Rhodes seems to have found a new line of questioning. "You do that a lot," he comments as he picks up his utensils and cuts into his fish.
"Do what?" I ask after my first mouthful of salad.
"You thank people a lot. I saw it a lot the first night we met as well." I shrug my shoulders and tuck some loose hairs behind my ear. I wasn't aware that my politeness was something novel to him.
"Well, I've worked in the service industry for most of my life. I waitressed through high school, and I still do now. Sometimes you can feel a little bit robotic, people don't really acknowledge you that much, so you feel very inhuman. But when someone is polite or nice to you, it just makes you feel like a person again. So I do it for other people when the roles are reversed. A little bit of kindness can go a long way." By the end of my ramblings, I feel a little bit like one of those public service announcements they used to do on the Disney Channel. You know the ones: 'Bullying is bad, don't be a bully, be kind!' Rhodes smiles a little.
"That's lovely, really it is. I forget to be nice sometimes, well most of the time," he chuckles a little, like he doesn't think that I've noticed. "In business, I guess it's just different. It can be a bit of a brutal place sometimes. If you let your emotions take over, then you won't be successful." I finish a mouthful of salad before I respond.
"Well, doesn't that kind of suck? That you can't be both kind and successful?" The smile that he gives me reminds me of one you give a child when they ask a seemingly intelligent question, like why is the sky blue or what are clouds made of.
"Sometimes, but I'm not complaining. I've made a name for myself all over the world and I've provided a lot of jobs to a lot of people and given a lot to various charities over the years. I've done my fair share of good, despite the tough decisions I've had to make." He takes a sip of his beer when he finishes. I don't want to dive deeper into why he thinks it's fair that he's an ass because he writes some checks.
"So why hotels? How do you even get into the hotel business?" The more he talks, the less I have to talk. But then the more he talks, the more opportunity he has to say something rude or offensive. There's a fine line, I've just got to learn how to walk it.