What is the best excuse someone has given you in a STR?

[Paul Sandhu]

Had 2 guys reserve a house together a few days ago, they are both foreman for company that does refinery contracting work.  Today is the day they move in.  This morning one of the guys called me and said he needed a place just for himself, his wife and his 4 year old kid.  He said he didn't feel comfortable leaving his family back home by themselves because he had to shoot someone last night.  Said he just shot them in the leg, if that makes any difference.

[Cheryl Schlehuber]

Had a young man on his honeymoon call me late one night to complain that we didn't disclose that the condo they rented was in a building next to a Masonic Temple upstairs in a commercial building..I was speechless (for a second or so)...He was concerned that they would have seances and cult offerings in the middle of the night and it would be very unacceptable and frightening.  I explained that this group was just a bunch of old men that got together and made pasties to raise money for kids groups, nothing harmful.  He asked if I actually knew the history of the organization and I explained in fact I did, (just out of general curiosity).. but in this part of northern Michigan, they were mostly a harmless old group of men, (mostly grouchy old men) and a few nice old guys.  Told him to check the references at the downstairs coffee shop for verification, he thanked me and assured me that in their hometown in Missouri, it was a dangerous city, thus the concern.....I have no clue what they do in Missouri and I can't imagine it's what he thinks it is but it sure made me aware of how visiting an unknown place causes certain anxieties in people, mostly unfound but not always.   What is normal day to day one place, can be quite the opposite in another community and sometimes they just need to talk to someone.  Anyway, it was a interesting topic at the office the next day.