Posts Tagged ‘Wanker Banker’

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I Will Be Home Again

Wednesday, April 13th, 2011

TV still out and about. No info on when it’s coming back and Bill doesn’t have much of a clue about it either. Last night without TV I surfed a lot online as well as watched the extras disc of Citizen Kane. Informative stuff, especially the parallels between William Randolph Hearst and Orson Welles. Hopefully Bill will be able to watch it soon since it does have to go back to the bibliothèque.

I wound up staying up later than usual since I had off today. I didn’t write about this yesterday, but I received a phone call from the company I met with last Thursday. I was up and ready this morning, not much going on besides that.

No way to tell what the weather forecast was going to be. I didn’t turn on the radio, and merely looked out the window. Rain, grey clouds and some cold breezes going on outside. I wore the same suit as I did last week and headed out to the cold, damp streets.

I walked up to the bus stop about an hour later than I usually do and rode into the city. I talked to Bill who had just come back from meeting with a grief counselor, regarding Bill’s co-worker who was murdered by her grandson over the past weekend. I was on the phone quite a bit before I left the apartment and before he headed to his meeting since I had no internet when I woke up.

Now I have it but I was quite worried earlier. Also surprised at how much I depend on the internet. I always give myself enough time and with the knee acting up I give myself more time, but sometimes it isn’t enough.

This morning I was waiting on an already crowded subway platform waiting to go uptown. A few people had been waiting and exasperated threw their hands up in the air or slapped their thighs before heading back up to the street.

I was about to do the same thing (one hand in the air, the other slapping my thigh) when I headed to the elevator and saw a bunch of maintenance workers coming in off the tracks which meant that possibly a train was approaching. I waited and sure enough another train pulled in.

I rode to 59th and Fifth, sort of my old stomping grounds, near the Wanker Banker offices. I was early enough to kill time and use the bathrooms in Trump Tower. I still had a few minutes to kill and waited outside after that.

I headed up to the 21st floor of a skyscraper and for the first time in months, the receptionist showed me where I could hang up my coat as well as offering me a bottle of water. That is what I always used to do when I had that job, and nowadays receptionists don’t do that sort of thing.

I had my meeting, it lasted about a half hour. Most of the questions were from the previous week so they were easy to answer. One of the questions was regarding me having a bad day, how would the clients perceive such a bad day?

I told the interviewer that last week, on my way to the interview, I popped my knee. Still I rallied and the interviewer then did not know that I was in pain. She understood that and overall I think it went pretty well.

I was close enough to the Wanker Banker offices and decided to call my old friend Vinnie. A really good guy, very supportive. He was heading out for the day since he had come in early this morning. We chatted for about a half hour, catching up on this and that, where is so and so.

It was good to see him once again and once again he said I could use him as a reference. I told him I did that already. He said that was fine, just give him a heads up next time.

Now I’m home, writing. Still cold and grey outside and plenty of damp to go around. That’s about it for this end.








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Let It Down

Wednesday, November 25th, 2009

Woke up with a cannabis hangover though I haven’t smoked it in a week now. Perhaps it’s leaving my body, leaving me, well, just leaving me I guess with vivid dreams.

Last night was about someone, maybe Bill switching the tables on me, taking my table which this computer is on and giving me a table I used to have back in Riverview Avenue. It was maybe 2 feet tall and a lot smaller. Don’t know what that is supposed to represent if it’s supposed to represent anything.

I had to get up earlier than I’ve been since I scheduled a visit from PSE&G for this morning between 8:00AM and 12:00PM. I made some coffee and did my usual routine. Online I got an instant message from Vinnie, who I used to work with in the Wanker Banker days.

He asked that I call him as soon as possible and so I did. I contacted Vinnie the other day regarding putting him down as a reference. I was apprehensive since his mother has been sick and in the hospital and I hoped my timing wouldn’t be awful. It wasn’t his mother just came home yesterday.

He was surprised that I’ve been out of work since July and he’d be more than happy to be a reference. We had a good talk and he had a suggestion that I should look into taking a real estate license test, figuring I would be good at that.

Vinnie said if he was going to buy some real estate, he’d buy it from someone like me. The funny thing is, yesterday while ambling around Hoboken where there is a real estate office on almost every block I passed by an office with a sign in their window suggesting a change of career, try real estate.

