Snappy newsletters. Simple Facebook sharing. Spirited comments. Sweet features are waiting… GET THEM NOW!

NY Hotel Boss Axed for Ash Wednesday Slur

Palace Hotel chief bounced after mocking Catholic bell captain

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Mar 25, 2009 11:00 AM CDT

(Newser) – The boss of a ritzy New York hotel has been canned for ordering a Catholic employee to lose his Ash Wednesday ashes, reports the New York Daily News. The manager of the Palace Hotel—located across the street from St. Patrick's Cathedral—told the bell captain "wipe that f-----g s--t off your face" when he showed up for work after church. The head of the luxury hotel chain flew in from London to personally hand the boss his pink slip after learning of the incident.

[Images (2)]

[Quotes (1)]

A person has his forehead marked with ash at a mass to mark the beginning of Lent, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2009. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

The New York Palace Hotel is on land leased from the Catholic church. (PRNewsFoto/Dorchester Collection)

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow

My priest did a real number on me. - Palace Hotel bell captain Mike Murray

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow

To report an error on this story, notify our editors.

More Newser Stories

Giant Hotel Opening in North Korea, 23 Years Late

Ryugyong Hotel a longtime laughingstock

(NEWSER) - More than two decades ago, North Korea began work on a hotel taller than the Chrysler Building. This spring, after years of ridicule, a portion of Pyongyang's Ryugyong Hotel is set to open, the Washington Post reports. The 105-story building made of concrete still isn't ready for tourists, however: It will start as an office complex. The opening is thanks in part to contributions from an Egyptian telecom company—as well as construction work by university students that the government assigned to the project. More»

Hotel Workers Take to Web, Rat Out Awful Bosses

...and co-workers, owners, clients...

(NEWSER) - When it comes to disgruntled hotel workers, Joey DeFrancesco is about as famous as you can get. He became a YouTube sensation last month after posting a video of him quitting his job of 3.5 years at the Renaissance Providence—where he says he was "treated like shit"—with a marching band in tow. But the injustices of the world can't be righted with the click of a play button (which, incidentally, has happened nearly 2.9 million times so far). And so DeFrancesco started the Tumblr Joey Quits , where hotel workers can "make public their stories of unjust workplaces." His intention is not to have travelers boycott named hotels (he says he wants workers to "know they're not alone"), but he does tell CNN that the public can "let their disapproval be known with their wallets until things change." More»

Behind the Scenes at America's Biggest Hotel

5K rooms, 8K workers, 12K guests per night at MGM Grand

(NEWSER) - Though boutique hotels are on the rise, their giant cousins are holding their own—and at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, that means providing a quality stay for 12,000 guests per night. As the Wall Street Journal explains in a feature, that also means 8,000 employees maintaining 5,000 rooms, with 46 tons of clean sheets. With the help of a machine, one employee can fold 1,000 folded hand towels per hour; dryers hold 300 pounds of dirty laundry; and a million-dollar washing machine cleans nonstop. More»

Vatican Offers Pilgrims Abortion Forgiveness for 6 Days

Excommunications to be lifted at Madrid's World Youth Day

(NEWSER) - The Vatican is marking World Youth Day celebrations in Madrid by offering women who have had abortions an easy way to become Catholics again, reports the Guardian . Abortion is punishable by instant excommunication and "normally, only certain priests have the power to lift such an excommunication, but the local diocese has decided to give all the priests taking confession at the event this power," explains a spokesman for Pope Benedict XVI. More»

Why Hotel Maids Need Our Help

And no, this story has nothing to do with Dominique Strauss-Kahn

(NEWSER) - When you think of dangerous jobs, housekeeper doesn’t usually spring to mind. But it’s becoming a pretty hazardous profession, thanks to the “amenities arms race” that has big hotels installing luxury mattresses that weigh more than 100 pounds each, writes activist Donald Cohen in the LA Times . A recent report found that housekeepers currently have a lofty injury rate of 7.87 per 100 workers. To put that in perspective, the Department of Labor puts the rate for all workers at 3.4 per 100. More»

NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS

What is Newser?

Face it: there's too much news. At Newser, we choose the most thought-provoking and entertaining stories from hundreds of US and international sources and reduce them to a headline, picture, and two paragraphs. And we do it 24/7—you can come back morning, noon, night (and in between) for something new that matters. Read less, know more.

Learn more »

Partnering with: Slate

View Newser on the mobile website

NY Hotel Boss Axed for Ash Wednesday Slur