The St. Regis has been invaded by an army of entrepreneurs. How do I know they are entrepreneurs? That is what they call themselves – and bragging about it, almost as if Entrepreneur is exactly the same status as Royalty. But what is an entrepreneur? As usual a definition is found:” a person who organizes and operates a business or businesses, taking on greater than normal financial risks in order to do so.” That definition certainly describes the situation, no doubt. Do let us look up the synonyms to see if that can further definite the characteristics of such self-proclaimed individuals. Here we go, they are excellent and very complete: business person, business executive, enterpriser, speculator, tycoon, magnate; dealer, trader, buyer and seller, merchant; commercial intermediary, intermediary, middleman, promoter, impresario. The informal synonyms are, in my mind, preferable and more exact: wheeler-dealer, mogul, big shot, bigwig, whiz kid, mover and shaker, go-getter, high-flyer, hustler. My favorites among those are wheeler-dealer, big shot, big wig and hustler.
Do those people, those self-proclaimed entrepreneurs, have they ever looked up the word? Or do they just adopt it at some point in their lives? None are in their youth, nor anywhere near it. They are not as old as I am (no one is). But I would guess they are in their fifties and older. Those go-getters are sometimes, but not always, accompanied by their wives. Perhaps a son or daughter, but this seems rare.
At this moment in time the St. Regis has 98% occupancy – have this from an extremely reliable source, a man whose nickname is CAM#49. He is an expert on what goes on around here and freely shares this information with me. I am lucky enough to have an inside source. Then, to add to my wealth of knowledge and information, some of the elderly whiz kids speak with me. Therefore I know the army consists of 100 individuals. You can imagine how a crowd like this can strain the capabilities of staff. And what makes it even worse is that they are rude, obnoxious and unaware of social clues. Now I am not saying all 100 have these characteristics, of course not, but it seems that if there are two or more in a group, it is the obnoxious one that steals the show. Steal the show is, of course, an idiomatic expression: “If you say that someone steals the show, you mean that they get a lot of attention or praise because they perform better than anyone else in a show or other event.” The obnoxious ones get the most attention but not because they are preforming better than everyone else – they are in actuality, performing worse than everyone else.
I shall provide a few examples. It is breakfast, there is a round table with several ‘big shots’ eating. One of them spies a man in a chef’s hat walking by, snaps his fingers that he wants more coffee (or something). I am sitting alone at an adjacent table.
Me: Cannot you not see that he is not a waiter. Waiters do not wear funny huge white hats? It is not his job to get you coffee (or anything else). It is his job to cook.
Alter Ego: And even if it were his job, snapping his finger imperiously is not polite. That man does not appear to have any social awareness.
Another example occurred at the Adult Pool. Two promoters were at the pool and had ordered drinks (or food) and it was time to pay. The promoter had no money or cards with him and was totally and thoroughly indignant. He kept badgering everyone, and I do mean, everyone.
He: Why would you come to a pool with a credit card or cash??? This is ridiculous.
The staff: Sir. If you would have provided a credit card at check-in you could just charge it to your room. This lovely lady here did and she can just sign her name.
Well, I was the lovely lady and did just sign my name for my calamari. The promoter then accosted at least three other staff members to complain bitterly about a situation that was entirely his fault. The staff were, of course, silently disdainful, quietly shaking their heads in disguist but being most polite and courteous.
This promoter, this speculator, had spoken to me earlier. Tried to order a beer for me but was unsuccessful (thank goodness for two reasons, one of which is that he had no money to pay for it).
He: We will see you at breakfast.
Me: I have breakfast at 7:30
He: Well I will be drinking and have a hang over. So it will be 8:30.
I actually do think that the speculator expected me to arrive at 8:30 for breakfast. It was going to be horribly crowded at that hour. I arrived at 7:10 and had a leisurely breakfast surrounded by grateful staff.
They: We all love you, you are so polite, so happy and cheerful. So interested in us.
Me: I guess that is because I am not an entrepreneur!
I did find out where those wheeler dealers were going today and of course did not join them. They were going on a Safari. I texted CAM#49.
Me: They are going on a Desert Safari. I have a funny story to tell you about the Safari I went on. Of course, I would have a funny story.
He: We will share Tuesday morning. .
Me: We shall! I will make notes, just in case.
He: ok.
Then a text with Grandson.
Me:What is halal?
He: It means different things but it means it is something that Allah does not allow.
Me: Thank you for the definition. Something on Instagram mentioned it. Now it makes sense.
I read several Instagram messages on the faith but occasionally a word is used that I do not understand, therefore, I text Grandson and he explains. Magic!
Also texted him about yesterday.
Me: Having a good morning and great day yesterday. Met and talked with nine people?!?!
He: What did you talk with nine people about???
Told him the content of many stories to which he responded Okay or sometimes good.
But then I told him about some rather complicating messages from afar.
Me: My life is complicated! Do not DARE say Okay to that!! I know you will just to make me laugh!
He: (sent several laughing emojis)
Me: I laughed!!!!
He: That is a very big thing in this world when someone make you happy!
Me: Yes, it IS. It is going on the blog.
The photograph is one taken at the Adult Pool the other day and sent to Grandson. It had the following message.
Me: At the pool. Very adult this pool. There are curtains. WoW
He: WOW
Me: One could have fun – well if married. Hahaha
He: Many laughing emoji.
Me: Off to pool. A Muslim from India works here.
He: Okay
Needless to say neither Grandson nor CAM#49 are entrepreneurs. We have way too much fun with one another and there is no profit motive. They are not “a person or persons who organizes and operates a business or businesses, taking on greater than normal financial risks in order to do so.” I definitely prefer them to entrepreneurs and they are both younger and better looking and work hard for their money. I did that all of my life and educated myself. I dealt in facts and knowledge not in speculation.
