Day Twenty-Three: Twenty-Somethings and Hotel Drama

Inez left my room at an inopportune time and runs into her manager. 

"He is going to fire me!"  she says.
"Don't worry about it.  I'll talk to him.  Chris will talk to him.  You're fine," I assure her.

He doesn't fire her, but he does tell her, "Inez, I wouldn't have expected this from you."  He also asked her what she was doing with a VIP.  I'm not sure how I got the VIP status, but I'll take it.  I think it may have something to do with Kate's big pink hat that I've been wearing around and my cute puppy.  I know everyone here already. 

VIP here

In the fire pit, I meet some Miami locals; Jen, Natalia, Ryan and Daniel.  They tell me about what they like to do in Miami.  Ryan is a member, so they come here.  Ryan likes to keep it low key.

By the pool I am talking to Daniel.  “You meet some interesting characters in this town,” he says.  He points over to Ryan, who he grew up with here in Miami, “he is a porn director,” he says, “and Natalia, she is a porn star.”  I ask about Jen.  “She’s just her friend, I don’t know,” he says.  “You meet some interesting people here,” he says.

He is in the same place as me right now.  He is 25, in his last semester of law school, but he doesn’t want to be a lawyer.  He doesn’t know what he wants to do. 

It’s a common phenomenon for twenty-somethings.  A few weeks ago I read an interesting article about our age group as a unique development phase.  Click to see the article: What Is It About 20-Somthings; Why are so many people in their 20s taking so long to grow up?

I am not the only one at this place in my life.

I come out of the shower and Home by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes is playing on my iPod while Lyla sleeps on the couch. 

Home, let me come home.  Home is wherever I'm with you.

I dance and sing to Lyla.

I decide to show Jay and Sammy some love.  They are working at the Royal tonight.  I get dolled up and head to the Royal for dinner.   When I get back to the Standard, I meet Chris’ friends Paul and Andre from New York.  Andre and Chris worked together at the Standard in New York.  They explain how this Standard is run very differently than the Standard in New York.  Sammy comes by on the Vespa and we head out.  Chris, Andre and Paul plan to go to a gay bar.  While I love these boys, I am not too keen on that plan.  Sammy plans to meet some friends at the W, so I join him.

Paul, Andre and Chris

Having stayed at five hotels in the past three weeks, I’ve gained a new understanding of the industry.   My new friends, who are hosts, managers and waiters, have given me another perspective of the industry as well.  It is hard work.  They notice, more than anyone, the difference between good service and bad service. 

The service at the Standard is really bad.  Waiters forget your orders and you need to ask four times to get anything you need.  “They are incompetent!”  Chris tells me.  He hates managing people that don’t listen.  He deals with drama between staff all day. 

At the W, I feel as though I’ve returned to the Miami in which I started, my first night here at Vita.  Scantily clad girls with rich men or men pretending to be rich.  I've been told that people in this city are very insecure.  It breeds this culture.