THE PAUL HAKER STORY
I went to The Cattleman, a bar restaurant in Manhattan in 1982 to get a job analyzing handwritings because I had been hugely successful working at The Steer Palace at Madison Square Garden. While I was sipping a coke I began talking with two men, and one of them was a marketing guy from Rochester, New York. His name was Paul Haker.
When I was telling Paul Haker about my career as a Certified Document Examiner, Paul Haker was telling me how to market my skills. My specialty is using multiple large and self-explanatory exhibits. His plan was to have huge exhibits with me when talking to lawyers and to mail out big exhibits too.
I took his advice and it helped my career. So I decided to spoil him by treating him to dinner at the best restaurant in New York City. I called him in Rochester, New York and told him to let me know when he was going to New York because I wanted to take him to dinner.
Sometime later he called me to say when he would be in New York. The best restaurant was called Trumpets at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. So I went there and introduced myself to the Maître D. I carefully explained that I was treating a businessman to dinner the following night, and it would be very embarrassing if he were given a check. I gave him my business card as Amanda Stevenson, and two hundred dollars, and explained that it would cover dinner, a 25% tip to the waiter and $50 to him. If anything was left over, he could leave it on my side of the table. [Neither Paul Haker nor I were “drinkers”] He said, “No problem.”
When we arrived the next evening, the Maitre D. said, “Good evening, Amanda Stevenson, let me show you to your table.”
Paul Haker picked up a book of matches with my name on them, and said, “Wow! This really is your table!” I was just as surprised as he was.
The restaurant’s chef, in full regalia, came over to us and said, “Miss Stevenson, I have prepared some special Hors D’oeuvres just for you.” I thanked him sweetly, and we ate the delicious appetizers and ordered our lavish dinners.
“You probably think I’m some bigshot marketing man, but I never ate like this before. Once in Omaha, Nebraska I had a great meal, but I was just one of a group of guys. When I get back to Rochester, I’m going to get a much better job, so I can be treated like this a lot! I deserve to be with a better company.”
Paul Haker did get a better job with a national known company, and he also taught marketing at a college in Minnesota. I never saw him again, and I never heard from him again, but he will always be remembered for helping me become very successful in my field. I helped him too, by treating him the way he deserved to be treated. It was a life-changing experience for both of us, and it certainly was one of the best meals I ever had.
I found Paul Haker’s obituary and asked his daughter Shannon Haker to send me his photograph.
From Shannon Haker.
Amanda,
That was an amazing and wonderful story. I can tell you he was a one of a kind. He had the biggest heart, and greatest mind of anyone I have ever known. I do not say this because he is my father. It comes from fact. Thank you again, it is such a wonderful story!!!
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