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All Hostesses are Good-Looking, Incompetent and Can’t Do Anything Else in Life. Really?
By: Patrick Maguire
Book Chapter: Customer Hall of Shame
Posted: 02/18/2011
So wrong, on so many levels.
I started paying attention to the Phantom Gourmet after they asked me to appear on their TV show representing restaurant servers during a ‘food fight’ segment pitting servers against chefs. The morning after I agreed to appear, I sent an email to the senior producer (who booked me) asking if Phantom Gourmet had made a decision about their affiliation with The Upper Crust Pizzeria, a major sponsor embroiled in a controversy involving their exploitation of undocumented workers. Pending allegations against the owner of Upper Crust include a threat to kill a former veteran manager.
If Phantom Gourmet had plans to sever their relationship with Upper Crust, I was going to honor with my commitment. There was no response to my email so I left a voicemail and a second email the next day. No response. In all fairness, it was Christmas week, but I did not receive an auto-response email stating that the producer was on vacation, and his outgoing voicemail message didn’t state that he was out of the office.
The next day I watched the Phantom Gourmet TV program and confirmed that they were still running Upper Crust ads. A day later they unabashedly promoted Upper Crust on facebook. That endorsement solidified their position, and was enough for me to withdraw from the TV show via email. I never received a response from the producer.
For those of you unfamiliar with Phantom Gourmet, they are a Boston-based company that features weekly radio and TV shows devoted to food, restaurants and dining out. The company is owned by the Andelman brothers, Dan, Dave and Mike. Their mystique (shtick is more accurate) is centered around an anonymous restaurant critic (the Phantom) whose reviews appear on their program.
Their shows are largely infomercials for their sponsors laced with more inane banter than I can stomach. Though it is widely known that their singular ‘phantom’ critic is a myth (several people gather research), they have a widespread following of fawning ‘Phans’ (cringe) chugging their purple Kool-Aid. Ironically, they often mock and insult their own audience as well as the people who attend and work at their events.
Their motto: Food and Fun is all we serve.
Yeah, with a side of extra cheese…
I tuned in to a few of the Phantom Gourmet programs, only to see if they responded to the widespread media coverage surrounding the Upper Crust imbroglio. As far as I know, they have not publicly responded to any of the stories questioning their support of Upper Crust, including those published in the Boston Phoenix, Adam’s Hospitality & Tourism Blog, Universal HUB, Grub Street Boston, Yelp, Dave Copeland’s blog and this blog.
One exception was a facebook post by Dave Andelman quoted on Dave Copeland’s blog:
Dave Andelman: Some blogs and real media companies tried taking some unfair, untrue, and obviously coordinated shots at Phantom Gourmet last week. We immediately added 500 Facebook Phans and dominated the TV ratings. They never learn….
Dominated the TV ratings? Opposite what competition?
Copeland’s blog also quotes several comments from rabid Phantom ‘Phans’ followed by another flame-fanning (or is it ‘phanning’?), lame, cheerleading comment from Dave:
Dave Andelman: Purple power, people. Thanks ya’ll.
Purple power? Really? Lemming power is more like it.
Fast-forward to the Phantom Gourmet radio program on Saturday, 2/12. The infamous Phantom Gourmet radio program is one of the most painful media programs I have ever endured. The inane, vapid banter between the 3 brothers is punctuated by Dan Andelman’s incessant, maniacle, hyena-like laughter that is torture to tolerate.
Saturday’s program started with a story about Mike and Eddie Andelman going to dinner before the Celtics-Lakers game. Eddie, the sportscaster patriarch of the family, was filling in for Dave who was on vacation. Michael mentioned that they chose Grill 23 for dinner and arrived at 5:05.
When you ask Bostonians about the best steak houses in town, Grill 23 is often their number one choice. The food and service are consistently excellent.
The Grill 23 website states the following:
Hours:
Monday-Thursday 5:30pm to 10:30pm
Bar opens daily at 4:30pm
For the record: There are 2 bars for customers to wait in before dinner service starts at 5:30. The first floor bar area has nineteen stools and the second floor bar has ten stools.
Mike and Eddie wanted to be seated in the dining room as soon as they arrived in order to get to the Celtics game on time at 8 o’clock. The hostess informed them that the bar was open, but the dining room didn’t open until 5:30. Apparently, there were no barstools open so Mike and Eddie suggested that they get a drink from the bar and sit at a table in the dining room and wait until 5:30 for dinner service. The hostess informed them that she couldn’t seat them until 5:30. That wasn’t good enough.
Here are some quotes from the radio program:
Mike Andelman: We walk in and the hostess who’s the typical hot woman, rude, cold- as-ice, never would talk to me in high school-type girl…So she goes, “Two?”, and I said yes, and she looks at us and says, “I’m sorry, we’re not open until 5:30, so there’s nothing I can do.”
Dan Andelman: And what time was this at?
Mike: 5:05.
Eddie Andelman: It was about 5:10.
Mike: She said the bar over there, you can stand at the bar and have a drink.
Eddie: There’s no seats.
Dan: At the bar?
Eddie: At the bar. It’s crowded.
Mike: There’s like 20 people standing at the bar. There’s no room at the bar.
Dan: Great bar there, potato chips and everything.
Mike: Great bar, but Eddie and I aren’t exactly going to saddle up to the bar and get hammered. We’re there for dinner. So she looks at us and says, “I can’t do anything for you,” and I said, Well can you just, and she turned her back on us and basically wouldn’t talk to us any more.
Dan: How did she look from the back?
Mike: And so Eddie and I said this is the most ridiculous, rude treatment we’ve ever gotten in a restaurant.
Eddie: Well I said to her, Is it all right if we sit down? There’s not one person. The tables are all set. Can we sit down there and have some drinks ‘till 5:30? And she said, “NO!”
Mike: Yeah, she says no, and so we basically, you know, under our breath say F-you, and we leave, and we walk across the street.
Dan: I don’t get it…, the restaurant was open, she just wouldn’t seat you?
Mike: No…, the dining room did not open until 5:30.
Eddie: They don’t serve until 5:30. We were willing to sit at a table and have some drinks until 5:30, even if we had to get some drinks from the bar and walk over to a table.
Dan: Yeah, but they weren’t open yet.
Michael: The restaurant was open. The bar was open. Every server was there. You think it was going to make a big deal if Eddie and I sat down…?
Dan: Michael, I’m being completely serious…They are not open until 5:30. What the hell…Why do you think you’re so special that you had to be seated?
Eddie: If there were seats at the bar we might have done it, but there’s tables 8 feet away from the bar that we could sit at.[The dining room tables are behind a half wall separating the bar from the dining room.]
