Arriving for the Program Committee Meeting
The program committee met at the end of June at the O’Hare Hyatt Regency in suburban Chicago. I arrived in town a day early to visit relatives and drove out to the hotel the night before the meeting. I didn’t get to the hotel until very late, around 11:30 pm. You probably know what a hotel lobby is like late at night. The skeleton crew is behind the desk: there are maybe two people on duty. You walk in and go right up to one of them and check in. You’re done and on your way in 5 minutes, maybe less. Not that night! When I got to the front desk there was a line a mile long and it didn’t seem to be moving very fast. I checked my watch to see if I had suddenly fallen through a time warp, but it still said 11:30. How weird. As I was standing around waiting for the line to move, eager to get to my room and rest up before the big meeting, I wondered aloud why there were so many people. The lady standing next to me was kind enough to share her story. Apparently a United flight to Phoenix had been cancelled, and she suspected several other flights had suffered the same fate. Most of the people waiting in line were airline refugees, sent there with the promise of a room for the night and a $7 meal voucher. I wasn’t really sure what sort of meal $7 was going to buy in the Hyatt Regency, especially since the only place still open was the sports bar. $7 of room service might get you a napkin and a glass of water, but only if you pay for the mandatory gratuity yourself.
I was sure glad that I had a reservation, and was afraid they might decide to give my room away anyway, considering how late my arrival was. But my fears were unfounded. When I finally got to one of the frazzled employees behind the front desk, I cheerily said “Hi! My name is William LeFebvre and I actually have a reservation.” He sighed and replied, “Thank God!”