‘I’ll Teach You Respect!’ Hotel Owner Hears His Daughter Mock Poor Maid — Story of the Day

Megan is forced to work in her father’s hotel after he catches her mocking a maid, but the spoiled girl has a plan to get out of her punishment. Megan frames the maid, not realizing she’s the only person who will stand up for Megan in her time of need.

Denise was losing her patience. She had several more rooms to clean in the hotel, but she was stuck outside a VIP suite, waiting for the guests to reply. Dance music and voices carried through the door, so she knew they were in; they were either ignoring her or couldn't hear her over their party.

"Last chance, room 515," Denise muttered as she banged on the door. "I have better things to do than wait around here."

The door flew open. A young woman in designer clothes stood there scowling. Behind her, ten other girls were dancing and drinking.

"It's about time! Omg, I called for a maid an hour ago." The guest pointed into the room behind her. "Amelia vomited, and it's really killed the vibe so you need to clean it up fast."

"It's only been ten minutes since you called for maid service, Miss, and I've been knocking for five. I guess you didn't hear me." Denise forced herself to smile brightly as she pushed her cart filled with cleaning supplies into the room.

"Excuse me?" The young woman set one hand on her hip and glared at Denise. "Are you saying it's my fault I didn't hear you knocking? I don't think so!" She smirked and slammed the door shut. "But I do know how to fix this problem."

Before Denise could do or say anything, the woman casually pulled the decorative string of vintage brass bells that hung low from a corner of the ceiling, looped it up, and threw the loop around her neck. A chorus of laughter erupted from the other young women in the room.

"There. Perfect! Now, I'll always be able to hear you," the mean guest grinned.

Denise froze, quickly realizing she'd never been so deeply humiliated.

"Very funny, but I'm not going to wear this." Denise tried to yank the tangled string of bells off. But the loud jangling sounds resulting from her struggle only made the women laugh harder and shriller.

"Well done, Megan!" They high-fived the alpha woman among them, who was clearly enjoying all the shock and attention.

"You put that back on right now!" Megan pointed at Denise. "Or are you tired of working in my hotel? Maybe you'd rather be digging through dumpsters; that is where trash like you belongs."

"Ooh, burn!" The other ladies in the room surrounded them. Every one of them had their phones raised and were obviously recording everything.

"This is not your hotel," Denise replied, warily eyeing the other young women.

"It is actually;" Megan said, rotating around Denise slowly, staring her down and frowning with disgust. "You're just too stupid to know what your boss looks like," Megan replied. "Now that I think about it, you really don't have the right aesthetic for my hotel." She tapped a finger against her chin. "This is an upmarket place, see, and your face gives me 'born in a gutter' vibes."

Denise had no idea who this lady was, and she was too angry to care. She managed to tear the string of bells away somehow and threw it to the ground.

"No matter who you are, you do not have the right to treat the people who work here like dogs."

The door burst open then, and a man in a smart suit entered. It was Mr. Davis, the man who recently bought the hotel. Denise's relief that she was about to be rescued turned to horror a moment later when he glared at her.

“I’m so glad you’re here, Daddy. This maid is being rude and lazy.” The woman grinned triumphantly.

"That's enough," he said. "I overheard everything, and I won't tolerate such behavior in my hotel. I’ll teach you respect."

Denise stared in shock at the angry look on her boss's face as he marched toward her. This awful brat really was her boss's daughter? Mr. Davis looked mad enough to fire her. Denise started to explain, but Mr. Davis raised his hand to cut her off.

"I was talking to you, Megan," Mr. Davis spoke louder, pointed at his daughter. "You've never shown kindness or thoughtfulness toward others. This woman," he gestured toward Denise, "is an example of hard work and respect. She's a better human being than you, and you will learn from her."

"What are you talking about?" Megan frowned at her father.

"Starting tomorrow, you'll work as an assistant to this maid until she tells me you've changed," Mr. Davis replied.

Denise covered her mouth with one hand. She'd thought she was about to be fired, but instead, her super-rich boss was punishing his daughter! And her friends were still recording the whole scene.

"No way, you can't—" Megan raised her hands pleadingly.

"I can and I am." Mr. Davis marched back toward the door. "There's nothing to discuss, Megan."

Megan could not believe how mean Daddy was being to her. He didn't even care that her friends had posted the video of him yelling at her all over social media. The only way she could save her reputation was to turn the whole ordeal into a vlog.

"So guys, this is my first day working as a maid," Megan said as she recorded herself walking toward the hotel's staff entrance. "If you haven't seen the videos of my dad yelling at me you should definitely check them out. It was so fire of him to play along and he did an amazing job of pretending to be mad at me."

