The Ridley

The green light of the hotel sign emanated, beaconing me in.

The Ridley.

It was my hotel, my blood, sweat and tears.

So when it was recorded #1 on The World Luxury Hotel list, you would expect that I would be invited to the celebrations that followed.

And yet, I wasn’t

I had fought tooth and nail to build this hotel from the ground up. I had hired every single one of the staff members that worked there. It was because of my expertise in marketing that the hotel skyrocketed to fame. I gave the hotel its name, after the street address of my childhood home. Even the goddamn green lights of the hotel sign were my idea because I adored the colour green.

So why pray tell, was I not invited to the celebration of my hotel?

Yes, I may have stepped down as the active owner and CEO. I now monitored the hotel’s progress from a distance, choosing instead to focus on my kids. But this success, was every bit as mine as it was of the current CEO.

I had sacrificed two marriages, being present during my children’s childhood and any semblance of a social life to keep this hotel running seamlessly.

As a woman in business, I had to work twice as hard as any man to be taken seriously, to do what I wanted. I was faced with criticism, prejudice, negativity, yet I never complained. I found solace in the knowledge that I was creating something great, something that was mine and mine alone.

Just because I was no longer in charge of it, did not make this hotel any less mine.

Underappreciated. That’s how I felt. It’s a horrible feeling, isn’t it? Feeling unvalued, like you wasted your time on people who don’t respect you. It’s soul-crushing.

I felt like a failure, like nothing I did was recognised or important. I sacrificed so much for something that didn’t acknowledge me in return.

Even worse I felt forgotten. I had done all this to build a name for myself. To be known as an enviable force in the world. I hoped to build a legacy that would last lifetimes, yet it looked like the legacy had moved on without me before my own lifetime was complete.

What infuriated me most was that the program for the event honoured Kirk Chambers. The man who replaced me. He was accepted almost instantly when he took over. The investors had no problem with a man in power. He didn’t have to prove himself or even work hard for the title. Everything was handed to him on a silver platter, while in the past I had to grovel like a measly dog just to be considered.

I was fuming as I stood outside the hotel, observing the steady stream of invited guests that filtered into the hotel to attend the ongoing celebrations. I could hear loud music blaring from the functions room.

After I had several weird looks from incoming attendees for awkwardly loitering outside, I decided that I might as well go inside, I mean I was already here.

I snuck in amongst a large group of people and hid in the shadows, near the back of the room. Not that I needed to put in that much effort. Even the people that I recognised who came face to face with me, looked right past me like I didn’t exist. It was probably guilt, I thought. They felt bad for forgetting to invite me, so they were going to pretend like it didn’t happen. Pathetic. I didn’t realise my staff were this cold-hearted.

The lights started to darken, signalling that the event was about to begin. The guests found their seats around the tables that were scattered around the room. Even the cleaning man had a place card with his name on it.

Kirk flipping Chambers took to the stage located at the front of the room. With a spotlight and mic in hand. I was expecting him to pull out some passable jokes as was customary in a Kirk Chambers speech, but instead, he looked straight at me. Baffling, considering I had been ignored this entire time.

“Ladies and gentlemen, our guest of honour has arrived.” His voice boomed over the speakers.

I stood frozen in confusion. Was I so upset that I was hallucinating? Dear God, maybe I do need to go back to therapy.

Kirk walked towards me, the spotlight following him, signalling that yes, this was really happening and no, it was not all in my head.

“You didn’t honestly think that we'd forgot you did you? Who’d you think left the fake program on your desk?” he said, eyebrows raised comically.

I couldn’t help but laugh. They got me, they got me good. And here I thought I was too smart to fall for predictable hoaxes like this.

His eyes fixated on something behind me. I followed his eye line to see my name in green lights, plastered across the dark wall I was standing in front of. They had named the functions room after me, in my honour.

They brought me here under false pretences, making me feel unappreciated, yet all along this had all been for me.

Turns out I was being appreciated after all.