New York Daily News – by Nancy Dillon
This bar sure showed one sailor some stinking standards.
Manhattan’s swanky Standard hotel has issued an apology after a Navy officer wearing her iconic white uniform was turned away by a bouncer — during Fleet Week.
The sailor was blocked at the elevator to the Top of The Standard lounge around 8 p.m. Saturday when she arrived with three others who wore cocktail attire, one member of the spurned group told the Daily News on Monday.
“We walked in, went to the elevator and were stopped by a doorman who said, ‘Hey man, there’s a dress code,’ said Ryan O’Connor, the husband of the sailor’s cousin. “I said, ‘Wait, are you rejecting us because someone is in a service uniform?’ He kind of rolled his eyes and wouldn’t budge.
“I was wearing a $400 blazer and dress shoes. We were all dressed nice. The only person sticking out was the Navy officer,” he said. The sailor requested anonymity.
O’Connor, a 32-year-old tech consultant, said he asked someone at the hotel’s front desk to intervene on his group’s behalf and was told the decision was up to the “lounge’s discretion.”
“We were all shocked and upset,” he said. “This was Memorial Day weekend and walking distance from Ground Zero. This should have been a no-brainer.”
The Rhode Island sailor stationed in Virginia declined to give an interview Monday, but her relatives spoke out and sent an email to The Standard’s management expressing their outrage at her treatment.
A general manager responded to the family by email Sunday and invited the sailor back.
“We most certainly do appreciate and take a lot of pride (in) all the young people giving their lives to defend our nation,” manager Nayara Branco wrote to the family.
“As per regular protocol, our team at the Top of The Standard is instructed to enforce a dress code — which obviously should not apply to military uniforms. Once again, our sincere apologies for the miscommunication at our end, the issue has been brought to all of our team’s attention and it will certainly not repeat itself,” the manager at Top of The Standard & Le Bain said.
“It would be a great honor to host her and her fellow colleagues” at some point in the future, she wrote.
O’Connor said the apology was a first step, but the hotel has to make sure it follows through.
“I’m calling on The Standard to really examine its policies. People serving our country should be a priority,” he said.
“The fact that her uniform wasn’t labeled Versace shouldn’t have prevented her from going in,” he said. “They need to have a greater sense of the bigger picture.”
Branco told The News in an email that the sailor had already gotten a return invitation.
“We have invited the officer back and will take care of her and her friends and ensure their satisfaction,” Branco said Monday.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/standard-hotel-apologizes-navy-officer-turned-article-1.2235380