Technically, I think you could challenge him on that. By his subordinates refusal to contact him (the manager) he was forcing you to go elsewhere by being unavailable for what was obviously a major customer service issue.

Also, threatening the clerk with Police is so not productive. That’s like calling the police ‘cos you don’t like your nuggets.

But disclaimer I’m a type 1 diabetic, and use syringes like this daily. Unless other nefarious drug material was found I’d assume to it belonged to a diabetic.

1. I’m lost at why they would be under the mattress. Unless the previous guest wanted to hide them as not to freak out the maid during cleaning, and simply forget them.

2. Why threaten to call the police? It is a civil matter. There’s nothing the police can or would do.

I travel with a blood sugar meter, finger pricker, syringes, and test strips. Any good diabetic is going to have test strips with dried blood on the ends found in the crevices of their bathroom, or in the counter, or next to the trash (that didn’t make it in the bin.)

It probably sounds disgusting, but that’s just the way life is – and it’s a small part of life.

I always scan the bathroom of a hotel, and my office desk before leaving work, so nobody has to pick up my “biological waste,” but I could have done the exact same thing as my first point: stowed them and forgot them.

If I (or a nurse/doctor,) was checking in, was tired, and had seen these syringes and they looked like they belong to a legitimate “user,” I probably would have just thrown them in the garbage myself – or shown them to the clerk and told them to a better job cleaning in the future.

At MOST I’d ask for a new room. I certainly wouldn’t spaz out about it. Telling someone to a service worker doing the night shift to fuck off is completely uncalled for.

Confronting some poor clerk with your attitude and demands for compensation is tacky and cheap. If you can’t stomach being in that room/hotel, get a new one. Don’t use the fact that you were grossed out as a result of your own naivety to try and strong arm compensation out of the establishment.

Asking for a refund is fine. Asking for the person to pay for your new hotel room is not. Asking the manager politely for a refund is fine. Copping an attitude with the minimum-wage-earning clerk who probably has no authority to grant you anything is not.

A more graceful way to handle this would have been to just throw the needles out, ride out the night in your cheap budget hotel, and move on. A less graceful way would have been to politely ask the clerk for a new room. Even less graceful would have been to check out, find a new hotel, and contact the manager for a refund the next day. Pretty much the entire way you handled it seems tacky and petty.

But then again, the numerous homeless shelters, strip clubs, and prostitutes around the area should have also tipped you off.

I think you should be glad you got a refund at all, honestly, as nothing in that area is very famous for its customer service. As expensive as the Jupiter Hotel is you`ll still find the occasional wacky present in the rooms.