Dan: Maybe the servers are all in their pre-meal meeting; maybe they’re eating; maybe they’re doing side work; maybe they’re cleaning, maybe they’re getting dressed…
Mike: Danny, the fact that you consistently take the side of the restaurateur or just a really stupid maître d’ or a hostess over your family time and time again, you just continually…(cut off).
Mike: The era is over of being able to treat customers like crap. It’s just over. I don’t understand.
Eddie: There’s 25 steakhouses in Boston.
Mike: And it’s not like this was 8pm on a Saturday night. It’s 5 o’clock, and guess what, if the owner of Grill 23 was standing next to this dumb hostess, this moronic hostess who was just getting her, uh, jollies off by sticking to the rules of her little brochure in a little binder, this little monkey, her only job is to look at this binder and say don’t let people in ‘till 5:30….
Dan: Although in her defense she was good-looking apparently. I’d like to see a picture. Was she wearing yoga pants? These are things I want to know. I have a thing for hostesses (laughing).
Mike: There’s not a hostess who’s not good-looking, because they’re incompetent and can’t do anything else in life. If you can’t model, when you’re good-looking enough and not tall enough to model, you stand behind a little box and say, How many?
Wow.
(A few irrelevant comments have been omitted between quotes, including Eddie’s comment about not wearing underwear. Ouch.)
Saturday, 2/19 update: Please disregard everything from here down to “A few questions.” The audio has been removed from the 96.9 website. The fact that it was ever available after the show is mind-boggling. I have retained a recorded copy if anyone would like to hear it.
For context, the entire conversation from the broadcast (that I recorded for translation) can be heard here:
http://www.969bostontalks.com/podcast/Episodes.aspx?PID=1486
(The relevant content is the first 8 and a half minutes.)
Be patient, the site loads slowly.
Click on play to the right of: 2/12/11 Eddie and Mike go to a Celtics game.
I encourage everyone who will be commenting on this post to listen to the segment before commenting.
A few questions:
Mike Andelman:
#1- How does a guy who makes his living around dining out and researching and discussing restaurants not understand why Grill 23 wouldn’t allow you to sit at a table before dinner service started?
Dan hit the nail on the head with his explanation. The dining room doesn’t open until 5:30. What if they let everyone who arrived early wander into the dining room and sit down? Once you make an exception or try to be flexible, people always want more. Before you know it, diners would start with, “Can we just look at a menu while we wait?”, “Is there any chance we could just get some bread?”, “Can we just get some water?” In other words, they’ll ask you to serve them before service starts.
And what happens when someone breaks a glass or spills their drink all over the table? More service is required when the service staff is busy learning the daily specials or working on a multitude of other tasks required to prepare the dining room for service.
Grill 23 has been in business since 1983. I’m sure they have experimented with their hours and policies over the years. On my list of 64 Suggestions for Restaurant Customers, number 23 reads, Respect the fact that restaurants have policies for specific reasons, despite the fact that they might not make sense to you.
Instead of thinking about that, you proceeded to leave the restaurant and then insult the hostess (and all hostesses), and trash the restaurant on your public radio program including the statement, “I will never spend another cent at Grill 23.” Your loss.
#2- How can the co-owner of Phantom Gourmet and VP of business development (you), rationalize the adjectives you used to describe the hostess at Grill 23? You referred to her as stupid, dumb, moronic and a monkey because you didn’t get your way.
#3- Did you ask to speak to a manager to explain their policy or to voice your concern about the rude service? No, but you didn’t hesitate to blast the restaurant on your radio show.
#4- How can you justify the sweeping generalization that you made about all hostesses when your business is all about promoting restaurants?
Referring to hostesses: “…they’re incompetent and can’t do anything else in life.” Really?
I’ll bet there are a few current and former hostesses who would take exception to that statement.
In a very entertaining and informative piece, one of Boston’s most knowledgeable food and drink writers, MC Slim JB, dubbed you (Mike) the “dumbest of the Dumb Brothers”. After listening to the first 10 minutes of Saturday’s program, you did nothing to prove MC wrong or to dispel that notion.
Current and Former Hostesses:
Please respond to Michael Andelman’s comments, and please forward this post to every current and former hostess you know.
Please feel free to clarify your policies and weigh in on all of the issues presented.
Restaurateurs and Restaurant Employees:
If you own or work at a fine-dining restaurant similar to Grill 23, please comment on the issue and policies of opening times of the bar and dining room.
Dave Andelman:
What ‘shots’ were taken at Phantom Gourmet by blogs or ‘real media’ companies that were unfair or untrue?
Brothers Andelman:
Don’t feel obligated to respond. After all, this isn’t ‘real media’, it’s just a blog…
Readers:
Please join the conversation. Despite the temptation, please keep the comments respectful and civil. As always, all comments will be moderated before they are posted.
Please click on the blue box below to share with your facebook network. Thank you.
55 Responses to “All Hostesses are Good-Looking, Incompetent and Can’t Do Anything Else in Life. Really?”
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Permalink | Posted in Customer Hall of Shame | 55 Comments »
I’ll bet this will ensure fantastic service for them for the rest of their lives (HA).
It’s amazing to me that these folks are supposed to understand the restaurant business. The dining room does not open until 5:30, that means YOU CAN’T GO IN until 5:30.
They sound like junior high brats that can’t get their way, so they abuse the person enforcing the rule. Unbelievable.
“Michael, I’m being completely serious…They are not open until 5:30. What the hell…Why do you think you’re so special that you had to be seated?”
Well, at least one of these phools had the brains to try and talk a little sense into the other. This is almost as dismaying as the Alan Richman comments about New Orleans after the Katrina disaster. Ah, the sense of importance. I hope I never have the opportunity to serve these “gentleman” at my establishment.
While most of the hosts/ hostesses at the restaurants I have worked in were attractive, it was not a job requirement. They were also usually the ones to take the most verbal abuse from guests. The role at the host stand was often used to groom employees for management positions, probably for this reason. The fact that none in the party requested to speak to a manager flags them as rubes. Phantom Gourmet is not to be trusted if they do not understand how to be diners or how to lead by example.
I work in a fine dining restaurant in the same vein as Grill 23, and I can state that this sort of situation happens constantly. Where I work closes between lunch and dinner service in order to allow the staff to completely setup the dining room and to allow the kitchen to prepare for dinner service. The door explicitly states that we do not open until 5:30, which includes both the bar and dining room.
