It didn't take long for Donald Trump to criticize his
billionaire rival Richard Branson's new reality television show,
"The Rebel Billionaire: Branson's Quest for the Best."
When the show made its debut to low ratings last Tuesday, Mr.
Trump told the Daily News, "I thought the show was terrible
and he was terribly miscast." Another of his rival
billionaires, Mark Cuban, also has a reality show, "The
Benefactor," which had its debut last month, and Mr. Trump
is delighted to watch that show go "belly-up."
Mr. Trump's show," The Apprentice," while still drawing
viewers, is not performing as well as last year, so perhaps the
thrill of watching mogul entrepreneurs at work is losing its
appeal. I've never met any of these particular moneymen, but I
did work for Mr. Branson for two years a decade ago, and, while
he may not end up becoming a TV star, he is a great boss.
Virgin Atlantic Airlines used to have its New York reservation
offices on Morton Street in Greenwich Village. In a cost-saving
move, it was relocated to Norwalk, Conn., and only the Sales
Office remained here in Manhattan, on Park Avenue South. Had
Virgin not made that move, I would probably still be working for
the airline. There was, however, no way I could make the commute
from Staten Island to Norwalk, so I had to find other employment.
Virgin Atlantic treated my training class to a free trip to
London, so that we'd know what we were talking about with the
customers. We flew Upper Class, and there is absolutely no better
way to fly. The seats were like individual recliners, with large
monitors on the arms to watch the movie or videos. The flight
attendants offered neck massages and manicures. Meals were served
on English china and were gourmet-level. The flight was smooth as
glass. Upon landing, we toured the clubhouse, which had a
full-service salon, business lounge, executive game room, and
much more. In London, we were housed overnight at the Edwardian
Hotel, and all our meal expenses were paid by the company.
No, I do not own stock in the company, nor have I had any contact
with anyone at Virgin since I left. But I was impressed and I
still am with the quality of service that Virgin offered. I even
loved Virgin diet cola. Donald Trump may be a smart
self-marketing guru, but I doubt his employees have much access
to the Donald. I learned early on that Richard Branson is an
entirely different bird.
Our reservation office was not open to the public, but the local
management was set on instituting a formal dress code and the
employees balked at that. We weren't making much money and didn't
see the necessity of upgrading a wardrobe that the public never
viewed. A co-worker said she'd met Mr. Branson and had his
address, so I wrote a letter explaining our concerns, and the
following week, I was called into the office with the top
managers. Apparently, not only had Mr. Branson backed our
concerns, but the managers were told to set up an
employer-employee schedule of meetings at which we could vent our
complaints. I offered to edit a newsletter called The Virgin
Scoop, which was a great way to get off the phones and sharpen my
editorial skills.
When the decision came down to relocate, the office was abuzz
with concerns, and not enough information was filtering down to
the peons. Again I wrote to Mr. Branson at his London address. He
was on vacation on his privately owned Necker Island and
responded to my letter from there. He promised to look into the
situation - which improved considerably after that.
Whenever Mr. Branson was in New York, he would stop by the office
and listen firsthand, I'm told, to employees' concerns.
Unfortunately, it was always my day off, so I never did get to
meet him.
I have no idea if he's still as charming a boss as he was back
then. I've heard he's a bit of a crazy daredevil, who jokes that
the easiest way to become a millionaire is to first be a
billionaire and then buy an airline. I do know from other workers
who've met him that he is genuine. He appreciates his workers and
will listen to their complaints personally. I get the feeling, on
the other hand, that Mr. Trump's employees live in fear of those
dreaded words: "You're fired!"
"The Apprentice" may be a higher rated show, but Mr.
Branson really does have much better hair.