A married couple is travelling to visit family by car. After almost 11 hours on the road, they are too tired to continue and decide to get a room. They only plan to sleep for four hours and then get back on the road.
When they check out four hours later, the desk clerk hands them a bill for $350. The man explodes and demands to know why the charge is so high. He tells the clerk although it’s a nice hotel, the rooms certainly aren’t worth $350 for four hours. Then the clerk tells him that $350 is the standard rate. The man insists on speaking to the manager.
The manager appears, listens to him, and then explains that the hotel has an Olympic-sized pool and a huge conference centre that are available for them to use.
“But we didn’t use them!” the husband says.
“Well, they are here, and you could have,” explains the manager. The manager goes on to explain that the couple could also have taken in one of the shows for which the hotel is famous. “We have the best entertainers from New York, Hollywood and Las Vegas perform here.”
“But we didn’t go to any of those shows!” the husband says.
“Well, we have them, and you could have,” the manager replies.
No matter what amenity the manager mentions, the husband complains that he and his wife didn’t even use it in their time at the hotel. The manager is unmoved, and eventually the husband gives up and agrees to pay.
As he didn’t have the checkbook, he asked his wife to write the check. She gives it to the manager. The manager is surprised when he looks at the check. “But ma’am, this is made out for only $50.”
“That’s correct. I charged you $300 for sleeping with me,” she replies.
“But I didn’t!” exclaims the manager.
“Well, too bad, I was here, and you could have.”