Almost without fail we begin each night with customers entering the building around 5 looking for dinner or drinks. After we politely explain that we don’t begin service until 5:30, many (but not all) guests will either look at us with disdain or hostility at being denied what they want, even though one could throw a stone in the area where the restaurant is and hit at least 20 places that will happily serve them during the hours that we are closed. One particularly angry guy, after being told by me that we were not open until 5:30, yelled into my face that I was incompetent and stormed out the door. Good riddance.
The frequency of this situation truly illustrates the sense of entitlement that people feel in restaurants. The Andelman’s sense of “give me what I want now” happens all too frequently. Show me any other retail (which is what restaurants are) store that will let you do whatever you want when you want to. Just try and go to Macy’s and tell the staff there that while you understand they don’t officially open until 10, you don’t have anything to do for the next 30 min and would just like to browse around while they setup. The staff would laugh as they locked the door. How are restaurants any different?
This is another thing when the tv critics become bigger than the people they serve. They are just STUBID!
When will people understand that “no” does not always equal rude?
When I worked in upscale dining, we would do our pre-shift in the dining room, then spend the time out there polishing glassware and silverware at each table, until it opened. If this is too much for Mike and Eddie to understand, then perhaps they should get into business doing something else, and leave the restaurant reviews to Dan, who seems to know what he’s talking about.
And FWIW, 90% of our hostesses are either college educated or in college. One of them has even been accepted to Ivy League schools, she just needs to pick one. Sound like a brainless monkey to you?
The Phantom Gourmet is such a nauseating show anyway, this just makes it worse.
What was the comment about “some one who wouldn’t have given me the time of day in high school?”…That pretty much sums it up. An insecure ass who thinks he’s now in a position of power and importance, still clinging to the residual humiliation and embarrassment of being turned down for the prom in high school.
Phantom Gourmet is just one more reason I firmly believe you should not be allowed to critique any restaurant unless you’re worked in one, or many, for at least 5 years. I’ve never thought Phantom was relevant, now I know its not relevant.
That being said, I have noticed a trend in restaurants…women must be “attractive” to get hired. Especially hostesses and bartenders. You’ve seen the Craig’s List ads asking for a picture with the resume….
I’ve never had a difficult time finding a job when I was thinner, but now that I’ve put on a few pounds (ok 30, but that’s beside the point) NO ONE will hire me. And yes, I have been told to my face “you just don’t have the right look.” Frankly, I find it offensive and sexist. I’ve had bosses who’ve literally asked to draw stars at the top of resumes regarding looks…”one star for average, 4 stars for eye candy!” Guess which ones got the first call backs? But, this is a whole other issue…
I know you suggested listening to the radio segment before commenting, but I couldn’t even finish the diatribe that you posted regarding their on-air conversation. It was so insanely pompous and ridiculous! After the story about Upper Crust broke, I “disliked” them on Facebook. The reality is that I used to find their show entertaining…primarily because it was the only thing on at the 11 o’clock hour.
I will no longer watch the show and I now, I have even less respect for them.
Simply put, they expected to get the “star” treatment because of who they are (or who they THINK they are) and because they didn’t, they used their media outlets to trash the restaurant and the hostess. I’ve been a hostess, so I know what its like to stand behind that counter/desk/podium. Most of the time you have lovely customers, but there are occasions where you run into an a-hole. If I were still hosting and they came into the restaurant I worked in and asked to be seated before dinner started, I would have told them the same thing.
Ok, so they got over not being able to get seated early, but then went back on a rampage about why they couldn’t sit in the empty dining room chairs, before dinner. Um…because then the hostess would not just have to make the exception for YOU, but everyone else who came in and saw YOU sitting at a dining room table after you. And maybe even some people who were already waiting (like they should) at the bar to be seated.
These “men” are just ignorant. Plain and simple.
I used to love watching The Phantom Gourmet when Billy Costa was hosting it; Now I watch him on NECN’s TV Diner and don’t bother with the Andelman brothers. I mean, do I really want to bother watching reviews of Sonic and TGI Friday’s? “It’s all about food and fun.” Really? Fun at who’s expense? Most of us who work in the “service industry,” including restaurant hosts and hostesses, are not there because we’re stupid; or because we have no other choice. We actually find pleasure in our jobs, whether it’s the good, honest work or the opportunity to meet and interact with a multitude of people. Those guys owe that hostess, and Grill 23, a great big apology. If they’d spoken to a manager, the manager would have backed the hostess up. If there was any wiggle room, she would have probably allowed them to sit in the dining area, but obviously her manager gave her the authority to stand by their policy and not allow two, most likely obnoxious and aggressive individuals, to bully her into breaking policy.
Wow, I deal with “guests” like this every shift at work. The are rude, condescending and clearly have no idea how a restaurant works. Since they think that it’s monkey work they can come work a shift beside me for a night and see how they feel after that. The host stand is the busiest position. Not only am I resposible for greeting and seating guests, I must also answer every phone call, assist the servers, bartenders, managers, and guests as needed. I have to take the reservations, and I have to deal with guest complaints, bad attitudes and people who think they know how to do my job better than I do, after all I’ve only been doing it for 17 years so what the hell do i know about being competent at my job? Often I am doing 3-4 things at the same time, luckily for me I have 3 children and know how to multi-task. I would love to show up to their job one day and critique the way they are doing things. Like most people apparently at their age these clowns have no clue how to behave themselves and apparently believe that restaurant policies do not apply to them. Thankfully for the server and the rest of the staff who would have had the unfortunate experience of having to wait on these idiots lucked out when they went elsewhere.
I just had this happen to me about a month ago. It’s the slow season and I was the only server/host who would be working. We opened at 5pm and at 4:30 I heard a “helloooo…” from the door to the kitchen, a good 40 ft walk down a hallway from the front door and LOCKED door to the dining room that had the lights off. This lady asked when we opened and I said 5pm and she responded “oh, well we just wanted to get something to eat” In my head I said “no shit, it’s a restaurant, I didn’t think you were here for an oil change” but what came out was “well we don’t open until 5 but if you want to wait in the dining room until then thats fine” She left and her party was back in the foyer at exactly 5pm. They left me about 10% on impeccable service, but whatever. The sign says 5, it means 5!
The comments from these guys were out of line, though it does highlight a strange aspect of customer behavior.
Mike and Eddie interacted with one person. They were clearly outrageous, but let’s imagine the hostess was a little brusque or even rude. On the basis of that one interaction, they decided that Grill 23 is a terrible place. I doubt many of us have acted like these guys, but I’m sure we’ve all made a snap decision about a business based upon one brief exchange with one employee.
The lesson to me is every service employee is always on stage and you never know who is watching.
The next time I’m in Boston I’ll be sure to drop by Grill 23 for another delicious dinner with terrific service.
