2024 05 02

People are inside doing things as day turns to night. Chicago, Illinois. March, 2024. © Clayton Hauck

Me, walking into a hotel room for the first time: Oh, nice room, glad I upgraded! The view is decent but I wish the windows were bigger. Why is the sink not draining fast? Why does the sink’s faucet handle come like a millimeter from hitting the mirror? Do people not plan ahead before installing these things? Why do hotels give you giant bar soaps that you end up mostly wasting and without any sort of tray… where are you supposed to put this bar without it getting messy? Nice, one of those Martin Schoeller mirrors… I wonder what he’s up to now. There’s definitely a stain of something on the floor by the toilet. Free water… but it’s Dasani, of course. Oh great the phone is blinking so now I need to figure this out so it doesn’t blink for four days straight and keep me up at night… why are these new phones so impossible to figure out? Clearly whoever designed this thing didn’t expect anyone to use it. Gotta move this weird pillow out of the way. Why are the reading lights on? The air conditioning is kinda loud. Oh great, a text from the hotel, now, too.

Text from hotel: Welcome! Thanks for being a valued member. How is everything with the room?

Me: good, thanks.

-Clayton