Megan giggled and flipped her hair over her shoulder. She'd gone to her stylist before work so she'd look her best while filming. It had made her a teensy bit late, but that was a small sacrifice to make for looking good.

"The real point of this series is to show people what it's like to work a gross, menial job." Megan grinned into the camera as she opened the door to the laundry room. "For every 'like' you guys leave on these videos, I'll donate fifty cents to charity. Isn't that—hey!"

Denise pulled Megan's phone from her hands and turned it off. "No phones at work," she said, "and you're late."

"Every time you're late, you'll get a reprimand and a penalty. Today's penalty will be to clean the staff restroom."

"Eew, there's no way I'm doing that! And give back my phone! I was live."

"Your phone will go to the manager's office for safekeeping, just like everyone else's." Denise smiled at her as she continued folding bathrobes. "And if you want me to give your dad a good report about you, then you have no choice. You're cleaning that restroom."

"You know this is legit so unfair." Megan leaned against the stack of bathrobes Denise had already folded. "You've got to realize how cringe it is for someone like you to have this much power over someone like me."

"Someone like me?" Denise tugged the stack of bathrobes out from under Megan's elbow. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"You know, someone who does physical labor." Megan gestured to Denise and the stacks of towels and bathrobes that still needed to be folded. "I don't know if you went to school but you must've seen movies where these raggedy peasant people work in the fields for barons and stuff. Well, you're like the peasant and I'm the baron."

Denise's jaw dropped, and she let out a weird sound, like a mixture between a laugh and a wheeze. Megan stepped back in case she had some catchy disease.

"You are unbelievable!" Denise snapped. She set the stack of bathrobes in a laundry cart. "You're going to be under my supervision for the rest of our lives if this is your attitude, now go and clean that restroom or I'm going to report you to your father right now, got it?"

"Fine!" Megan shouted. "God, you're so tightly wound."

Denise rolled her eyes and pointed to a shelf behind the folding tables. "Cleaning chemicals are over there, now get to work."

Megan stared at Denise as she left the room. How dare she bark orders at me like that and then walk out? How freaking rude. Megan was still staring at the door in disgust when she reached for the cleaning products on the shelf.

"What a—" Megan shrieked as she bumped into the shelf, and several bottles fell.

One of them bounced off her shoulder and landed on the folding table. The cap flipped open, and an orange gel with a sharp scent sprayed over the stack of neatly folded bathrobes nearby.

Megan hurriedly snatched up the bottle and returned it to the shelf. She swore under her breath as she hunted for a cloth she could use to wipe up the stinky gel.

"What the heck!" The more Megan tried to soak up the gel on the robes, the more it spread. She rubbed harder, but all she managed to do was leave vivid orange smears on the pristine white cloth.

There were voices outside now; someone was coming!

Megan quickly rearranged the stack of bathrobes to hide the stains, grabbed some random bottles of cleaning chemicals, and tossed them onto a stainless steel trolley standing in the corner.

She hurried from the room and followed the signs until she found the staff restroom. She shoved the door open, pulled the cart inside, and laughed with relief. Now, nobody would have any reason to suspect her for the stained bathrobes.

Megan's laughter died when she opened the first stall door and smelled what was waiting for her in there.

Megan dry-retched and buried her face in her sleeve to mask the smell lingering in the stall. Wielding a bottle of toilet cleaner in one hand, she sidled up to the toilet and lifted the lid. Her entire mid-section contracted with a violent heave, and she quickly averted her gaze.

"I shouldn't have looked," she wailed. "Oh God, what are these people eating!?"

Plastic gloves or not, Megan didn't want to get her hands anywhere near that toilet again, so she stretched out her leg and used the toe of her shoe to flip the lid shut and activate the flusher. The flusher didn't work.

"That one is officially not my problem." Megan rushed out of the stall. She snatched a can of aerosol disinfectant from the trolley and sprayed it everywhere. Only then did she dare to lift her arm away from her face and breathe freely.

Megan decided to start with the basins and leave the toilets for last. It seemed like the safest choice until she saw a stripe of toothpaste stuck to the side of a basin.

"Why?" Megan threw her hands in the air. "What on earth could drive someone to brush their teeth at work?

She spritzed the toothpaste with a cleaning solution in a spray bottle. As it slowly detached from the porcelain, her imagination conjured images of some snaggle-toothed jerk munching cheap Mexican food, brushing their teeth at work, then running to the stall behind her when last night's dinner needed an explosive outlet.

Megan's entire body heaved with nausea. She covered her mouth and instinctively turned to run for the toilets before she hurled, but she stopped short. There was no way she would vomit in those disgusting, germ-bomb toilets.

She abandoned all her cleaning supplies and ran for the door. She took a huge gulp of fresh, air con-scented air and then froze. Denise was walking toward her!

