front desk

this is a picture i took at the Ben Bolt Hotel in Columbia, Missouri,

somewhere in the 70s.

i was the night desk clerk there a few nights a week.

mostly i did wake up calls

and mopped the floor around 5AM.

one time i was asleep in that chair with my feet up on the front counter

and a guy walked up

wanted a room

i fell forward couldn't stand grasped the counter.

i wanted this 1890s silver dollar this drunk had

and took it, was able to only because he was drunk, you see.

i listened to the men on saturday night who watched roller derby

on the tv set in the lobby. they were enthusiastic

about big women knocking the shit out of each other,

go figure.

i took pictures too of some of the people who lived there, long term.

the cleaver

was under the counter

from the first day i was there.

the owner said pay it no mind.

a single room cost

$4.16 a night then, tax included.

i staged this photo.