Note left in hotel room safe, Le Meridien Angkor, Siem Reap, Cambodia
Yes, I really did this. I know it’s crazy, but…what else to do? Someone on staff at the fanciest hotel in town stole $20 out of my money belt (I only knew because I’d just counted it when I arrived.). From inside a locked safe. I didn’t want to make a fuss but I did want my money back. So I wrote this and put it in the safe and…voila! Next day, my missing $20 was back. I actually couldn’t believe it. I counted and recounted, as I’d done the day before when I realized it was missing, thinking mabye I’d just gone crazy. Nope. I may be crazy for other reasons, but that $20 was gone. And then it wasn’t. No doubt about it.
Note left the next day, Le Meridien Angkor, Siem Reap, Cambodia
OK, I admit it was ridiculous for me to then start moralizing. But the catlady in me won out and I left this note locked in the safe the next day. Unfortunately, it was the day I was leaving, and while I was in the process of checking out, duh, the staff went to check the room for me (I’m used to more backpacker-type guest houses where you leave something behind, well, that’s your problem.). Someone came and told me I’d left the safe locked. Obviously they could open it and reset the code (or otherwise figure out my code, as the staff person with the sticky fingers had clearly done previously), but their concern was that I’d left something in there. I reassured them that I was certain I hadn’t and they were free to open it. I can’t imagine what the person who did so (presuming it was not Mr. or Ms. Sticky Fingers his- or herself) thought when they saw the note.
Right before I left, the hotel manager came over to chat and ask if my stay was OK. He handed me his card along with a very kind offer to assist me with anything I might need during my stay in Cambodia since it was not, in his estimation, an easy place for a foreigner. I wavered about telling him what had happened, but ended up keeping my promise to the thief. So to this day I don’t know if whoever found the note just threw it away or figured out what it meant and turned it over to someone. I suspect the former.
