At least tell me there was a "happy ending:"
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York insurance executive slapped an upscale strip club with a lawsuit after it charged him $28,000 for a night of champagne and partying with a dozen exotic dancers.
Mitchell Blaser, who is the Chief Financial Officer of the Americas division of insurer Swiss Re, filed suit on Tuesday demanding that strip club Scores pay back the $28,000 because that does not accurately reflect his spending at the Manhattan nightspot.
But a Scores spokesman said that, during his December visit, Blaser ordered five magnums of the club's most expensive champagne, a 1990 Krug Clos du Mesnil, for $3,200 each. He also spent $7,000 for lap dances and the company of 12 girls who surrounded him for hours.
You could count the amount of time this dingus has left with Swiss Re on an egg timer. Can't be good publicity when the Chief Freaking Financial Officer of your company claims he was unaware that lap dances cost money and, gawrsh, so does champagne. Hell, a bottle of Miller Lite will run you $6 at a mid-range club, much less an "upscale gentleman's club" like Scores.
Or so I've heard.
[Scores spokesman Lonnie] Hanover called the suit "frivolous" and said Scores has three signed receipts from Blaser over the course of the night. He said American Express investigated the matter and found the charges were valid and paid the $28,000.
In his lawsuit filed with the Supreme Court in Manhattan, Blaser said he and his friend were intimidated into signing an invoice for $8,615 by Scores' staff, which threatened to keep his credit card. Scores then tacked on an additional $4,000 gratuity without his signature, the suit said. It also said Blaser promptly complained to American Express.
Having added gratuities to checks in my day, I can tell you no bartender/server worth a damn would be so stupid as to put a 50% tip on a tab that big without verification from the person signing the receipt. Blaser's probably sweating because he put the whole thing on his corporate card which, I can tell you from personal experience, is not a good idea.
Of course, I was a first year consultant, not a Chief Freaking Financial Officer.
I used to work for SwissRe. Or, rather, at the end of my corporate career I was working for company that was purchased by SwissRe. And I wish I could say this surprised me, but it doesn't. They're modus operandi seemed to be to nickle and dime the employees on bonuses and benefits, and then give their executives huge golden prizes. No big surprise the CFO likes to spend lavishly on himself, but not deal with the consequences in the morning.
I'm feeling unmotivated this morning, so I'm going to take the lazy blogger's way out and link to some fellow......
| --Posted to Off the Kuff on May 23, 2004 11:51 AM:. |
Pete: could you please look into getting promoted to the position of Chief Freakin' Financial Officer of your company? Perhaps by tonight? I've got a little shin-dig planned this eveing and an $28,000 party at Scores would be pretty cool.