Omphoy Workers: We Live in Fear of Billionaire Owner Jeff Greene!

Posted by Jose Lambiet , January 27, 2012 Print

Employees at the fancy Omphoy Ocean Resort in Palm Beach say they live in fear of being fired at the whim of owner Jeff Greene, a billionaire whom they say is running their work-place into the ground!

Greene, left, with rocker Rod Stewart at the recent Palm Beach Policemen's Ball (Click on the Mike Jachles photo for more)

In extensive interviews highlighted with cellphone photos (click here) and internal memos, the picture that current and ex-resort workers paint of Greene’s presence at the Palm Beach boutique resort he bought in foreclosure is far from being flattering.

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They describe wild tirades stuffed with F-bombs that the 56-year-old Greene unloads on cleaning ladies, valets, kitchen staff and high-ranking managers, and spur-of-the-moment decisions changing the character of the four-diamond beach resort.

– Jeff Greene parties with rocker Rod Stewart, Donald Trump

And those who question his actions, as former Human Resources Manager Sunshine Cain did last month when two housekeepers came to her in tears after Greene’s wrath rained down on them, are often fired. Cain was spotted cleaning her desk a week ago and hasn’t been seen since.

Word of the dismissal comes on a week when famed Miami chef Michelle Bernstein, who runs the resort’s chi-chi restaurant, announced she’s severing her ties with the resort. The eatery’s Lindsay Autry, who’s currently starring on Bravo’s Top Chef, unexpectedly quit. And the spa, Exhale, is slated to shut down next month.

“Some staff members are simply terrified,” explained one former employee. Those who spoke with Gossip Extra fear retaliation and asked not to be named. “I’ve been at the receiving end of abuse. (Greene) cussed me out, told me I wasn’t a team player and to f…..g go work for a union. I’m working on a hostile work environment complaint.”

Calls for comment left for Greene at the resort, where he lives while his home is being remodelled, and with General Manager Henry Ball weren’t returned. Greene didn’t respond to an email asking for an interview.

Miami lawyer Stuart Grossman, however, responded on Greene’s behalf and accused “a former disgruntled employee” with a “vendetta” of spreading “fairy tales.”

“It was necessary to replace a few ineffective and unproductive employees . . . ,” Grossman’s email to Gossip Extra reads. “The hotel’s sales are up 30 percent over last year, and the hotel has never operated more efficiently.”

Four-diamond class? A blanket separates the entrance to Greene's suite from the rest of the hotel

On the laundry list of complaints against Greene:

– Since Greene, his wife, two children and two nannies moved into six suites in December, some spaces reserved for routine business and the guests’ comfort have been claimed by Greene. He reporteldy had a storage room emptied of its banquet equipment to build a playroom with a photo booth, juke box and movie theater. Greene also has contractors build a playground for the children in a small medidation garden outside the windows of the Zen-like spa.

What was once a zen-like meditation garden for spa users now is a private playground for Greene two children

– Greene has various resort employees, including valets and cleaning personnel, work at his house. HR head Cain was told to fire two women who returned from Greene’s house in tears after he allegedly called them “useless.” He reportedly didn’t like the perfume that one was wearing and told her she “smells like a whore.” Cain complained about Greene’s behavior to his wife, Mei, and got canned. She declined comment.

– Greene ordered to have department heads whose staff put in for overtime not approved by Greene pay for the OT out of their salaries

– Guests and health instructors have complained about yoga classes being disrupted by Greene’s children noisily running through the spa

– Greene, No. 200 on the Forbes 400 richest Americans and a former Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, slashed the resort’s health benefits

“Many employees are embarrassed with what’s going on,” one of the sources said. “Jeff Greene made a quick buck but that didn’t buy him class. He should recognize he can’t run a hotel and let the pros do it.”

For more:

– Rod Stewart, Jeff Greene star in Palm Beach Policemen’s Ball

– Top Chef star Lindsay Autry to Jeff Greene: Take this job and shove it!

