Do Not Disturb. Or Do. Either Way.
September 28, 2009 11:51 AM Subscribe
"When my grandfather passed away last year, my family gathered to go through his belongings. He had been in the foreign service and he had filled a whole wall of his study with hotel door hangers from all his travels throughout the world. They're really beautiful, in aggregate, and I wanted to share. Enjoy."
These are cool, but I wish there were information on what year he acquired each. Some look less foreign than simply old.
posted by DU at 11:58 AM on September 28, 2009
posted by DU at 11:58 AM on September 28, 2009
That's remarkable. I love the variety of messages, both explicit and implicit. Some leave a side blank, presumably because the only message you need to leave the maid is, "go away," while a couple, like The Phoenicia, print a complete breakfast menu on theirs, leaving no message for the maid at all. Or maybe there was a different tag to be left for the maid.
posted by ardgedee at 12:06 PM on September 28, 2009
posted by ardgedee at 12:06 PM on September 28, 2009
> Some look less foreign than simply old.
Old is as exotic as far away. Possibly moreso.
posted by ardgedee at 12:08 PM on September 28, 2009 [4 favorites]
Old is as exotic as far away. Possibly moreso.
posted by ardgedee at 12:08 PM on September 28, 2009 [4 favorites]
Old is as exotic as far away. Possibly moreso.
The past is a place where you cannot return, and if you missed the first time, it's never yours to experience.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:19 PM on September 28, 2009 [3 favorites]
The past is a place where you cannot return, and if you missed the first time, it's never yours to experience.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:19 PM on September 28, 2009 [3 favorites]
I would like to make a joke about the Do Not Disturb sign being ineffective at the Hotel Hassler. Unfortunately, the site seems to have been designed to prevent linking to a particular image.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 12:26 PM on September 28, 2009
posted by Horace Rumpole at 12:26 PM on September 28, 2009
A location for each one that isn't blatantly obvious would be nice, yes, but still quite an amazing set. I just wish I can leave something so neat behind when I move on. Some stuff seems so worthless when you first get it, but can become priceless if you hold on to it. It's just neat and amazing.
posted by Chan at 12:26 PM on September 28, 2009
posted by Chan at 12:26 PM on September 28, 2009
Oh, wow, this FPP is awesome simply for making me remember surreptitiously slipping the hotel door hanger from (I think) a Marriott hotel in Cairo into my suitcase.
It was in high school and I was in Cairo for a Model United Nations conference. Our chaperones got us a hotel room for the last night both as a treat and also to have us all in one place so we could get to the airport together the next morning. The whole time we were there, the "delegates" from our school had stayed with some students of the American/international school that was hosting the conference. Except for two of my friends whose host family situation panned out in a weird way and ended up in a sketchy "hotel" in a sketch neighborhood paid for by the host family they were meant to stay with...though honestly, from their stories, I was jealous of them staying in the sketch hotel because that seemed like an adventure in an old-timey spy movie. Like they were handed off to "uncles" and put up in a weird room where an old lady would check up with them and other oddnesses.
There was plenty of adventure though, like the crazy ninja driving of the awesome tough-as-nails looking old man driver my host's friend had. Playing "spot the weird outdated foreign cars" like a Hyundai Pony I hadn't seen since I was, like, 8 years old and a Soviet-era Lada. The weird incongruity of being in the middle of dusty Cairo, then being dragged by our host students to venues like Le Pacha and a huge house party on the last night on some kind of estate with Daft Punk playing all night. My friends and I crushing HARD and giggling over boys in delegates from schools from countries like South Africa and Spain. My unfortunate embarassing of one of the boys at the school in Cairo when I pointed out his Nike t-shirt actually said "Girl Power" in Chinese characters. Hanging out with a Korean girl who was living there because of her dad's business and was just so excited to find someone else to talk to in Korean. We said we'd keep in touch by email, but it didn't happen. There were lots of people we said we'd email but never did, even the boys we were crushing on.
I don't know if I still have that door hanger, but I kind of wish it's tucked away somewhere at my parent's house now that all these memories are flooding back =(. It's sort of why I developed a habit of pack-ratting even the smallest things like a ticket stub for a train when I'm out traveling. I haven't had a chance to steal another door-hanger though, since I usually stay in hostels now for foreign travel.
posted by kkokkodalk at 12:45 PM on September 28, 2009 [1 favorite]
It was in high school and I was in Cairo for a Model United Nations conference. Our chaperones got us a hotel room for the last night both as a treat and also to have us all in one place so we could get to the airport together the next morning. The whole time we were there, the "delegates" from our school had stayed with some students of the American/international school that was hosting the conference. Except for two of my friends whose host family situation panned out in a weird way and ended up in a sketchy "hotel" in a sketch neighborhood paid for by the host family they were meant to stay with...though honestly, from their stories, I was jealous of them staying in the sketch hotel because that seemed like an adventure in an old-timey spy movie. Like they were handed off to "uncles" and put up in a weird room where an old lady would check up with them and other oddnesses.
