There’s Going Above And Beyond, And Then There’s This

Many years ago, when I was nineteen, I used to work at this restaurant in New York City. It was a popular restaurant and it had a very famous name; the owner of the company invested mostly in hotels and resorts, but some establishments — such as our NYC branch — only did food service, no hotel facilities. We had two rooms above the restaurants only for VIP guests. They weren’t “bookable” or anything; they were strictly very, very VIP!

One day, around Christmas, a gentleman came with his family and demanded to be shown to his room. I explained that our NYC branch was only a restaurant with no hotel facilities. He then said that he was a sheik, he came from Dubai, he was a friend of the owner, and he had called early to book a room! He insisted that he spoke to me of all people — he said he recognised my voice — and that should I not accommodate him, he would get me fired immediately! He was getting quite aggressive and calling me an idiot.

I was terrified. I was only nineteen, this was my first “real” job, and I was pissing off my boss’s friend. Unfortunately, there was nothing I could do. Both our VIP rooms were given away; one of them hosted a senator and the other one was given to the owner’s niece. We literally had no space for this guy, let alone his family.

I explained the situation, but I realised that he was getting more and more frustrated. He then said, “I’ll get you f****** sacked, you stupid b****,” and proceeded to dial the owner’s number.

What would you think? That the owner would apologise on behalf of his jerk friend and find an alternate solution?

NO!

He asked his friend to hand over the phone and then he demanded that I let this guy stay in my own apartment for the night!

Needless to say, I resigned from my position a week later. The whole situation was ridiculous. I’m glad to have found a much healthier work environment since.