– A former stewardess on Jeff Greene’s yacht tells all

Miami Palm Beach billionaire, Bravo, Exhale Spa, Forbes 400, Gossip Extra, Jeff Greene, Jose Lambiet, kitchen, Lindsay Autry, Michelle Bernstein, Omphoy Ocean Resort, Palm Beach, Stuart Grossman, Sunshine Cain, The Omphoy, Top Chef

« Previous

Jeff Greene, 1 year ago Reply

Yea the guy wearing a four thousand dollar suit is going to hold the elevator for my employees who dont make that in four weeks?? COME ON!
- anthony, 1 year ago Reply
  
  youre
  a punk n you dont get it!
A. Hitler, 1 year ago Reply

This guy sounds like a real prick
Brian S, 1 year ago Reply

She shouldn’t have worn that damned Coolwater that day.
Betty Shopper, 1 year ago Reply

Anyone who had Mike Tyson as his best man at his wedding…..well, that speaks volumes about him, doesn’t it? His behavior is on a par with Tyson’s in the ring….and his IQ probably a little under Mike’s, He knows ZERO about the hotel biz, and I’d be surprised if the hotel’s biz is running ahead of last year’s sales, although I did see they slashed the prices for rooms so low they are practically paying people to stay there—and during the busiest season they always have rooms available!! Last year the hotel was fully booked during the same time period!! I stayed there then and the staff was wonderful and the place ran like clock work.
Bodhisattva, 1 year ago Reply

Yea it’s funny that his lawyer commented they had to get rid of some Mananagers that were unproductive however all of them had been given promotions and pay increases. The sales numbers are beefed up to look as though they have stuff on the books but really don’t – it’s all a house of cards. Anyone who does a site there will see all the hideous statues and birds making the place look like a cheap museum will unlikely book meetings there. And I feel sorry for people who booked weddings because of Michelle Bernstein and now she’s gone. Every other hotel on the island is cranking right now and you walk into The Omphoy and sadly it’s dead and employee moral is down meaning people really aren’t gonna wanna come back. This guy Greene is toxic and people feel it – I heard one of the paying guests went on his kids trampoline and he yelled at them, the guest wanted to speak to the owner about how “rude” this person was not realizing he was talking to the owner. What a looser.
- John Who Knows, 1 year ago Reply
  
  He moved Fat and ugly people further away from his table as well. What a hospitality!
Not True, 1 year ago Reply

So many inaccuracies in these reports . The Omphoy is a great hotel with a great staff. Disgruntled ex employees shouldn’t make trouble it makes YOU look bad and class-less NOT the owner. you don’t work there anymore. Move on and leave them alone.
- Sunshine Cain, 1 year ago Reply
  
  OH Really Heather…..you make yourself look bad by never going to work…and don’t give me any advice I take advice from my attorney not from some idiot like you. Stay out of it – The truth shall set you free you big phony and I don’t care what you think anyway.
  - Sunshine Cain, 1 year ago Reply
    
    And by the way I’m not disgruntled I’m happy as hell to be away from the shit show called The Omphoy!!
  - Meow, 1 month ago Reply
    
    I’d fire your ass too, simply for having a name as stupid as “Sunshine Cain”
anthony, 1 year ago Reply

i live across from the four seasons n go to the omphoy often. this is not a case of digruntaled employees this guy is trashing up the place! he is a jack ass, seen first hand. ritz n the four seasons have my buisness.
Be Professional, 1 year ago Reply

There are a lot of misrepresentation in this report and the blogs that follows it. The Omphoy continues to increase it numbers and improve the quality of the product. If employees are so unhappy why not just pack up and leave. In Florida everyone has at will employment and no one if forced to work in a place where they are so “mistreated”. Some position calls for a high level of professinalism and I guess that is why some people are no longer working here
- Katir, 1 year ago Reply
  
  YOU ARE FULL OF SHIT AND OBVIOULSY OUT OF TOUCH WITH REALITY!
  - Be Professional, 1 year ago Reply
    
    I guess you are sitting at home unemployed so you are soooo in touch with reality!
M.A, 1 year ago Reply

@Be Professional– at will employment?! Last I checked Florida has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country so packing up and leaving isn’t exactly easy. What Mr. Greene fails to realize is that his hotel is new and hotels like the Four Seasons, Ritz, and Breakers don’t have to worry about gossip like this screwing up their business. I went there last Wednesday for dinner at Michelle Bernstein’s and the place was a ghost town, it’s high season and the place is dead meaning business is not as good as they make it out to seem.
- Joseph Wynne, 1 year ago Reply
  
