On May 19, 2005 I was in New York City attending the Association of College and University Mail Services conference hosted by NYU.
A group of ten or so attendees had gone to dinner and then saw an off-Broadway show at a small theater in Greenwich Village.
As we were walking back to NYU, we noticed a string of limos parked in front of one of the buildings. As we got closer to the entrance, we could see a large crowd beginning to form.
There was a buzz in the crowd and some excitement in the air as my group tried to figure out why there were so many limos and why this large crowd was gathered.
At that moment, I remembered reading that the finale of The Apprentice was being broadcast live from NYU. I looked at my watch and realized the show must have ended. I turned to the group and asked if they wanted to hang around and see if we could get a glimpse of Donald Trump.
The group agreed and we were hanging around the sidewalk in front of the exit doors.
It seems that I should take this opportunity to describe my attire.
I was dressed in a pair of grey dress slacks, black shoes, collared shirt, and a blue blazer. I was sporting a flat top hair style, carried mirrored sunglasses in my blazer pocket, and wore my Blackberry (geesh, was it that long ago) on my belt.
I was still fairly new to the mail business after transferring from the campus Public Safety Department.
Suddenly, some fellows in similar-looking clothes exited the building and asked people to move away from the door. They proceeded to move everybody aside but me. I quickly realized what was happening, winked at my group, and started to ask people to please step back.
Soon, there were temporary barriers set up and I found myself inside the barriers.
I decided to play along while the group I was with laughed uncontrollably.
I reflected back to my crowd control days on campus. I had helped to provide security for Howie Mandel, The Gin Blossoms, and some lesser known shows.
I stood with my back to the glass exit doors and scanned the crowd. I refrained from smiling and occasionally took my Blackberry from my belt and pretended to be looking at messages. I placed one of my ear buds from the phone into one of my ears.
This performance went on for about 15 minutes, much to the delight of the ACUMS conference attendees..
The crowd on the sidewalk grew larger and larger and suddenly there seemed to be a lot of commotion behind me.
I heard one of my pretend security brothers' radios call, "Mr. Trump is in the elevator and on his way to street level."
The rest of "my teammates" were asking the crowd to step back. I looked back, saw the elevator doors open, and observed Mr. Trump and his entourage step out.
He chatted to a few people and then made a beeline for the exit door.
At this point, he could have exited out of at least a half dozen different doors. I thought to myself, "How do I get him to exit through my door?" I turned and opened the door behind me. He switched direction and headed my way.
I held the door and said, "Good evening, Mr. Trump" and extended my hand in a handshake gesture.
My first impression was how tall he seemed. I've been around tall people (especially basketball players) on campus, but he seemed much taller than I would have thought. He stopped and looked down at my extended hand. He then looked me directly in the eye and gave me the now infamous "Trump sneer." Without saying a word, he walked through the door I was holding open for him and into a waiting limo.
As he walked by me, I realized the gig was up. His security detail (which up until a few seconds ago, I had been a part of) quickly asked me to step to the other side of the barricade. I obeyed the command (this chap was of substantial height and girth) and joined my group who were laughing hysterically. I called out to the security man, "Dude, I thought we were brothers." He didn't laugh.
On our walk back to our building several members of the conference group informed me that Trump is a germaphobe. Everyone knows he doesn't like to shake hands. When you offered your hand to him, he knew you weren't one of his people.
I suppose everybody knew that little detail but me.
In any case, many people have lots of reasons to not vote for Trump. The reason I won't be voting for him (assuming he gets the GOP nomination) is because the man dissed me. What kind of a man doesn't shake hands with another man when it's offered? He left me hanging in front of my friends and for that Mr. Trump, to paraphrase the Soup Nazi from the television series Seinfeld, "No vote for you!"
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