Do not disturb

It suddenly occured to me that what this hotel needs is "Do not disturb" signs.

Why aren't there any?

It is common enough for policemen or doctors to put a sign on their doors:  "Do not knock!", or
"Wait until called".

Am I to draw the conclusion that an ordinary citizen has no right to privacy?

Well, it certainly feels that way to me.  Last year I was living in this hotel for a couple of months, and the intrusions at regular intervals of noisy cleaning staff caused great irritation.

When I complained about it, loudly, and in broken language, to the staff themselves, I was punished the next day by the manager who evicted me.  (After she had pounded on the door of my rented apartment with great force....)

So, now I find myself back in the uncomfortable hotel, sharing a bathroom and a kitchen.

The doors squeak.  The floors are uncarpeted, and magnify every noise.  The keys are provided with a metal room-number plate which provides clinking and clanging noise in abundance.

Please allow me to emphasize:  The doors squeak, and they cannot be shut without making a noise.

Currently, I am living in one small room, just off a small corridor.  At the end of this entry hall there is another room.  To the right is the bathroom.  If my neighbor enters, he must take out his keys---causing clanging and jangling noises--open the outer door, and shut it.  Opening and shutting that outer door creates noise, especially as it is shut.  Then, entering the hall, he will again make a noise with his keys (the metal number plate inevitably striking the keys like a knocker to its bell) and then he will open another noisy door.  As the floors are uncarpeted, every sound resounds and is magnified.

The noise caused by austere building is one thing.  Quite another things is the omission of a "Do not disturb" sign.  Its absence deprives me of a basic right:  the right to privacy, the right to decide whether or when my work will be interrupted.

And, yes, dear reader, what I do is "work", even if unpayed.  I do not accept the crass commercial evaluation of all things human.  What is truly valuable has no price, and cannot be given a price. 

Indeed, this has been my frequent lament:  I work at home.  My neighbors are chemists and they have their laboratories.  I am not a chemist.  I have no laboratory.  I work at home, with my books, and the internet.  And work requires freedom from interruptions.  Is that so hard to understand?  Work requires the confidence that unexpected events won't intrude, not the tense expectation that any minute a door will slam, or someone will knock at the door.......

In truth, I won't stay here today.  But when I return, I don't know what sort of noises will be waiting for me......