It didn’t take long for Donald Trump to criticize his billionaire rival Richard Branson’s new reality television show, “The Rebel Billionaire: Branson’s Quest for the Best.” When the show made its debut to low ratings last Tuesday, Mr. Trump told the Daily News, “I thought the show was terrible and he was terribly miscast.” Another of his rival billionaires, Mark Cuban, also has a reality show, “The Benefactor,” which had its debut last month, and Mr. Trump is delighted to watch that show go “belly-up.”

Mr. Trump’s show,” The Apprentice,” while still drawing viewers, is not performing as well as last year, so perhaps the thrill of watching mogul entrepreneurs at work is losing its appeal. I’ve never met any of these particular moneymen, but I did work for Mr. Branson for two years a decade ago, and, while he may not end up becoming a TV star, he is a great boss.

Virgin Atlantic Airlines used to have its New York reservation offices on Morton Street in Greenwich Village. In a cost-saving move, it was relocated to Norwalk, Conn., and only the Sales Office remained here in Manhattan, on Park Avenue South. Had Virgin not made that move, I would probably still be working for the airline. There was, however, no way I could make the commute from Staten Island to Norwalk, so I had to find other employment.

Virgin Atlantic treated my training class to a free trip to London, so that we’d know what we were talking about with the customers. We flew Upper Class, and there is absolutely no better way to fly. The seats were like individual recliners, with large monitors on the arms to watch the movie or videos. The flight attendants offered neck massages and manicures. Meals were served on English china and were gourmet-level. The flight was smooth as glass. Upon landing, we toured the clubhouse, which had a full-service salon, business lounge, executive game room, and much more. In London, we were housed overnight at the Edwardian Hotel, and all our meal expenses were paid by the company.

No, I do not own stock in the company, nor have I had any contact with anyone at Virgin since I left. But I was impressed and I still am with the quality of service that Virgin offered. I even loved Virgin diet cola. Donald Trump may be a smart self-marketing guru, but I doubt his employees have much access to the Donald. I learned early on that Richard Branson is an entirely different bird.

Our reservation office was not open to the public, but the local management was set on instituting a formal dress code and the employees balked at that. We weren’t making much money and didn’t see the necessity of upgrading a wardrobe that the public never viewed. A co-worker said she’d met Mr. Branson and had his address, so I wrote a letter explaining our concerns, and the following week, I was called into the office with the top managers. Apparently, not only had Mr. Branson backed our concerns, but the managers were told to set up an employer-employee schedule of meetings at which we could vent our complaints. I offered to edit a newsletter called The Virgin Scoop, which was a great way to get off the phones and sharpen my editorial skills.

When the decision came down to relocate, the office was abuzz with concerns, and not enough information was filtering down to the peons. Again I wrote to Mr. Branson at his London address. He was on vacation on his privately owned Necker Island and responded to my letter from there. He promised to look into the situation – which improved considerably after that.

Whenever Mr. Branson was in New York, he would stop by the office and listen firsthand, I’m told, to employees’ concerns. Unfortunately, it was always my day off, so I never did get to meet him.

I have no idea if he’s still as charming a boss as he was back then. I’ve heard he’s a bit of a crazy daredevil, who jokes that the easiest way to become a millionaire is to first be a billionaire and then buy an airline. I do know from other workers who’ve met him that he is genuine. He appreciates his workers and will listen to their complaints personally. I get the feeling, on the other hand, that Mr. Trump’s employees live in fear of those dreaded words: “You’re fired!”

“The Apprentice” may be a higher rated show, but Mr. Branson really does have much better hair.