I Moved to Boca Raton for the Job of a Lifetime. Then the Phones Didn’t Ring.

I was supposed to make $100,000 a year.

That’s an important detail.

Because nobody moves from Chicago to Boca Raton, Florida, at my age, after an entire career behind the chair, because they think it might be fun to see what happens.

I moved for a job.

A very good job.

Or at least that’s what I thought.

It was 2021. I had spent decades building my career as a hairdresser. I’d owned salons. I’d worked with wealthy clientele. I’d worked in Chicago’s Gold Coast. I’d managed a salon and spa at Saks Fifth Avenue. I’d trained, traveled, reinvented myself and survived an industry that is not particularly kind to people who can’t produce.

I could produce.

So when the opportunity came to work at the salon at The Boca Raton, I thought I knew exactly what I was walking into.

I didn’t.

Welcome to Paradise

If you’ve never seen The Boca Raton, it’s difficult to explain the place without sounding like you’re exaggerating.

It’s enormous.

Palm trees. Yachts. Golf. Restaurants. Spa. Beach. Beautiful people wandering around looking beautifully moisturized.

And money.

Lots and lots of money.

The historic resort was undergoing a massive transformation under new ownership involving Northview Hotel Group and MSD Partners. Hundreds of millions of dollars were being invested in reinventing the property.

I was going to be part of it.

I found an apartment nearby.

I packed up my life in Chicago.

I moved to Boca Raton.

And I went to work.

There was only one tiny problem.

The phones didn’t work.

The members of The Boca Raton resort were never told why they found it hard to get dinner reservations or why it was impossible to make hair appointments.

AND YET Membership prices went from 35K to 100K per year!

A Hairdresser Without a Telephone

This sounds almost comical now.

It wasn’t.

Hairdressers work on commission.

We don’t get paid because we show up and look fabulous in the salon. We need people sitting in our chairs.

And to get into the chair, traditionally, a client does something terribly sophisticated:

They make an appointment.

At a luxury resort, that might be a member calling for her color appointment. A hotel guest wanting a blowout before dinner. Someone booking a manicure, facial or massage. A bride. A businessman. A woman who has just looked at herself in the Florida humidity and declared a state of emergency.

They call.

You book them.

You perform the service.

You make a living.

Except people were having enormous difficulty reaching us.

And I was new.

I didn’t have twenty years of Boca Raton clients stored in my phone. I had moved there specifically because I believed this enormous luxury property would provide the clientele necessary to build my business.

So I asked questions.

And I was reassured.

Things were being fixed.

Things were getting better.

Hang in there.

So I did.

Hope Is Surprisingly Expensive

I think that’s the part of employment stories we don’t talk about enough.

When your employer tells you things are going to improve, you don’t simply believe them emotionally.

You make financial decisions based on that belief.

You pay another month’s rent.

You buy groceries.

You pay insurance.

You don’t look for another job.

You don’t move home.

You use your savings because surely next month will be better.

And then you use more savings.

I flew back to Chicago to work on clients because I needed money.

Then I flew back to Florida because this was supposed to be my new life.

I kept waiting for the career I’d moved there to have.

And slowly, horribly, I began realizing something:

Maybe the problem wasn’t temporary.

I Wasn’t the Only One

I watched other employees struggle.

People needed second jobs.

People left.

There were walkouts.

And meanwhile, members and guests were also struggling to do something as basic as reach departments and make reservations.

I became increasingly angry about what I believed employees had—and had not—been told.

I started documenting.

Dates.

Conversations.

Emails.

Promises.

I confronted managers.

I asked questions.

And eventually I did what apparently I always do when something smells funny.

I started writing everything down.

David, Meet Goliath

I spent my savings hiring attorneys to pursue my case against MSD Partners and The Boca Raton.

At first, that felt empowering.

Finally!

Lawyers.

Documents.

Justice.

Cue the courtroom music.

Except eventually the conversations with my attorneys started sounding very different.

Litigation would require more money.

Then potentially more money after that.

The organizations on the other side had resources I couldn’t begin to match.

And a prolonged legal battle could continue until I was financially and emotionally exhausted.

There is a peculiar moment when you realize you may be right about something and still not have enough money to find out whether a court agrees with you.

I was a hairdresser taking on Goliath.

And Goliath could afford billable hours.

I couldn’t.

So I walked away from the lawsuit.

But I Didn’t Walk Away From the Story

That’s how Jon-David & Goliath was born.

If I couldn’t spend years fighting the story in court, I could tell it.

I had the chronology.

I had the documents.

I had my memories.

I had my voice.

And, fortunately for everyone involved, I had a microphone.

So I sat down and made a podcast.

Five episodes.

Plus a bonus episode.

And something unexpected happened while I was producing it.

The podcast became therapy.

Not therapy in the clinical sense. Nobody was sitting across from me with a notebook asking how that made me feel.

This was my kind of therapy.

I organized the evidence.

I reconstructed what happened.

I said the things I’d wanted to say.

And I turned something that had made me feel powerless into a story I controlled.

Why I Released Jon-David & Goliath

I knew the ownership group was involved in real-estate investment, and I believed The Boca Raton would eventually be offered for sale.

When the property later went on the market, I released the podcast.

In Jon-David & Goliath, I discuss issues that I believe prospective buyers, investors and others interested in the property should investigate for themselves. I talk about my experience as an employee. I discuss what I describe as problems with the physical property, including rot and mold. And I raise questions about the land beneath portions of the resort and the potential expense associated with maintaining and improving such an enormous historic property.

Those are serious subjects.

They are also my account, my conclusions and my questions.

Listeners can hear what I have to say and decide for themselves.

Did My Podcast Make a Difference?

Years later, The Boca Raton remains under the same ownership.

Do I believe Jon-David & Goliath had something to do with the property not being sold?

Yes, I do.

Can I prove that?

No.

And there’s an enormous difference between those two statements.

I can’t tell you that my podcast prevented a sale.

I can tell you that I made my story public.

I raised questions I believed deserved to be asked.

I put my experience somewhere it couldn’t simply disappear.

And the podcast is still there.

I Won’t Take It Down

As ownership explores residential and condominium development associated with The Boca Raton, Jon-David & Goliath remains available to anyone who wants to hear one former employee’s account of what happened behind the gates of one of America’s most famous luxury resorts.

Employees can listen.

Members can listen.

Prospective residents can listen.

Investors can listen.

You can listen.

I don’t need you to believe everything I believe.

That’s not why I made it.

I want you to hear the story.

Hear what happened to me.

Hear the evidence and circumstances I present.

Hear the questions I asked.

Then make up your own mind.

Because I may have walked away from the lawsuit.

But I never walked away from the story.

Listen to Jon-David & Goliath

Jon-David & Goliath is Season 3 of The Mafia Hairdresser Chronicles. The complete five-part nonfiction story, plus the bonus episode, is available through major podcast platforms and on YouTube.

Listen to the story. Then decide for yourself.

A New Podcast from Jon-David

 Through heartfelt storytelling, this podcast navigates the intricate web of family ties, revealing the strength and resilience required to overcome personal challenges. Each episode offers listeners a chance to reflect on their own journeys, encouraging growth and understanding in the face of adversity.