Page 206 - People & Places In Time

New York City
I’ve enjoyed a few operas over succeeding years, yet none comes close to my experience at the Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center in New York,
My last day in New York was a gift from my instructors at Drexel. They were leaving for California several days after I was to have returned. I had asked if I could travel with them to allow myself a few more days in the city and with Judith. I had considered staying in New York to work, but that would be pro- hibitively expensive still what a change to my life going forward if that could have been.
We met for lunch at a small restaurant-bar on 3rd Avenue that Judith enjoyed, until too soon, she needed to leave. My last site of her was as she turned in the back seat of the cab to wave goodbye as it disappeared into traffic. But who was I kidding? Judith had always had another boyfriend and compan- ion, though he was twenty years older than her, and who was also the second concert master for the New York Philharmonic. She had told me once of his scare at having left his Stradivarius in the back seat of a cab; it was returned. Still, we stayed in touch, until, as time and distance will eventually have its way . . . prompting people to move on with their lives.
It was a cold, blustery day as I turned, deciding to walk back to the hotel, alone. Eventually I found my way to Rockefeller Plaza. The holidays were long past, though the ice rink remained open with but a few people still skat- ing into the evening. In my overcoat and hat I stopped under a light pole to watch. A few snowflakes drifted on the breeze as I stood looking down at the lone skaters, my shoulder leaning against the post. As melancholy as the mo- ment seemed, I suddenly wondered; “is this being filmed?” I thought to myself,
is a camera runniing. as though this might be a scene from a movie. It wasn’t of course, and yet one of the most memorable times of my life was at the end. The credits perhaps scrolling across a screen somewhere.
It’s called a tombstone ad. This one, printed in The Wall Street Journal shortly after we all passed our test. Done to announce us all as new stockbrokers for Drexel Burnham Lambert.
The next six weeks of our time in New York was devoted to the nuts and bolts of the business of investing. But really, it’s about accumulating capital under control. Still time was spent learning how the system worked, including time spent on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
Eventually I’m back in Fresno, seated at my desk on the fifth floor of the T. W. Patterson building, in my office with a view up and down the Ful- ton Mall. It was time to repay Drexel for my expense paid time in New York City. This should be accomplished as I begin to bring in the capital needed to make money for the company and presumably, for myself.
Some succeed as others quickly leave, often in less than two years. Most are gone in five years, maybe just a little longer. I stuck around for twelve years; better than most but never successfully. I did move to other
brokerages during that time. Next came Paine Webber then onto Prudential Bach, each with different opportunities. Eventually I became licensed in commodities and insurance and finally as a registered principal; meaning that I could manage a branch office. During this time Drexel Burnham declared bankruptcy under legal pressure, was eventually broken up and disappeared.
Ultimately, it’s about your sales acumen. The brokers ability to sell the “company way”, his personality (i.e. salesmanship) and his success in bringing people and their money into the system. Money under control is how success or failure is measured.
Selling anything that I can’t fully accept to be a company man as it’s often described just was not possible for me. This is too bad, be- cause I did know how the business worked by then and could/should have become successful, if only I could have bought in completely.
Eventually I left the business, returning to the only thing that I’ve ever believed in, what I’ve always had to fall back on, and that’s my ability to design, create and build things . . . . and so it continues.
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