Rafat Ali, founder and publisher of Paidcontent, recently moved into his Murray Hill rental, so he held a housewarming party. When he told his doorman he would be expecting guests, things got a little crazy. According to Brick Underground, the doorman eventually told him, “You think you’re better than us. I Googled you and because you sold your company for however many millions of dollars, you think you are a bigshot.”
Before revealing his Internet research, the doorman had told Ali, "You can’t go on the roof," in a manner that rubbed Ali the wrong way, so Ali responded, "Okay, but now that you said that I might." The doorman also threatened to have Ali thrown out of the building, leading Ali to Tweet, "my doorman says he googled me & knows i sold my company. & he is holding that against me, sez i have bad attitude. i am gobsmacked" and "is there any chance i would prevail in a social media campaign against my doorman or building?"
After he complained to the super, Ali received a written apology from the doorman. The NY Post is now working on a story about the incident, prompting Ali to say, "i might be thrown out of my apartment after this. anyone have a spare room?" When we caught up him, Ali said he really isn't that worried, "just concerned for now. Depending on how New York Post plays it up, I may get in more trouble, I think. But I have a genuine case, and the apology was very perfunctory." In a rental, he probably can't get thrown out if he has a lease...but if it were a co-op board, fuhgeddaboutit.
And a Brick Underground commenter, "openthedoor-man," says he does Google tenants: " I recall the reason for my inquisitive nature and it was because the resident I was looking up is an individual who can be quite snarky, arrogant, and sometimes repulsive in their behavior and what they say, especially towards staff."
