A Message About Privacy

Hello -

Recently, friends and co-workers have brought some unsettling rumors to my attention. I guess it's appeared on Craig's List that I, as a Club Pittsburgh employee, keep extraordinary surveillance on our members' personal information. It's rumored that I know all our customers' addresses, as well as the cars they drive. Nobody has bothered to contact me directly to ask me about these rumors – it's all “anonymous” postings on internet message boards. Let me say that I have no interest in our membership's personal information whatsoever. Such information is of no use to me.

I have worked very hard over the past seven years to separate my personal life from my professional endeavors. I do not live in a neighborhood that is popular with the gay community. That is intentional. I don't drink, and I'm not a very social person by nature. Therefore, I do not patronize the gay community's bars, clubs, or after-hours establishments. I'm not criticizing these business -- it's just not my lifestyle. I am not a member of any of the gay community's social or charitable organizations, including the Delta Foundation. I have made a conscious choice not to get involved. I have no vested interests in the politics of the gay community beyond fulfilling my professional obligations and earning my paycheck. I have no social connection to the owners and employees of the city's other gay businesses. In fact, because I'm more or less a recluse by choice, I haven't even met most of them. I HAVE NO ANIMOSITY TOWARDS ANY OF THE BUSINESS OWNERS, THE CHARITABLE ORGANIZATIONS, OR THEIR EMPLOYEES. I ENCOURAGE EVERYONE TO PATRONIZE THESE BUSINESSES, AND TO STAY ACTIVE AND INVOLVED. I JUST SIMPLY CHOOSE TO LIVE MY OWN LIFE PRIVATELY. I work at Club Pittsburgh because of the excellent wage and benefits. That, in turn, provides me with security to quietly live my life outside of Pittsburgh's gay drama. I just want to do my job and be left alone.

Even if I were interested in our customers' personal information, the sheer volume would make keeping track of it impossible. I see hundreds of customers each week, which I'm sure has amounted to tens of thousands over the past seven years. That's tens of thousands of names and addresses. I'd like to think that I'm a reasonably intelligent guy, but frankly, I can't remember what I had for breakfast this morning. I do not have the capacity to retain that much information. I am not Rain Man. The claim that I somehow know what you drive is even more ridiculous. Club Pittsburgh doesn't have a parking lot for customers. I never even see their automobiles. I have joked to customers that I have a knack for identifying a manufacturer by a key. But a generic GM or Chrysler key could potentially start hundreds of different models. I could not waltz down the street and identify someone's car by the key.

For the past few years, part of my job responsibility has been to maintain and expand some sort of web community. Writing this blog and generating web content has been extremely difficult because I am so committed to protecting our members' privacy. Because I don't want to betray anyone's confidentiality, I will often use stories from my own life as filler. These blog entries are always a light-hearted attempt at humor, and I frequently fill my stories with exaggeration and hyperbole. Perhaps comments that I have made in the past have been taken out of context or misconstrued. I record your personal information when you visit Club Pittsburgh because it's part of my job. Frankly, that information is of no use to me personally.

If I was ambivalent about the Pittsburgh gay community before the events of the last month, I am now certain that I have no personal interest in all this drama. I have known for seven years that there are some members of our community that bear considerable animosity towards Club Pittsburgh. Each person is entitled to his own system of values and believes, and although I do not understand these prejudices, I've tried not to let them interfere with me doing my job. Lately, the attacks and accusations have become very personal. I am completely stunned and deeply saddened by all of this. I have always tried my best to be a good employee and an excellent servant to our customers. In fact, that's true of all of the fine men that have been my co-workers over the years.

I realize that these prejudices are the crusade of a very small minority. I am grateful for the love and support of the majority, who has been so kind and generous to us for all of these years. Thank you for your phone calls, your emails, and your kind words when you visit the club. It's your support that has made the recent hassles of my job worthwhile.

Thanks,
TowelBoy