Monday, July 21, 2008

How to Lose A Customer, Then Almost Totally Redeem Yourself

So I was at Nobu in Las Vegas because they've been one of my big stops for ages.  They have incredible sushi and wonderfully imaginative dishes.  It's normally well worth my time.  However, after parking (I let my family out at the front because the Hard Rock Hotel was a madhouse that night due to a party for a local magazine), I went to the Nobu entrance and the maitre d' wouldn't let me in.  Why not?  It's not because I was wearing a golf shirt.  It's not because I was in shorts.  It was because I was wearing open-toed sandals.  Not flip-flops, but open-toed sandals.  This was posted at the front, but it wasn't ever mentioned to me when I made the reservation.  Not only that, but women could go in wearing anything short of a bathing suit.  That means that not only could a woman get in with more skin showing than some married couples see in their lifetimes, but also someone dressed like this could get in before me.
Not that I have any problem with the homeless, unless they can get in a restaurant and I can't. I called my wife and we hemmed and hawed and I was getting more and more annoyed with Nobu when suddenly they had an unpredictable change of heart. I could go in...I just had to put on socks. I went and bought a pair of socks at the Hard Rock sundries shop and looked like a goober the rest of the night, but I got my sushi.  My biggest complaint is the no-dress-code dress code.  If you're going to have one, that's fine.  I've eaten at places that still require a jacket and tie.  I don't care, but be consistent.  Don't outlaw something so foolish as sandals for men only.  Say that you require business casual or a jacket and tie or a black (white) tie. 
I felt better about things after they actually let me in and as we left the hotel I made an eco-promise on the eco-promise board.  To highlight the absurdity, I made a ridiculous promise:
My daughter loved the foam hands that 944 (the local mag having the party there) gave out.
The law in Nevada is no children within 15 feet of gambling areas.  I defy you to find 15 feet of walking corridors in most hotels on the Strip.  What a worthless law.  Why not make it 100 feet, or 1000?  While we're on the subject of ridiculous things, can we please stop calling strip clubs "Gentlemen's Clubs?"  There's not a single gentleman who walks in there, and I don't care how much money they have or how well mannered they are.  Call a spade a spade.  I would love to see the term "Horny House" or "Nekkid Dance Emporium" come into wide use.

Here's the convention center carpet at the Venetian, for Mickel:

4 comments:

themickel said...

I'm telling you-your Vegas trip is ruining my whole carpet theory. Casinos don't count, as they have an interest and the resources to come across as classy. It must be a city-owned convention center carpet, or no carpet at all!

Oh yeah, and way to stick it to the man with your sandals. I agree with the women's clothing thing. The hypocracy there reminds me of the whole public breast feeding controversy-somehow a woman's chest covered with a blanket is offensive, but breasts plastered over advertisements is not.

Beau Sorensen said...

I've got some convention center carpet in Ft Lauderdale coming up in October that should get your theory back on track. I've got a training in Cleveland here next month. If it's in some sort of convention center, I'll help your theory there too.

Michael 聖 Brady said...

I was out to Salem, OR last week, but the training was in a training center, so the carpet was boring. We never get to go to conventions :(

Anonymous said...

Seeing a little girl throwing a giant foam Shocker is so wrong somehow.

Glad they let you in. Not letting someone into a restaurant that's in a frickin' desert is also completely wrong. Of course don't get me started about a sushi restaurant IN the desert. Also wrong.

Good post.