There just might be a diamond in the rough outside Tiffany’s.
Since June, Alfred Carpenter, from Bensonhurst, has been standing next to the luxe Manhattan store with a sandwich board strapped across his shoulders.
“Available for hire,” it reads. “Born in Brooklyn.” It also lists the 67-year-old’s resumé: former doorman, former Ferragamo sales associate. (He keeps paper versions at the ready, too.)
Carpenter’s been getting attention — but what he really wants is a job.
“A lady came to me yesterday in a Mercedes. She stepped out of the car, wished me the best and took my resume. I got the car door for her,” Carpenter told The Post. “People walk by and give me a thumbs up. A guy from Germany took my picture. Some people think I’m a movie actor, shooting a movie. I offered to hail a cab for three ladies whose car wasn’t there when they came out. I’m a nice guy who’s had some bad luck.”
Though he recently landed occasional work with the MTA, as a weekend test monitor, Carpenter, who is single, told The Post that he needs the kind of solid job he has not had since 2020.
“I worked as a doorman on East 80th Street, beginning in 2016,” Carpenter said. “Covid came and I got switched from evening to overnight. My sleep rhythm was out of whack. I saw a psychiatrist, I took sleeping pills, but nothing helped. I wanted to switch back and the company wouldn’t help me. I resigned. I didn’t want to, but I couldn’t do it.”
Since then, Carpenter figures that age discrimination might be hampering his job prospects.
Age-wise, he added, “People at certain ages can’t get job. I’m 67 and employers don’t want anyone that age. But they don’t tell you they discriminate. They just ghost you. I’m an old man and I can work.”
A recent report from New York City Health Department revealed that 29% of young New Yorkers polled believe senior citizens should not work.
Things went from bad to worse for Carpenter after he lost the doorman gig. When city gyms closed during the pandemic lockdown, he took to the streets and began running.
“I hurt my foot, saw a podiatrist and he did a procedure,” said Carpenter. “It sounds crazy, but he put a hole in my foot. I wound up in the hospital … I could have died from a blood clot! I tried suing the podiatrist, but a lawyer told me it would be too difficult.”
By early 2022, he was depressed and at loose ends. “I wound up in the psychiatric ward of Lenox Hill Hospital for two weeks,” Carpenter said. “They gave me medication and it helped.”
“All I get is social security,” he said. ” I’m eating Twinkies every day. And that is not a joke.”
Rough as life became, Carpenter knows that serendipity can work in his favor. Back in the 1980s, he said, he was a regular at the happening nightclub Area — where he met club impresario Steve Rubell, who was getting ready to open Palladium with Ian Schrager.
“They hired me to be the doorman for the VIP entrance,” recalled Carpenter. “I am the best doorman in New York City.”
More recently, Carpenter said, he scored work as an extra in “The Penguin,” a series starring Colin Farrell that is scheduled to drop in 2024 on Max. According to an email seen by The Post, he even generated interest from Tiffany in a doorman job that did not come through.
That is not the only close call: “One guy came up and told me he needs a chauffeur. Unfortunately, I don’t drive.”
Ever confident, Carpenter seems up for taking what he can get. “I will be out here everyday — winter, summer, whenever,” he said. “I need a full-time job. I’m not leaving until I get one.”
