So what do doormen think about today’s news (Curbed, Daily News, NY Post) that a model who “married the help” is suing her Upper East Side co-op for $10 million, claiming she and her doorman-turned-husband are being persecuted by the staff?
“I’m FUMING over it,” Openthedoor-man tells BrickUnderground.
The anonymous doorman--a frequent commenter here who is shopping a memoir about the darkside of liveried life--holds the co-op board responsible for the staff’s allegedly un-serviceable behavior.
“I believe his fellow ex-co-workers are giving him and his lady the cold shoulder because they have no choice but to do so,” says Openthedoor-man. “They probably feel pressure from the building board members, afraid they might lose their jobs if they are seen talking to [the former doorman] and acting nice with him.”
He says that there is no doorman code-of-honor about sexual relationships with residents. On the contrary, he speculates that when the staff first caught wind of the pairing, “I’m pretty sure some of them probably urged him to keep doing it—that plays out on a guy thing.”
But now, says Openthedoor-man, it has evolved into a class thing (and possibly a racial thing, as the ex-doorman in question is Hispanic).
Most residents “live with a chip on their shoulder,” he observes. “They feel they are above us because of the income, their line of work compared to ours. The real issue here is something that will never cease to exist: WE ARE HERE TO SERVE THEM.”
In this case, he says, the co-op appears to be winning.
Related links:
Another doorman spills it online
Stiffed again! Doorman blasts bad tippers
Twittering doorman tweets no more
