Stanley Bard - This Ain't no Holiday Inn: Down and Out at the Chelsea Hotel 1980-1995 - page 152

talking to the desk clerk, you might be able to walk behind someone and shoot
up the stairs.
ROBERT CAMPBELL
Stanleyalwaysletyouknowhewasontoyou.HetoldmeIwasadeadbeat.Iwas
so naïve, I didn't even know what that meant! When you started hiding out from
Stanley, you almost never left your room for fear of Stanley finding you, you'd
stay in your room so long. You'd sort of lose track of which day was which. You
knew nothing about what was going on in the outside world.
We'd always be wanting to know if Stanley was down in the lobby, and what
kind of mood he was in. Because he would just stand there at the front desk.
When he happened to be out of town, it was the greatest. You would just come
and go as you pleased, and you could go down into the lobby during the day.
PAUL VOLMER
What was amusing was that when I first moved in, I worked as a waiter, and I
wouldcomehomeandgenerallytakemytipmoneyandgiveittothedesktopay
part of my rent. But I was always a little behind—sometimes I owed like sixty or
seventy dollars. Later on, I learned there were people that owed him thousands
of dollars. But I guess he thought I was vulnerable, and he would always harass
me as I went through the lobby. For just this little money, he would never miss
an opportunity to harangue me.
One night we stayed up all night partying in the hotel, and then we left the
hotel to go out for breakfast. When we came back into the lobby, Stanley was
there, and here we were, the four biggest rent slackers walking in there together.
Stanley was totally steamed! We were a thorn in his side, especially me, because
I hung out with all these so-called worst people and yet I was also working for
him as a bellman.
ROBERT CAMPBELL
Just about everybody owed money there. They'd finally pay in chunks of three
thousand or five thousand dollars. Stanley wouldn't accost you in the lobby too
often, in public, in front of other people. Only if he didn't have anything else to
do and he was in a really bad mood would he say something to you in the lobby.
Instead of stopping you in the lobby, he might phone you up in your room
and say, “Uh, Mr. Campbell, this is Stanley Bard down in the office. The man-
agement is really upset with you. You owe them so much money.” He never ac-
ted like he was the manager and owner of the hotel. He acted like he just worked
there, which was a total scam.