I thought I might do good in that so it’s actually something I was considering and Vinnie saying the same thing seemed fortuitous. He’s really a good guy and I am glad to have him in my corner. I even sent an email to a friend of Julio’s who did the same thing, got her broker license and now works in real estate.

Who knows? It seems like a good idea right now. I wished Vinnie and his wife and kids a Happy Thanksgiving and made tentative plans to meet up for a coffee down the line.

Walked around a bit today and stopped by a stationary store that had a help wanted sign in their window. I went in and asked if it was an off the books job and it wasn’t. They gave me an application and I started to fill it out, then I said that I was running late and would fill out the application at home and bring it back.

I’m not going to bring it back. I was hoping for a situation like Farfetched but obviously that wasn’t in the cards, so to speak.

Ran out of Stevia and so it was off to the A&P where I ran into Clara a girl I used to work with at that video store almost 20 years ago. She lives around the block and I see her every couple of months. She’s a happily married mom now with 2 kids.

We were close at one point but as it happened we drifted apart after I got fired from the video store after being caught doing something I shouldn’t have been doing while in the downward spiral I was in in the months following my mother’s passing.

It was good to see her though, she’s still a sweet heart though time and rumors widened the chasm between us. It was a day where former co-workers from my past popped up.

And then there’s Harpy. He pops up like clockwork. While I’m writing, or eating dinner, Harpy invariably calls. I don’t mind since I love Harpy and I know he loves me.

Had a good talk with my brother Brian last night. He’s a good guy and I love him a lot. We went though a lot of shit together and being the brother closest to me in age, a lot of fighting which he almost always won.

But that was then, here we are now and I consider him not just a brother but a very dear friend. I’m sure he doesn’t understand things about me but I know he’s there for me and I am there for him, lending an ear whenever possible.

Played guitar today as well, learning some Paul Simon songs since if I’m going to be busking, it’s good to play songs that people know, rather than going for songs that maybe be cool to me, but unknown to most.

I mean, I’d love to play All Tomorrows Parties by the Velvet Underground and singing it like Nico would, but really, would the people walking by the riverside know what I was singing? More than likely not, so I’ll play Me & Julio by the Schoolyard or Kodachrome and be happy with that and hopefully get some greenbacks in my guitar case.

And with that, I will wish you all, or the both of you, a very Happy Thanksgiving. Don’t know when I’ll be posting, we’re heading upstate and if we don’t catch the 6:00 train getting into Hoboken around 9:00, we’ll catch the 9:00 train, getting into Hoboken around midnight.

So Happy Thanksgiving from me.

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Back Door Man

Friday, November 20th, 2009

Well it’s been yet another odd day in the course of a weird week. Let me also start off by saying that I was upset yesterday and decided to post directly to the people that comment frequently, namely Annemarie and Harpy.

It left me with a strange feeling, enough so that I relented and posted on the blog today, what was written yesterday. I’m feeling slightly better today despite somethings that have happened in the last couple of days.

It all started Tuesday night. Around the close of the business day for those that are still engaged in business, I saw an ad on Craigslist and sent my resume to the email address posted. I didn’t expect to hear anything until the next day, but to my surprise, I got a call back within minutes.

Cathy Cline was her name and she told me that she had received a job posting that I would be perfect for, and could I come in to see her the next day, Wednesday? She mentioned that timing was everything and I chose the 9:30 appointment in the morning.

I got there, right on time, filled out paperwork that I was told I would not have to fill out since I filled it out online. I meet with Cathy Cline who mentions that she’s worked with Teresa Scalisi & Janelle Rintrona, both former Wanker Banker employees.

It seemed like I was in good company. Cathy Cline had some requests, to revamp my resume, using bullet points. She gave me a memo with the company’s name on it, Selective Equity. Selective Equity is located at Great Jones Alley by Lafayette Street. I could definitely work there.

I called Bill afterward and asked if he could help with the revamping. He started doing it when he got the chance and I continued working on it when I got home. Emails between Bill and myself and Cathy Cline went on for an hour or so before we agreed on a bullet point resume.

All I had to do was wait. The day progressed into the evening, no problems. I had a good feeling about Selective Equity and hoped for the best. The next morning I was in the shower.

I heard the phone ring but couldn’t get to it. When I dried myself off I checked the phone. It was Cathy Cline asking me to call back. It’s all in the timing. Cathy Cline seemed pretty happy.

