DO NOT RENT LIST

We drove all day to Fort Wayne and had supper with Nancy’s mom. Nancy gets to stay with Mama and I stay in a motel and join them for the meals. I drove across town to my motel - MOTEL 6. I went in; announced my name; stated that I had made a reservation last week on the internet. The clerk looked up my name and turned and said,”Mr. Clark you are on the “Do Not Rent To” list. There were several other people in the small lobby. My heart dropped. What would my Mother have thought???
I recovered my composure and asked why. The clerk said that she could not tell me. I asked to see the manager and was told that one would not available until the next day. What could I do? I left. Went next door to the Knights Inn and checked in.
I could only think of one reason for my name being on the “Do Not Rent To” list. When I had last stayed at that Motel 6, the BIG dog show was on at the nearby arena. The motel was full of dogs. I am sure that I expressed my inbred dislike for barking dogs. I also had to change rooms because of a barking dog.
For your information, my family never kept dogs around the house, even though we kept an acre dog pen for hunting dogs. While at the motel, I may have even repeated my Grandmother’s story. She said that she would pay $5 for any loose dog killed around her house. I must explain that in those days families dressed their own livestock, such as ringing the neck of the Sunday chicken, and having the first frost Hog Killing. In addition, the houses were not well underpinned and loose animals made their home and grave under the house.
I called Nancy at her mom’s house and we tried to imagine the reasons a 63 year old, non-drinking, non-druggy man might be on the list. The only two reasons we could think of, which I was sure had not occurred, were: I made a pass at a female or I made a pass at a male!
The next day I went back and spoke to the manager on duty. He looked up my account. He said that “yes, I was on the Do Not Rent To list.“ I asked him why and he would not tell me. I asked again and he said, “You know what you did!” I insisted that I did not know. Finally, he relented and said that maybe a mistake had been made. He allowed me to register. He also told me that he was removing my name from the “Do Not Rent” list, but just in case it popped up on my next visit, the office would need to call him.
This was a topic of conversation for the whole weekend. When I checked out on Monday morning, the sane manager was in. I asked him to tell me the top three reasons that a person might be placed on the Do Not Rent To list. He said: 1. Tearing up the room, 2. Having to call the police and 3. Disliking Dogs. I am kidding about # 3. I do not remember the third reason.
I left and went to my car. The manager followed me. He told me that the note on my name had been “noise complaints from the room next to mine.” He said that he was sure the wrong room number had been inserted into the computer, which caused my name to be put on the list.
END OF STORY but…..
What info is in all of these computers which will last forever? It is both good and bad. I would like a Great, great, great, great-nephew to find the Do Not Rent To list from the old MOTEL 6 archives and have a good laugh. He would be the only one to really know why I was on the list.
ADDENDUM TO THE STORY….
Nancy and I went to look at a house for sale near downtown Las Vegas. It was in an old neighborhood, but the house and the price seemed perfect. One of the neighbors was outside in his driveway so I got out of the car and spoke to him about the neighborhood. I asked him if it was quiet and whether there were any barking dogs. He said the neighborhood was very quiet and if there ever were any barking dogs, he would solve the problem with some hamburger mixed with arsenic. This was a man who definitely would not put up with barking dogs! We later found out the house was in escrow to be sold. We thought it was too good to be true to have a neighbor who hated barking dogs more than us. Of course, we would not really condone his tactics for dealing with the barking dogs at least for the first WEEK.