Paradou & Vadim Ponorovsky: Wrapping Up the Waiter Rage

Well, when we last checked in on the hands-down winner for Restaurant Rage of the Year -- Paradou owner Vadim Ponorovsky -- he was still fairly unrepentant about his debatable management style, which peaked when he sent a scathing, pejorative-laced email to his staff (to put it kindly). So, what happened since it went down hard on Friday? Well, for one thing, I knew somebody who was actually headed there.

Gawker, who originally had the email, called up Ponorovsky to get quote for him. Naturally, Ponorovsky exploded over the phone to editor-in-chief Gabriel Snyder, and they taped the conversation. Ponorovsky shot an email back to Snyder when the post went up, letting him know that his staff had been emotional after hearing of the saga, and that his wife and son had, as he tells it, received death threats. He also expressed the same sentiment to Eater, when he told them that (in regards to the death threats) “skulls will be cracked.”

The New York Post visited Ponorovsky and Paradou twice. It sounded as if he still hadn’t changed his tone, even to one of the three biggest newspapers in New York. Interestingly enough, they also spoke with some Paradou employees, who didn’t think much of the tirade.

The only parts he backed off on were the thick profanity, and he said that he really didn’t plan to fire or fine anyone. Despite the outrage that his memo caused online, several employees told The Post the memo was just Vadim being Vadim. “We know the type of relationship we have with our boss,” said bartender Damien Bertolaso, 27. “ He was asking us to do something, and we weren’t doing it. He sent us e-mail, and we started doing it, so it was a good move for all of us.”

What’s fair is fair. Whatever the case may be—media sensationlism or otherwise—the Post (maybe cruelly, but hysterically) put the collection of emails at Paradou to the test on an undercover visit. Not one server mentioned it to the undercover NYP operatives, and they confronted Ponorvsky. Results, as expected:

Confronted with The Post’s findings yesterday, Ponorovsky snarled at a reporter, “How much of your soul do you have to sell to do your job?”

Instead of thinking that maybe his methods might have been proven, again, to be ineffective, Ponorovsky lashed outward. New York’s full of shitty bosses who scream at their employees. Why cause people extra stress? Yelling just doesn’t help every situation; even so, Ponorovsky’s standard is just abusive, regardless of the context. It’s not something I can advocate paying into (neither are restaurants who—shamelessly and without intent or any indication of awarness—serve foie gras so unabashedly. And I eat foie gras!). So, given the chance, I didn’t.

A small, dumb advocacy, but one—after talking with Ponorovsky, hearing the call tape, and watching the story unfold—I felt pretty okay with making.