Aunt Betty had the misfortune of outliving her husband and two of her children. Unfortunately her surviving son made her last years miserable. A 60 plus year old crackhead who never had a job and lived off his productive parents. A total waste of oxygen.
She didn't deserve this no good creep of a son. Couldn't even be bothered to pay the mortgage the last few months and it wasn't like the money was coming out of his pocket. I never liked the mumzer and now I never have to speak to him again. Yippee.
I watched a big sale vaporize this week. Six figures. I have tried to analyze the thing from a few directions and have come to a few conclusions about myself. I don't deal with the super rich very well. I do okay with your garden variety rich and your rich rich but not the super rich. Tough deal. Never easy.
Now I have colleagues that march into mansions like Hannibal over the Alps and have the super elite diving for their checkbooks like a hungry shark in the Red Sea. Not me. They take one look at me and all the air goes out of the balloon like a popcorn fart. I don't quite know what it is about me so I asked around.
I tried to break down the deal with my friend M--- who certainly qualifies in the most latter category. I explained the deal and what I was asking and my financial position and the schematics of the whole thing and he yells "STOP! You're asking for sympathy Robert, none of us want to hear that. That isn't how the game is played." Left me with my mouth wide open. He never finished his sentence and gave me the crash course on the deal that he was supposed to. But I got the gist of it. No one wants to hear it and don't be a party pooper!
I rued M---'s words and tried to make sense of the whole thing this week. I had been possibly played for sport, an occasional pastime of the rich. Or just totally fucked the whole thing. Today my buddy I will call M2 came by. Rich rich. I proceeded to break the whole thing down and he let me have it in the kisser. Wham! "Rob, you big whining baby, stop your crying. You want to see hardship come with me and visit my special needs granddaughter who is going to have to live under constant care and supervision for the rest of her life. Pay for five kids college education and support the kid who can't find a job, and then cry to me, you big sissy (or words to that effect.)
M2 really started connecting with body shots. "You go to these fancy ass places like the Torrey Pines Lodge with your pals and swill your wine and eat your fancy ass food and then you tear into the guy on the blog that has the nice sports car and hurt your feelings. You want to have it both ways Rob, when you are down everybody has to know it and feel your pain but besides that you are living the high life. Give me a break. I was so angry with you when you wrote that blog, you have no idea. Don't shit on the people who are keeping you alive." Hmmm, have I been biting the hand that feeds me?
I am actually really glad that I have friends like M2 and M that can keep me on the straight and narrow. M2 continued, "The reason you can't swing the deal with the super rich is that you are too laid back. Too nice. These guys are coming to joust and they want to be had. They are craving a battle. You can't lay your cards on the table with these people. That takes the fun out of it for them. They look at Mr. Mellow and lose interest."
I think that my friend may have a point. Maybe I am just not a big enough avaricious prick. That is why some of my compatriots in the trade do so well. They are ensconced in tony locations like Laguna and Carmel and can play real rough, just like their opponents want them too. Pretend all this stuff means something. Or the client can pay more money at auction where they can win in a public forum and reaffirm the power of their pocketbooks. I on the other hand have this stupid idea that everything can be a win win and want to be your friend and all and it just doesn't cut it with a certain strata. But who freaking knows?
I prefer to deal with people I genuinely like and respect. I have three or four regular joe clients on the arm right now paying off paintings that might take them six months to pay off. School teachers. Scientists. Middle class. Upper class. No class. But real people who love art, not necessarily people seeking another conquest. But who am I to judge? Not fair to accuse a whole class of some imaginary sin. Everyone does things for their own reason.
Now I suppose that some of my bitterness goes back to the old class envy thing. The kid who fell off the mountain and looks at everyone who had the good sense to stay on with a little suspicion. Maybe I want to intellectually dominate them to equalize my sense of powerlessness? I don't know, can't exactly afford a shrink. But it is a fact that I have rarely if ever felt comfortable with the apex dwellers. We just don't resonate.
Had a fellow call today who fell off the map about five years ago, left the continent, and suddenly reappeared. Had left a indian basket with me which I sold for a couple grand and then he became out of touch. Gone. Nice guy but now I have to pull that money out of my ass as well.
M2 and I got on the subject of Madoff's kid who did himself in today. Shakespearean. He thinks that the kid did it to hurt his father. I hadn't thought of that but he might be right. I think that these things happen by attrition like chinese water torture. People just lose the strength to fight anymore. I don't see how I can go another ten years in this economy having to pray for a miracle every month. It's fun when you have the wind at your back and I have been stuck in, what do they call it the doldrums? You know, the great equatorial calm. And supposedly the tide will turn some day. Just ask Sisyphus.
I promised my friend M2 that I would produce some sort of business plan to show him how I would right my listing vessel. We listed all of the great things I have going for me, great wife, great friends, good mind, loving cat, blah, blah, blah. A blogosphere with whom I have got a mutual respect thing working. And I really wouldn't trade places with anyone for all my bitching. Because I have had things awfully easy and I always seem to find a way, as impossible as it sometimes seems. Because of people like Jim S. and my brother in law Andrew and M2 and M and Ron and R&D and all the other people who have kept me going and afloat these last few years. Because it ain't easy for a lot of people. But I am ready and willing to sell out and will listen to any valid and not too illegal offer if presented.
Enjoy what's left of the weekend. Great sunset tonight.
