By not renting the room or registering as a guest. (How to pull that off, and still get a hotel room? You get someone else to do it for you.)
During televangelist Jim Bakker's trial on federal charges in 1989, arising from the previous year's PTL club scandal, he suffered a breakdown and was sent by the presiding judge to a federal medical facility for several days' observation and evaluation.
Tammy Faye followed along . . . and stayed at a hotel at which I was working, the Days Inn in Durham, North Carolina.
This was arranged very much on the fly and, even so, security was tight. It had to be. The trial, and particularly Rev. Bakker's breakdown, was a badly sensationalized news story at the time. There was a lot of 'tabloid' interest in that case as it progressed. Morning disk jockeys were making Jim and Tammy Faye the butt of cruel jokes, and even regular TV news programs had broadcast a tearful, rather unflattering reaction to the events by Tammy Faye.
Yet, it all went so well because it was elegantly simple. The best way to keep a secret is to not tell anyone.
A woman traveling with Tammy Faye had rented two connecting rooms in her own name, and the front desk was left a request to not connect any calls to either of those rooms unless the caller asked for Tammy Faye's companion, by name. (I don't even remember the woman's name.) We had a security guard (an off-duty Durham sheriff's deputy who worked for us part time): he was asked to be extra vigilant about people roaming through the common areas who had no reason to be there, and to keep an eye on those two rooms.
No one employed by the hotel ever saw Tammy Faye in person: she was let in through a back entrance. During the day, she left the hotel for the federal facility nearby, did not return until late, and each day the housekeepers freshened the room, having no idea whose room it was.
Total number of people who even knew she was there: four - the g.m., one desk clerk, one night auditor (me), and the security guard.
And two of us weren't supposed to know. The desk clerk had been present when the party had checked in and overheard what was happening (Mrs. Bakker's arrival had occurred somewhat unexpectedly). I got word of it from the security guard, who was unaware that I hadn't been told already and thought I was privy to the arrangements.
Originally appeared on Quora
During televangelist Jim Bakker's trial on federal charges in 1989, arising from the previous year's PTL club scandal, he suffered a breakdown and was sent by the presiding judge to a federal medical facility for several days' observation and evaluation.
Tammy Faye followed along . . . and stayed at a hotel at which I was working, the Days Inn in Durham, North Carolina.
This was arranged very much on the fly and, even so, security was tight. It had to be. The trial, and particularly Rev. Bakker's breakdown, was a badly sensationalized news story at the time. There was a lot of 'tabloid' interest in that case as it progressed. Morning disk jockeys were making Jim and Tammy Faye the butt of cruel jokes, and even regular TV news programs had broadcast a tearful, rather unflattering reaction to the events by Tammy Faye.
Yet, it all went so well because it was elegantly simple. The best way to keep a secret is to not tell anyone.
A woman traveling with Tammy Faye had rented two connecting rooms in her own name, and the front desk was left a request to not connect any calls to either of those rooms unless the caller asked for Tammy Faye's companion, by name. (I don't even remember the woman's name.) We had a security guard (an off-duty Durham sheriff's deputy who worked for us part time): he was asked to be extra vigilant about people roaming through the common areas who had no reason to be there, and to keep an eye on those two rooms.
No one employed by the hotel ever saw Tammy Faye in person: she was let in through a back entrance. During the day, she left the hotel for the federal facility nearby, did not return until late, and each day the housekeepers freshened the room, having no idea whose room it was.
Total number of people who even knew she was there: four - the g.m., one desk clerk, one night auditor (me), and the security guard.
And two of us weren't supposed to know. The desk clerk had been present when the party had checked in and overheard what was happening (Mrs. Bakker's arrival had occurred somewhat unexpectedly). I got word of it from the security guard, who was unaware that I hadn't been told already and thought I was privy to the arrangements.
Originally appeared on Quora
No comments:
Post a Comment