# Hospitality & not making people feel guilty You're taking a road trip. 12 hours of driving. Traffic. Heavy traffic. And you're expected by a wonderful hostess who has food prepared for you. When you left, you were only supposed to be on the road for 10 hours, so tensions are high. Luckily for you, your hostess, upon hearing you'll be late, gives you the best answer you can imagine, "don't worry, I'll have hot food ready for you when you get here, and it's only an hour later until I can see you!" There are two reasons why her answer is so warming to the weary traveler. First, you have home made delicious food you can look forward to. No gross fast food or having to cook in your future that evening. There aren't that many people who'll play chef for your benefit, much less in your time of need. Second, and more subtly, is the lack of guilt tripping. Instead of complaining about your tardiness and trying to get you to feel bad, the hostess makes you feel all warm, fuzzy and wanted. To layer on top of the road rage would be souring the experience. Luckily, she's experienced in the art of people management, and knows the right thing to do. From this we can learn a lot about building admiration in the hearts of our guests. They are away from home and secretly in need of love. A bit of elbow grease and some empathy will leave them infatuated with your skills as a host(ess) and you as a person. It doesn't take much, and goes so far.