Justin Hemmes saves the day with a text
The story started out badly for Sydney pub baron Justin Hemmes.
Sydney make-up artist and tattoo Queen Gordana Poljak says she was barred from entering Coogee Pavilion, the popular venue owned by Hemmes. As a result, she attracted a lot of negative publicity.
The reason: her neck and hand tattoos.
She had come there to the venue in Sydney’s eastern suburbs to attend a friend’s birthday drinks. She was dressed nicely and looked like someone keen to have a good night out.
But the Coogee Pavilion security staff were over-zealous and told her she was not allowed in because of those tattoos.
According to the Daily Telegraph, the staff member no longer works at the Coogee Pavilion after causing so much embarrassment.
Poljak is Sydney’s ink specialist and the big name clients in her portfolio include Cate Blanchett, Russell Crowe and Pierce Brosnan. She knows all about tasteful tattoos.
Poljak is the former wife of Mike Willesee with whom she has a teenage son, Rok. She is also the former fiancee of chef Jason Roberts.
So Poljak went public with the matter. Enter Hemmes who stepped in with a well-timed and well-thought out text to Poljak.
According to Poljak, that was enough.
She said Hemmes had saved the situation with his choice of words in the text and his sincere apology.
“Justin has personally sent me a beautiful apology,” she told the Daily Telegraph.
“It’s really sad it happened, it’s not his fault. But, I did tell him, his staff are a reflection of him and his business.
“He’s doing his best to rectify the situation, I’m very impressed he took the time to apologise personally. It’s a perfect ending,”
Hemmes’ text message read:
Hi Gordana, I’m so sorry to hear this. And I would like to apologise on behalf of my staff if they were rude to you as we certainly don’t encourage or condone such behaviour. Can you please give me an approximate time of when and where this occurred and a description of the mgr, Once again, I’m sorry your night was ruined as I know how hard it can be to get all your ducks in a row for a night out without your child. Kind regards. Justin. p.s. I have nothing against tattoos at all so it’s certainly not a reflection of me.
by Leon Gettler, June 26th 2017
