In search of the odour of the day

It was a hot August Monday three years ago when we first noticed the smell upstairs. We began a search for what we thought must be a discarded nappy. On Tuesday morning, several of the guests checked out early and it was impossible to mount the stairs without gagging.

With the stench wafting through the hotel, it was becoming hard to pinpoint the source. Arrivals came and left in a hurry; cleaningupstairs became unbearable without rushing out for fresh air.

On Wednesday, my husband (noted for his lack of a sense of smell) was elected to clean the few occupied rooms left. He returned with a full packet of fish fingers from the room of an elderly guest.

But after removing the fish, the smell simply worsened and began to spread. We continued to spray but to no avail.

We had just one remaining guest, another elderly lady. So, as she ate dinner, my husband searched her room. When he reported back, he told me he had found a dressed crab wrapped in the lady's underwear.

I mentioned to her that we had a storage service available to our guests should she care to put anything into our fridge. After some thought, she said: "I have got a dressed crab that I bought three weeks ago which I'm taking back as a present - but I'm sure it doesn't need to go in a fridge!"

I managed to persuade her to part with it, and swapped it for a fresh one on the day she went home. We had to replace the dressing table and it took a fortnight to exorcise the stink from the room. I forfeited a lot of money in lost bookings, not to mention a damaged reputation.

But the little old lady did say it was the best holiday she had ever had.

If you can relive the worst moment in your catering career, share it with us. Send it to My Worst Moment, Caterer & Hotelkeeper, Quadrant House, The Quadrant, Sutton, Surrey SM2 5AS. Everyone who has an item published will receive the original cartoon accompanying the article.