The following message was sent in response to a sentence in this recent article about the post- convention evaluations completed by AAN members following the Pittsburgh convention:

Not to defend what-was-her-name? the bartender at the Hilton too much, but I suspect she was a victim of her own job security. Pittsburgh is a strong union town, and it’s likely that management was 1) prevented from adding bar staff because it would dilute the regular bartenders’ tips; and 2) prevented from pitching in (which is why bar managers stood around while chaos reigned and people went [relatively] dry). Just a possibility.

That said, our bartender might have been tipped more and more often if she’d displayed a better work ethic and a better attitude toward the innocent drunks who were begging her for drinks. And, in general, the hotel staff seemed unusually grudging about even simple requests. Underbooked and understaffed, I suspect.

None of this, however, detracts from the truly incredible job our hosts did. Really; they were great. And Pittsburgh was so cool, I didn’t recognize it.

– Clif Garboden, Boston Phoenix
cgarboden@phx.com
Clif Garboden, Senior Managing Editor, Boston Phoenix