I called her back. She told me that the company, Selective Equity liked my resume and wanted to see me either that day or today, Friday. Timing being everything, I said today, meaning yesterday.

I was excited and started to think about what I was going to wear when the phone rang again a few minutes later. It was Cathy Cline. This time she didn’t sound so happy. She tells me that Selective Equity changed their minds, something about tossing out all the resumes and going to start all over again.

It seemed that Selective Equity was revamping their job posting. That was crushing. And from that point I drifted into despair. And while despairing, I decided to not post last night. I was that unhappy.

The day went on and it dragged for me. As I shuffled about here and there both inside the apartment and outside in Hoboken, a dark cloud hovered over me. I did whatever it was that I did yesterday when I finally had an idea.

I decided to call Selective Equity directly. Their website was quite lame, just a pitiful logo with no information available but I did have their phone number from the memo.

It was around 5:00 when I called and spoke to the receptionist. I mentioned that I had applied for a job and was told that Selective Equity had decided to do the job search a different way and threw out the resumes they had gathered.

The receptionist didn’t know anything about it and asked how I knew about the job, what company did I sign with? I told her I was reluctant to say the company’s name. She asked the counselor’s name and once again I was reluctant. She asked my name and I said, John.

Then she put me on hold and I thought to myself, ‘What the fuck am I doing?’ and hung up. I had a feeling I had gone too far. I did my best to put it out of my mind.

No harm, no foul, right?

Watched the usual Thursday night comedies, couldn’t get into them. My phone call lurked in the back of my mind. Bill came home but I didn’t say anything about it. We watched Jurassic Park, which I rented from the library.

I had seen it a few times, and I still really enjoy it. Bill had never seen it so we watched it. I was still enjoying the intensity of the whole thing. Spielberg, if anything truly can do suspense really well.

Bill went to bed afterward, I stayed awake watching TV. The day started as usual, Bill kissing me goodbye, me getting out of bed some time later.

Once again, I showered and once again the phone rang. Once again I checked the voice mail. Once again, Cathy Cline. Not so happy. I called Bill.

Now here is the basic difference between Bill and myself. I’m hesitant to call Cathy Cline back, and I explain what I had done the day before. Bill says I should call, that she might have a different position for me.

For Bill the glass is half full. For me, the glass is being held by Hiram Monserratte and he’s coming towards my face.

I thought the best possible thing I could do is deny, deny, deny. I get off the phone with Bill and call Cathy Cline. Oh how Cathy Cline was upset with me.

How could I betray her like that? She trusted in me, giving me the name of the company, since I knew Teresa Scalisi and Janelle Rintrona that I must be alright. This is why companies hire recruiters so they don’t have to deal with applicants like myself.

I explained that I was desperate and just wanted to find out about the job. She didn’t need to hear that, telling me that she knows how hard it is out there. Only a few jobs and way too many applicants. Her own son is unemployed so she knows all about that.

Oh she was disappointed with me and basically left me feeling that she would not doing anything else for me. Oh, and she wished that I would have a good weekend.

I actually felt a little better once I knew where I stood. The day wasn’t as heavy as it was yesterday. I went out, walked around. Enjoyed the sunshine. Texted a lot with Rand and when I got home sent out more resumes.

Hopefully Cathy Cline won’t blacklist me, sending my name out to other staffing agencies and letting them know of the egregious sin that I performed.

If she did, well the news hasn’t reached Jersey City, where I have a job interview set up for Monday morning for yet another agency.

Nothing is guaranteed, they’re just going to meet me and see what skills I have.

I will be there at 10:59.

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I Love to Say Da Da

Wednesday, May 13th, 2009

Well this is odd and this is nice. It’s 6:30 and I’m home already. I still have a job and I left work feeling satisfied, not beaten down.

I was able to book Vivek, Sanjay and Dozy hotel rooms in Pensacola. I guess they won’t be around tomorrow. Dave Dee, Mick and Tisch were unavailable.

Last night was a nice night overall. I met up with Gazi in front of the Public Library on Fifth Avenue, then we caught up with Robert. Robert used to be our supervisor. It was funny and quite like old times, riding the train with those two as they continuously sniped at each other, all in a joking way.

We got off the train somewhere in Queens and walked over to Gazi’s house where his wife and 3 kids were waiting to say hello.

We didn’t stay, just said hello and hopped in Gazi’s car and drove out to Manhasset, Long Island. More sniping between Gazi in the front seat and Robert in the back seat.

