I stay in hotels often – as many as 200 nights every year – and I thought I had seen everything. Until the day I found a needle in my hotel room. What would you do?
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I Thought I Had Seen Everything
I have mentioned here on the blog before that I hold top-tier status with four chains and spend a lot of nights on the road both with my family and away from them for work. I have seen a lot in those 200 nights/year including a person dying (I can’t bring myself to write that post still after a couple of years) amongst other sights I can’t forget. Nothing much surprises me anymore.
Then, I found a needle in the oddest place and it upped the ante for future hotels looking to stun.
I want to be clear about one thing in particular, this is not the hotel’s fault. I am not going to disclose the location or brand because this could happen anywhere. I will go so far as to mention that it’s not from a brand I would have expected. The location (both the city and the part of that city) were premium, it was in the nicer side of town. This was not fleabag and many of you have undoubtedly stayed near this location if not in this hotel.
Where I Found The Needle
I was ironing my shirt ahead of a meeting and found a lump underneath the liner. At home, this happens often when the drawstring gets caught from raising it up and down. I tried going around it at first but it was adding more wrinkles than it was taking out so I took a picture about it to complain to my wife about how annoying this lump was. I reached underneath to pull it out.
I felt a plastic package and, intrigued, pulled it out for a look. This is what I found.
I’m not a subject matter expert but here are some quick observations of what I saw. The package was open but I couldn’t see if it had been used. It was capped (courteous of them) but whether it was used or not, the location was clearly meant to conceal the needle and the package had been opened so there was some intent to use it at some point. I feel totally comfortable ruling out any normal purpose for this based simply on its location.
My Response/The Hotel’s Response
Once I realized what I had in my hand, I dropped it on a countertop. I did not remove it from the packet and counted myself lucky that I didn’t poke myself when handling it. I called down to the front desk and asked for the manager, explaining the situation to him.
The embarrassed manager came right up carrying a sharps box, tongs (for handling such items) and a new ironing board. He removed the items, apologized profusely and offered me enough points to offset the cost of the night. I didn’t ask for any remuneration, but in fairness to both parties, I could have become infected by pure accident and to no fault of my own in their property. I appreciated the gesture and it will not prohibit me from staying there again.
One statement he made surprised me.
“We will have to have staff start checking the ironing boards for these.” – Manager
“Oh, I don’t think that is necessary. I’ve never seen it before, surely this has to be a one-off.” – Yours truly
“You’d think, but we were moving a mattress and found a ton of them. We started checking and they are everywhere.” – Manager
The US has an opioid crisis that affects all classes and locations – it’s not a rural or a city problem. But to this point, it seemed too far from me to be real and this reminded me that it’s not. If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, free help is available.
Have you ever seen anything like this? What would you do in the same situation? What should the hotel have done?
My concern is that in the United States all type of needles require a medical prescription,meaning only a licensed provider can sell them and a label is supposed to be attached to the package. Only Healthcare providers and students carry non labeled syringe / needle packages. The manager needs to notify the Department of Health about the unscrupulous supplier in town to be identified and fined.
Except you can easily buy needles online without a prescription and carrying needles is most certainly not limited to healthcare providers and students, nor is it illegal to carry them without a label.
this is just outright false– walk into Walmart, find the pharmacy, ask for the gauge of needles you want, hand over a few dollars. say it’s “for your dogs meds”
idk where you get your info but stop doing it
I’m a diabetic, and my insulin refills don’t always line up with needing more needles, and I’ve never given my name, ID, or anything else when buying needles. Did you know you also don’t need a prescription for insulin (at least the kind I get) at Wal-Mart? Found that out when I forgot mine when traveling out of state. Easy Peasy, bought more, maybe had to give my name for that. But yeah, you definitely don’t need any sort of prescription for needles.
From the photo above, it looks like the left needle is used (no cap over the plunger) and the right needle is not, or was recapped on both ends. If the needle end was appropriately capped, it shouldn’t be any more risky for you to have touched than any other surface in the room, but I still understand the concern. If the needles were not capped, though, then yes, very much no bueno.
If anybody you know ever gets stung by a needle please go to the nearest ER ASAP to start HIV post expiate prophylaxis. I cannot emphasize how important it is to go take the first dose ASAP.
Errr what kind of hotel are you staying in?
I’m not going to say the brand because it wasn’t their fault but suffice it to say that you have probably stayed in this chain and likely this exact brand.
There’s actually several other non-insulin uses for insulin needles and this whole “Ermahgerd, opioid crisis!” thing is a recent alarmist red herring made popular by the current administration. One such use for the needles is the administering of human growth hormone or literally any other substance that needs to be injected subcutaneously in small doses as insulin needles with their tiny gauge are ideal. The hiding place most definitely is suspect, though.
Agreed that it’s tbe hiding place that leads me to believe malice, not the presence. Good point on the other uses.
“The hiding place most definitely is suspect, though.”
It likes someone that works at the hotel, going into that room to use when the room isn’t occupied. I spent a summer working at a hotel and the employees used the vacant rooms for all sorts of activities.
Is this real life? Are you saying there isn’t an opioid crisis? Are you that blinded by your dislike for the admin??
Oh yes… While I use this totally legal substance I think I’ll just hide my totally legal needles in this unlikely to be used place just in case.
Yes, Heather is right. Def the cleaners, probably had to hide it quickly and forgot.
Also, I know it’s not ONLY a rural thing, but it definitely is a rural thing– the rates of use are astronomical comparatively. Tho if I were a hotel cleaner anywhere, I’d prob use too
Yes, this is real life. And no, I’m not saying there isn’t a “crisis”. What I’m saying is that there’s been opioid addiction – and probably a ciris, too – for literally centuries (opium dens, anyone?) but the new alarmist mentality of “OMG needles! Heroin! Opioid crisis! OMFG guys, what’re we gonna do?!” is all since Trump made some comment to divert attention while acting like he or the administration care about something. It seems to have worked, though, because here we are debating it. Tell me, Mattt…prior to this administration and maybe even this blog post, when did you last think at any length about opiates or heroin addiction or even being semi-knowledgeable about this “crisis”?
Years ago we had to evacuate for a fire storm and went to the closest hotel( a major chain and large hotel) I had a 2 and 4 year old with us.. I went into the bathroom and my 2 year old got into a bed and then proceeded to hand me lots of pills!!ambien = after i looked them up!!I got the children out of the bed and stood them by the door to find more pills!! I called down to the desk asking for another room….told none available then asked to have room re-cleaned and linens changed ..it took forever to get this done.. and no one offered to make it right!! I was not an elite at the chain>>>
Not gonna believe this. I just found a needle in my hotel room right now. So I typed in the Google search bar I found a needle in my hotel room in this blog came out. No shit.
I found in my hotel room night stand when looking for a pen and paper. 2 fully loaded needles of black tar herion , and a cooking cup..