One stormy night many years ago, an
elderly man and his wife entered the lobby of a small hotel in
Philadelphia. Trying to get out of the rain, the couple approached the
front desk hoping to get some shelter for the night.
"Could you possibly give us a room
here?" the husband asked. The clerk, a friendly man with a winning
smile, looked at the couple and explained that there were three
conventions in town.
"All of our rooms are taken,"
the clerk said. "But I can't send a nice couple like you out into
the rain at one o'clock in the morning. Would you perhaps be willing to
sleep in my room? It's not exactly a suite, but it will be good enough to
make you folks comfortable for the night."
When the couple declined, the young man
pressed on. "Don't worry about me; I'll be just fine here in the
office, "the clerk told them. So the couple agreed.
As he paid his bill the next morning,
the elderly man said to the clerk, "You are the kind of manager who
should be the boss of the best hotel in the United States. Maybe someday
I'll build one for you."
The clerk looked at them and smiled. The
three of them had a good laugh.
As they drove away, the elderly couple
agreed that the helpful clerk was indeed exceptional, as finding people
who are both friendly and helpful isn't easy.
Two years passed. The clerk had almost
forgotten the incident when he received a letter from the old man. It
recalled that stormy night and enclosed a round-trip ticket to New York,
asking him to pay them a visit.
The old man met him in New York, and led
him to the corner of Fifth Avenue and 34th Street. He then pointed to a
great new building there, a palace of reddish stone, with turrets and
watchtowers thrusting up to the sky.
"That," said the older man,
"is the hotel I have just built for you to manage."
"You must be joking," the
young man said.
"I can assure you I am not,"
said the older man, a sly smile playing around his mouth.
The older man's name was William Waldorf
Astor, and the magnificent structure was the original Waldorf-Astoria
Hotel. The young clerk who became its first manager was George C. Boldt.
This young clerk never foresaw the turn of events that would lead him to
become the manager of one of the world's most glamorous hotels.
"We are not to turn our backs on
those who are in need, for we might be entertaining angels".
Life is more accurately measured by the
lives you touch than the things you acquire.
By the kind courtesy of Bidyut Chatterjee who sent
it thru one of his mails.
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As per the account of Boldt's life, this incident never occured!
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