QUOTE
http://cityguides.msn.com/citylife/cityart...0000&page=3
"...As a hostess and maître d' at some of New York's hottest restaurants, Abbe Diaz, author of "PX This," was physically threatened and verbally abused. "Customers threatened to slap me, called me all sorts of names, denigrated my gender, race [Asian] and age," she says.
Diaz, a freelance commercial artist and designer/dressmaker who labored in the restaurant industry for about 20 years, worked for some of the city's top chefs and most well-known restaurateurs. She frequently welcomed marquee-name guests. During the years she worked as a hostess and maître d', she kept a diary in which she vented all her frustration -- and named names.
She published the diary in 2004 as a book titled "PX This." (PX is restaurant-speak for "personne extraordinaire," indicating a guest who should receive special treatment.) She kept her book plans a secret from everyone while they were in the works and left her last restaurant job a few months before it was published. When the book came out, she posted a blog to help market it (www.pxthis.com); now the blog also serves as a forum for people who still work in the restaurant business.
Diaz admits that some of her most extreme experiences likely occurred because the "over-hyped" restaurants where she worked come "with lots of anticipation built in." Customers at these establishments tended to have very high expectations and were inclined to "raise their voice and scream" if they did not get what they wanted..."
"...As a hostess and maître d' at some of New York's hottest restaurants, Abbe Diaz, author of "PX This," was physically threatened and verbally abused. "Customers threatened to slap me, called me all sorts of names, denigrated my gender, race [Asian] and age," she says.
Diaz, a freelance commercial artist and designer/dressmaker who labored in the restaurant industry for about 20 years, worked for some of the city's top chefs and most well-known restaurateurs. She frequently welcomed marquee-name guests. During the years she worked as a hostess and maître d', she kept a diary in which she vented all her frustration -- and named names.
She published the diary in 2004 as a book titled "PX This." (PX is restaurant-speak for "personne extraordinaire," indicating a guest who should receive special treatment.) She kept her book plans a secret from everyone while they were in the works and left her last restaurant job a few months before it was published. When the book came out, she posted a blog to help market it (www.pxthis.com); now the blog also serves as a forum for people who still work in the restaurant business.
Diaz admits that some of her most extreme experiences likely occurred because the "over-hyped" restaurants where she worked come "with lots of anticipation built in." Customers at these establishments tended to have very high expectations and were inclined to "raise their voice and scream" if they did not get what they wanted..."
I thought you said you never worked in the industry! Are you talking about one of the customers!? Who!? [You can PM me, if you want to keep it secret.] 