I have worked as a host in one of Ogunquit’s busiest restaurants, Jackies Too, in Perkins Cove , as well as filling in at a friend’s restaurant in Perkins Cove, The Hurricane. Seversl years ago, while at the door at Hurricane, a customer came to my ”perch” and told me he had a 6:15 PM rerservation. I told him his name was not on the sheet, there is no table for you….but in a few minutes I could probably ”find ” one…and ”yes , maybe it will be near the windows…” This explantion was not good enough for him…are you surprised? So he continues his rant…customers eyeing the raised voice…finally, his lucky wife comes thru the door…asking him…”What are you doing here…we’re late for our table at ”such and such, c’mon, let’s go!” Do you think he stopped to apologize, NOPE!
Martin Crosby
Ogunquit
Another great post, Patrick, and I applaud your ethics-over-exposure decision not to appear on Phantom Gourmet. I think it’s unfortunate, though, that the dialogue you provided from the show is so entertaining it apparently overshadows something more important — the key point seems not a rookie’s reaction to standard seating proceedure, but the fact that the show’s links to it’s sponsors dictates it’s moral perspective. Between sponsors and Fox News-like agendas, mass media outlets are increasingly just propaganda tools. Well, all the more reason for sites such as yours. Keep blogging.
The show’s been an unwatchable mess since Billy Costa left. The radio clip was squirm-inducing. I’m sure they’ll have lots of fun handing out a HIDDEN GEM award to the Applebee’s in North Quincy.
I challenge the Andelman’s to actually shadow/work a busy Saturday night at Grill 23, starting with the host position. They pose themselves as experts in the restaurant field, but have likely never actually worked in a high end restaurant (or at least not in a FOH position). If they think that hosting only involves looking good and asking “how many?” then they are clearly clueless. Honestly, I think it would make for good tv. Certainly much better than the garbage they put out.
Hosts have to multi-task as much as anyone else on the floor. Greeting guests, fielding phone calls, taking coats, seating guests, managing the seating chart, managing the wait list, making sure all servers are getting an equal amount of covers. Occasionally they take cocktail orders and deliver them. All the while looking cool and calm. I worked at a restaurant where the owner would purposely call at 8:00 on a Saturday night posing as a guest asking for directions, parking information, fax number, etc. just be sure the hosts were on their game during the busiest time of the night. Personally I thought this was kind of a dick maneuver but it’s the reality of the kind of crap that is involved with being a host. Hosts often take the brunt of the guest complaints and tirades. They have to enforce the rules yet have little to no decision-making power which is often an uncomfortable position to be in.
Holly hit the nail on the head about Mike’s “someone who wouldn’t give me the time of day in high school” comment. Brilliant.
I am a hostess in a nightclub. Granted this is a bit of a different gig but our hostesses are quite the opposite. We are primarily managers at the establishment. The hostess job allows us to make sure that the guests are receiving the experience that they were hoping for, upsell everything, ensures prompt service since we are there to back the servers up and allows smaller issues to be resolved before frustration takes over for the customer or staff. It is also our job to make sure that the establishment’s rules/guidelines are being followed. Granted we’ll kiss your ass as we are telling you to fuck off but an inch quickly becomes a mile in the monkey see monkey do world that the service industry is. These critics know this.
This is appaling. I’ve waited on those assholes before, they’re a pain in the ass. I agree that people would start with the “well can we have menus/water/bread/etc” there’s a reason restaurants have the rules they have, it would be anarchy if everyone was given special treatment.
I can’t even comment on the fact that they spoke about the hostess like that on their public radio show. They should be ashamed of themselves. I’ll be spreading the word about this, that’s for sure.
Seriously? I stumbled upon The Phantom Gourmet on TV the other day and I couldn’t pull my eyes away from such a train wreck of a show. When Billy Costa was the host, the show had some sort of class. Ever since he left, it’s gone completely downhill. It is more like a looooong long ad for shitty restaurants and bad food. In addition, they’ve put on air, a “host” who has a perfect face for radio. Really. He’s not easy on the eyes.
I worked at Grill 23 a billion years ago and I’m glad they didn’t seat these idiots before service. Obviously the Phantom brothers didn’t bother to notice the servers polishing their stations and perfecting the tables for the first seating and believed that they should’ve been exempt from the rules.
Dan’s constant comments about wether or not the hostess was hot and that he had a “thing” for hostesses just made him sound like more of the sleaze that he is.
These two are bound to get caught in some sort of scandal that hopefully will shut them up (for a good long time) and get them off the air and stop making Boston look look like a town that breeds male chauvinist TV show hosts.
I’m sorry I missed the segment. I called to ask if they’d run it a bit earlier so I could catch it, and can you believe they said no?!?
I too, worked in a steakhouse of the same caliber as Grill 23 and was constantly faced with idiots like this. No amount of firm, but polite explaining can sway them from the idea that simply “sitting” at a table before the dining room is open is, in fact, a big deal. Not only does it imply that the rules don’t apply to them it’s also is a slap in the face of the other diners, who are politely waiting for the dining room to open.
It also is a sign that these diners will ask for special treatment, harass the other dinning room staff for special favors (such as a hapless busser or a barback who walks into their line of vision), and you can almost gurantee that they will bitch about the hostess to the waitstaff when they sit or to the bartender should they turn around and simply step over to the bar for 15 minutes.
Not only that, you have instantly turned the entire staff of the restaurant against you. For your entire dinner you will be refered to as “the assholes who sat early”
And don’t get me started on the disgusting diatribe about the pretty hostess, who cares if she wouldn’t give you the time of day in high school? I’m pretty sure you graduated already and if you are still harboring resentment over high school bullshit, then the issue is yours to deal with and not to be foisted on every good looking girl who has the audacity to tell you “No”.
i would like to ask one of these imbeciles what restaurant have they ever worked in? if they had any restaurant experience at all- they would know that the 2 most important jobs during service are the front door and the dishwasher. there is a reason why these rules are set in place and if you break them for one party you have to break them for all. hey why don’t you guys call obama on the phone and ask if you can send your taxes on april 15th instead of the 14th… i mean why not, you should be able to do whatever the hell you want right?
Shock Jock junkies starving for attention.
These guys have no class. They consist of over-inflated egos and have about as much credentials to be a respectable food critic in a major U.S. city as The Cookie Monster. Their show is tasteless and void of any real understanding or constructive criticism for the Hospitality Industry.
Just stop listening to them!
Most of the obvious points have already been made here. I will just say this… I am a former hostess. I have an AA, a BA, and and MLA. I am not stupid, and I am only moderately attractive. I’m sure many of those girls – hot or not – are highly educated.
