Carlos Araya lost his Wall Street job. Now he works at a restaurant where he used to order lobster.

[marmar]

WSJ via Yahoo!:




From Ordering Steak and Lobster, to Serving It

by Mary Pilon
Monday, June 1, 2009

provided by The Wall Street Journal


Carlos Araya used to order lobster, filet mignon and $200 bottles of red wine at the Palm Restaurant in midtown Manhattan.

Mr. Araya, 38 years old, lost his job in 2007 as a crude oil trader on the New York Mercantile Exchange. After visiting dozens of headhunters with no luck, he applied in August 2008 to be a host at the Palm to support his wife, two young daughters and mortgage payments. His salary has plunged from $200,000 to $25,000.

If the financial crisis was the flood, then the Arayas are one of the families standing in the stagnant waters left behind. Some former Wall Street employees, highly trained and accustomed to comfortable salaries, are having trouble translating their specialized skills to other fields that pay well, and instead find themselves forced to accept low-wage work. Now, Mr. Araya is on the brink of losing it all and is doubtful that he will ever return to Wall Street.

And he isn't alone. Nearly 25,000 jobs have been lost in New York City's financial sector since August 2007, according to the New York State Department of Labor. The finance industry in New York is expected to lose 56,800 jobs from the end of 2007 to the beginning of 2012, according to projections from the Independent Budget Office, a publicly funded information agency.

John Carbonaro was let go as a floor clerk by Bank of America in January 2009, and despite his job-hunting efforts, remains a "Mr. Mom." Joe Morrone, a laid-off trading clerk from Prudential, has been unemployed for two years and struggles to support his daughters and grandson. He has had stints as a deli worker, a doorman and a bouncer. "I used to have three cars," Mr. Morrone says. "Now I share one." .............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/107145/From-Ordering-Steak-and-Lobster-to-Serving-It

[geckosfeet]

1. Somehow my heart does not go out to this guy and people like him.

If you can piss away $200k a year on lobster and $200 bottles of wine without saving some money, then you really are pretty stupid.

He is lucky to have a job right now, any job.

having trouble translating their specialized skills to other fields that pay well

- geez - try organized crime.

[safeinOhio]

2. Like all workers are being told

Go back to Jr. College and train for those jobs of the Twenty First Century.

[Berry Cool]

3. I quote:

Although he's thankful for the work at the Palm, paydays can be bittersweet. "At the end of the week, I get my paycheck," he says, "and I think, 'I used to make this much in a day.'"

That was part of the problem, sir. You were compensated waaaay out of proportion to the value of your work, while people who worked hard doing the job you now have earned only $25K a year. How fair was that?

Also, he says that he used to think unemployed people were lazy. Why? He wasn't born with a silver spoon in his mouth, either. He's a cab driver's son, he grew up in Queens. It appears it didn't take him long to adopt the protective coloring of a Wall Street wheeler-dealer...the attitude that if anyone is less successful than you are, it's only because they're lazy and didn't work as hard as you did. That the world yields all its prizes easily with a little effort.

Well, not always, as he now knows. I only hope the knowledge makes him a more compassionate person if he's ever again in a position to make a difference in the world.

[mikeytherat]

4. Filet mignon, lobster, and $200 bottles of wine = clothes for the kids and mortgage payments

Priorities, dude. Priorities.

mikey_the_rat

[crikkett]

5. The moral of this story: it pays to befriend your restauranteurs

they feed people in more ways than one.

[Uzybone]

6. Too bad he wasnt sensible with his money

he could have saved himself quite a bit instead of splurging on $200 wines.

[rocktivity]

7. Look on the bright side, fella--you Wall Street piggies have been providing PLENTY of employment

for the DU "Cry Me A River" String Quartet!

:nopity::nopity::nopity::nopity:

:headbang:
rocktivity

[skooooo]

10. lol...

:rofl:

[Vickers]

8. How's that rainy day treatin' ya, pal?

:eyes:

I'm sure when he was riding the crest he had plenty of sympathy for folks in the very boat he now rides in. :sarcasm:

[malaise]

9. LOL

I don't have one iota of sympathy for any of them

[RaleighNCDUer]

11. It think it says a lot about the 'financial industry' when so many of their

people - not their stars, but work-a-day people - were paid SO much for so little. Is a person who can only 'fall back' to waiting tables someone YOU would hire for $200K/yr? So he has specialized knowledge about moving money around - my mechanic has specialized knowledge about moving vehicles around, and he's only worth $35K. Not only that, but being a mechanic he has a fundamental grasp of how things work, which can be transferred to other mechanical skills with very little change-over lag time. He'll never have to wait tables.

Something is SERIOUSLY out of whack, here.

As for the guy waiting tables - Good luck to you, and welcome to the real world.

[FirstLight]

12. Thanks for articulating that!

I can't even bring myself to read the entire article... if I only had the energy & time to really take on THIS very issue. Someday, when I am not scraping by to pay the eletric bill or having to make a dozen other choices about BASIC NEEDS

I have NEVER made over $15K in a year, I have housing asistance thank god and my parents help out alot with shoes and clothes and the occasional grocery trip...I have worked as a temp for years, and have not been able to hold a job for more than 2 years because I am a single mom with 3 kids and an autoimmune disease... My education stopped at the Jr college level because of funds and distance - My intelligence and skill solving and communications are good, but lack "polish & professionalism"...maybe because I show up to interviews trying to hide my secondhand clothes as best I can...

While I have been a victim of every socioeconomic disadvantage, it came as a result of personal immaturity and the inability to find good options... and I grew up as a white middle class girl in a great place with a frugal father; I still refuse to accept that this is IT for me.
I got on the programs through the housing dept and the EDD that foster self sufficiency. I pursued the options and found a way to get a certification at a mgmt level that will only take 6 months and some weird commuting. I figure what better time to push forward than when the economy is in the toilet? Hopefuly by the time I finish in the fall I will be looking at better prospects.
Do you realize that making $30K for me will be TRIPLE my usual income?

this guy Who got paid Such an exorbitant amount for no REAL skill can come and live in MY world for a week. fucker...