There was plenty of adventure though, like the crazy ninja driving of the awesome tough-as-nails looking old man driver my host's friend had. Playing "spot the weird outdated foreign cars" like a Hyundai Pony I hadn't seen since I was, like, 8 years old and a Soviet-era Lada. The weird incongruity of being in the middle of dusty Cairo, then being dragged by our host students to venues like Le Pacha and a huge house party on the last night on some kind of estate with Daft Punk playing all night. My friends and I crushing HARD and giggling over boys in delegates from schools from countries like South Africa and Spain. My unfortunate embarassing of one of the boys at the school in Cairo when I pointed out his Nike t-shirt actually said "Girl Power" in Chinese characters. Hanging out with a Korean girl who was living there because of her dad's business and was just so excited to find someone else to talk to in Korean. We said we'd keep in touch by email, but it didn't happen. There were lots of people we said we'd email but never did, even the boys we were crushing on.
I don't know if I still have that door hanger, but I kind of wish it's tucked away somewhere at my parent's house now that all these memories are flooding back =(. It's sort of why I developed a habit of pack-ratting even the smallest things like a ticket stub for a train when I'm out traveling. I haven't had a chance to steal another door-hanger though, since I usually stay in hostels now for foreign travel.
posted by kkokkodalk at 12:45 PM on September 28, 2009 [1 favorite]
I suppose the collection falls somewhere between the soap and the ashtrays/towels, pilferwise.
That said - It's poetic! American Foreign Policy being exported by a charming petty klepto. Novelists take note.
posted by IndigoJones at 12:46 PM on September 28, 2009
That said - It's poetic! American Foreign Policy being exported by a charming petty klepto. Novelists take note.
posted by IndigoJones at 12:46 PM on September 28, 2009
I have made many of the weirdnesses one hangs onto from foreign travels into scrapbooks. It's sad really. Two punches left on a Dijon, France bus card. My Eurailpass, with one more day left on it. I wonder if, in the future, someone will think these little tokens are as interesting as I found the little door hangers?
The thing I remember about the bus in Dijon was that they had pop radio on and I got the impression that the only thing they ever played on French radio was Jive Bunny.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 1:39 PM on September 28, 2009
The thing I remember about the bus in Dijon was that they had pop radio on and I got the impression that the only thing they ever played on French radio was Jive Bunny.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 1:39 PM on September 28, 2009
Shortly after I started collecting airline barf bags, the airlines stopped using custom-printed bags. Figures.
posted by Quietgal at 1:47 PM on September 28, 2009
posted by Quietgal at 1:47 PM on September 28, 2009
I was helping a friend go through the belongings of her deceased daughter, and my friend let me have her Raffles Hotel door hanger (circa mid-60s). I didn't realize people collected these things!
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 1:59 PM on September 28, 2009
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 1:59 PM on September 28, 2009
There's one that has a kind of creepy black and white image of a guy putting his finger to his lips in a shushing motion that seems to indicate "unspeakable acts of debauchery are taking place inside this room".
If I could get that, I'd take it with me whenever I stayed at a hotel or motel. Better that people think that than the reality, which involves pay-per-view porn and the complimentary bottle of hand lotion.
posted by Halloween Jack at 4:48 PM on September 28, 2009
If I could get that, I'd take it with me whenever I stayed at a hotel or motel. Better that people think that than the reality, which involves pay-per-view porn and the complimentary bottle of hand lotion.
posted by Halloween Jack at 4:48 PM on September 28, 2009
because the only message you need to leave the maid is, "go away,"
Go Away! from the Paul Lloyd Sargent collection.
posted by tellurian at 6:15 PM on September 28, 2009
Go Away! from the Paul Lloyd Sargent collection.
posted by tellurian at 6:15 PM on September 28, 2009
Shortly after I started collecting airline barf bags, the airlines stopped using custom-printed bags. Figures.
When I flew on Porter Airlines a week or two ago, I drew my own version of Mr. Porter looking like he was sick and about to throw up on it. For old times' sake. Stuck it back in the pocket.
posted by jscott at 8:38 PM on September 28, 2009
When I flew on Porter Airlines a week or two ago, I drew my own version of Mr. Porter looking like he was sick and about to throw up on it. For old times' sake. Stuck it back in the pocket.
posted by jscott at 8:38 PM on September 28, 2009
Pretty sure I still have my collection of mid-nineties Eastern European fast food tray liners around someplace.
posted by jessamyn at 8:39 PM on September 28, 2009
posted by jessamyn at 8:39 PM on September 28, 2009
Hey- offtopic, but that Posterous looks Ham Dandy.
posted by squalor at 10:06 PM on September 28, 2009
posted by squalor at 10:06 PM on September 28, 2009
For me, it reminded me of when I was a hotel maid for the Peabody in Memphis, which had signs with "Do Not Disturb" on one side and "Please Make Up Room Immediately" on the other.
Maids are always getting yelled at whenever the guest hangs the sign with the wrong side facing out. Sometimes they would accuse maids of flipping the sign intentionally.
I haven't cleaned hotel rooms in years, but I still hate those signs. heh.
posted by Toothless Willy at 10:48 AM on September 29, 2009
Maids are always getting yelled at whenever the guest hangs the sign with the wrong side facing out. Sometimes they would accuse maids of flipping the sign intentionally.
I haven't cleaned hotel rooms in years, but I still hate those signs. heh.
posted by Toothless Willy at 10:48 AM on September 29, 2009
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posted by Joe Beese at 11:52 AM on September 28, 2009 [2 favorites]