Such a great post for those of us in the business. What most people don’t realize is the host/hostess is the first line of “defense” in a restaurant. If that incoming customer (or group) is having a bad day, got into a fight with their significant other, lost money, etc, who is the first person they see? The host. Nothing like letting all your frustrations and anger out at the first person they see. Happens all the time.
Now as far as Grill 23 and other restaurants like it, remember, all of the tables are usually accounted for due to reservations (especially on a Thursday night, which was the night of Celtics/Lakers). By sitting them at a table that they didn’t have a reservation for is unfair to the people either already at the bar or not, who have a reservation. Again, just like many have already said here, give an inch and people will take a MILE.
Concerning their remarks on their radio program – they should be ashamed of themselves. Hearing that type of dialogue (on air!) makes my blood boil, not just because I have been in the restaurant business for over 20 years and started as a host, but because of the absolute deluge of idiotic commentary from people who claim to be restaurant “experts”. I have watched their TV show multiple times in the hope of finding some hidden restaurant gems but listening to them talk is like nails on a chalkboard. At least I can put good reason to not watching their show ever again, disliking them on facebook and (most importantly) telling everyone how the Andelman brothers are “incompetant and can’t do anything else in life” except be huge douchebags.
Holy crap I don’t know where to begin with this one.
1) Another good post, Patrick.
2) Yep, the 50,000 previous posters have already said everything I was going to say. Guess that’s what I get for working a double today:)
3) Gee, I can’t imagine why this guy would have had trouble procuring a date in high school.
4) Why do these people have the word ‘gourmet’ in the title of anything they put out? Clearly they are lacking an essential bit of class needed to throw that word around.
5) My kid is starting to cry so I have to feed him but I am soooo not done with this.
Dignity and Respect
Me, The JerBear
My mother and I have been fans of the Phantom Gourmet show for quite some time. That being said, we were NEVER fans of the Andelman Brothers. We just liked to watch the program to see the restaurants in the Boston area that we never get a chance to visit (we live about an hour away). In 2007, we decided to start our OWN restaurant blog that covered Southeastern Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and some parts of Connecticut. I wrote to the Andelman Brothers in hopes that they would check out our site and maybe give us a few tips (hey, we were new, and they had been doing this stuff for a while). I received one response from Dave that said: “Take us off your mailing list.” What the heck? Actually, he wasn’t on a mailing list. It was a private e-mail from me to him expressing my enjoyment of the show and hoping that he would take a peek at our new site. Well … eff that. My feelings about them were obviously correct; they’re nothing but a bunch of over-privileged aholes. After reading this article, I’m even MORE disgusted that – four years after the e-mail to me – the brothers are still acting like children. Mike got mad because he couldn’t sit down? Give me a break! Who does he think he is? The restaurant opens at 5:30. You are NOT special, Michael. You acted like a baby with a wet diaper, whining about not being changed fast enough. Grow up. I have since removed your show from my Twitter, Facebook, and blog. This action obviously won’t mean a thing to you since you are above it all and don’t want to hear from a little ol’ blogger like me. You guys are PIGS and should be ashamed of yourselves.
As I read your post detailing the antics of the two buffoons my chin dropped further and further to the table. Then I finally just ::headdesked::
What a JOKE. I don’t know these guys, have never seen their show and hope to never come across them unless I am in the mood for some mock and ridicule. What jerks. Misogynist at it’s least and pompous at it’s best. WOW.
They need to get over themselves. I have served with hostesses of all factions [male, female, good looking, not so good looking, educated, working on a degree, not educated] – and I will agree – it is a dang hard job – and being “pretty” isn’t a requirement and being told “no” is NOT being rude. It is their job.
5:30 means 5:30. GET OVER yourselves. You aren’t the special snowflakes you think you are.
And if 20 people could “saddle” up to the bar to wait – then so could you if it was important enough that you eat there that night.
They are the type of people that give customers a bad name. I hope no one follows their advice because they are [excuse me for yelling] CLEARLY IN THE WRONG.
What really gets me is that these guys are self-supposed ‘experts’ on restaurants and dining in them. As someone who knows a thing or two about what is funny and what is not, I can’t really see the humor in it.
It’s just sorry, lame-ass losers acting like whiny crybaby disgustomers at their worst.
i do believe I’ll be making some phone calls tomorrow.
I think we’ve all established that the bros’ behavior was totally ridiculous and out of line.
Indignation aside, I try to think how we behave in my establishment (I am a restaurant manager in a spot known for its hospitality)…
1) You want the guest to know you’re their allies, not gatekeepers… you would like to help them even if you can’t.
2) When can you bend the rules? It probably wouldn’t have worked in this situation, given that the dining room floor is exposed at Grill 23, and letting two guests sit would inspire an epidemic of bar guests wanting to sit in the dining room, but any attempt at coming up with a creative solution looks good to the guest.
Again, the bros’ actions were telling and inexcusable, but I’ve definitely seen similar puffed up behavior from nice people who feel unwelcome (whether it’s their perception, or reality.) Everyone wants to feel important and welcomed.
I thought Phantom Gourmet was over years ago with their disastrous (but crowded, with the B&T crowd) mob-scene food fests, then for sure thought it must FINALLY be over after the indefensible defense of the Upper Crust’s mob-style operation.
Can Phantom Gourmet be over now? Please?
How interesting that the Andelmans will whore themselves out for the lowest-common-denominator, most-food-for-the-least-money crapholes that sponsor their shows, and sell gift cards to said crapholes till they’re blue in the face, but when they’re out on the town harassing hardworking restaurant employees, it’s at a top-of-the-line steakhouse. Do as I say, not as I do, Andelmans?
I’ve been a hostess in my life on a number of occasions. Currently, I’m getting my PhD. That is all.
Thanks once again, Patrick, for an excellent expose, and for citing my blog’s old takedown of the Andelman’s lucrative charade.
Regarding the Andelman’s continuing support for The Upper Crust: that at least is understandable. They’re prostitutes — I think we all understand that — and publicly reneging on a tryst that is already bought and paid for would be bad for their future whoring business. Expecting them to suddenly catch a case of scruples when their whole business model is predicated on strapping on kneepads for their sponsors is not realistic.
