The Dinner Recommendation
In a major US city, a cousin works in a branch of an internationally renowned, high-end hotel chain. Two years ago, someone asked for his dinner recommendation and didn’t care about the cost. My cousin knows what’s popular in the city and has some recommendations.
Next day, the man asked him for his name and gave him $100. He also said that dinner was fantastic. Then he asked where they should go to eat that evening. The next day, he gave another $100. This time, however, his manager was there to see it and asked my cousin a few moments later “Do you recognize that person?”.
He was an old-money guy who had a good reputation. But this was only the beginning. Two months later, when my cousin was at work, he was told by his boss that a person was calling him at 6pm and that they wanted to talk to her cousin. The conversation was brief, and basically went something like “we’re coming to town for four nights next month, please book us all four fabulous dinners. We trust your opinion.”
The family assistant was emailed to inform him of the plans. When the family checked in, they said hello to him and expressed excitement about their dinners. The family gave him $1,000 for his “wonderful local knowledge” four days later when they checked out.
