“Are you the first to arrive” she asked?  What may seem like a simple question actually  falls into the category of “ARE YOU REALLY SERIOUS?”!!

For those of you not familiar with NYC apartment security, if a concierge is on duty you are required to provide an apartment number in order to gain access to the building. The concierge then calls and announces your arrival.

Last evening I was invited to attend a small dinner party in my friend’s beautiful apartment in Chelsea. After walking what seemed like miles from the subway in the heat and humidity (actually only one Avenue and 2 blocks !) I entered the cool oasis of her upscale lobby. Sounds great so far, right?

However  (and there is a however)….  the concierge on duty was so completely distracted by her cell phone and a bag of Cheetos she didn’t notice my arrival. Much to her obvious annoyance I  finally got her attention and provided my friend’s apartment number. Her reply, as noted in my opening sentence, totally confused me. After I asked her to repeat the question I realized she wasn’t kidding! I took a deep breath, gathered as much patience as possible, and sweetly replied that I had just walked in the door so how could I possibly know who had come in ahead of me (or for that matter where they were going!) and that perhaps if she had been paying attention to her job rather than her cell phone and bag of Cheetos she would have realized the stupidity of her question (actually I only said the first part out loud, the second part was a thought bubble :-). After calling the wrong apartment twice she finally got it right and “voila” I was granted access and provided with some amusing dinner table conversation!