On Call Welcome yet again to On Call, the reader-contributed column in which The Register immortalizes readers' stories of escaping tech support traumas.

This week, meet a reader we'll Regomize as "Tom" who told us about the time he was despatched from his UK home to an African nation, where his client operated both a mining company and the national airline.

The job involved implementing a messaging system for the mining company. Tom's role was to get it running and talking to a teleprinter from a third-party vendor.

The printer wouldn't work, the job ran late, and the client was greatly displeased.

So displeased that it sent word to the airline it controlled: Tom was not to be allowed onto a plane out of the country without its approval, which would only be forthcoming once the job was done.

A chap from the printer-maker eventually showed up, and within half an hour he and Tom had fixed the problem.

Job done and time to go home - but the flight ban had not been lifted.

Tom began to wonder if he faced an extended stay in Africa.

A kindly exec at the mining company offered to pay Tom's fare home on the only other airline that flew from this African nation. He provided Tom with the details of his offshore bank account and accepted promises of future repayment.

That second airline only flew to Brussels, but Tom figured he'd make it home to the UK without much trouble.

So he took the flight - on a vintage 707 that provided a few scary moments - and arrived unscathed in Brussels (sadly too late to make it home that night).

At the time of this story, communications between this African nation and Europe were not easy, so Tom had not been able to inform his employer about his suddenly changed travel plans. He had, however, visited Brussels often enough to feel confident of finding a place to rest his head.

That confidence turned out to be misplaced, as Brussels was hosting a large event of some sort and there was no room to be found at any inn.

In desperation, Tom visited a chain hotel at which he'd spent many nights, in the hope he might perhaps find a sympathetic ear having sent so much business its way previously.

The front desk staff told him the entire hotel was full. Indeed, so full even the Presidential Suite had been partitioned into separate rooms to provide a little extra capacity.

Tom then saw a flicker of inspiration flash across the hotel staffer's eyes and watched as she disappeared into a back office for a conversation with her manager.

Tom was told the hotel did have a place for him to sleep. He was led to the top floor - and into a very grand living room, where a rollaway bed awaited.

The living room was part of the Presidential Suite and, as is the way in such facilities, could be isolated from the bedrooms. Tom had the Suite's living room, dining room, conference room, kitchen - and two bathrooms - to himself.

"The only thing missing was a bedroom, but I cared not a jot," Tom told On Call.

When he left the hotel the next morning it charged him the price of a normal, boring, regular hotel room.

Tom found a flight home without incident.

"So, sadly no movie stars or jacuzzis involved, but that was my night in the Presidential Suite," he told On Call.

Has a client prevented you from leaving? Or sent you on a strange trip? Click here to send On Call an email so we can share your story on a future Friday. ®

https://www.theregister.com//2024/08/16/on_call/