hotels

I set foot inside most of Manhattan's fanciest hotels this past week, for the first time ever. I was distributing flyers for an art event sponsored by the PB company i mascot for. If you're in NY this weekend, it's the first time i can recall that you can see me as the monkey at a free-admission event:
http://ilovepeanutbutter.com/nutropolitan
I did about one hundred hotels, from the Comfort Inn to the Plaza. The experience was alternately fun and frightening. I had some sweet, genuine interactions with desk clerks and concierges. There was one girl who was almost inexplicably excited by my visit, and it gave us both much pleasure when i gave her some gifts...coupons, a pin, a plastic monkey.
I set foot inside a Trump building for the first (and Persephone willing, last) time. You know how your imagination can create an idea of an environment, but you know that the real thing would never be that good (or awful)? I had imagined Trump's buildings to be as soulless as the man. I walked up to the desk with a happy smile though, laughing at my own prejudice.
The clerk i interacted with overshot ANY voyage-of-the-damned cliche you might care to conjure.
I was almost relieved that he wanted no part of my flyers. I can't recall a single human i've ever met who seemed so profoundly constipated. His smile was so artificial, i thought his face might shatter if tapped.
Another ultra-swank hotel had a candlelit lobby with lounge chairs five feet wide and six feet high. I looked at the fifteen patrons therein. The air of satisfaction was unmistakeable. There was one non-white person. She was cleaning up.
I wanted to walk to her, open my wallet, and say in a clear voice, "Ma'am, i'm going to give you all the money i have. I'm not rich, it won't be much. I strongly recommend that every other human in this room do the same, and then please sit back down and think about your lives, because somewhere, something went horribly wrong."
I thought about saying it.
I didn't.
That woman i gave the monkey to was a pip, though.