Who's Doing the Necessary Work?

Re: Who\'s Doing the Necessary Work?

You don't understand my point. Nor did you read the article did you?

So let me try again. Working long hours on Wall Street does not translate into being capable of working a regular work week on a tree crew. The typical Wall Streeter wouldn't have the physical endurance nor would they have the mental fortitude to perform a tough job for much less compensation.

The situation reminds me a bit of Riddick Bowe, phenomenal athlete, heavy-weight champion of the boxing world and wealthy, but he didn't have the grit to complete basic training in the Marine Corps.
 
Re: Who\'s Doing the Necessary Work?

Glenn,

Yes I understood your point.
Yes I read the article.
Yes, I worked on Wall Street for over 20 years. 40 Wall Street, 95 Wall Street, 4 New York Plaza, 2 Broadway, 65 Broadway, and 55 Water Street - BofA, JP Morgan Chase, and Bank of New York)

Guys that work on Wall Street are Type A, driven maniacs. They are typically very driven, type-A personalities, have lots of energy, and work like mad.

I once worked a full (7:20-5:30)day, than ran 6 miles from 95 Wall Street to 93st and Lexington to play intramural volleyball. And on top of this, add a 3 hour round trip commute. I 'wish' I had that kind of energy now.

Sorry. I'll get off the soapbox. :-)
 
Re: Who\'s Doing the Necessary Work?

I got tired of the intense bs you have to put up with on Wall Street. I also didn't like getting up at 5:30am, catching a 5:58 or 6:13, getting to the office by 7:15 or 7:20. If everything was good that day, I would leave around 5:30. Commute and get home 7pm. If problems, then get home 8 or 9pm.

For the past 13 years, I left the banks and went back to working for High Tech vendors - Hewlett Packard, AMD (Intel competitor), and others. All my customers are on Wall Street, so I never really left, but I work home/office and the hours are much better.

My last company was making STUPID management mistakes. They don't know how to run a business. I had it out with the CEO and they let me go a couple of months ago. Just before Christmas they laid off 20% of the company because their mistakes caught up with them.

Corporate America is wearing thin for me. Hence the reason I am writing this to you and considering freelance climbing and starting my own Tree business.

-Michael
 
Re: Who\'s Doing the Necessary Work?

how about this one. imagine it's 3pm on Friday of July 4th weekend. Everyone gets an email from the SVP's admin saying, "all non-essential people can leave early for the holiday weekend". So, people start heading for the door. Well, there is only one elevator bank to leave from. The Head of the Trading floor is standing wishing everyone a nice weekend and checking to see who the non-essential people are that are off for the holiday weekend.

Everyone that left got fired !

There are plenty of stories like that one.
 
Re: Who\'s Doing the Necessary Work?

I left work early, once...oh, wait, that wasn't me.
laugh.gif
I often leave lunch break early to get back to work.
 
Re: Who\'s Doing the Necessary Work?

From the article:

[ QUOTE ]
While I was competitive and ambitious — a wrestler at Columbia University — I was also a daily drinker and pot smoker and a regular user of cocaine, Ritalin and ecstasy. I had a propensity for self-destruction that had resulted in my getting suspended from Columbia for burglary, arrested twice and fired from an Internet company for fistfighting.

[/ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
I wanted a billion dollars. It’s staggering to think that in the course of five years, I’d gone from being thrilled at my first bonus — $40,000 — to being disappointed when, my second year at the hedge fund, I was paid “only” $1.5 million.

[/ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
During the market crash in 2008, I’d made a ton of money by shorting the derivatives of risky companies. As the world crumbled, I profited. I’d seen the crash coming, but instead of trying to help the people it would hurt the most — people who didn’t have a million dollars in the bank — I’d made money off it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Marden, I'm genuinely interested in your opinion of this character. You're in a unique position to offer commentary directly related to the article.

I wouldn't hire him. He made obscene profits off his pedestrian skills and good fortune. He couldn't handle tree work. If he is serious about his criticism he would use his wealth to advocate for proper regulation and a fair, progressive tax system.

I didn't post this article for the purposes of engaging in a protracted political debate with libertarians or right-wingers. I posted it because I believe there are details here that blue collar America should not ignore.
 
Re: Who\'s Doing the Necessary Work?

Glenn,

Wall Street is filled with a higher than average number of assholes, but there are also lots of people with good values. This guy got caught into rat race and it almost destroyed him until he got out.

