My dad, who died in February, was a floor broker on the AMEX and later NYSE. Such crazy places; I clerked on AMEX a few summers. I'm not sure if from the outside they look sophisticated but man they are not; they're ridiculous and bawdy and loud/1
I did my Facebook monthly check-in and saw this: "I was a summer intern working for your father on the NYSE on 1986. I was just talking to my children about something he told me that I kept with me forever when I looked him up online and saw that he passed earlier this year..."/2
"He treated me with respect at a time I barely deserved it... I learned a lot from him. I just wanted you to know that I appreciated him. Prayers from here." My goodness! What did he tell you?/3
"1) Lockheed (LK) announced a takeover of Sanders Assoc (SAA) which was traded right outside my booth in the Blue Room. The place erupted w brokers screaming at top of their lungs. I had never seen anything like it prior."/3
"Your Dad saw me just staring at the crowd, walked over and said sarcastically “welcome to the world of high finance”...in other words, there’s more than just the calm ‘upstairs’ world...so true!"/4
"2) on another occasion when he frustrated with some other floor broker (don’t know why), he said to me “you don’t want to work down here”...meaning after college...I think he meant that I should take my experiences and work in another part of the business, and I did."/5
"We had other great but short conversations that summer... all conversations down on the floor back then were pretty short. I do remember being the only “college boy” among the booth clerks but the guys came to accept me I think because I didn’t screw up and liked to talk."/6
It was quite a crew of guys from Brooklyn and Staten Island...they all partied too much and gambled...but I learned. They used to argue about Mets v Yankees and I didn't care about baseball. Funny!"/7
"I just wish I had stayed in touch w Dick over the years.
Thanks for letting me share this...and tell Dick up in heaven I said THANKS." Got that Dad? (Got it, babe)
Thanks for letting me share this...and tell Dick up in heaven I said THANKS." Got that Dad? (Got it, babe)
