Towels are disappearing at an alarming rate where I work.

We have beautiful, fluffy white bath towels, hand towels, and washcloths. They are placed in each cabin according to occupancy. One of each per person. The stack is nicely folded, appealing, and oh-so-clean.

Guests are told to bring their own beach towels for use at the hot tubs and sauna. You can imagine how many people actually do: very few. So, the bath towels get used at the tubs, and are usually deposited in the hamper there. Nontheless, we are losing towels at a mysterious and alarming rate.

Of course, resort guests all over the world are notorious for taking anything that's not nailed down, including towels, bathrobes, ashtrays, shot glasses, magazines, small animals, and the like. Why do you think the no-tell motel has screwed all the paintings to the wall? Even people who pay by the hour seem inclined to take the artwork.

Our housekeeping staff found scads of towels in one of the vacated cabins last week. How did they get there? Does the front desk just give them away without asking for the used ones? Do people walk into housekeeping, which is sometimes unlocked and sometimes without staff (who are out cleaning cabins)? There was some thought that I was getting the good towels in the massage hut instead of the second-run massage towels, but I have only the massage towels. I swear. I use my sarong as a towel for myself at the tubs, so it's not that I'm using them personally.

The mystery continues.