We got to the funeral home and saw Barbara who was and still is the compliance officer for the former Wanker Bankers, aka Putnam Lovell NBF. She was happy to see us.

Her father was 83 years old and was living with Barbara. She took him everywhere, last trip being only three weeks ago, a trip to Northern Ireland.

Other former co-workers were there, Vinnie, Brenda and Barry. Nice to see all of them. Brenda and I still keep in touch and occasionally go out for drinks after work, weather permitting. Wemingled and chatted with other mourners.

Robert was distressed that we were all getting together for a funeral. I mentioned that’s how it is when you get older.

You only see some old friends at weddings and funerals. The ride back was pleasant. I think Robert and Gazi ran out of ammunition so the sniping had ceased.

We all agreed that jobs where you actually like your co-workers and enjoy doing things with them out of the office. That’s how it was when I worked for Murdoch Magazines.

Harpy, Pedro, Excer, Ann Boyles, Meghan Taylor, Catherine Cloud, Steve Saporito, Jon Fried and a few others all had good times in and out of the office together.

I still see some of the Murdoch crew from time to time, mainly I’m in contact with Harpy and Pedro.

Robert, Gazi, Vinnie and Brenda all made plans to get together soon and have some drinks after work next month, Barbara too. I was home by 10:00 last night, Bill showed up a little after that. He had an AFTRA meeting.

He was soon in bed with his sleep apnea mask on and I was soon next to him sawing wood.

I woke up dehydrated for some reason with an intense headache. I drank a lot of juice ad water and took two Advil. I was on the bus a little while after that.

I was distressed to find some of my trousers are worn in the crotch area so I have to take them to the tailor to get them mended. Nice suits too. I’m wary.

Three sets of trousers, all in the same spot. I did someresearch and found the tailor directly around the block from me, they do good work, but are shady in their pricing.

I’ll take mine to the dry cleaner and have the tailor there take care of one pair. If he does a good job, then I’ll bring the others.

One of the trousers is from a Hugo Boss suit that I got at a bargain a few years ago. I still have a swatch of the pinstriped material that I suppose he would have to use as a patch.

Luckily any sewing seams with be invisible to the eyes of others but will be noticeable to me.

When I got home tonight I saw Stine parking cars. She lucked out, two spots right after another a few doors down from the building. Alexander was fast asleep in the back baby seat.

He woke up his groggy self, still so adorable, even more so when sleeping. He is really looking like Julio more and more, the poor kid.

I was able to help her out with some bags as she carried the handsome lad up the stairs.

Stine mentioned that Alexander said his first words on Mother’s Day. Dada.

Off to see The Ludes and tell them Dave McKenzie says ‘Hello!’

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Have Mercy on the Criminal

Thursday, December 4th, 2008

It’s Thursday again and it’s a bit drizzly outside right now. I only say that since I tied up the newspapers and left them at the curb and that’s when I noticed the drizzle. Last night, a quiet night again. No raucous nights anymore. All very quiet and I’m fine with that.

Spoke with Bill on the phone last night and I think I bummed him out somewhat. Either I did or he’s coming down with a cold. I prefer the cold, not for health reasons but rather to ease my mind and free it of guilt. It’s a cold. I know this since I am presently on the phone with him. Runny nose, scratchy throat are his symptoms.

I restored the factory settings on the iPod, effectively wiping out 7000 tracks. Been reloading the iPod and I am up to over 5000 tracks. This is the point when I look for a favorite song while walking around then I realize that it hasn’t been reloaded. That will probably happen a few weeks from now.

Also the tedious anal retentive part where I restore an album like XTC’s Drums and Wires to the original vinyl track listing rather than the revised listing on the cd. Yes, I am that anal when it comes to music.

Have to make sure all of Grace Jones is there and most but not all of the 6 disc Beatles Anthology. I also collect all the downloads of let’s say, the Police, maybe 8 tracks which I re-edit and re-label as C.O.P.S. instead of the different titles from the albums they were originally on.

I recorded the Elvis Costello talk show on Sundance Channel called Spectacles. His first guest for the whole show was Elton John. Elton was responsible for me getting into Elvis Costello 30 effin years ago.

I remember (more anal retentiveness) listening to WPIX FM and they announced that Elton had received an award in the UK naming him the Artist of the Year. Elton supposedly refused the award since it was in one of his ‘retirement’ years and announced the award should go to Elvis Costello who to me was that guy who looked like the child of Buddy Holly and Woody Allen.

