WORKPLACE HAZARD

Trump D.C. Hotel Staff Finally Tell All: ‘Inside I Was Dying’

Employees had to memorize an elaborate, seven-step process for serving the former president his Diet Coke.

Ivanka Trump showing up in yoga pants to drink a margarita by herself; managers making a tiny gold “private office” plaque to put at Rudy Giuliani’s table; suppliers sending rotten veggies or their worst produce. With Trump out of office and his D.C. hotel struggling, employees have finally gone on the record to Washingtonian magazine about how hellish it was to work in the de facto White House for four years. A chef recalled Trump complaining that his dining companion’s steak was bigger than his, and employees had to memorize a seven-step process for serving Trump his Diet Coke.

One employee said he was harassed when he wore his work uniform during his Metro commute. People yelled at him, “Shame on you! How can you work for a person like that? You’re a racist!” Latino employees said some family members refused to speak to them. Workers dressed like “Fox News anchors” and pretended to be Trump supporters in order to keep the peace. Soon after starting the job, a manager said a colleague was talking up their boss. “I looked at them and was like, ‘You know what? You’re absolutely right,’” she said. “And inside I was dying.”