Viva leaving Las Vegas, Chapter 2

Late Friday afternoon I got a call from a Hyatt Hotel salesman who mentioned that Priscilla and I had recently been to Las Vegas and perhaps we wanted to go again. I replied that my wife and I would never again go to Las Vegas. The salesman got nasty.

“What happened?” he said. “Did you lose too much money?”

I said, “No. We are not Las Vegas people.” I intended to say, “Please take us off your call list.”

Before I could say anything else, the salesman said, “What’s the matter? Are you Mormon?”

I was flabbergasted by the question. He might as well have said, “Are you Catholic?” or, “Are you Jews?” I said, “What the hell does that have to do with anything?”

The salesman said, “I can get you rooms Provo.”

I was mad then. I said, “Take us off your call list.”

The salesman repeated, “I can get rooms in Provo.”

I repeated, “Take us off your phone list!” and ended the call.

Amazing. I knew from news stories over the years that people in the West sometimes lacked respect for minority religions, but I had never had it thrown in my face.