Megan ducked behind a plastic potted palm near the bathroom door and crouched down. There was no way Denise would force her to clean those toilets! She'd sooner take sandpaper to her manicure or stop drinking smoothies for a month.

"I've been looking everywhere for you," a man speaking heavily-accented English spoke nearby. "You're in big trouble."

Megan pressed her lips together to keep from crying out. She peeked out from behind the plant, and her worries turned to joy at what she saw there.

"What's wrong Mr. Hernandez?" Denise frowned at the man who'd appeared in the hallway. He wore a pin on his coat that identified him as a manager.

"This!" Mr. Hernandez lifted one of the orange-stained bathrobes Megan had hidden earlier. "You were in charge of bathrobes and towels today, Denise. I'm sorry, but since you didn't report any accidents, the cost of dry cleaning will be deducted from your salary."

Denise immediately pleaded innocence, and Megan watched as the discussion continued. Eventually, Mr. Hernandez sternly ordered Denise to return to her work and stop wasting his time.

"It doesn't matter if you did it, or even if you knew about it," Mr. Hernandez said.

"The only thing that's important here is that it happened during your shift. So it's your responsibility."

Daddy wanted her to learn from Denise, and Megan felt she may have finally learned something worthwhile. She dashed after Denise with a wide grin.

Daddy's going to have to rethink his punishment when I show him that perfect little Denise is nothing but trash. There'll be no more gross cleaning work for me!

Megan followed Denise upstairs to the hotel rooms. She waited until the maid turned a corner at the end of the hall before running across to the nearest room. She opened it with her key card and slipped inside.

"You've got to be kidding me," Megan sneered when she saw the cheap clothes hanging in the closet. "Daddy really needs to raise his prices to eliminate the low-class clientele."

After a few more minutes of searching through cheap clothes and last season's shoes, Megan found what she was looking for.

"Platinum sprinkle necklace with diamonds and an emerald...this is just the sort of tacky but expensive thing that would catch someone like Denise's eye."

Megan slipped the necklace into her pocket and hurried back to the staff section of the hotel. She entered the locker room and searched until she found Denise's locker.

"Yeah, Denise is such a good role model," Megan muttered as she carefully slipped the necklace through the slats on the front of the locker. "Let's see what Daddy thinks about her when he finds out she's a thief."

It took way too long for the guest to report her missing necklace, but the chaos afterward definitely made up for the wait. Megan had to keep biting her lip to stop herself from smiling as Mr. Hernandez and the other managers rushed about.

Eventually, the managers called all the staff together to make an announcement.

This was the moment Megan had been waiting for! She bounced on the balls of her feet and almost leaped for joy when Mr. Hernandez told everyone they'd be searching the lockers.

"I'm sorry to do this to all of you, but we have no choice," Mr. Hernandez said.

"We're going to start searching the lockers of everyone who had access to the room, starting with the cleaning staff."

Megan watched with barely contained glee as Mr. Hernandez started the search. When he opened Denise's locker, the necklace fell and landed on his shoe.

"Really, Denise?" Mr. Hernandez looked at Denise with disgust as he lifted the necklace. "First the bathrobes, and now I catch you stealing from guests? Shame on you! I thought you were better than this."

"I didn't take that necklace!" Denise cried. "Come on, Mr. Hernandez, you know me. I've worked with you in this hotel for years and I've never stolen anything."

"That we know of." Mr. Hernandez stared down at Denise. "It seems I don't know you as well as I thought."

"But you do!" Denise pressed her hands together. "I've always been an honest worker, always been on time. You know I'm a single mom, Mr. Hernandez, and I'd never do anything to jeopardize my job."

Megan's glee faded. Denise had a kid? Oh no...she didn't realize Denise was a poor single mom, like the character in that series Megan and her friends used to stream.

"The evidence is right here, Denise." Mr. Hernandez lifted the necklace up high.

"You're fired. This will be your last day, and you should be grateful I'm not going to report you to the police."

If Denise couldn’t afford to look after her kid, then Child Services might take them away. Megan remembered the day her mother walked out on her and Dad to move in with some Hollywood hotshot. The ache had never truly left her; sometimes, she still wondered if she could've done something differently to make Mom stay.

No kid should have to endure that heartache, not even mean Denise's little child.

"You, get back to work." Mr. Hernandez pointed at Megan. "Room 523 called for a maid; go and take care of it."

Megan was still battling conflicting emotions when she reached room 523. It was awesome that her plan to get Denise in trouble had worked so well, but she was low-key really shook about Denise's kid. Megan was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't realize she knew the people in the hotel room until it was too late.

"Omg, Megan, love the drip."

