I just got an e-mail from a friend of mine, a lovely lady in her 70s, who just returned from the SF area as follows:

I had a really weird thing happen. At the end of my visit, my son called the airport shuttle for me.
So, at 9:50 AM Monday, 10 minutes before the driver had said he would arrive, he knocked on my hotel door. I had my bags ready, so he said he would take them to the van, and asked if he could use the bathroom. I
dared not say NO, since it was a long drive to the airport. So I said yes, and waited in the front seat of the van.

5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes. Then
he appeared, climbed in, took some lotion from a tube and rubbed his hands together, fronts and backs, then on his face. And he said, "I always like to take a
shower after I use the bathroom." !!!!!!!

I had no response for that.

Hard to believe, huh? What would you do?

Serious? Wowza, that is pretty crazy! I would have contacted the hotel after I was away from the driver and informed them what he did, because hopefully he didn't do anything to the room or steal any linens, something that would make the "registered guest" responsible. Then I would contact the shuttle bus company and relay this same story to them.
Good one, that is one I haven't heard of!

1- I would get out of that car as fast as possible. Being sure to have his name and any other info I could get.
2- I would have the hotel call me a cab.
3- I would call the company he works for and tell them everything.
It is kind of hard to believe though..

Good grief artlover. First of all I would meet any shuttle driver in the lobby of the hotel. Second of all don't all hotels have public restrooms off of their lobbies?

Did this rubbing of hands happen while still parked outside of the hotel? I too would have left the shuttle and gone into the hotel and told them and had a taxi called. If it the rubbing of hands with the lotion took place after driving away from the hotel I guess one would be smart to keep quiet and pray they were going to make it safely to the airport. And then call the hotel to advise them what happened

BTW, what shuttle bus company was this. I plan to have some friends use a SF shuttle bus in a few weeks so consequently I am interested in the name of the company. Thanks.

Question: Were the bags in the room the entire time she was waiting in the van?

If so, my guess is that he went through the bags looking for something to steal and used the "shower" story as a way to turn the suspicion. Think about it, that's a great comment to make to keep a person from asking "what took you so long", you're more likely going to keep real quiet.

I would definitely call the shuttle company and check her luggage for any signs of entry. I'm sure he figures no one would dare contact the company for fear of being called crazy.

I would be thoughtful that nothing went wrong.

I would make a report with the manager of the hotel stating my concerns of strange behavior, and then I would leave it be, let it go.....

Do you honestly believe this..her son called the airport shuttle for her and somehow the shuttle driver shows up at her hotel room.

Do you know any usual shuttles whose driver leaps out of the car or van and goes to someone's hotel room?

Waiting in the lobby perhaps...

Too creepy...
Too dangerous...
and, yuck ick and eew.

Well the first thing I'd do is move this "lovely lady in her 70's to a nursing home where she can be watched". If this story is true (and there sure are a lot of reasons to suspect it isn't), and she stood outside the bathroom for 15 minutes not even able to hear that he was taking a shower or not calling to him, then she has no business being on her own. For her own safety get her into an assisted care facility.

Meanwhile please find out and forward to us the name of this shuttle company. I might want to use a shuttle company that arrives 5 minutes early and comes to my room to take my luggage to the van. I've never heard of such service!

I'd call the shuttle service. Who cares if it sounds crazy.

I too would be suspect that the bags were checked over quite well during that time period.

Nevermind what we would have done. What did YOU do?

Patrick, she says that she waited in the front seat of the van not in the room. That being said, it seems hard to believe. On the other hand, artlover believes her friend and I'm inclined to give that a lot of weight.

I wonder why the driver was able to get up to her hotel room rather than the front desk calls up from the lobby.

I wonder why she went down to the van without the driver or her suitcases.

Assuming this is a not a troll - which I don;t believe - I would send away any driver that appeared at the door of my room. And then called the bell desk, have them call me a cab and bring down my bags and take the cab to the airport.

You NEVER let anyone you don't know/expect into your hotel room. NEVER. EVER. UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. And everyone who has ever stayed in a hotel should know this. It doesn;t matter who they claim to be - you don't let them in.

BUT - still assume this is a troll - since no real driver would do this - and if a potential thief had ever tried it before he would have been long since been turned in.

Artlover is a long-time poster here, nytraveler.

AL, I agree with OSB, what did you do??????
:-?

This is one bizarre story.

Perhaps there was no lobby...maybe the old fashioned kind with outside doors? It is an odd and scary story.

Not to be alarmist, but if taking a shower was all he did, when you'd let a stranger into a hotel room that you are still in... she got off easy, imo. kindly, Suze

OK, now I'm totally confused. Yes I missed that she was in the van waiting. So are we saying the guy went back to the hotel room? Didn't she have to check out? Why did she still have the key to the room? Or did she? She couldn't have checked out and gone back to the room to wait for the guy -- why would she have? Did the guy carry the bags and put them in the van when she went to sit in the van, or did she walk out of her room leaving th guy there to then lock up and bring her the key so she could go back in and check out? For that matter she never says that they were still in the room when he asked to use the bathroom -- so were they then at the van and he went back in to use one? Are we sure it was the room she had been staying in? Nobody in their right mind would walk out of her hotel room leaving her bags and a van driver in there and go find the shuttle van on her own and sit and wait. I'm sorry, none of this makes the least bit of sense to me.

Agree - the scenario makes no sense at all - and don;t see how it could actually have happened.

Neo--I definitely see what you are saying. But I am picturing someone I know who travels a lot, but is so trusting that I can totally see her doing this. Sometimes people are too trusting.

Anyway, I would call both the hotel and the shuttle service. Possibly the son might call too. If he arranged it, he might have asked the driver to go to her room if she needed extra help.