It’s Not About the Upgrade

We are back and with the first few episodes of HBOMax’s “The White Lotus”. Mike White has created a series that was needed. I didn’t just need an escape from the real world, I needed one filled with drama. I skipped the ads and was sold on the wallpaper alone. From Connie Britton to Jennifer Coolidge and Murray Bartlett, I was ready to have fun with this cast.

Aren’t teenagers the worst? I wasn’t intimidated by Paula and Olivia. They’re a trainwreck waiting to happen, but if it implodes on this vacation, at least there will be beautiful scenery to drown out the blowout that will happen in this friendship.

We’re headed straight to the scene that stayed with me the longest and had me dealing with my own shit for a while. When Shane realizes he doesn’t have a plunge pool in his room and he’s gaslighted by Armond, I felt that. Who can raise their hand and admit that they too have planned a trip with a specific type of upgrade and it didn’t work out. It happens, but the psychological number Armond does on Shane is crushing and brilliant to watch all at the same time.

When we meet Shane in the first episode, he’s returning from his vacation and he’s returning alone. There are definitely questions. As we watch the honeymoon unfold, I was struck by a fight that I can see happening in my own life that could ruin a trip and a life all in a nanosecond.

If I notice something that’s wrong with our surroundings. You need to support me on it. Don’t tell me that it’s going to be okay to cheer up and enjoy what’s in front of me. I know it’s the right thing to say and the right thing to do, but at that moment my mind is going off with a million ways the situation can be rectified and not one of those ideas is me eating shit and letting it go. Even with my back turned, I can feel the judgement in the look that was meant for me to never see.

We’ve reached the battleground that is the front desk. If I’ve taken the time to come down to the front desk instead of just making the call from my room, I need answers. I’m not a complete asshole, but I like to see things completed. If I’m given the run around by the front desk, I need the support of my plus one. I have experience in the hospitality business and I think I know I would have solved the issue better than Shane did at the front desk, but he was blatantly being lied to without being compensated a single thing.

I felt sad about the scene because I feel hospitality workers (I was once one) are like sharks in the water. You’re going to take a bite out of the lamest one and leave the tough orcas to swim by. My issue with the how things went down is I believe the front desk clerk would have bumped the couple from overseas that they most likely would never have seen again rather than the spoiled East Coaster whose own mother had made a call to the hotel. I doubt the couple from overseas would have pitched a fit about the plunge pool.

Watching Armond get a kick out of ruining Shane’s trip has been fun, but we know it’s leading to something dark or suspicious. Armond has fallen off the wagon. Shane is acting up and his plus looks like she wants to jump ship. Those of us that have seen the first episode know that there’s a strong possibility she does in some capacity.

I think watching the show, everyone gravitates towards the hotel guest that may be feeling the way that they are at that moment in time. I’m gravitating towards Shane and I don’t want to do more than scratch the surface there for now. I feel for his wife, the hatchet-job writer, but I need to understand why she’s truly at that resort.

Mike White has created layers to all of the characters. I’m invested in all them equally, but I had to expel my thoughts on Shane and Armond immediately because it’s been weighing on me. So much so that I reached out a friend that has been in concierge for over a decade.

I asked him about the set-up and what he would do. He explained that it happens, but front desk is always strive to be accommodating. That’s what I thought as well. What happened at that front desk was not a fluke and I think there is a bigger story here than the upgrade. It stuck with me and I keep coming back to it while watching the series.