I never made piles of money like this guy and might not be the best one to offer an opinions. The only thing I'll say is it's easy to talk about altruism and living the 'simple' life if you have a stockpile of money stowed away.

Regarding your comment about not hiring this guy, I wouldn't rule him out from doing tree work because of his past. You probably know as well as anyone on TB that people either have it in them or not. There are a lot of bright and driven people in the Arborist field. So why not this guy ?

-Michael
 
Re: Who\'s Doing the Necessary Work?

He makes a brilliant argument for the correlation of the pursuit of wealth on Wall St and addiction. The "wealth addiction" Anonymous program for Wall St. traders would be Gamblers Anonymous. At least that's close enough considering the casino that trading has become.

Oh and this is just my opinion/observation but, the discussion within this thread illustrates two points. One, that goes to a point the author makes about how we perceive those pursuing riches. We condone it and look on it admiringly. We go so far as to make excuses for him. It's not his fault because he got caught in the rat race. It's pretty clear he sought it out. He went into it for the money and the chance to make millions. It was the very rat race he wanted to join. It didn't destroy him or nearly so, it led him to the epiphany that the riches he sought was undermining altruism and leading to many of the very problems the larger society was struggling with. And this lead to the other point.

Where it comes to hiring we're too quick to judge someone because of a negative past. I have to agree with Marden in so much as to not rule him out. The author demonstrated a high degree of integrity and that he is adaptable. Consider how many alcoholics and drug abusers are in the tree business. He could be an inspiration to many others for his strength to seek out help and turn his life around.
 
Re: Who\'s Doing the Necessary Work?

treehumper, I always appreciate your thoughtful contributions on Treebuzz.

[ QUOTE ]
Where it comes to hiring we're too quick to judge someone because of a negative past. I have to agree with Marden in so much as to not rule him out.

[/ QUOTE ]

When you have ten résumés in front of you for one job opening, nine aren't going to be hired. This character's résumé would be the first in my circular file.

Here's why. He's jaded by the system. He has overindulged and it will be difficult to rescue his mindset. I don't fault people for trying to increase their wealth to the maximum extent ethically possible. My overriding complaint is the injustice of the system. There is no myth more pervasive among Americans than that we're a meritocracy.

I don't care about the "economic justice" that capitalism ostensibly doles out. Wall Streeters and celebrities don't "earn" millions. They are beneficiaries of a system gone awry. I want to live in a world with increased social justice, a world with adequate nutrition and education for every human being. I want to live in a world where the wealthiest individuals are prevented from consolidating their power and plundering the natural resources that belong to every sentient being on earth.

It may have served us better than any system in the past, but our economic system is currently critically flawed and in need of major reforms. A stronger progressive tax system would be a good start.
 
Re: Who\'s Doing the Necessary Work?

Tom,

I have to say this article rings all too close to home.

My next door neighbor works as a site manager for Skanska, one of the largest construction companies in the world. They have a block of season tickets for the Giants. Over the weekend the stadium proposed they buy 30 tickets to the super bowl for $500K. This is just greed, but this is why people like us generally can't afford to go.

Someone asked me why I left Wall Street. The short answer is because I am sick of it. Too many greedy scumbag leaches that offer 'nothing' to society. They keep finding ways to pimp money out from everywhere. The indulgent lavish lifestyles. Expensive Steakhouses, Executive Conferences, narcissistic arrogance.

I did a huge migration project when I worked for the Bank of New York years ago. It was a 12 month project where I traveled back forth and lived in London for 6 months. I moved over 700 people to a new location including the London Trading floor. I migrated everyone from NetWare to a Windows domain. I was working 16 hours a day, 7 days a week, including two 20 hours days. The project went off flawlessly because of the tireless effort of the entire London IT group.

When the project finished I was ill and needed to have surgery to have one of my Parathyroid glands removed. Not only did they stiff me on my bonus (because I was too stupid to negotiate this before the project), but when I told senior management that I needed to take time off because I was sick, the only thing they wanted to know was, "How soon would I be back".

And that wasn't even the final straw ! I flew home at the end of the project over the weekend. When I woke up in bed, my 3 year old daughter was in our bed watching cartoons. She looked at me, started crying, and ran out of the room because she didn't know who I was.

I quit 3 weeks later and left Wall Street !

Movies which come to mind: To Big to Fail, Wall Street, Greed, and National Treasure also come to mind...
 
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