Once while working the overnight shift at a hotel in Corpus Christi, a woman in pink pajamas came into the lobby. Her pajamas were wet from the knee area down. She looked a bit befuddled and very quietly asked if we could help her get back into her room. I asked her all the information to ensure it was her room, then gave her another key. She returned and said it didn’t work.
After this happened a couple more times, I went up with her to her door with a manager key. The door flashed in a manner that let me know the deadbolt had been used. I was able to override it, but then I saw the inside latch had been flipped. How on earth did she flip the latch and leave her room?!
Once more I verified all the information and then went up with a tool we have that lets us undo the latch. However, it would not work on this variety of door. Normally the maintenance crew would use bolt cutters. I did not have bolt cutters handy. But her balcony door was open.
I went back to the lobby and asked my coworker if the room next to hers was empty. It was. Great! So I got a key for it and headed back.
During this time our hotel had night security. During the first few hours of my shift it was done by off-duty police officers who were still in uniform. This particular night one of the police Lieutenants was on security detail. He had been watching all this happening with a bit of amusement. When I left with a key for the room next door, he followed along. He didn’t know what I was up to, but he was certain he wanted to see it.
He was standing on the ground below, watching as I came out to the balcony of the room next to the lady’s. I went over the balcony railing and stood on the teeny ledge between the railing and thin air. I had a death grip on that railing, by the way.
As I was swinging myself around the wall between balconies, he shook his head, convinced I was going to fall.
“You are insane! You’re going to hurt yourself.”
“Would that insanity thing stand up in court?”
“Probably. Especially if I tell them about this.”
“Cool. I might need that one day.”
I didn’t fall. I went back over the railing of the woman’s room, into her room (everything she had strewn about was just as pink as her pajamas), and let her inside.
I found out the next morning from her sister that the poor dear has a very bad problem with sleep walking. She somehow slid down to the ground from her balcony and woke up while she was up to her knees in the ocean.