As for their consistency in pushing lowest-common-denominator crap while dining like epicures on their own dime, I gave the Andelmans an award for their special brand of hypocrisy in my recent “Devil’s Dining Awards”:
The Horror Behind the Mask Award: to the Brothers Andelman of The Phantom Gourmet, a local restaurant-review TV show. No, it’s not for polishing the knobs of their advertisers: even their dimmest viewers recognize that the Andelmans are shameless whores. Rather, it’s the phony gusto with which the boys smack their lips on-camera over the fatty/starchy fare in which the program wallows: cupcakes, ribs, chicken parm, anything deep-fried and drenched with syrup, gravy or melted cheese. The truth is that Dave is a fitness fanatic, Mike a vegetarian, and Dan (judging from the places I routinely ran into him when he lived in town) more fond of tony fine-dining establishments than dripping steak bombs and glazed donuts. It’s like discovering the Red Sox color guy is secretly a Yankees fan: the Phantom loves arugula!
Wow, I guess I get to be the first one to disagree.
The bar is full. The customer wants to sit down. *Find a place for the customer to sit down*. If that means that you have to seat them in the dining room, you do it.
Policy is not a straitjacket — policy is designed to provide the best possible customer experience. When policy conflicts with that goal, then policy has to go. The first goal of a hostess, or any restaurant worker, is *make the customer happy*.
If that means you have to bend over backwards for them, you do it.
I’ve had to open at 3, for a restaurant that doesn’t open ’til 5. Pain in the ass? Sure. Did I loathe them? Damn right. So what? That’s the job. If you’ve got enough customers that you can afford to turn people away, count your blessings.
The Andelmans are asses, no doubt about it Doesn’t matter. The first thing you do is try to make them happy. If that means inconveniencing the staff, that’s just too damn bad.
If it becomes a problem, then you should probably expand the bar, wouldn’t you say? If enough people want to eat that early, you should probably start serving earlier.
It’s simple: The customer is always right, even if he’s a moronic blowhard and you know he doesn’t have a clue. Smile and take it. That’s the job.
Sorry, Rich, but as a former maitre’d, I could not disagree more with your assertion that the customer is always right. Yes, you want to do everything you can within reason to make them happy. The key phrase there is “within reason”. There’s a line, a tipping point, where the needs of one customer impinges on the smooth operation of the business, and can make other customers feel put out as well. Yes, you risk losing that particular customer, but for most businesses, that will be a net gain. This would be true even if you didn’t risk making your employees feel undervalued by always taking the side of every customer with an undeserved sense of entitlement. Bend over backwards, by all means, but don’t break your own neck doing it.
Rich, I often get people in on their lunch breaks who want to have a casual business meeting while they eat. They order waters, split the special and stay for an hour or more. The other day a man and woman came in, he ordered a sandwich, but when I asked to take her order, she patted a lunchbox and said, “I have to eat this”. I didn’t say anything to her but told my manager, who immediately went to the table and told them the score. No, you may not bring your own food to a restaurant and eat it. They were WRONG and they knew it and if they had been allowed to proceed, where would it stop?
Smile and take it? You’re missing the point of this entire website!
By way of apology, he left me a $10 tip for an $8.95 sandwich.
I grew up in the restaurant industry , even managed a few places myself. I will never understand the rudeness of customers-and their expectations that since they are paying for the meal and service, it gives them the right to be downright thoughtless.
As a child I was taught to be mindful of my manners and kind to other people. I didn’t know that adulthood meant you could forget the morals and rules you were raised with and forego all niceties. Apparently, some people were just raised differently.
It doesn’t matter if you are planning to dine at the nicest of establishments or a burger joint, be courteous. It also makes no difference to most people who you are, you should still act with at least an air of decorum.
I am pleased that the hostess from Grill 23 stood her ground, she did not deserve the harsh criticism of the Andelman’s-the self-described local celebrities. If a restaurant was constanntly letting people in early, what is the point of SET HOURS? Also, if the men knew they were going to head into town early, maybe they should have phoned ahead to check the hours.
This disgusts me for something like 100 reasons.
I worked in restaurants for 8 years, including some very high-end ones. While the customer should be treated very well, made to feel comfortable and taken care of, the customer is not always right. They’re not despotic rulers, they are individuals who are paying for a meal or a service that we are providing. There seems to be this idea that dining out is a god-given right and that a person’s every whim is to be met with a smile and an obsequious bow. When you are in a restaurant, you are, to a degree, playing by someone else’s rules. You are eating the chef’s food and sitting in the maitre d’s dining room. Feel free to make requests; most restaurants will happily honor them. Vegetarian? No problem. Table too wobbly? Will fix. But demanding that a restaurant open a half-hour early, when the kitchen is probably still prepping, when most of the staff is eating family meal, when the dining rooms are being cleaned and set to your exacting standards, when the servers are learning the night’s specials and the host is making sure all reservations will have a place to sit? No. The customer is not right in this situation, and the host was doing her job by offering the customer an alternative.
Furthermore, the comments made about the hostess are insanely inappropriate. To call anyone a “little monkey” is beyond rude. To not just imply but to say outright that she is stupid and incapable is worse, but to comment on her body like she’s a piece of meat? Disgusting. Every host I worked with was in college and working until midnight to pay for it. Glad the Andelmans have such a high opinion of women.
@MC Slim JB: *Of course* the customer isn’t always right. You and I, and most commenters here obviously recognize that all too often the customer is either an idiot or doesn’t know what s/he wants, or what it means to the restaurant. We’ve *all* been there.
“Bend over backwards, by all means, but don’t break your own neck doing it.” Also, absolutely true.
My point, in this particular case: If the Andelmans are to be believed (debatable, anyway, but let’s take it as a case study), the bar seating was full. They wanted to sit down. Seating them at the closest table to the bar, even in the dining room, is not going to kill anyone. Pain in the butt? Of course. If Eddie Andelman was there (and I haven’t seen him in a while), he’s large enough to qualify as virtually handicapped. Had I been MoD, I would have immediately sat them in the DR, despite the policy.
Annoying? Yep. Neck-breaking? Not in this case. The bar staff could have almost certainly handled it for half an hour, and, if not, and business is *that* good, then sending up a server to help out shouldn’t be a problem. At a number of places, I routinely had to get the specials on the fly in the middle of service.
@nana: “Rich, I often get people in on their lunch breaks who want to have a casual business meeting while they eat. They order waters, split the special and stay for an hour or more.”
And yes, that’s a PITA. I’ve seen cheap lunch tables still at it at 4:30 and beyond. And its your table, so you’ve got to stay. But it’s part of the business.
“The other day a man and woman came in, he ordered a sandwich, but when I asked to take her order, she patted a lunchbox and said, ‘I have to eat this’. I didn’t say anything to her but told my manager, who immediately went to the table and told them the score. No, you may not bring your own food to a restaurant and eat it. They were WRONG and they knew it and if they had been allowed to proceed, where would it stop?”
