I approached the reception desk.

“Hi. I’m in Room 1A. The man in 1B smokes a lot and it’s coming into my room and bothering me. Could I change rooms?”

Three employees looked at me, wagging their heads back and forth as I explained this to them.

“There is not a non-smoking section of the hotel, ma’am.”

“Okay. But maybe I could move to another room and maybe the person in the room next to me won’t be smoking.”

I was met by blank stares.

So I tried again. “Okay. Could you tell me when 1B is checking out? Maybe he’s checking out today and this won’t be a problem anymore.”

They all nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, we think he will check out today.”

“But if he doesn’t, maybe I can change rooms when I return from work?”

“As you wish, ma’am.”