Really! Button that suit up!

I know that it’s highly irregular to see a supplemental entry into danlangdon.com, but there is something that has been bugging me, and I just have to get it off my chest.

As all of you doubtless know, I began my career in the hospitality business, before escaping about six years ago. As it happens, I now walk through the lobby of one of my “Alma Maters” several times each day, and there is something that just peeves me out.

It’s non-uniformed male employees and their business suits.

In my day, we had managers who were old school. Many of them were European (with the majority of them being Swiss, for some reason) and they all had high standards and low tantrum barriers. You towed the line or you took a torrent of verbal abuse that would cause you to rethink your career choice.

I remember one Food & Beverage director I worked with who had a particularly short fuse. He used to round all of us lower-level managers and supervisors up and take us on a tour of the “back of house” areas and point out any irregularity (we’re talking spider webs up in the beams here) He had this vein on his forehead that used to pop out and throb when he got mad. He had had several heart attacks by the time I worked for him, and I’m sure he has gone to his reward by now – but he did drill into our heads some very basic and solid hospitality standards, and one of them is to look professional if you want to be treated professionally.

Part of that expectation was that you NEVER went “front of house” without your suit jacket, and when you did, that jacket HAD to be buttoned.

At this particular hotel that I now frequent, there was an amazing woman named Irene. She was British, and had come up through the English hotel system, where you start as a scullery maid and work your way up. Irene was in her sixties, wore stilettos every day of her working life, and had an inordinate amount of energy. She rode herd on me, and never hesitated to dress me down when I wasn’t dressed up.

Now I walk through that hotel, and I see these young managers walking around with their jackets unbuttoned and it drives me nuts. Not only is it sloppy and unprofessional, it makes their asses look huge – especially when they are wearing double-breasted suits.

But the hotel is not nearly as classy as it was when it was the corporate flagship hotel. Now it’s just one of a very large chain, so I suppose it is inevitable. But really boys – class is class, and you need to clean up your act. If you want to get ahead in that god-forsaken industry, you need to at least look like you know what you’re doing.