In that case, you did exactly right! Of course, no restaurant can allow someone to subvert the entire reason for its existence! You went to the MoD, and s/he came in and set the situation straight. That’s his/her job — to decide when policy needs to be enforced. And obviously, in this case, of course it needed to be enforced.
Please don’t get me wrong — I’m not advocating, “Do anything the customer wants!” But, in this case, seating a group in the DR, because they couldn’t sit in the bar, is simply good customer service.
According to the Andelman story, the hostess did not get a manager. At the very least, she failed on the “cover your ass” front.
And I do want to make it clear — the comments these numbskulls made on their show with regard to the hostess were, as we all recognize, Neanderthal at best.
And the Phantom Gourmet is, as PM pointed out, little more than a marketing machine for its sponsors.
That being said, in this particular case, as a case study only (because we have no idea how truthful the Andelmans’ comments are), I suspect there were much better ways in which the hostess could have handled the situation.
Last time I saw Eddie Andelman (and it’s been a while, so if he’s had the stomach-stapling, or something, feel free to correct me), it was clear to me that he couldn’t walk very far. My doc has told me at my physical that I’m obese. Andelman makes me look like Twiggy. That kind of person needs a seat, regardless of where it’s at.
@Rich: According to the story told by Mike and Eddie on the radio, they never mentioned asking for, or seeking out a manager. When you say, “According to the Andelman story” what are you referring to? Have you already listened to the complete 8 1/2 minute segment from the 2/12 program?
I will be posting a link to the audio as soon as it is ready.
Rich–I have to disagree with you, too, as a former hostess. First–most restaurants have a ‘customers are always right’ policy on steroids, and it only feeds the monsters.
Second–the restaurant had a good reason for not seating that section. If two dicks get to do it because they are more special than the rules and everyone else, more dicks will line up to sit in the tables. What do you have when 5:30 rolls around and the restaurant rush starts? A bunch of dirty tables–and that’s only if the dicks actually honor their word and move. When I was a hostess, I got dozens of the types all night–people who would walk in during the dinner rush, couldn’t believe there was a wait, wasted my time and theirs trying to convince me that they were more special than everyone else and should be sat right away, and then had the nerve to explain to me how to do my job in a way that would make me happier. Mike may think that he is unique and oh-so-much-more-SPECIAL than everyone else, but he was probably neither the only one in the restaurant who wanted to sit at a table, nor the only one in the restaurant who had asked for such a thing in the first place.
Third–We only have Mike’s narrative on this, and, he outted himself as a self-absorbed prick in denial early on. I’m sure that if the hostess could supply her version, we’d get more details of what actually happened. He said that the owner was right there with her–why was that? The only time a manager insisted that he be with me when I was with a customer was when the customer was an asshat and the manager was sure the guy would try to run me over.
@PM: Sorry, no, I wasn’t referring to anything from the program; I haven’t listened to it at all. I’m basing all of this off of your transcript — frankly, from what you’ve listed in the post, I’d prefer not to give any more hits on their site than necessary — it just boosts their ad numbers.
So I have no idea whether they sought out a manager. My point is that the hostess probably should have. In my view, when you’re facing a customer demanding something beyond the ordinary, there’s no problem in seeking out the MoD. That’s what they (the MoD) are paid for.
@Rachel: To take things sort of back to front:
“We only have Mike’s narrative on this, and, he outted himself as a self-absorbed prick in denial early on.”
No disagreement here. Reading the transcript, obviously these guys are misogynistic a-holes. The transcript that PM has posted proves it.
“the restaurant had a good reason for not seating that section. If two dicks get to do it because they are more special than the rules and everyone else, more dicks will line up to sit in the tables…” And I’m paraphrasing.
I understand — a perfectly legitimate concern. I’ve had to do it before, and it’s a flippin PITA. Trying to serve 50-70 guests with 2 bartenders, at table, at happy hour, at a high end restaurant, with no support, has left many of my white shirts in need of a deep cleaning.
That being said — this is a management problem, at root. If the bar is full, and you’ve got more guests, and management hasn’t prepared to handle them, the job requires us to figure out a way to handle it. If we don’t know how, then we need to turn to management to help.
Ultimately, our job is to make the restaurant successful. To do that, the first step has to be, keep the customer happy. As has been said, obviously, not to a ludicrous level, but that’s the primary aim.
@Rich–Eh, I still disagree, mainly because I used to be a hostess and fielded a million ‘Mikes’ a night. Here’s where I still don’t agree with you:
–I could see it being a management issue if it popped up once in a blue moon, and this weren’t an open-and-shut matter that staff had never seen navigated before. Grill 23 and the restaurant that I worked at were both very busy places that were too tiny for the crowds that flocked to us. And we did have a policy for handling that, which worked without a major hitch every single night. Customers waited in line to be sat according to the numerical and other needs of their party. Closed sections were closed sections, and the seating & wait list started only when the restaurant opened. And in those teeming masses that came to the restaurant every night, there were always 20+ a night that thought that they were just so much more special than the rest in the crowd and the rules that management had put in place to ensure that the crowd was accomodated in the most efficient way possible. So, to see things through the hostess’ eyes, she had a very clear rulebook to follow, had probably told at least 5 of the 20 people who were in the bar as per the rules that they could not seat themselves in the closed restaurant section, and now had her 6th person trying to do the same. Managers balance a lot of issues, and depend on the staff to alert them to the important ones. If she had dragged the manager away from prepping for the dinner rush, giving pre-shift talks to the staff, organizing section charts exc, six times in a single hour just to explain to some prick that, yes, he, too, must follow the rules…then the manager would probably get annoyed. By the same token–if I had run and gotten the manager every time some whiny bastard acted like he had never been asked to wait in a busy restaurant before, the manager would hate me for it. If ‘Mike’ had asked to speak to a manager, or become utterly intractable, then, yes, a manager would have to be consulted to decide whether or not to calm him down or ask him to leave the premises. Managerial authority is necessary for exceptional cases…Mike, contrary to his own beliefs, is hardly ‘exceptional’. 5 people like him had already come by the hostess stand. The reason a host is at the stand before the restaurant opens is to make sure the stand is ready for the night and to make sure that no one seats themselves in the restaurant…explaining the rules to Mike was 50% of her job–if she had to get a manager to do that for her, she really would be incompetent! And managers HATE having to work with staff that need them to hold their hands through something as basic as explaining that a section is closed to an assine customer.
