guess what I'm trying to get across is that cleaning up after the renting public is not as cut and dry as you might think.
For my part...I don't just walk in and start cleaning. I wish it were that easy, but because people leave things behind and perpetrate unspeakable acts upon the furnishings in rental properties...the actual cleaning doesn't start until after I've been there for 30 minutes or more!
So please...rinse the tubs, throw away the trash, check all the drawers and under the beds and do something with the food and condiments left in the fridge...
...OMG...I'm starting to sound like your mother!!
That's actually not a bad idea, as I would love to show up at each of my properties on Saturday mornings and nag the renters into doing what should come naturally, but which clearly doesn't.
This feels stupid and lame to be writing on a subject which seems to me so rudimentary, but I'm telling you...it is a major problem.
Am I making the claim that everyone skips town in a hurry leaving things behind which I then have to mail back to them?
Not at all.
Just "most" everyone, but not everyone!
Thanks for doing your part !
I would think that checking every room before you leave would be a no-brainer. Based on my experience; I find this just isn't the case.
When I was in the Air Force (a lifetime ago); it was customary to do what's called a FOD walk on and around the flightline.
 |
| Combing Area for Foreign Object Debris |
It is my contention that when a group of people depart from a beach rental they should conduct a similar exercise....a C.E.R. Walk or Check Every Room.
When my extended family comes to town to celebrate a Reunion or Holiday and they rent a huge home up at the Beach, they make everyone responsible to check all drawers, under the bed, under the sheets and blankets and the bathrooms.
When the check is complete; the door is closed to that room. Everyone then gathers in the common areas and checks over, under and behind everything!
How long does it take? Maybe ten minutes? In a hotel room or condo...maybe five?
It saves a whole lot of grief for everyone concerned to take this quick extra step before bidding Myrtle Beach farewell.
It takes me, as one person, a lot longer to check everywhere when I first enter a rental property vs. the renters conducting a search before they leave.
If you'll do that, then you won't have to hear your son or daughter in the back seat exclaim when you're hours down the road that they think they left their iPod at the condo.
If you'll do that, then you won't have to wonder where that expensive bathing suit is that you bought at Evita's while in Myrtle Beach...the one I found hanging on the back of the bathroom door.
If you'll do that, then you will be the one to find the little pile of poop that your youngster left behind on the bathroom rug because you were bellowing at them to hurry up and they jumped off the toilet and some remains fell out.
When people try to get into a rental early, they have no idea that it has now taken me a full half hour to check every room and to clean up bowel movements off the floor.
S**t happens...and on rare occasions... quite literally.
And it's stuff like this which delays everyone...all because folks don't take five or ten minutes to check the status of the place before they try to anxiously get a jump on traffic.
Some of the items left behind recently have included a little travel bag filled with sex toys left under a bed, a whole drawer full of little girl dresses, expensive earrings, grilling untensils, cases of beer (thank you !!), iPods, medical insurance cards, bathing suits, poop on the floor (redundant), bloody tampons in the garbage, piles of sand and hair in the bathtubs/showers...and the beat goes on.
I guess what I'm trying to get across is that cleaning up after the renting public is not as cut and dry as you might think.
For my part...I don't just walk in and start cleaning. I wish it were that easy, but because people leave things behind and perpetrate unspeakable acts upon the furnishings in rental properties...the actual cleaning doesn't start until after I've been there for 30 minutes or more!
So please...rinse the tubs, throw away the trash, check all the drawers and under the beds and do something with the food and condiments left in the fridge...
...OMG...I'm starting to sound like your mother!!
That's actually not a bad idea, as I would love to show up at each of my properties on Saturday mornings and nag the renters into doing what should come naturally, but which clearly doesn't.
This feels stupid and lame to be writing on a subject which seems to me so rudimentary, but I'm telling you...it is a major problem.
Am I making the claim that everyone skips town in a hurry leaving things behind which I then have to mail back to them?
Not at all.
Just "most" everyone, but not everyone!
Thanks for doing your part !
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