So at this point, Louie the superintendent, has already written up Jose for not opening the door for 29G when he doesn’t have a bag, but Jose is continuing on being stubborn, not opening the door for 29G, no matter what. When Louie threaten to suspend him, Jose said, “SUSPEND ME NOW!” When Louie threaten to fire him, Jose said, “FIRE ME NOW!”

So the union comes in and explains to Jose that although what he’s doing may be company policy, it’s not union policy and that’s what counts. At this point, if he doesn’t open the door for 29G the next time they’re going to have to fire him. But Jose is stupid and stubborn and he’s like, “I’m old enough to be their father and their telling me what to do! So, just to send a message, BOOM! I took six weeks of vacation off, no notice. My wife is pissed at me because we were planning on using that vaction time to go back to Purto Rico later in the year and she's ragging on me the whole time.” So while Jose’s on vacation word of what’s going on here is spreading throughout the Marbough House and the union like AID’S and the day comes up when Jose has to to go back to work and everybody’s wondering, “What's going to happen?”

Now Jose has been working at the Marbough House for over thirty years, and many of the tenants grew up with him. Although he was really stubborn, Jose had a great personality and I must admit these lifestyles-of-the-rich-and-famous fuckers deep down really loved him. They viewed him as an extension of their family, like the family dog, if you will. Now these people are pretty sharp and everyone has taken it for granted that this is the day Jose’s going to get fired. So people are coming down to the lobby to say good-bye and it’s a heartbreaking. Old women are hugging him. Men in business suits are shaking his hand, giving him their business card going, “give us a call in a couple days,” like they’re going to hook him up with a job. Little kids are coming down with tears in their eyes, “Mommy, Jose is not going to be here anymore.” It's all very emotional, and in the true spirit of the union, union guys are even taking bets on exactly what time Jose is going to get fired.

Now 29G normally comes down at about 9 am, and 9 o’clock rolls around and no 29G. So union guys are calling down on the intercom, ‘cause they got money riding on this thing, and they’re like, BUZZ! “Jose, did 29G come down yet?” and Jose is like, “No, 29G has not come down yet.” Twenty minutes go by and no 29G, and now concerned tenants are calling down, BUZZ! “Jose, did 29G come down yet?” and Jose is like “No, 29G has not come down yet.” Another twenty minutes go by and no 29G, and people are like, “Well, maybe he had a change of heart, you know?” Maybe he felt sorry for Jose and really didn’t want to see him lose his job, and used the service entrance at the back of the building instead. Which is where they take out the garbage and is not the most glamorous way to leave the building. Now there’s a T.V. camera back there, and the monitor is up front in the doorman’s podium and people are calling down, BUZZ! “Jose did 29G use the service entrance?” and Jose is like, “No, 29G did not use the service entrance.” So now it’s over an hour past the time that 29G normally comes down and people are asking each other, “Have you seen 29G?” “Have you seen 29G?” “No, I have not seen 29G,” and now the entire building is wondering “WHAT HAPPENED TO 29G?”

Next thing you know lights are flashing, sirens are wailing, an ambulance pulls up to the Marbough House, paramedics get out and rush into the building, and Jose is like, “Excuse me gentleman, what tenant would like to see?” and the paramedics go, “29G.” So they go up there and they find the guy died, he had a heart attack on the day he was going to get Jose fired. So the paramedics bring 29G down in the elevator, the elevator doors open you see 29G in a stretcher, and in a body bag. So now, 29G has a bag and as they wheel him up to the front door to leave Jose goes to me, “Teddy, he had a BAG, so I opened the door for him for the last time...and this is why I am here to this day to tell you, 'DON’T TAKE SHIT FROM ANYONE! You can’t let these people push you around.'”