A Visit

First of all, two nights ago chef Jayson quit. Did I write that before? But anyway, I was in TEARS. That was it for me. I didn't care so SO much about Nick, Terrance and Joe- I mean, it bothers me, but when I heard Jayson left too...well, that was the straw that broke my emotional back. It was so upsetting. I didn't sleep all night.

So yesterday morning I spoke to Jayson, and he basically told me he was just tired and fed up. Why hadn't the phone systems changed to say he was the chef? Why wasn't the website changed? And when he went to Bob, Bob said, "well why didn't you bring this up before?" And J was like, I shouldn't have to tell you to promote the chef and the restaurant. And he is right! And he is getting paid like 40k more, plus dividends in the club earnings, plus a parking spot (he had that here) and health insurance for his family. Pretty good deal. How could he turn that down? Not to mention he is just unhappy. He wants to make a name for himself and the club isn't pushing him out there, plus dinner reservations are quite sucky.

So thats that.

Last night Shana and I went to the club downtown, Touchdown to check out the place. It's on the corner of 23 and 11th- personally, I think it is a crappy area. It's hard for cabs to get to, but it IS close to all the good night clubs, so I guess that is a plus. It's across the street from a storage facility (on one side) and a nice park and water views dead ahead. They only have 2,500 square feet open right now- and when I saw the space my first thought was "EW".

But I am getting ahead of myself. We went around the corner on 11th avenue and saw a weird entrance, WEIRD. And we were like, "let's go in and ask where the club is" because the doors were locked. So we go in, and all these guys that I know from pec are sitting there! Brett too. And I heard Brett was staying at PEC. Maybe not. Obviously he is trying to play his cards too. So then we hear a commotion and Joe and Terrance and Glen pop out of a side room. I was excited to see everyone. We went into this awful stark white scary room to sit and talk. Terrance told me about the club a little. And Glen got into it too. It's going to be 10,000 square feet, 5k up, and 5k in the basement (where the private rooms will be). On the floor above is going to be a 200 seat restaurant, but entertaining there is not allowed. If a customer wants to have dinner with an entertainer, she has to put a different sort of gown/dress on and then she can eat up there. On the two floors above THAT, is going to be a hotel for entertainers only. Next door is going to be a high-rise hotel. They aren't sure of the name yet, though Niki Beach was tossed into the mix. There will be a rooftop pool there as well.

If Glen hires me, he wants me to shine. I have to go above and beyond what I was doing here at PEC. Also, I'd have to go back to booking bachelor parties. Yikes. And I would probably have to work my ass off big time for them. I think one of their concerns is me and my hours. Joe knows I wanted to cut back, and I told them in this case I would jump right in.

Terrance told a story about bob: that prior to the xmas story t invited chris? from pompom to the xmas party. He told Mark about it, and Mark was like- uhhhhh....did you ask Bob? He's funny about those things.
So he goes to ask Bob (again, why should he have to ask Bob?) and Bob says that's not good. And then makes T go and UNINVITE him. Like, how embarrassing???

Anyway, after a long conversation in the scary white room, Glen walks us over to the club and gives me a tour (Shana went in for a meeting with the massage girls)- I think the place is a dive. It has 8 foot ceilings, and is TINY. YEs, I know they are re-doing the place, but I would need to see a rendering to make any sort of final decision. I had two drinks there and left. EVERYONE was there. Lauren the bartender, all the massage girls, Mike D, Glen, Terrance, Joe, Mo the porter, Carmine (some goomba looking dude), Chris the door guy (who was fired from PEC years ago), Brett was in the office area (looking nervous when I saw him), and a whole other slew of faces I recognize from over the years.

I guess it's hard for me to picture any other place, because to me PEC is the most beautiful club. Sapphires was DARK, really dark- and just seemed crappy. I will have to get my hands on the renderings of the interior space- that's a must!

Things are BREWING

So, Shana called me on Friday up at the mountain house to tell me that Joe and Terrance had quit. Holy shit balls.
After talking to Shana extensively, I got ahold of Joe the next day. Here's the breakdown of the conversation:

Joe had obviously been contemplating leaving, and he and Terrance had gotten contacted a while back. Spoke to Glen who said there will come a day when they may get brought on board (to Sapphires/Touchdown). There is a half-ass operation on the west side, and Glen signed on for Scores East 2 days before xmas. Over the xmas holiday, they sat down and spoke about what it would take for them to make a move, and they told Glen what they wanted- and Glen accepted the proposal.
New Year's DAY, they were ready to rock and roll. Jan 2nd both Terrance AND Joe came into the office (Friday morning) and first sat down Rita and Tony (who were flabbergasted and very upset) and then went to the safe room to put a call in. They put Mark on speaker phone and it went straight to vm. Then again the second time. Then on the third time he picked up and was in an apparent tissy, yelling on the phone, saying something about a posting- that he was BAILING ANDREA OUT OF JAIL! to call him back in 10 minutes. They call him back 15 minutes later, he is on the way back from the airport after dropping her off. MY had just put her on a plane, she had stayed at the Hard Rock for MY to keep an eye out on her. Bob is up her ass about the babysitting thing and has Mark looking out for her!
Mark goes: Ahhhh you have no idea what I've been through today. And Joe says, "it ain't gonna get any better. I am here with Terrance." MY: "You arrrrrrre?"
There was no counter offer for Joe. Bob would not have offered Joe any more money, he already thought Joe was over paid. But he DID want to speak with Terrance. And T said, "NO WAY".
Joe was happy there was an opportunity that came along where they were manageing and enforcing and doing everything they wanted to do, and felt comfortable to make the leap of faith.

So that is what I jotted down from the conversation Saturday evening. Joe said my name had been brought up. I said I would make the move if the $ was right.

Fast forward to today, January 5th- Mark calls me in the office and as soon as I sit down Nick walks in and needs to talk to Mark. 10 minutes later, Mark is wishing Nick well- HE QUIT. Apparently he is being offered around 100k more to move locations.

I hope they call me!!!!! I want to stay and work for PEC, but if I get a counter offer at least I can get a freakin raise here!