When to intervene

When I travel for work, I get to stay in a hotel room and have someone else take out the trash and make my bed. While I miss being able to cook, I love being excessive with the thermostat and having cable TV. On the flip side, I tend to be a light sleeper and all the strange noises can interfere with a good rest. I usually ask to be located away from the elevators, to at least cut down on the foot traffic going by my door.

This is my first time staying in this particular hotel, and so far my experience with the staff and room have been great. They have Keurigs in the room, and coffee. No tea, though. The first night here I asked about that, and the front desk people appropriated me a small assortment of tea bags from the breakfast supplies. And each day since then, at least one of them (there were three) has asked me how I'm doing every time I go through the lobby. Color me impressed. I also had tea with breakfast yesterday, and today the waiter brought me a fresh pot without me having to ask for it, within a minute or two of me being seated.

However, I did have an issue with some of the other guests. My next door neighbors, specifically. The first night, there were some loud conversations and phone calls, but as they died down at a relatively decent hour and I didn't lose any sleep, I just chalked it up to normal hotel annoyances. Last night though, I was woken up at 0130 by yelling, screaming, and torturous crying. The lady was hysterical, and both parties were cursing at each other. For a moment I thought it was a television, but it became obvious very quickly that the parties next door were having some sort of altercation. I don't know if they were drunk or what, but I tried to ignore it and go back to sleep. After nearly twenty minutes though, I had to do something for my own peace of mind and well-being. The question was what?

I didn't hear anything that sounded like hitting. No thumps or bumps or crashes to indicate shoving or falling. Just the yelling and crying. They were saying such mean things about each other, and the lady was pleading so hard that I debated police intervention. I couldn't justify such an infringement on anyone else's privacy though, since I had no indications that things were physical. Leaving my personal judgment aside (and yes, I have some pretty strong opinions on this), I thought about calling the front desk to complain about the noise. I didn't because I was a little embarrassed for myself, and slightly concerned the neighbors would hear me place the call and somehow know I was the complainer and retaliate. I know it's the staff's job to handle these kind of things, but that felt a little cowardly to me. So with my middle-of-the-night logic kicking in, I did something even more cowardly: I called the room, waited until I heard their phone ring, and quickly hung up. It went instantly quiet, and then I heard the guy say it must have been a wrong number. The lady started crying again, but as neither party was yelling any more, I fell back asleep.

About half an hour later, around 0230, I was woken by more sobbing, cursing, and yelling. I rolled over and tried to ignore it, letting my brain stay in that hazy half-asleep zone. I vaguely remember thinking I should do something, but I fell asleep again in spite of the noise.

I don't regret my action or inaction, but I have replayed the scenario in my head a few times since it happened. I don't think I did anything wrong, but I wonder if I could or should have handled it differently. I worry that someone was hurt, or could be. I wonder if I was misinterpreting or overreacting. I hope it doesn't happen again, and I hope I sleep better tonight.

What would you have done?