Megan stared at Kayla, the girl who'd spoken, in horror. Kayla smirked as she waved a perfectly manicured finger at Megan's maid uniform.

"That washed-out, depression-grey suits you, fam. Don't you think it suits her, Tammy?"

"One hundred percent." Tammy snickered and pointed her phone at Megan. "Come on, girl, show us what life is like when your Dad demotes you from precious daughter to crusty maid."

"Hey, that's not what it's like." Megan reached out to block Tammy's camera, but Tammy dodged away. "Why are you guys being so mean?"

"We're here to support you, Megan." Kayla walked toward her with a can of soda in one hand, clearly feeling like the new alpha of the group now. "We saw your live this morning and thought we'd come here to help you show everyone what being a maid is like."

Kayla grinned as she poured out the soda on the carpet.

"Guess you better clean that up, maid," Tammy said.

"Stop it!" Megan clenched her hands as her eyes filled with tears. "Y'all are being so salty."

"Nobody came here to hear the maid speak." Kayla put a hand on Megan's shoulder and pressed down hard. "Get on your knees and scrub-a-dub-dub, maid. That mess isn't going to clean itself!"

Tammy laughed and chimed in, "Or should we call reception again and tell them the maid is refusing to do her job, Kayla?"

"But Megan needs this job so bad, Tammy. I mean, she's one screw-up away from being kicked out of college, and she's probably going to fail all her classes."

Kayla pouted. "Isn't that right, maid?"

"I told you that in secret!" Megan shouted.

"Ooh, does that mean your daddy doesn't know?" Tammy circled closer. "Do you think he'll let you keep your maid job if he finds out what a loser you are? There isn't really a lower job he can give you, is there?"

"How could you!" Megan lunged for Tammy's phone again, but she was too quick.

"You just came here to laugh at me and mock me, didn't you? I can't believe I ever thought you were my fam. Y'all just hate everyone, even each other."

"That's enough!"

All three girls turned to stare at Denise, who stood in the doorway glaring at them.

"Megan, go to the second floor and ensure there are fresh towels in all the rooms," Denise said. "I'll take over here."

"I don't think so." Kayla stepped forward with her finger raised. "Megan can't leave until she's cleaned this mess on the carpet. I won't allow it."

"You don't pay anyone's salary here, child, and since it's my last day here, I've got no reason to be polite and cater to the whims of heartless jerks like you and your henchwoman." Denise elbowed Kayla aside and ushered Megan toward the door.

"Thank you, Denise," Megan muttered. She wiped the tears from her face as she let Denise steer her toward the door. "I guess you aren't so bad, after all."

"Just take care of the towels, and leave these witches to me." Denise pushed Megan out into the hallway and shut the door.

The following morning, Denise was searching for a new job when she heard a knock at her door. She sighed and slowly went to the door. She leaned in to look through the peephole and was shocked to see Megan outside her door.

"Just when I thought I was done with spoilt, rich people," Denise muttered. She tugged the door open and was about to demand that Megan leave, but then she saw the man who accompanied her.

"Mr. Davis, what are you doing here?" Denise asked.

Megan cleared her throat. "We came here to offer you your old job back. You see, it was me who stole that necklace and hid it in your locker." Megan blushed and hung her head.

"I’m so sorry, Denise. I thought you were this mean person who just wanted to boss me around, but I get it now. I treated you horribly, and Daddy was right to make me work with you."

Denise stared at Megan in shock. Was this really the same bratty woman who’d hung bells around her neck?

"I told Daddy everything about what's been happening at college, and how you stood up for me when Kayla and Tammy were being so awful," Megan continued. “You didn’t have to do that…but I’m glad you did.”

“Nobody deserves to be treated so badly, Megan,” Denise replied.

"My daughter has learned a valuable lesson, thanks to you," Mr. Davis said. "You're exactly the sort of person I want working in my hotel. I'd like to offer you a managerial position, and I hope you'll accept it."

Denise couldn't believe what she was hearing. She accepted Mr. Davis's offer and agreed to start immediately.

What can we learn from this story?

• Stay true to yourself and your beliefs. Denise never thought twice about standing up for herself or Megan in the face of bullying.
• Everyone can learn to be a better person. Peer pressure and a privileged lifestyle molded Megan into an unpleasant person, but she changed for the better once she realized the error of her ways.

Share this story with your friends. It might brighten their day and inspire them.

If you enjoyed this story, you might like this one about a rich boy who regrets bullying the son of a plumber when he finds himself in deep water.

This piece is inspired by stories from the everyday lives of our readers and written by a professional writer. Any resemblance to actual names or locations is purely coincidental. All images are for illustration purposes only. Share your story with us; maybe it will change someone’s life. If you would like to share your story, please send it to info@amomama.com.