Want to be a doorman? Advice from Val.

12:30 am, sitting on the bench in the lobby of 295 Park Avenue South.
Transcribed interview with Val.

If there was someone who was debating about whether or not to be a doorman, is there any advice that you would give them?

The first question I would ask them is, how's your patience?

Again, this is a service oriented job, so if your cable is not that long, you'd get frustrated, because you know, a lot of people in the building, a lot of different cultures in the building, and you know, to some people it's like....uhhh...if you're a doorman and if you don't have enough patience to bear...uhhh..the demands that other people in the building will be asking of you, you might not be able to last that long. So I mean, that'd be the first thing I'd ask them. If you call that as an advice, I would say, you have trouble very very very. Your patience has to be...how you say that Lis...you have to be...

willing to be tested over and over again?

you have to be willing to be able to bear criticisms, or even sarcasm, and don't take it to heart. If somebody tells you something bad, just let it go through here (points to one ear) and let it out the other ear. But that would be my first question or first advice. You gotta have patience, if you don't have patience, don't bother.

You gotta be able to communicate. Because...I don't know...there was like...the Phillippino guy that retired...were you able to....were you here when Ramon was still here?

I can't remember. I don't think so.

Yeah because Ramon was an old guy...so he was like..you know...from the old school. Like you don't...you don't let all these young kids walk all over you...you're the boss...because you're old and you gotta be respected. You can't say that if you're a doorman. Because, especially the culture in America...it's like...different. I mean people hardly call you 'sir' here. People just know your first names, and not a lot of people even say "oh mister so and so." They don't do that anymore. So that'd be my first advice.

And you gotta be a little thick, you know. And you gotta be able to explain so that the tenants in the building will be able to understand. Because that's one thing that's very important in this kind of business. If you can't make your tenants understand, that could create confusion....and confusion will create...it might create a situation where there'd be animosity between you, the management, the doorman, and the tenant. And you don't want that. Patience and communication. You got to be able to communicate.