A Journey to Greatness

In the Spring of 2009, I attended a conference in NYC for my company that ended up to be a very interesting evening.

I was being introduced to a company that wanted me and my team to raise capital for them. And when a company asks you to raise capital, there's a woo'ing process. So of course, right after dinner, we went downstairs into the heart of Times Square and there sat a white limo.

I smoked a cigarette right before I was about to jump in the limo and everyone was making small talk. Out of nowhere, some wannabe guido sporting the flashy cheap suit stumbles out of the revolving door obviously drunk. He walks right over to one of the owners of my firm and says "who are these guys and where are you guys heading?" Easy enough, the owner says "**** Investments and they're taking us out because they want to meet Ray" to which he replies "i'm coming!" The owner, Glen says "no" almost immediately and the drunk who we'll call Chris walks right over to the regional VP of the company we're meeting and says "i'm coming, i'll raise a million dollars for you.. in fact I've already raised 500k in the past." Glen pulls him to the side and tells him not to come again and he walks a few feet away.

We proceed to enter the limo and as the door is closing, it's jerked open and in jumps Chris! He starts pouring drinks and getting rude. Meanwhile, I'm sitting quiet because I'm still new to the company.

Get to the VIP table of the bar and this guy is now causing a ruckus! Grabbing at waitresses and throwing ice at people on the floor. He walks away for a while and I see someone I know who sits at our table just to say hello... out of nowhere this guy is standing on the ledge above me and jumps off landing on my friend's lap who doesn't get mad at all, she just slides over. I ask him to move and he stands up and the conversation runs like this:

chris: "is that your girlfriend?"
me: "nope"
chris: "are you fucking her?"
me: "no"
chris: "then who gives a fuck, she's just an asian whore!"
me: "now you're being racist. she's an old friend of mine who I just happened to see and you landed on her jumping off the ledge. who does that?"
chris: "by the way, who the fuck are you?!"
me: "it doesn't matter."
chris: "that's rude. i asked your name, the polite thing to do would be to answer"
me: "i'm rude? that's funny. i don't need to give you my name because I don't expect we'll be doing too much talking."
chris: "wait... you're asian! are you Henry or Tom Kelly or one of them new guys with Tom Kelly?! cuz they're the only people makin money at the NY branch so if you ain't Henry or one of them, you ain't shit. I make 100k gross a month and I'll have you fired tomorrow."
me: "it doesn't really matter"

At this point I look at the branch owner who runs the LI branch where this guy works and I yell out to him, "Don, control your fucking dog. This is how you run your office?!" After that, I walked out and went back to my hotel.

Next day, news broke out and this guy wasn't allowed in the NY branch anymore. LOL i also found out he does no where near 100k in gross... 25 if he's lucky!

Since then, news has spread across the branches about the success of my team and people from the Long Island branch have requested to sit down and learn from us.

First person that walks in, our drunk friend, Chris.. I stand up and I look at the owner of my firm, "ANYONE BUT THIS MOTHERFUKER"... my boss replies "c'mon!! let it be".. i say plainly, "i'm walking out, let me know when this guy isn't here anymore and i'll come back"

The week after, another guy walks in, it's this fuckin guy Chris' junior partner wearing a custom suit that looks like it was made for the Joker and a Louis Vuitton briefcase... again I say "DIDN'T I SAY I DON'T WANT THIS FUCKIN GUY AROUND?!" to which i hear "but that's not him!" "ITS STILL SOMEONE ASSOCIATED WITH HIM!"

I kept quiet during our small encounter that night and I was humble about it but I don't let people off the hook when I hold a grudge. If this guy was on fire, I wouldn't piss on him.

Point is, Don't burn bridges! And don't tell tall tales! Cuz eventually you'll be burning a bridge that you may NEED to cross!

On June 19th, I went to the wedding of one of my closest friends, Johanna... I have to say this was the wedding of weddings... no expenses spared... reception was held at the Brooklyn Museum with full on cocktail hour downstairs followed by an elevator ride to the main hall. Amazing!

This was a nerve racking wedding for me to show up to because I knew that the guestlist to this event was just like the venue, high-end. You had Dr. and Dr. Smith's walking all over the place. Lawyers, nurses and here I am... last time I met my friend's family I was nothing but the teenager bummin around moving from friend's home to friend's home in Bushwick!

There was a conversation that commenced at our table where people were talking about their schools and I had said "oh yea you were in the Filipino Club right? I met you during Barrio Fiesta" to which she replied, "what school did you go to?"... I'm always embarassed to hear the question because I feel more embarassed to answer it, "i didn't." It's always a humbling experience when it happens.

Anyway, I thought it was an amazing wedding and one I would remember.