Apparently, though, Pauline Bailey, 27, and Paul Carty, 51, were not good enough for one employee of Stoke Park Hotel in Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire. Michele Connelly did not specify why she felt the couple were unworthy to wed at Stoke Park Hotel, but it seems she found them not ‘the type of people’ who should be allowed to marry there.
And how did the happy couple learn this factoid?
Well, it all started when they tried to book the hotel for their june wedding. They met with Connelly and were given a tour of the facility. They spoke of specific plans. They did not balk at the ten thousand pound price tag, and in point of fact added another thousand pounds to said price tag by asking for a fireworks display. They planned to invite only thirty guests, so it can’t have been that there wasn’t room for all those people, either.
The happy couple went home and waited to hear confirmation of their date… and waited… and waited. After ten days, they contacted Connelly to ask what was happening and why they hadn’t heard back. Connelly emailed back saying she’d been on vacation during that period and they would hear from her shortly.
They did.
The next day, Connelly sent an email to her sales manager, Carlo Zoccali, begging him to give her a way to deny the couple a spot on the calendar.
Too bad for her she cc’d it to Bailey and Carty, too.
The only reason Connelly gave for wanting to put the couple off was that they are ‘not the type of people’ she wanted to rent to. For the record, both are gainfully employed. In fact, Carty works for the Ministry of Defence as an engineer. Bailey is a counsellor. So unless she has an unreasoning prejudice against engineers or counsellors, what is the problem? There has been no accusation or evidence of untoward behavior on the part of the couple in question.
Bailey believes she knows the answer. Her theory? That it’s about the age gap between her and her intended, and possibly his pierced eyebrow.
And that’s why Bailey and Carty are currently seeking legal counsel with an eye to bringing a lawsuit in the matter.
Let that be a lesson to us all to a) do our best to treat all comers as fairly as possible, and b) always be very, very careful to whom we forward our emails.