It turns out the Russell Crowe phone-throwing episode was captured on tape. It’s also being reported that Crowe didn’t just throw a phone at Mercer Hotel concierge Nestor “Josh” Estrada, but also a vase. It’s also been written in this “Page Six” piece that what got Crowe so enraged was Estrada saying “whatever” after Crowe repeatedly complained that he couldn’t get an international phone connection. Now I know who the real bad guy is. I’ve dealt with guys like Estrada all my life and their “whatever” attitudes about life’s challenges, and they really don’t belong in service industries. When a celebrity wants you to hop, there is one and only one answer, and that is “how high?” A guy who says “whatever” about anything a valued customer needs is selfish and indifferent and living deep inside his own flabby head. And now Estrada has an attorney, Eric Franz, trying to milk Crowe for all he can…despite Estrada’s having barely been grazed by the flying phone. Estrada is not a man — he’s a girl. He’s the kind of guy who always goes “waaahh, you hurt my feelings….waahh, I’m telling the teacher” when he bruises his elbow or scrapes his knee. Crowe acted in a vulgar and detestable manner by doing what he did but if you’re going to act like a brute, third-raters like Josh Estrada are the best ones to give it to. This column stands four-quare against anyone and anything who says “whatever” in response to any kind of hard-to-figure situation…unless, of course, the using of this term is in some way appropriate.