  M.A. I couldn’t have said it better myself…the place and present situation at The Omphoy unfortunately speak for themself. Who ever is commenting it’s untrue by a disgruntled employee is just trying to keep there job and do spin control. I believe everything in this report to be true because I’ve seen it first hand period. The number of comments out way there “damage control”
- Be Professional, 1 year ago Reply
  
  Some jobs actually require people to work and there are a number of people here who enjoy their jobs because they love to work. And business is good here despite what you sit around lazily thinking.
Baffled, 1 year ago Reply

So pleased to respresent such a dedicated team of professionals who continue to provide outstanding customer service in a beautiful work place! Shame on those unfortunate misfits that are seeking employment elsewhere and continue to grumble from afar. Good ridance and please shut your trap. Amazing things happen in our five story resort without your dirty hands in the pot! New vision, committed team players and caring interested managers will move us beyond your perochial ways. So, please put an end to your whining!
- Eva, 1 year ago Reply
  
  BS …it will never change unless mr. Greene will sell the place. Leopard does not change his spots. How much Mr. G paid you to wrote this. Or threatened ?
GREENEADE, 1 year ago Reply

OMG I said it before and I will say it again, Jeff Greene should be in prison for the FRAUD he has committed to get gain. He used his properties to borrow on them and gain equity while running them into slums and to the hands of the Los Angeles Housing Department. The man is lower than a snakes ass. A snake is a much kinder animal than this freak of nature. He runs everything he touches into the ground except his bank account.
What kind of a woman could marry this despicable man and yet even more horrifying bear his children.
I am sorry he has taken over what once was a glamorous classy hotel. Jeff Greene is anything but.
FORTUNATELY He couldn’t buy a political position.
I wait eagerly to hear of his demise.
Inside, 1 year ago Reply

Let’s move on!!!!!
IWILLNEVERSTAYTHERE, 1 year ago Reply

Mr. Greene, and his corrupt group of sub-management, ought to be ashamed of themselves. It is obvious from all these articles that they have systematically harassed their current (or now former) staff members, and it shows in both the level of service, fearfulness and the complaints cited in the articles. People don’t write things like this unless it exists and those authors were improperly treated as part of the labor force. Mr. Greene, perhaps you should have stuck to finance….clearly hospitality, and appropriate people-management and treatment, is not your forte. I would much more likely be at the Breakers or the Four Seasons, or the Ritz, for the at matter, before I subjected myself to the horrific morale of your staff. If you think about it….your competitors hire ten times the total number of staff, and yet your hotel’s reputation is already AWFUL. That’s almost impressive within itself. Your personal attitude is directly reflected in your staff’s reactions; how sad that you have such little value for those that work for you. I can’t answer for anyone else, however I don’t enjoy being greeted by staff members that are fearful and unhappy. To me, the whole idea of that type of experience is a disgusting, autocratic example of poor management. I will be staying elsewhere, and will never recommend an establishment owned and run by people who are so incredibly inhumane. This is simply a shame, and you, sir, should be ashamed of bringing your high-dollar, low-brow mentality to Palm Beach.

Quite frankly, I don’t think any of the established residents are happy to have you there anyway, Mr. Greene. This is almost as good as your sad little run for Senate. When will you finally get it…? We just don’t want you here, no matter how much you made in derivatives….you just don’t fit in.
Eva, 1 year ago Reply

Mr. Green from Omphoy is taking away freedom of speech From his employees. He request all stuff to sign document what states that they can not give any negative information about him after they leave of get fired from company. Its sounds like dictator. Where are we? In China?
Eva, 1 year ago Reply

aahh i forgot…Mister Greene asked his restaurant mangers to move people to other table because he does not like to sit next to fat and ugly people. yes..he looks like Clark Gable
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May 2013 Guest, 1 week ago Reply

My story begins about 1 month ago. There were two specials on travel zoo for the “exclusive” Omphoy Hotel and Spa. As a Palm Beach county local I thought it would be a great gift for my husband’s birthday. A spa day with a massage and a facial for $99 and an Ocean front stay for $169. I bought both for use on two separate occasions so we could take advantage of the beach access and make a day of it.

