Miller Time

It’s funny how sometimes the coolest things can happen for you when you’re not even trying to bring them on.

I’ve spent the past few weeks battling against the ego of a punkass manager @ work whom I often refer to as Guido Goomba. He and I don’t work together much at all, but he knew I was hired on the glowing reccommendation of Jax, and always seemed to respect my rep. While I never had any personal issues with the man (and did my best not to hold his waxed eyebrows and Flushing, Queens-ness against him), I always found him to be a bit shady. He’s been proving my suspicions loud & clear as of late. You see, he didn’t come off too well in the big stink I made over the fucked up payroll issues I was having last month. While I never pointed the Blame Finger @ him directly, he took the entire thing personally and seems to have set out on a childish vendetta to smear my good name @ work(as payback), just desperately searching for the littlest things he can find to write me up for. The other day he pulled me into the office and sat me down to talk to me about my “lateness” — how it’s not cool for me to be swiping in @ 3:06 when I’m supposed to be in @ 3pm. No, I’m not kidding. He also tried to pin me for a stupid little billing issue that a guest had, some guy who left a cash deposit but rang up all kinds of charges on the room and then skipped out — luckilly, I’d covered my ass when I checked the man in and got a credit card imprint. I’d even flagged the account with a note that clearly explained the entire situation, giving everyone a heads-up on the shady character (I’m NEVER off my game @ work, man!) — but did Guido Goomba even bother to check it? No. I made sure to shut his little shit down and cleared my name right the fuck away… but it really made me mad how EAGER he was to make this an issue before even investigating it. The whole thing annoyed me — not that he didn’t like me, but that he felt he could throw his weight around and intimidate me or something. This isn’t highschool, motherfucker, and I don’t respond well to football coach-like tactics.

Tonight, my head manager Johnson (b/c he’s kind of a dick) pulled me aside b/c he’s gotten a “heads up” email about me from Guido Goomba, trying to make me sound like a problem employee. Where the hell does this come from? It’s amazing what grown men will do when they feel threatened. So yeah, Johnson asks me about it, like, “So what’s going on?” and I gave him the truth. I told him that I wasn’t going to waste time contesting any of the things said about me b/c my job performance speaks for itself, and that I felt like this was all just a lot of fuss over nothing b/c Guido Goomba’s professional ego had been bruised. We bantered some thought back and forth, and even tho he mostly stuck up for his colleague, he actually had some good points to make; even offered to set up a meeting between the three of us to talk shit out. I left the conversation feeling okay, but not that much better about the situation in general.

I was kicking in the back office later on, digging through a file drawer looking for my paystub — cuz you know that even tho I get direct deposit, I have to check it everyweek and make sure that ppl are paying me like they’re supposed to — and I hear Johnson calling for me. He said somebody was here to see me. Right away, I start flipping through my mental social palm pilot, all trying to figure out who might be dropping in and asking for me by name… (Melissa?!) Up walks this huge, blond, muscular guy with a bigass smile on his face. “Hi, are you Chris?” “Yes!” I replied in my upbeat Front Desk voice. “What’s up?” He extended his hand out and I shook it. He smiled, “How are you? My name is Tim Miller.”

Tim Miller. Vice President of Brand Managemant for Ian Schrager Hotels. The Beta to Ian’s Alpha. The Barney to his Fred. I’ve heard his name a million times in the executive offices @ work, seen his name a million times on inter-office memos and emails, witnessed a million times the hooplah and fuss made over one of his upcoming visits from San Fran to the New York hotels. This guy us a HUGE person in the Ian Schrager empire, he’s opened every single hotel and overseen their succession — all except for Hudson, which is probably why it’s in such bad shape behind the scenes — and here he was (in jeans and a t-shirt) introducing himself to me.

“Listen, Chris, I just stopped into the hotel for dinner tonight while I’m in town,” he explained, as if I was somebody who needed an explanation. Johnson was standing right next to him, staring directly at me with this funny look on his face. I got the feeling that I really needed to dog&pony it up, but all I could think to say was, “Very cool! I’ve heard a lot about you.” Why am I such a nerd?

“Well, actually,” he said, smiling. “so have I. That’s why I stopped in.”

Tim went on to blow my mind by telling me that in the past few days, he’d heard my name from not one or two but THREE different business contacts, all boasting on “that awesome little guy Chris @ the front desk of Hudson”. Whaaaa?! He said that he’d heard nothing but wild raves on my performance and he just wanted to meet me in person and thank me for my work.

“Thank you so much!” I gushed, turning red and standing a little bit taller (I think I actually grew a few inches). “That means such a great deal to me, you have no idea. I’ve so much about you.”

“All lies and malace,” he said coolly. “Don’t believe a damn word. And i’m usually wearing a suit, I promise, so I hope you’ll still take me seriously next time you see me.” (Johnson laughed really really hard and fake here, but I tried not to let it ruin my experience.) Tim shook my hand again and quickly slipped out. I followed him out into the lobby, just to see if he’d stop by anyone else and tell them the same thing (my ego can get very jealous), and he actually hopped right into a limo and left. Johnson later came up to me and reiterated the GREATNESS of that little meeting, telling me that I couldn’t have asked for a better way to meet the man who runs shit round here.

Dude, I have to say, it feels damn good. On the one hand, it’s just fucking awesome to hear that my work is being discussed positively and on such a high level. You never know who knows who in this world, I guess. The asshole who I choose to tolerate and appease might just in fact know some people, and today was a testiment to how randomly word can travel and help you out. And on the other hand, it just feels nice to have some fucking job security. If the man at the top has only good things to say about me, I figure this oughtta buy me at least 6 solid months of safety and hassle-free atmosphere. Or if nothing else, get Guido Goomba to recognize that I’m an actual asset to Hudson (and maybe a little bit of a force to be reckoned with, too) and make him lay the fuck off.

Whatever, man. Tonight was a good one and I was all smiles for the rest of my shift.