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About a decade ago, I got fired from my bartending job at a corporate business hotel. By corporate, I mean double-corporate as in under two corporate umbrellas. Two trees and a socialite.
During one of the many corporate training days, the staff had the pleasure of watching a Brand Promises video. This video explained: How to make a Don’t-Say-No-Sandwich.
A Don’t-Say-No-Sandwich is composed of:
- The first slice of bread: An Apology
- The meat of the sandwich: A Statement Of Empathy
- The Second Slice of Bread: Offering An Alternative
I served a lot of Grey Goose Martinis and old Scotch. Occasionally bored and lonely businessmen who felt uninhibited by the anonymity of travel left behind notes with their room keys. Above-average tips often accompanied these scribbled invitations on cocktail napkins.
A man once left me a down payment. Directly on his receipt, he’d scratched: There’s more where that came from, I’ll see you soon. I happily accepted his fat tip and never saw him again.
Some guys were less direct about it. One night, my room service co-worker, Kevin came by the bar to cover me for my break. He cleared a check off of the bar that contained a room key and a gum-wrapper note…