Marriott hotel worker quits with an entire marching band - USA Today
Did you hear about the young man who quit his job at a Marriott Renaissance hotel in Providence, R.I., accompanied by - a marching band? Seriously.
If you haven't yet seen what Marriott tells Hotel Check-In is "an unfortunate way for an employee to resign," you will soon.
I'm talking about a YouTube.com video that's well on its way to going viral. Zimbio.com, in fact, says the video received half a million views in less than a week.
The video also has 1,873 comments on it.
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In the "Joey quits" video, a guy named "Joey" who wears a red shirt brings his band mates along so that he could make a statement when he quit his job at the Renaissance in Providence. He says in the video that he'd worked there for 3.5 years and that employees are treated poorly (he uses different words).
The shaky video starts with Joey walking into the hotel's employee entrance, ushering in a trumpeters, a tuba player, a marching band drummer and other friends.
Worker's background
Watch the video to see what happens next.
They gather and lay low until a manager arrives about 1:55 into the clip - and then the drama and music from What the Cheer? Brigade commence.
CBSNews.com quotes "Joey" on what prompted the musical fanfare: He'd worked at the hotel full-time so that he could pay his college tuition and living expenses:
"This was not a job I had for two weeks before quitting in a hissy-fit. The working conditions in the hotel are horrendous. In the kitchen, workers are regularly forced to work 10, 11, 14, 16 hour shifts that begin at 5:30AM and last well into the night. Housekeepers are reprimanded if they fail to clean 16 rooms or more in a 9 hour shift. Anyone who speaks up--especially anyone who is openly pro-union--is disciplined or fired...I worked extremely hard to change the conditions in the hotel. My co-workers and I regularly organized ourselves to push back against management and demand respect. I was also one of many workers who led the fight to organize a formal union at the hotel. The hotel has yet to recognize our union, and they continue a vicious union-busting campaign."
Websites ranging from HuffingtonPost.com to the UK'sDailyMail.com have already written about the video, generating still more views that any hotel would envy - were it for different reasons.
Marriott's response
A Marriott spokeswoman confirmed to Hotel Check-In that the employee did work at the hotel in question from July to until Aug. 26, 2011.
"You know that we take employee satisfaction very seriously as a company - creating a sense of community and pride within our hotels is a top priority. The Renaissance Providence actually has a number of employee programs in place that encourage health, wellness and employee satisfaction. While this is an unfortunate way for an employee to resign, we are confident that hotel management works closely with staff to continue to find ways to make the hotel a rewarding place to work for everyone."
Second incident in less than a week
This happens to be the second story since Friday about a hotel worker who departed their hotel workplace under unusual circumstances - and both hotels happen to be part of the Marriott family.
Last week, the castle-like Casa Monica Hotel in St. Augustine, Fla. - part of Marriott's Autograph Collection of independent hotels - fired a worker because he refused to remove the American flag lapel pin that he'd worn for two years. Hotel Check-In readers wrote more than 200 comments.
Readers: Watch the video clip first. Comments?
18 Oct, 2011--
Source: http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNFDXX6BdkVqNzQY_DFfoxDJ2nZISQ&url=http://travel.usatoday.com/hotels/post/2011/10/marriott-renaissance-worker-quits-with-big-band--trumpets/554659/1
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