Phil & Monique: Guest or Visitor

FADE IN:

INT. MUSEUM CONFERENCE - OVERCROWDED GRAB-AND-GO CAFE - DAY

Sitting on the floor against a wall are MONIQUE, exhibition developer wise beyond her years, and PHIL, anxiety-prone independent museum consultant.

PHIL: If only museums had this many guests. (Sips chamomile tea.)

MONIQUE: Museums don’t have guests.

PHIL: What?

MONIQUE: (Sips Americano.) They have visitors.

PHIL: Guest sounds better.

MONIQUE: But it’s not true. Guests come to a restaurant or a hotel for basic needs. Food and shelter. The host knows their names. They sit for hours to eat. Or lie down all night. They don’t move. Things get done for them.

PHIL: How much caffeine is in that?

MONIQUE: Visitors are what museums and visitor centers have. Visitors come for non-basic needs. Learning and exploring. Visitors move, they don’t come to sit. They want to do things themselves. And we don’t know their names.

PHIL: So?

MONIQUE: We can’t just call visitors guests. Visitors have different needs. We should be good at those needs. Not pretending we’re a hotel.

PHIL: Did I ever have a chance here?

MONIQUE: Sorry. Want half of my croissant thingy?

PHIL: I refuse.

MONIQUE: It’s chocolate.

PHIL: My decision was perhaps hasty.

FADE OUT.