Comeuppance

Frequent readers of this blog know that I hold a dark cold pit in my heart for those who violate the law of right to quiet enjoyment. I would like to share the origins of my disposition towards noise.

One of my first apartments I lived in was a lovely rent stabilized one bedroom that rented for a under $1000 a month which is something none of us will ever see in the New York City area in our lifetime.

On my first week of living there, my neighbor welcomed me to the neighborhood by blasting his stereo. I stupidly followed my landlord’s advice and asked if he could lower it down in a cordial and calm manner. Thus began a hellish noise ridden voyage that would raise my blood pressure and leave me cursing with rage.

This douchebag, and I use the term lightly, decided my request to lower the volume was an act of war. Not only did he turn the volume up on his stereo, he decided to display his skills as a step dancer and repeatedly stomped on the floor with all his 6 foot tall plus 200 lbs might.

If finally got to the point where the super had to intervene on my behalf, not once but several times when this douchebag would start having a temper tantrum like the man child he was.

Every now and then we would be find ourselves in each other’s company either passing each other in the hallway or sharing the elevator. Despite the discomfort of the situation I always made an effort to be cordial with him despite our differences. His response was either complete indifference or a cold stare. He would never even thank me when I would hold the door for him.

One day I heard the sound of construction from his apartment and was informed by the super that el douchbag had moved out for greener pastures.

So how is he doing now? Let’s find out.

Lehman races to find buyer or investor

The turmoil weighed heavily on employees . “There are 25,000 people who are sitting there crying,” one banker said on Thursday. “I just hope there’s a solution.”

For Lehman Employees, the Collapse Is Personal

Mr. Fuld himself has seen much of his wealth disappear. At the stock’s peak, his 11.4 million shares of various types of stock and 2.5 million stock options were worth about $956 million, according to James F. Reda Associates, a consulting firm. Now, they are worth only about $40 million. But employees know that Mr. Fuld has reaped rich rewards in his decade and a half at the helm.

Even if he loses his grip at Lehman, he stands to collect more. He does not have a severance agreement if he loses his job, but if he were terminated without cause, Mr. Fuld could expect to collect a $16 million pension and $5.6 million in deferred compensation.

“Over the past decade an increasing amount of the compensation had been given in stock and stock options,” said Robert Willens, a tax expert who worked at Lehman from 1987 to this year. “Employees were paid in restricted stock that took several years to vest. Stock was granted at the current price.”

“We feel like we have been controlled by events and haven’t controlled them,” said one rank-and-file employee. “And it has just been the most punitive market. Is there frustration with the management team? Of course.” Another employee who left Lehman earlier this year lamented that he had put enough faith in the firm to retain shares — a decision he is paying for. “My children’s education fund is wiped out,” said this person.

“I’m not a millionaire like a lot of these guys. Of course this is on Dick’s hands,” he said, referring to Mr. Fuld. “It all happened on his watch.”

Lehman heads toward brink as Barclays ends talks

Lehman Files for Biggest Bankruptcy as Suitors Balk (Update2)

It appears he is not doing too well since the company he works for has just imploded.

Looking back on my experience with the douchebag, I have a better understanding of why Lehman Brothers met its tragic demise. That f**k you, I ‘ll do as I please and its not my problem if you suffer attitude is what got them into this mess. This douchebag exhibited that same attitude of his former company. Which is probably the reason why they hired him in the first place.

Do I feel any type of satisfaction from this? No. Just an awareness of the lesson that

what comes around, goes around

and just because you have to the freedom to be a douchebag does not mean you should exercise the right.

There was many a time when the music and noise became too loud, or his rude demeanor would rub me the wrong way, and I wanted to give into the urge to scream at him. I wanted to give into my anger and let him know what I truly thought of him,as Dale Carnegie would put it, and make the greatest speech I would ever regret.

Instead I kept a stiff upper lip, exercised avoidance and left my apartment when the noise became overwhelming.

One may say I was acting passive aggressive, but after my initial contact with this person, I realized this guy was not going to back down and was going to escalate the conflict to the point of no return. The fact that he responded to my initial request by being more of an a**hole made me realize what I was dealing with and even when I was experiencing an emotional hijacking and my Amygdala would roar for a verbal altercation, my Neocortex would step in and tell me to go for a walk.

The most important lesson I have learned is that it is best to let the 800lbs gorilla sit where it wants. Because eventually the gorilla will sit in a minefield. And even if it doesn’t sit in a minefield, it will associate with other 800lbs gorillas and at least one of them will sit in a minefield and end up blasting all the other gorillas in its radius.