–You do raise a good point that it is ‘our job to keep the restaurant successful (within reason, of course)’. I would argue that putting a whiny, entitled bitch like Mike in his place–reasonably (obviously, not by telling him that to his face, lol), like the hostess did–is a part of keeping the restaurant successful. Grill 23 and my restaurant were, again, very successful joints. I believe that Mike, in his muddled philosophical musings on his trauma of being forced to follow the rules said something approximating ‘the era of restaurants being able to treat customers like shit is over’…why does he think that is? If such an era existed (and I would hardly trust Mike to pinpoint that moment in history), there are two reasons it is gone. On the one hand, restaurants can’t ‘treat customers like shit’ because, if they do something illegal to screw a customer, the customer can report them to authorities. Requiring that Mike sit in the bar or park his ass outside the restaurant was not illegal. The other ‘reason’ would simply be the free market–and Caveman Mike’s understanding would be that if a restaurant pisses off a customer, that customer will no longer bring business to the restaurant, and would tell his friends not to, and if it became common practice, the restaurant would be in trouble. That’s roughly the dynamic, but economics is a little more complicated than Can’t-Figure-Out-A-Closed-Section Mike could grasp, so he’ll probably need an incompetent hostess hottie to explain it to him: customers like him are ultimately a negative-profit situation for restaurants that are already successful. Maybe a start-up operation or a dying one could have used his patronage, but hardly a joint like Grill 23. I’ll make another post going into more details later–I actually have to run and do something. Sorry, this is awkward.
Hey Michael–
Just thought you should know–I am a hostess. I am also a full time student graduating from Harvard University this spring with a BA in psychology. And, oh, by the way I’m also a professional ballet dancer. Clearly, according to you, I’m incapable of doing anything else besides stating “how many?” when people like you come in to eat. Just thought you should keep this in mind for the future–some of us want to be working there, some of us need to be working, but none of us are incompetent and/or incapable of doing anything else. In fact, most of us will probably do much more important things with our lives in the long run than you. That’s all. 🙂
Although I am certain that there are hosts and hostesses out there who are intelligent and productive members of our society, I am also aware of the time-honored legacy of the maitre d’ who looks down his nose at those he considers beneath a seat in his principled establishment. Filter the “simmering just below the surface” contempt of the tuxedoed old school through the cotton candy brain of all those blondes who were hired by steak and lobster joints in the 70’s and you arrive at what is now the Host/Hostess of the year 2011.
Is there a studied air of superiority in the behavior of those at the door who may or may not let you into their special party? Absolutely; just as equally, there are those who welcome you in, nurture you, inquire after your pets and want to give you a warm cup of broth. And, as with so many public exchanges in our complex lives, much of the time what we put in is what we get out. It is just as possible to break the ice queen’s visage with a smile and a “Great blouse, is it a ‘fill in designer name'”?, as it is to put her off by demanding that you and your child-bride sit in a booth for two when they are clearly only for four.
Which brings us to these fucking cavemen who do this radio show in Boston. It becomes clear, upon doing the reading, that first off, these guys are shills for whoever pumps money into promotion on their show. That removes 99.7% of their credibility right our of the chute. Secondly, they are middle-class white males from Boston, an entitled and inbred clan, not particularly know for tolerance or any semblance of an understanding of feminism. Thirdly, they have a sense of entitlement so over inflated as to crowd almost every thing else out of the room; it is a miracle they can all fit in the same radio studio.
The fact that these guys are seemingly so bewildered by the notion that they have offended someone is laughable. These guys are jerk-offs who got caught jerking off and now they are back-pedaling and whining as if they are the offended party. The fact that these assholes are trying to hide public oafishness and a “now it’s my chance to get back at all the cute girls who were rude to me” attitude in the cloak of “satire” is truly offensive. There is a whole genre of potty joke movies out there these days that these guys were made for. They wouldn’t know true satire if it bit them in their pasty pimply white butts.
The whole affair is nauseating and the fact that there is still a public forum for the Phantom Gourmet is indicative that “old school white Boston” still exists. Will people who are assholes from the time they walk in the front door continue to be treated poorly? I hope so. But, will hosts/hostesses continue to be be rude/condescending to cool guys like us? Yeah, a lot of them probably will; it’s the nature of the position and until everyone in the industry buys into the notion that ours is a service industry, it will continue to be that way. And no broth tonight, thanks.
This is just craziness. While I haven’t worked for a “top end” establishment, the same rules tend to apply in the realm of my mid-ranged restaurant in a touristy area. If we’re not open at *said time*, we’re not open. End of story, and sorry. You’ll have to wait a bit until we are “open”. Hours are posted out front. Honestly, any establishment has to make time for prepping for the service of the said day. If we don’t take the time to prep, you won’t be served on a timely basis.
And, Patrick, as I used to enjoy watching “Phantom Gourmet” (I’m a MA resident, although far removed from Boston), Ill think twice now.
No matter who you happen to be-guest, employee, establishment owner-you have an obligation to act properly in said role. A guest or a customer still has a set of rules to follow when at an establishment, someone’s home, a hotel, etc…Etiquette and manners are in place so that the wide variety of people in society can get along, be treated fairly and avoid unpleasant interactions.
You were asked to take part in a segment in the show. You then asked the producers if they planned to cut ties with one of their affiliates based on ‘allegations’ of death threats, and when you realized that they weren’t about to ditch Upper Crust, you promtly refused to be an EXTRA? That’s your right, but you can’t ask a business to stop a mutually beneficial arrangement with another business because of ‘allegations” against the owner. No offense, but whether or not they decided to continue to work with Upper Crust is not exactly any of your business (putting this as nicely as I can). In the above article (and in the comments) there is a lot about how “the rules are the rules”. You can’t expect a hostess to let you sit down if service hasn’t begun yet, right? Well that’s a lot like business. You can’t expect two parties to stop working with eachother because one of the parties MIGHT be filthy. Some people who are in business with eachother hate eachother, even hate what they are helping them promote, but business is business. Your establishments have your rules, their establishments have theirs. As far as Michael’s behavior goes, closed mean’s CLOSED. Period.
Doughboy Danny, Closet Dave and Bobble Head Mike = stuffed in lockers in high school…hey Andelman sisters, contact me, I want to see how tough you whiney little BITCHES are…
…thought so…you puss’s don’t have a set of balls between you to contact me…
These guys CLEARLY don’t know what it means to run a high end restaurant-especially before a game in Boston. They think they are above whatever “rules” the restaurant has established. As far as getting any recognition on their show-radio or t.v., if you don’t advertise-just forget about it. The Phantom gourmet now tells us how “wonderful” chain restaurants are-kind of expect if you truly want your audience to know where to go in the Boston area.
insult after insult, personal attacks then claims of satire and ignorance. two classes individuals who should be shown the door for their assaults and bullying.