No.
You lost me after "hi".
I'm going to start replying, "Well hello there. Actually, I'm coming into your town next month. I'm straight. I'm going to rob your house. You're both going to watch me do it. It's all about me fencing your place. Interested?"
I realize they won't get the sarcasm but you never know, they might have some pretty decent electronics I could sell. ;)
Speaking of...
CES is next week. I'm definitely around. You?
It's all about robots this year, and mobile apps.
Back in the day, in my circle, mobile phones started really coming out about the same time Herion passed into being affordable. Everyone was doing Heroin back then. Everyone but me. I bought a mobile phone.
Remember your first mobile phone? It wasn't even a cell phone. It was a mobile phone.
Aaaah yes...
The Captain Kirk, flip phone. Weak connection. Long pull out antenna. No apps. No face plate. Just a numeric key pad. $190 for 200 minutes. No internet. You still had to masturbate at home to porn on your desktop.... And VCR.
VCR!!
Back then it was JUST a mobile phone. I miss it.
The year was 1997'ish.
FYI the 80's and 90's are now considered time period eras, like Jane Austin.
In the late 90's I was working as a door girl for a rock n roll venue in West Hollywood. Thus explaining about 300 of my friends on FB. No one yet had mobile phones except the occasional car phone which was the size of a cereal box. "Excuse me sugar while I make a phone call from my carton of Dino Pebbles." Impressed?
Back then the cover charge to get into one of the Sunset strip venues was something like $12 per person. Big handmade sign taped to the box office window: $12 PER PERSON
And still...
Every other Hollywood guy would try talking that cover charge down to zero. Not even a discount. Just, nothing. Zero. More guys used the line "I'm with the band" than the girls did. Look buddy, we know who's with the band because they wobbled in here WITH THE BAND wearing 5 inch heels, hair teased up to Jupiter, with at least one breast hanging out. Sooooo unless you walk in with the bass player fondling one of your exposed testicles the cover charge is $12, says I, aggressively pointing at the sign.
Even more impressive, when the same guys tried talking down the cover charge in front of a date. CLASSY. Again, unless the bass player is fondling one of your exposed testicles... And even then buddy it's still $12 for the both of you. Half off. You know, math.
I learned a lot about professional courtesy working that job.
Growing up with a dad who ran and won a political office year after year, I carved my teeth on people rather young, little vampire, but THAT job really taught me a lot about Hollywood diplomacy.
In any line of hospitality, professional courtesy is a priority. You make that list pretty quickly. You'll know who takes care of each other, and who does not. That particular courtesy is a very short list but you honor it.
Take care of me, I'll take care of you. Fuck me, I'll fuck you back.
Watch the movie THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL for reference. That scene where certain employees from each hotel forwards a distress call, to another employee to another hotel, that's a real thing. We really do that. But only if we like you.
When I started bartending, naturally I still honored the bar code. Smart bar workers know who's who, who works where, and when. On one of my nights off I went to another club, a decent size club in Hollywood, and the door guy of that club recognized me and told the main bartender (a woman) where I worked and what I did. He told her I honor the bar code. But immediately after the door guy left, she just looked at me with serious resting fuck you bitch face, and totally ignored the bar code. I'm pretty sure she jacked up the price of my drinks too. But whatever. I don't sweat paying cover charge or drinks. I don't expect that stuff for free. I'm not cheap. About two weeks later however, she came into MY place employment to see a band play and as she tried getting free drinks from me she threw out that embarrassing "Don't you know who I am?!" Attitude.
When I reminded her how she didn't honor the bar code with me even after her door guy told her who I was, she got SEVERELY hostile. "Do you know how many FUCKING people... I can't remember every FUCKING... " Ok sure, but your door guy told you who I was, and unlike you I kept my self respect and dignity, and just paid for my drinks. It's not a big deal. Her standing there yelling at me over a $12 drink is EXACTLY like the guys who don't want to pay the cover charge. And she should know better. She worked in a club.
Be that as it may, she was just one of those girls who, once she works herself up, the only way to get her to come down, is to shoot her down. I ignored her. When she didn't get free drinks she stormed off and went to my club manager to complain about me. Brilliant. As if my boss wants me giving away free drinks. She just made me the employee of forever. But the crazy girl wouldn't leave it alone and caused a scene.
Long story short my boss threw her out of the club. I was later told by security she actually stood on the sidewalk for 15 minutes screaming at the building.
Afterwards she went on a rampage bad mouthing me to everyone for a very long time. Honestly, it bothered me at first. Then it got boring.
These days...
It just goes straight to boring.
I'm very capable taking care of myself BUT I don't forget people who were good to me. I also don't forget people who create scenes and stir drama. Even if it was 10 years ago, once you're out, you're out.
I always compare situations like that with my friends. Because sometimes I think well maybe I could have handled that differently, but the answer is always the same: My friends would never put anyone in that position.
There's concerts I've walked my friends into, and they're always so humble about it, like they're getting away with robbing a bank. But that's how good people are. They're humble.
I've met people, my age, repeatedly in the past ten years while working somewhere, and they'll hit me up with, "Hey! We met once at an event back in... Do you think you could do us a favor and... "
No. Fuck off.
You know those people. Those people who only have "friends" who can do stuff for them. Those people can seriously go choke on a gallon of bleach.
Years later I ran into acquaintances from back in the West Hollywood venue days, and they said, "You remember that girl from (that one club) well turns out she was on Heroin."
And just when you think you can't disrespect someone any less, by god, you actually can.
So it was while working in my first venue I also got my first mobile phone. The only thing I used that mobile phone for was to let my friends know if I was working in case they wanted to stop by. Much like now 20 years later.
Every year I tell myself this is the year I'm getting out of the food, beverage, commercial, hotel, live venue, hospitality industry. Being a sommelier is a personal goal. It's something I can do on my time, and when I retire. Something I truly enjoy. But I continue telling myself every year, THIS YEAR I'm changing occupational industries. Aaaaaand then I send off resumes to two of the largest beverage distribution companies in Nevada. Yesterday.
Thing is, people will always drink soda, water, booze. They'll always travel. They'll always need a hotel room. In Vegas? Are you kidding me? Casinos. Restaurants. Hotels. Concert venues. Movie theaters. Everywhere! And people will always seek entertainment. There's always jobs here. Always. I have 20 plus years in this varied industry. And no one wants a newbie in a different industry at 49 years of age.
If I live to see retirement, and people still read, they'll learn how the hospitality world, in all different angles, really operate, or at least how it operated when I was around.
I'll be 50 next year. Regardless of how I look, it's a biological thing. I feel 49 years old. I'll feel 50 years old. You can't help it. The more wear and tear you put your body through while you were young, you'll feel it at my age. I seriously fall asleep every night pondering all the stories about healthy people my age suddenly having heart attacks. What were they doing??
There's a reason why club managers ask your age. Can you imagine suffering a heart attack and breaking a hip during a coyote bar dance?
Even the hospital I interviewed with requires you take a physical. They don't want employees suffering a heart attack in front of the patients. And while working at a hospital at my age is probably the best place for me to work, I turned it down. It was a four hour commute every day until I decide whether I liked it enough to move closer.
And there it is.
And while I've heard people my age say it went by fast, not for me. Not always. There were many years that felt like an eternity.
Remember when I freaked out turning 30? And then my 30's felt like it went on for 1,000 years! I'll take being 49 over being in my 30's again. Every stupid thing I could have ever done in my life, I did in my 30's.
Every single dumb thing that happens to people in their 30's is predictable at 49. I wouldn't change the wisdom I gained from it, not for a million dollars.
But for 50 million dollars...?
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