For the 1st visit we went with the spa packages. The spa staff was friendly but the locker rooms are not in the same vicinity as the spa. You actually have to walk through the hotel between two different floors to use both the spa and the locker rooms. Odd, and walking though the common areas in a robe, even odder, but I was willing to over look that where some may not feel comfortable with this situation.
The massage was blah, very “going through the motions”.

After the massage we went to brunch and to spend some time on the beach. As we sat outside on a nice veranda area, we couldn’t help but notice a very rowdy group sitting on the north end of the veranda in an elevated gazebo. There was one women wrangling children as they rode big wheel like toys through the crowded Sunday brunch guests, one women standing at the end of the gazebo yelling to the waiter for a smoothie who was across the way, and another women sitting next to a man with his feet on the table. To call them rude and making a spectacle of themselves would be an understatement. I shot a look to our waiter…who had just been yelled to, and he apologized, “I’m so sorry, that is the owner and his family”. I sent him my most sincere look to portray empathy and said “That’s OK- don’t worry about it”.

After a little time on the beach we showered and headed back to the spa for our facials. The technician was lovely but gain, the worst facial I have ever had. I was very disappointed. Apparently, my husband’s technician was late coming to get him after I had gone in. He told me he sat waiting over 20 mins. This in turn left me waiting when I was finished for over 20 mins. To add insult to injury the spa was closing early for a wedding ceremony held I the yoga room. So I got to sit there in my robe with workers coming through to set up for the event. As I was near the end of my wait, I noticed another technician suddenly emerge and scurrying for water, I assumed she was the person who just finished working on my husband. I noticed she stopped to check her face and fix her hair and clothing. I found it odd and it immediately struck me that she was primping for a reason. After my husband reemerged he shot me a displeased look. We headed out back to the locker rooms where he told me the story of the technician coming on to him even though he spoke of his wife and kids. I laughed and told him about the primping and that I sort of suspected a crush.
Needless to say, I kind of dreading coming back in a couple weeks but, it was already paid for. We might as well give it a go.
2nd visit:
We arrived late afternoon on a Sunday. The same women who had been yelling at the waiter during brunch was standing at the entrance of the pool, yelling at the valet.
The place was very cold and damp so we headed outside for a drink and some appetizers’, not sure yet where we would be dining for the evening.
We had a hard time finding a hostess. We wanted to sit on the beach but they wouldn’t service us there, they said beach services were finished for the day. So we selected a spot on the couches and coffee tables to the north of the doors on the veranda. We placed our order and told the server that we would be heading down to the water for a few minutes to warm up in the sun.
After about 10 mins we assumed our drinks and apps were up so we headed back. As we walked up the stairs from the beach the kids of the owner were ransacking down the steps directly into us, no stepping to the side, no apologies from the adults. When we got to the top we were shocked to find our shoes, food and our drinks had been moved to another location. The waitress came by and didn’t say a word, but we called her over to bring new drinks; my husband’s wine was complete with flies. “Can you tell us why we were moved”? She responded, “That’s the owner and he wanted to sit there with his guests, I’m so sorry”, “Oh that’s nice” I responded sarcastically. “Well then can we sit in that gazebo” (The only place left with sun light for the afternoon). “Unfortunately that area is reserved for the owner as well so I can’t let you sit there.” Disgusted with the sight of the man we moved all the way to the south end of the veranda so we didn’t have to look at the man, and tried to enjoy my watered down drink and average appetizers.
At this point we definitely decided we would be heading up the road for an outstanding meal at the Flagler Steakhouse owned by the Breakers.

If you are the slightest bit observant you will quickly find that you exist in this world only to contribute to the lifestyle of the owner and his family. The poor staff is constantly put in the position of catering to the owner above you, the guest, at all times.

I evaluate companies and their employee relations for a living. At this point even an armature would know this is a hostile work environment, but I wanted to really know who this king on the thrown is. My 1st assumption was that he is a rich guy poser who lives in the top of a hotel so he can have 24 hour servants and write it all off on his taxes, but I Googled him anyway. I was wrong… this joker, Jeff Greene, is apparently a self made billionaire on the Forbes top 400. I guess you can’t buy class.

My review on Trip Advisor. Jeff won’t be getting another dime from me. I overheard him say he just bought the note on Testa’s. I will be avoiding that as well.