I. NEED. JOB.

I don't read Gawker daily, but I just caught up on the back-posts and, wow, they are on top of their shit! I wasn't really going to talk about this, but since GAWKER is, I suppose I will too.

Last Thursday, June 26th after organizing a huge breakfast for some PR company beauty product launch in the place of my previously happy employment, I was called to a meeting with the general manager of the place. In that meeting, the grand announcement was that the restaurant had been sold, and everyone there was immediately out of a job. That place was Bette-- owned by Miss Bungalow 8 "Nightlife Queen" Amy Sacco, which Gawker knew about the next day. CRAZY.

Here's the article:

Is this the end of Amy Sacco? We're going to say it is. The onetime NYC nightlife queen's restaurant Bette in Chelsea—formerly considered a complement to her club Bungalow 8, a food-and-fun empire that would never be destroyed—is closed. No big to-do; just a lock on the door, and the end of an era. What happened?

A tipster to Eater says:

At Bette last night for the closing party. I live and work in the area and dined there fairly regularly. The bartender told me that Amy Sacco sold the restaurant and gave the staff about 8 hours notice.

Cold. Why, we remember a few years back when we were talking about Sacco's "quest for total domination," and HBO was planning a story about her rise to fame. She had so much success in the city, she said she'd rather die than return to her native Jersey.

Then things started to slowly go downhill. Rumors flew that Sacco was stiffing her PR agency; the usual suspects started placing bets on when Bungalow 8 would close. Her doorman struck out on his own. She tried to export her magic to London, but failed to find the same popularity.

Sacco recently called New York nightlife—and herself—"overrated." Now she's been proven right.

YES, GAWKER. The notice given was completely cold. I cannot say much more, as I loved working at Bette. I loved all those I worked with, although I stood in the same room with Amy only once the entire time I worked there (She did give me hand-me-downs from goody bags she didn't want though, which was nice.) I actually had gotten up at 5am to throw a private event beginning at 7am that ended up being a total stressful nightmare, to only have my hard work followed by the news that I was out of a job before noon. I might as well tell you friends, lurkers, and stalkers, I was and still am in shock.  The meeting promptly commenced with a round of drinks on Bette. Cheers! 

(I did not attend the closing party, however. I chose to stay home and ordered Chinese food, watched movies with my boyfriend, and sulked like a good sport.)

NOTE: Even though it's easy and fun to pick on Ms. Sacco, we should all be looking at this from a much broader angle. I've watched the cover counts in several popular restaurants in NYC decline over the past year or so, and it wasn't because they had lost their edge. People simply can't afford to blow all their dough on decadent dining right now! Sacco's decision to chuck Bette was probably just good business sense. She's simply cutting off the (non-profitable) fat to save room for the meat (i.e. whatever other endeavors she is sitting on these days.) As I mentioned in my previous post, Jann Wenner may be looking to do the same thing! Everyone knows the economy is in the toilet, but if the rich kids are watching their backs, is anyone looking out for the rest of us?