Elton has great taste in music though and also inadvertently turned me onto Massive Attack. I haven’t watched the show yet so who knows what the hell they talked about.

I did win a pass online to see a taping with Elvis and Rufus Wainwright. 20 years ago I would have been there, but it was at the Apollo Theater and it was scheduled 3 hours after I left work and finding something to do for a few hours paled when I thought about just going home, so I didn’t go. No regrets though.

I woke up earlier than I have the past few days and was out the door just as Matt Lauer started running his mouth. As I turned the corner onto 6th Street I noticed I left my wallet at home so I had to climb 4 flights of stairs for it so I probably missed Casey Chasm.

Bus ride was uneventful and once again I was disdainful of the other riders. As I was crossing Eighth Avenue in the city I had to walk with my fellow commuters into oncoming traffic since a flat bed truck had blocked the pedestrian walkway.

It was reassuring to see 2 traffic cops having a nice little chat while a few dozen people faced impending vehicular homicide. It was more of the same, some really dumb people always in my way.

I did run an errand and wound up meeting up with Vinny of Wanker Banker days as well as Dave G and Renee who still work there. Some catching up, who’s where, who’s looking, who’s about to lose their job. It was all good though.

Walked with Dave G as he was on a hunt for smoothies. It was good catching up with good people like that. Seems long ago that I worked with them though it was less than two years.

Walked across town, enjoying a cigar and got on a bus where I was joined by Casey Chasm. More catching up. It was good to see him. He’s a good egg man and I am the walrus, goo goo g’joob.

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What You Need

Tuesday, May 20th, 2008

Another rainy day. I had better not hear anything about a drought this summer, I tell you. So yesterday was a busy day work wise. I had errands to run and even had to return to Wanker Banker which is no more so I can actually call it Putnam Lovell. We had deals going on which from what I heard went well. Now that Moe Stooge is out of the picture somewhat I have to rename the other two, so Allen and Rossi will do. Marty Allen was working on some reports that had to be printed in color, and then they had to be bound.

Well we ran out of Cyan ink, which is the fancy name for Blue, and we ran out of clear plastic covers for the reports. I scrambled, making phone calls trying to get these items. I was able to get the ink, a bargain at $100.00 including delivery, to the office by closing time. Marty Allen was going to have to stay and print out what he needed. I made a phone call to the great Gazoo, my friend Gazi who is the IT guy at Putnam Lovell.

He sort of hooked me up with some plastic covers. I knew they had them since I used to order them when I worked there. They were probably still in the same place. Gazi hooked it up and I chatted with him for a spell. It’s still a ghost town on the 34th floor. Saw Diane W who I tried to introduce to Martha G, since both work in film, Martha looking for financing and Diane looking to finance. But one of them never got back to me so the ball was dropped and my producing career went down the drain. I just don’t know anyone in the building except for the cleaning staff and one or two other people besides Gazi.

Even though I didn’t have to do all that running around, I did it anyway as a way to perhaps me look good. A sterling job as the CEO of Omnicom told me when I worked for Wolff Olins. Of course that compliment didn’t sustain me that long. The CEO’s like me mostly, Don Putnam liked me and offered me a gig in San Francisco when I went out there in 2004, Brian Boylan from Omnicom telling me that I was doing a sterling job, Greg Stevens always looking out for me. I’m in a fortunate position through some sort of providence I suppose.

Thisclose to finishing God Is Not Great but it was due back at the library. The head librarian, Diane likes me and was able to extend my second renewal for another week. So Christopher ‘Love him or hate him. Most people hate him’ Hitchens gets a week’s reprieve. Bill was here last night and we watched The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. I saw it initially in the theater and it was really a movie unlike any other. It certainly deserves to be seen and I think Bill was glad that he was able to see it.

Still an amazing movie, great acting all around and great cinematography. The book was even better, it had me choked up outside the library as I read the final pages before returning it. Spoke with Billie in DC last night. He’s recovering from a bout of bronchitis as well as really bad allergies. With a compromised immune system it threw him for a loop, with all the coughing he was doing he pulled a muscle in his chest which hurt when he laughed. And unfortunately I always make Billie laugh.

I think my sister made it out to Cleveland today, and I think my brother in law’s procedure is tomorrow. I’m crossing my fingers as I type.

Just found this….

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