Hotel Manager Wall
Conspiracy '87's main hotel was the Metropole Hotel in Brighton. The hotel's General Manager, for unknown reasons, seems to have taken a personal dislike to the convention and to fandom, and went out of his way to make life miserable. (For example, at one point the staff was instructed to only allow people with rooms in the hotel to enter, in spite of a major part of the convention being held in its spaces. In another case it is reported that, apparently drunk, he harassed fans.)
During the Dead Dog Party, held at the Metropole, fans started posting hotel manager jokes on the walls in the area. (They were mostly variations of lawyer jokes, but why not re-use a good thing?) E.g., "Q: What's the difference between a hotel manager and a bucket of shit? A: The bucket."
Many hotel employees found reasons to walk through the area to enjoy the decorations...
Some years later, when British con-runners were negotiating with the GM of another hotel, the manager brought up Conspiracy '87 and mentioned that he'd heard that fans were abusing the Metropole's GM. The con-runners who were negotiating said to themselves, "oh, shit! There goes our chances!", and admitted that there had been some hard feelings. The GM said, "I'm not surprised...I used to work for him." They got the hotel.
From Andy Porter
| Conrunning | 1987 |
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